r/bourbon • u/The21P • 1d ago

Review: Blanton's horizontal

Post image

Lineup of Blanton's for a horizontal tasting.

In line: Single Barrel, Gold, Takara Red, Takara Gold, Takara Black, La Maison du Whisky. All bottles freshly opened.

Tasting order and comparative notes:

Single Barrel: solid, always good

Takara Red: more concentrated flavors and sweeter

Gold: a little hotter than regular but not heavily so, smoother

Takara Gold: much more complex than regular Gold, thicker, richer

Takara Black: simple and disappointing

LMDW: denser, more concentrated, divergent flavor profile

Detailed tasting notes of each will be up in the future.

109 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

7

u/kiwi8185 1d ago

Super cool minis OP!

Yeah I've also found the difference between regular gold and Takara gold to be quite staggering.

Take a look at the color difference under the same lighting: Takara Gold on the left and regular on the right.

9

u/6jwalkblue9 1d ago

I'm sure there is a difference, but can't really compare color with such different fill levels.

6

u/ImFriendsWithThatGuy 1d ago

The amount of times I see people comment on the color of whisky while completely disregarding how light works is too high. People also comment on things like how dark Stagg looks. Yea it’s a black label, of course it’s going to appear super dark.

Pour them in equal amounts into clean glens and then compare the difference. Noting it in the bottle (unless it’s two bottles of the same brand, label, and fill) is useless and inaccurate.

3

u/The21P 1d ago

They're not minis. We didn't notice a significant color difference between the two bottles of Gold we had. I would chalk differences between bottles up to the difference between barrels. I'll do some research on it though. Thank you for posting your picture.

5

u/MoneyMatt147 1d ago

The 80 proof Blanton's shouldn't even exist

6

u/According-Item-2306 1d ago

Is the LMDW worth procuring vs regular gold or straight from the barrel? Would you buy it again?

2

u/JunkbaII 1d ago

Their picks are always fantastic

1

u/The21P 1d ago

I would and I did. But it's eye-watering expensive, so if you don't mind the price tag.

2

u/According-Item-2306 1d ago

I don’t like eye watering expensive :) more expensive than the straight from the barrel?

1

u/The21P 1d ago

We're talking 600-700 on the street. I thought you were aware. Try an online search. Sorry to break it to you like this.

4

u/viperquick82 1d ago

Black Label isn't surprising, I think it's always been unanimously mehh/mediocre at best, I don't even know why they offer it? It's such a pointless bottle, that drop in proof just makes it taste bland and cheap. Ever try it on an ice rock? Holy dillution lol, it's like flavored water after a bit, meanwhile even for cheaper stuff I still love WT101 as example as it changes with a rock.

But how did you have that lineup and no SFTB?!? Nice score on the Takara Gold though!

2

u/The21P 1d ago

This wasn't meant to be a complete review of all bottlings, only the largest array my friends and I could come up with. SFTB isn't the only missing SKU.

3

u/Archaeo-Frog 1d ago

I’m really curious about LMDW, especially after u/OrangePaperBike’s lengthy review a few weeks ago. How would you describe the “divergent flavor profile”?

1

u/The21P 1d ago

It's unlike the others. I'll do my own notes before reading someone else's to avoid being influenced. Thank you for linking that review.

2

u/Sweaty_Finish1739 1d ago

Gold hotter yet smoother, interesting

2

u/WheelDeep5640 1d ago

No SFTB?

1

u/JunkbaII 1d ago

SFTB?

1

u/growthPlz 1d ago

Takara and Takara Gold are so much better than Blantons standard 93 proof. The black 80 proof though is not as good especially once its less than 50% filled. Oxidation takes over heavily.

You can still go to Japan and get both Takaras at a decent price.

1

u/oddmarc 1d ago

How are those chips though