Review #52 Early Times: Bourbon

Score: 7.1 / 10

Distillery: Brown-Forman

Type: Kentucky Straight BIB

I see it in groups. I see it in articles. Everyone seems to be pretty excited to find this whiskey. I wasn't really looking for it, I just didn't want to spend a lot of money. Believe it or not, this website doesn't pay the bills ha! So I saw that label and thought, huh Bottled in Bond. Well.... that's a good start. Who knows, maybe it can end up mixed with Coca Cola :)

For anyone that doesn't know what bottled in bond is.... check out our lineup of EH Taylor or Old Fitzgerald on our Po It Up whiskey podcast here. or...... here. You can be assured that you are getting something aged at least 4 years and without a bunch of weird cuts and additions. So not a bad place to be with a new or cheap whiskey.

Before the Buyout of Early Times, this was a blended whiskey and some bottom shelf stuff. Enter Brown-Forman, slap back on that BIB label, get back to the early times and I'll pick it up. It's nice to see ages added to labels. That's not really where the industry has been heading as of late. Let's see what I've gotten myself into in this whiskey review.

Whiskey Review:

Nose: Caramel, Vanilla, smoked hickory, charred oak, apricot, brown sugar.

Palate: Brown sugar, maraschino cherry, oak, ethanol, and honestly a bit watery. No water was added.

Finish: Medium. The flavors tend to dissipate. Ethanol and oak ramp up. Burning campfire oak, pine, oak and ethanol linger.

Score: 7.1

Scale:

S+ Sensational - The Pinnacle (9.5+)

A - AXEceptional (astounding) (9-9.5)

B - bravo (step aBove average) (8-8.9)

C - competent (7-7.9)

D - disappointing (6-6.9)

F - flush it down the toilet (fail) (5.9 below)

Notes: Availability? Uncommon. This will be pretty common soon. Offering decent whiskey at a decent price, this nails it. Production is expected to be increased soon.

To end. I don't love it. This has a strange aftertaste that leave me wondering WHY!!! Why didn't it end how it started. A very strange transformation.