Woodford Reserve has made a four grain Bourbon in the past. It was an interesting Bourbon with a lot of grain flavor. This whiskey, with Elizabeth McCall’s name on the label instead of Chris Morris, is an excellent whiskey. It gives me hope that McCall will be just as good at innovation as Chris Morris was during his time as Master Distiller at Woodford Reserve. We purchased a bottle of this whiskey and Matt and I sat down to taste it. Here are our tasting notes.

Woodford Reserve Toasted Oak Four Grain

Proof: 90.4

Age: No Age Statement

Nose:

  • Mike: Vanilla, apricots baking spices and oak wood.
  • Matt: Butterscotch, dark fruits, honey, lemon zest and oak wood.

Taste:

  • Mike: Vanilla, apricots, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and apple comes out to join the party. Tasted with a pecan and milk chocolate and caramel come forward.
  • Matt: Werther’s original candy, raisins, honey and oak wood. The dried cranberry made the flavor butterscotch, dark fruit and candied apple. The pecan brought out flavors of chocolate, buttery caramel and oak.

Finish:

  • Mike: Medium long with oak and cinnamon. The dried cranberry added lingering fruit notes to the finish. The pecan made the finish very long with oak, spice and lingering chocolate.
  • Matt: Medium long with oak and butterscotch. The dried cranberry added a flavor of fine leather. The pecan added lingering dark fruit to the finish.

I would pair this fine whiskey. with a My Father The Judge cigar. I think the suggestion of chocolate in the smoke would pair well with the sweet notes of the Bourbon.

Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller