Woodford Reserve Distillery has come a long way since it opened in the 1990s. I still remember tasting the first new make from the distillery. Lincoln Henderson had brought a sample by for Chris Morris to taste and Chris was kind enough to invite me along to taste it. It was good whiskey, but still had some things that needed to evolve to make it the excellent whiskey it is today. I suspected as much as it takes time to work out the best way to make whiskey on a new set of stills.
A few years later, after Lincoln had retired and Chris Morris became the Master Distiller at Woodford Reserve Distillery, Chris introduced a double oaked expression of Woodford Reserve Bourbon. This Bourbon became the whiskey that Woodford Reserve offered for store picks. It was not a single barrel but a two barrel small batch Bourbon. You would go to the distillery and they would have a selection of barrel samples laid out in front of you and you would blend those samples together to find two that you really liked. They would marry those two barrels together and bottle either one or both of those barrels for you, depending upon how much you wanted to spend. It was always excellent Bourbon.
The Double Oaked expression they sell in the market is a small batch Bourbon, but it is more than just two barrels. It is excellent Bourbon and I had not reviewed it, so we got a bottle for review.
Matt and I sat down and tasted it and here are our tasting notes.
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon
Proof: 90.4
Age: No Age Statement
Nose:
- Mike: Rich caramel, apples, pepper and oak wood.
- Matt: Marshmallow, caramel, a hint of pine, and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Caramel, apples, black pepper and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the caramel and oak are enhanced. Tasted with a pecan and a hint of chocolate and hazelnut comes out.
- Matt: Caramel, marshmallow, green apples, cardamom, and oak wood. The cranberry turned the spice to cinnamon and brought out toasted nuts. The pecan brought out butterscotch and caramel.
Finish:
- Mike: Long with oak and black pepper. The dried cranberry made the finish longer and drier. The pecan made the finish long with oak wood, white pepper and lingering caramel.
- Matt: Medium long with oak wood and apple. The dried cranberry added a nutty flavor with a hint of tobacco. The pecan made the finish very long and dry with oak and tobacco.
I would pair this fine Bourbon with a Padron 1964 Anniversary Exclusivo cigar. The rich vanilla and cedar spice of the smoke would pair well with the caramel and pepper of the Bourbon.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller