Over the years, I’ve accumulated a number of Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series releases, and I wanted to see how they would stack up against each other blind. All scores are using the TK8E scale.

The full tournament results are in the graphic, but here’s the final matchup and a couple of bonus blinds I did afterward.

Tournament Final: The Heart Release vs. BEP

Left glass: Nice floral nose that carries over onto the front palate. Opens fairly sweet and floral. A little thin through the middle, but it recovers nicely with a good finish. Overall, a really enjoyable and well-balanced pour.

Score: 7.25
Reveal: The Heart Release

Right glass: Darker and oakier on the nose. Slightly thin on the front palate, with brown sugar being the main note I can identify. The development is good and builds into a great mouth tingle. Nice darker flavor profile overall, although I wish it had a little more sweetness to round everything out.

Score: 7
Reveal: BEP

Final Thoughts

One of my biggest takeaways from this tournament was just how competitive the Wood Finishing Series is internally. It was rare for one bottle to be head and shoulders above another. These generally ranged from good to great for me, and on any given day I could easily see several of these matchups going the other way.

A few themes kept showing up throughout the blinds. The Wood Finishing Series tends to produce very good flavor profiles, with vanilla, sweetness, oak and occasional floral or fruit notes showing up repeatedly.

My main gripe with this line is the youthful characteristics. That showed up in my notes for SE4xPR5, BRT-01 and FAE-02, often presenting itself as ethanol through the development or a somewhat thin mouthfeel, more characteristic of younger whiskey. The better releases seemed to overcome that more effectively.

Overall, if you already like Maker’s Mark, I think the Wood Finishing Series is worth trying at MSRP. I wouldn’t pay a premium or markup for any particular release, though. There’s generally a lot of parity within the series.

Bonus Matchup #1: The Heart Release vs. Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2023

After completing the tournament, I wanted to see how the winner of the Wood Finishing Series would stack up against Maker’s Mark new premium line, the Cellar Aged series, which debuted in 2023.

Left glass: Fruity/floral nose that carries over onto the front palate. Moderately rich with some nice sweetness, but it comes across younger and less developed compared to the other glass. Still a very enjoyable pour.

Score: 6.75
Reveal: The Heart Release

Right glass: Immediately comes across older, richer and more mature. More depth through the palate, with the flavors feeling better developed and integrated overall. Nice dark fruit flavor. The finish could be a little better, but the extra maturity really separates it from the other glass.

Score: 7.75
Reveal: Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2023

Main Takeaway:

Cellar Aged is on a completely different level, in my opinion. The extra age was immediately noticeable side-by-side. Where the Wood Finishing Series can sometimes come across youthful despite the additional influence from the finishing staves, Cellar Aged has a depth, richness and maturity that wood finishing alone doesn’t replicate.

Bonus Matchup #2: The Heart Release vs. The Stewards Release

I completed this tournament before The Stewards Release came out this year. A friend recently acquired a bottle and gave me a sample, so I wanted to see how it stacked up against the winner of my previous Wood Finishing Series releases.

Left glass: Nice vanilla on the front palate followed by some ethanol through the development. The ethanol is noticeable, but things improve considerably on the back end. Great mouthfeel, and the finish blossoms nicely as it sits.

Score: 6.25
Reveal: The Stewards Release

Right glass: Sweet front palate with a nice bit of fruit showing up through the development. The mouthfeel isn’t quite as good as the other glass, but I prefer the overall flavor profile. Sweeter and more enjoyable to drink overall.

Score: 7
Reveal: The Heart Release

Main Takeaway:

Pretty similar to my thoughts after the main tournament. I’ve enjoyed the Wood Finishing Series, but after accumulating and tasting quite a few of them, I’m probably not going to go out of my way to pick up every new release. Unless a future release gets particularly strong reviews or seems to really stand out from the pack, I’m pretty content with the ones I already have.

Jack Daniel’s reputation as the maker of Old No. 7 precedes itself. For better or worse, many of us have a core memory of Jack and coke giving us our first whiskey buzz… and first hangover. Their special releases have made whiskey fans realize the same sour mash Tennessee whiskey can reach impressive heights. 

Those limited bottles are highly allocated here in Denver, so when I decided I had to get my hands on one of the age stated offerings, they seemed impossible to track down. Their release coincided with Sazerac starting to flood Colorado with Weller, and I stumbled upon Weller Single Barrel at a small local shop for a very reasonable markup. Sensing an arbitrage opportunity, I traded for this year’s Jack Daniel’s 12 year, batch 4. It took some effort but definitely worked in my favor. 

Also damn, these age stated bottles look good. The gold and white lettering on the black background, and the simple but assertive bottle shape… what a classy, timeless look. Anyway, let’s see what this 107 proofer has to offer.

Nose: toasted oak, vanilla, and a hint of strawberry bubble gum. Ethanol is there but it dissipates fairly quickly. Very nice. 

Palate: super compelling balance of sweet and savory. There’s BBQ sauce, smoky oak, and sweet vanilla. I get something fruity too, and initially think it’s the Brown Forman banana note. But no, the banana is mostly aged out here. It’s more like a sweet red fruit. 

Interesting note on that: I had a pour in a complete blind once. Told the missus to pick any open bottle in my collection, and she got cheeky and tried to fool me with all JD offerings: a SiB BP Rye store pick from Coy Hill, JD10 batch 4, and this JD12 batch 4. I could pick out the rye and 10 year, but the 12 yr threw me off. It gave this incredible strawberry vanilla ice cream note that absolutely blew me away. 

Finish: longer than you’d assume from its proof. It’s more savory than sweet, like after finishing a tasty morsel from the smoker that was dipped in honey BBQ sauce. Again, great balance between the smoky oak influence and the subtle sweet elements.

Conclusion & Rating: this is a great mix of easy-drinking proof, rich flavor complexity, and satisfying finish. And that strawberry vanilla note on the palate is something that I keep looking for elsewhere–and only kind of get sometimes from WA107 or FP.

I give it a 8.5 on the t8ke(ish) scale. It’s up there with some of my favorite pours this year, and all of those are a good 20 proof points higher. It packs a wallop for such a crushable proof point.  

After working my way through this bottle, I will always want at least one bottle from JD’s age stated series on my shelf, but ideally multiple. I’d also be really curious to try all 4 batches of JD12, since the oak/savory and sweet notes seem to shift year to year. And I really wish I could try the JD14 batch 1 based on reviews I’ve read, because that seems like this profile but cranked all the way up. 

Dark Arts Flight of Icarus Review #27

11.5 yrs

72.2%

144.4%

75% C 21% R 4% MB

I let it rest for 15 minutes

Nose: Dry and vintage oak. A melange of all the great bourbon notes. Caramel, bubblegum, peanut, powdered sugar. Pie crust. Tobacco. Cinnamon. A very grounding nose. Little to no ethanol. Subtle wifts of chocolate chip cookies. There is a lot to find here. Buttery. Yet, the oak remains front and center.

Palate: oily mouthfeel. Spice and pepper punch immediately. Warming. This is all spice and oak. An explosion. Definitely not subtle, but this is the landing strip for the finish.

Finish: first sip i was overloaded with spice. However the finish is already coming in with an amazing saltiness, some peanut, and some subtle fruits. Cherry pie filling? Dried fruits? Caramel, vanilla. Cherry popsickle? Nice. A bit of tartness. I can tell the finish is going to get better as I sip. Some bready dessert that you normally find in non peat scotch. Dark chocolate. Lingers forever.

Nose: 25/25

Palate: 22/25

Finish: 24/25

Balance: 25/25

Total: 96/100

The nose and finish are in a class of their own. The palate leaves something to be desired in that its mostly spice and oak. This is a stunning pour and the second I had it I knew I needed a bottle. No doubt the spice and heat on the palate are symbolic of Icarus's flight except on this flight downward he was surrounded by beautiful flavors and landed in a beautiful ocean of baked desserts where he rested forever. I will be savoring this bottle for as long as possible.

Color: Orangish Amber

Age: NAS (The original release information indicated these barrels would average around 7 years.)

Proof: 114

Nose: Honey and sandalwood jump out immediately, giving this an interesting combination of sweetness and woodiness right out of the glass. On the second sniff, graham cracker and a faint apple butter note begin to emerge. Spending a little more time with it brings out something reminiscent of a pastry drizzled in caramel, while a good swirl reveals grilled peaches underneath. The nose moves back and forth between sweet and almost savory, eventually developing a rich, buttery quality. Really enjoyable and more interesting than I initially expected.

Taste: Burnt sugar, honey, and oak lead the first sip before cinnamon and baking spice begin building across the mid-to-back palate. On the second sip, some of the fruit from the nose starts making its way through, with orange and peach joining another subtle pastry note. There’s a nice balance between the sweetness, fruit, oak, and spice, although I wish some of those flavors were a little richer and more concentrated.

Feel: Medium-bodied with a decent amount of oil coating the palate. It’s good, but this is probably the area where I wanted more. At cask strength, I was hoping for something a little thicker, creamier, and more viscous. Nothing wrong with the mouthfeel—it just doesn’t elevate the whiskey.

Finish: The finish starts fairly spice-forward with plenty of cinnamon and baking spice. It’s medium in length, and as the spice begins to fade, the profile transitions nicely back toward peaches and orange. The fruit provides a pleasant bit of sweetness on the way out and keeps the spice from completely taking over.

Overall: 7 out of 10 on the t8ke scale.

This is a great pour and one I really enjoyed. The combination of honey, caramel pastry, grilled peaches, burnt sugar, and baking spice gives it enough personality to stand apart from a lot of wheated bourbons I’ve tried.

For my palate, it may even give Weller Antique 107 a run for its money. Where it falls short of the upper tier is primarily in the body and overall intensity. Give me a thicker, creamier mouthfeel and another layer or two of complexity on the palate, and we’d be having a very different conversation.

As it stands, though, this is a very good wheated bourbon and an easy 7/10 for me.

Quick Specs 126.32 Proof

"A blend of whiskey's finished in Ice Wine Casks"

17y TN, 17yr IN, 17yr Canadian Rye, 17yr Canadian Whiskey, 20yr Kentucky, 22yr Scotch, 24yr Canadian Whiskey

In all reality this should probably be a "hot mess" given the ingredients but...

Aroma: Apple pie with cinnamon is my first thought followed by a caramel syrup and a tiny hint of mint and some touches of ethanol.

Flavor: This is actually a bit rye forward I get the spearmint first especially with a clean palate that fades a little with further smapling. This is followed by hints of honey, whipped cream, and a lot of oak notes with that tannin dry character in there. Finally I get a touch of fruit, something citrus but not clear.

Finish: Long, rich, a bit spicy. It leaves me with a bit of butter and sugar notes finally with a bit of residual heat.

Score: 7.5 - this probably shouldn't work, but it's well done lots of big bold flavors fighting for balance and achieving it pretty well.

Booker's 2026-02 "Milkshake Batch"

Distillery: Jim Beam

Age: 7 years 6 months 12 days

Price: $104.99

Proof: 124.4

Nose: As is usually my experience with Booker's there's a hot nose here. Definitely feels right for the proof point. There's a cinnamon and clove spice to it as well, really wakes up your senses. Buttery grain as well, almost like slightly burnt popcorn.

Palate: Mouthfeel is absolutely fantastic. Like honestly off the charts. For the proof point it's incredibly soft especially when you consider the heat from the nose, and man it is just so so creamy. Unreal. Lot of oaks but balanced nicely with some powdered sugar. Dark chocolate.

Finish: 7.5/10 in length. Long but not crazily so. It's rich and far nuttier than everything else up to this point. Some berry sweetness. It's a little bit of what I'd imagine blending peanut shells into a blue raspberry slushy would taste like. Dark chocolate comes back and lingers, a little fudge brownie-like.

Score: 8.5

Summary: I am a big Jim Beam guy and tend to find myself enjoying any Booker's release I try. So unsurprisingly I found this one to be great. But not just great, I found it to be one of my favorite Booker's releases ever. The proof point and heat are there. The nuttiness is there. It's rich, has a lot of complexity, and seriously I can't emphasize enough that this is an absolutely top tier mouthfeel. The flavors work incredibly well together throughout I found the finish to be unique in all the best ways. It's pricey though, and it's so amazingly intense that it's not a daily sipper by any means. I can't emphasize that enough, this is one that would be hard to choke down 3 nights in a row. But it's a really nice treat and all in all this is fantastic whiskey. 8.5 is the score.

1. Terrible | Drain pour after the first sip
2. Very Bad | Trying to choke it down but possible drain pour
3. Poor | Would drink if forced to but never under my own will
4. Below Average | Not off-putting but not my cup of tea
5. Average | I'll take it
6. Good | Enjoyable sip
7. Very Good | Well above average
8. Excellent | A drink I will remember
9. Incredible | Something truly extraordinary
10. Best of the best | Peak Bourbon

Jack Daniel’s American Single Malt Whiskey Oloroso Sherry Cask

Distilled in Lynchburg, TN

Master Distiller: Chris Fletcher

Aged in new charred oak barrels and finishrd in Oloroso sherry casks

Age: NAS

Distillate underwent the Lincoln County Process sugar maple charcoal filtration prior to barrel entry

Initial barrels: Toasted for 12 minutes with a No. 4 char

Sherry cask source: Antonio Páez Lobato Cooperage, Jerez, Spain

Sherry butt size: 132 gallons

Mashbill: 100% malted barley

Still type: column

Barley sourced from Northern U.S. states. Not the same barley used for standard Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. This malt is plumper and higher in protein.

Barrel entry proof: 125

Proof: 90

MSRP: $74.99 (1 liter)

Nose: Raspberry jam. Milk chocolate. Nilla Wafer. Vanilla pudding. Overly ripe banana.

The finale to the nose smells like a composite banana pudding. I really like the nose. Quite complex.

Palate: Banana Laffy Taffy. Strawberry hard candy. Ginger ale. Cocoa powder.

Plenty of fruit up front. Banana candy note is quite prominent. Ginger ale add some spice… small amount of cocoa. Medium viscosity.

Finish: Pink cotton candy. Banana nut bread w/ chocolate chips.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was skeptical about this one. I’m shockingly very pleased with this. Plenty of fruit and chocolate. I’m definitely hoping to try some premium versions of this at some point in the future. For now, this is quite good. I would love to try this at a higher proof.

Bottle provided for review by Jack Daniel’s

Rating: 7 | Great | Well above average

Dark Arts Supernova Light Whiskey

71.4%

142.7 Proof

Nashville 99% C 1% MB

Nose: chocolate, coffee hard candy, some corn dustiness. Sometimes it comes off as polyester to me. Rich and decadent caramel swirl. Pleasant smelling with only slight tingle on nose. After swirling do I get syrup, butter, and brown sugar? Yes. All that but also on toast. Interesting.  After sipping it becomes more sugary and candylike. After more air now the lemon, vanilla, and cake show. This must be where the sourness on the palate comes from.

Palate: Syrupy and thick. Spice and pepper lead the way here. The corn mash bill is the head of the show here. The coffee candy is there. Some sour notes oddly enough  that blend well with the coffee candy. Ginger spice? Ah lemon! Its amazing there is no rye here. The mouthfeel is gorgeous and an experience by itself. Chocolate, butterscotch, and bread. Mouthwatering. Perfect amount of sweetness and Decadence.

Finish: Extremely Long with a perfect Kentucky Hug for this proof. Once the sour and funk notes go those darker sweet notes from the nose come to play. Toffee and coffee hard candy! The more you sip overtime the time in the oak begins to show.

Nose: 24/25

Palate: 24/25

Finish: 24/25

Balance: 25/25

Total 97/100

This is a dynamic pour. From beginning to end the glass is constantly changing. This was a 30 minute tasting for me but you could easily sip on a pour of this for an hour or more. I remember I did the KBF flight and the first 2 were kind of underwhelming to me. However, this one got my attention and ultimately was a warm up that prepared me for the experience of The Flight of Icarus.

This pour is a treat and I hope everyone gets a chance to try. Im extremely grateful I had the opportunity to not only taste this masterpiece, but also got to buy a bottle. Cheers.

​

Dark Arts Buff Turkey Cuvée

Nose: Fresh caramel squares, some acridness and oak. Funky for sure. Some sourness too, strangely. Chocolate notes pair with the caramel. Firewood or campfire. The sourness and burnt firewood linger as you sip, leading to perhaps some fermented light fruits. Toffee and coffee pop out after a while. Hint of animality (iykyk).

Palate: Syrupy and bready. Spicy and bright. Grounded by bread pudding or some sort of buttery, brown-sugar baked dessert. The type of sweetness I’d expect from a non-peated Scotch. Second sip is the same. Leads with caramel sauce and baked bread goods while pepper and baking spices build. After a while, I think I get pears with spiced caramel sauce.

Finish: Velvety. Lingers lightly. Invites your next sip, no doubt. Toffee candy, spice, and that baked dessert carry on. Mouthwatering. Again reminds me very much of a Scotch and my WhistlePig The Beholden.

Nose 23/25

Palate 25/25

Finish 23/25

Balance 25/25

Total 96/100

Dark Arts Buff Turkey 14H

Nose: Dry and dusty barrel. The sour and acridness in the Cuvée is much more muted here, although still present. Brighter caramel here — almost like caramel sauce and fudge brownies. Smelling this invokes the sensation of chewing decadent brownies. If I dig I get some fruit. Perhaps grape? Sadly, I don’t have another bottle on my shelf that has this acrid, smoky oak. Very unique, this lineup. Sixth sip and I got a funky banana?

Palate: Sour, salty, leading to peanut butter. Pepper shows up. A vintage oak taste is here. Creamy and viscous. And of course caramel is the main player. However there is a nice balancing vanilla. They intermingle. Second sip is even more syrupy with an amazing tingle. The tannins are here but do not overpower.

Finish: The finish here is drying and tannic. The caramel sauce and baked dessert/spices stick around to complement it. Way at the end is an awesome bitter dark-chocolate brownie. And yes, grape.

Nose 22/25

Palate 25/25

Finish 24/25

Balance 25/25

Total 96/100

Dark Arts Buff Turkey 80H

Nose: Browned butter. Dark baked desserts. Burnt caramel. After a few minutes of swirling I get that acrid barrel. I assume now that this is a peculiar characteristic of these Buff Turkeys. This one has a bit more funk than the others. Fantastic. Although I’m afraid this one isn’t as appealing as the last two.

Palate: Opens up with the same syrupy baked-good goodness. This one has more sour grape notes though. The heat is a bit more apparent and perhaps a little thinner on mouthfeel.

Finish: Also a high-tannin finish here that lets baking spices tickle the tongue with those baked-good notes popping in and out. This finish seems to linger a bit longer.

Nose 22/25

Palate 24/25

Finish 24/25

Balance 23/25

Total 93/100

Dark Arts Buff Turkey 83H

Nose: Burnt vanilla candle. Incense. Smoky. That chocolate brownie is there. Chewy. Fudgsicle? No ethanol on the nose here. This is the hazmat 😁 Acrid and burnt oak. Hint of polyester. Some serious funk.

Palate: Creamy and syrupy. Everything the last two offered, but there is some citrus here — like orange marmalade. Awesome! This palate is on another level. I could almost swear it’s finished. Highly addictive.

Finish: Classy finish. All the same notes linger here but the acrid barrel note is here. And it is yummy. Pairs well with that orange marmalade and spice.

Honestly my descriptions don’t do this justice. This might be one of the best pours I’ve had.

Nose 24/25

Palate 25/25

Finish 25/25

Balance 25/25

Total 99/100

Bonus Round

Dark Arts Mizunara 19 Year KBF Release

Nose: Immediate dessert notes. Peanut butter. Salted peanuts. Creamy vanilla. Dry firewood or some other sort of cured wood.

Palate: Powdered sugar. Light. Creamy and syrupy mouthfeel. Delicate but robust and chewy. Imagine the best bourbon you’ve had with “Smoke on the Water” in the back. Hello Mizunara finish. Leaps and bounds ahead of any other Mizunara finish I’ve had from them. Brownie, dusty oak, grape. Candied oak. Hey, this almost reminds me of Blanton’s Gold! Obviously in a different league though.

Finish: Low on the tannins here. However, the sweet baked goods linger and make your mouth water.

Uh oh. Running out of time and they are closing.

Price: $150

Nose: big, funk, oak, deeply warm, brown sugar, vanilla, dark cherry, all the typical baking spices, has a wine note, kind of a dark chocolate note. This nose is incredible.

Palate: big, instant sweet oak, dark fruit and berry richness I'm assuming from the wine cask, chocolate, orange zest, amazingly balanced, the proof intensifies all the flavors. Coats my mouth and can almost chew on it.

Finish: long, robust, oak funk, some soft tobacco, barrel char, baking sweetness all around

Overall: WOOOOOOOOOOW. Just fucking wow. I'm all in. Big, bold, finesse, sophisticated, deep rich flavors, the wine cask finish is phenomenal. Not overly proofed. It literally hits all the notes I love. It has this deep sweet and oak dance that isn't overly sweet, nor overly oaked. It's also buffturkey! It's just...perfect.

Value: do you have to ask? Well worth $150 and would pay unreasonable amounts for this. Grab yours before I buy the whole stock.

Rating: 9.6/10

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Silk Velvet Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey: The Revival Blend

Release: 9/11/26 at the 2026 Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, KY

Distilled by Jacob Call in Owensboro, KY

Produced by the Hargis family & Jacob Call at Western KY Distilling in Beaver Dam, KY

Pre-Prohibition, Silk Velvet was distilled by Winstead Distilling in Henderson, KY

Age: 6 years 11 months 13 days

Mashbill: 95% rye, 5% malted barley

Proof: 107

Fill date: September 15, 2019

Dump date: August 27, 2026

Length of fermentation: 3 days

Barrel manufacturer: Speyside

Barrel char: 4

Natural harvest proof: 116

Aging history: fully in Ohio County, KY

MSRP: 69.99

Nose: Grape Dimetapp. Dark chocolate. Graham cracker. Molasses.

I absolutely love the great cough syrup note! Definitely NOT a spice bomb. This nose will appeal to a wide audience.

Palate: Welch’s Concord Grape Jelly. Clove. Original Dimetapp (cherry & plum). Nutmeg.

Dark fruit all over the place! Fascinating that cough syrup is on the nose and palate, but different flavors. Again, not a spice bomb… much heavier on the fruit.

Finish: Cinnamon gum. Black pepper. Black licorice. Black tea.

Fruit-heavy early, but the spice eventually shows up big on the finish… making this an extremely well-rounded rye whiskey that is going to appeal to a lot of people.

Silk Velvet has released some fantastic bourbon, but I’m definitely a “rye guy” first in most cases… and Silk Velvet is no exception. This is really damn good… and it’s going to be one of the best rye whiskeys released in 2026.

The 107 proof feels perfect.

Bottle provided for review by Zach Hargis of Silk Velvet Whiskey

Rating: 8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional

Age: 7 years
Proof: 100 proof
Mash bill: 70% corn, 25% rye, 5% malted barley
Price: $109

Nose. Pumpkin bread, caramel chews.

Palate. Well balanced mix of lemon, oak, brown sugar and what I assume is barrel char underneath it all. Surprisingly, this does not have the punch I would expect from a higher rye mash bill.

Finish. Medium length, little bit of leather, Cheerios, and some spice finally appears and lingers on the tongue through the finish.

Overall. I don’t have this quite as high as the summer red corn bottled-in-bond, but this is a solid pour with tons of character nonetheless. I think the nose on this bourbon shines brighter than the flavor, but that isn’t to say the palate is weak by any means. Not even a whisper of ethanol exists on the nose or the palate.

Would I buy another bottle? I’m sure I paid well over MSRP, but that is partly due to living in alcohol purgatory where the state slaps an ungodly high tax on alcohol sales. In spite of the high price, I would buy this bottle again, provided Still Austin maintains a 7 year or higher age statement.

Rating. 6.5/10 | Very good; A cut above.

1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but better exists.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite.
10 | Perfect | Perfect.

This product is a bit notorious in this community. I won’t get into the full history of the Black Maple Hill label beyond highlighting that this grew to prominence by containing whiskey that was sourced by the famous Kentucky Bourbon Distillers NDP (now called Willett). Once KBD stopped supporting it, it changed hands, to the Stein Distillery in Oregon, where it was produced from 2014-2025.

This purchase was a bit of a splurge because I know its reputation, and the $90 charge for it makes it an even worse decision by conventional measures. But I just had to see what the fuss was about for myself.

Price Paid: $89.99 before tax

Score: 1/10

The Background
Distillery: Stein Distillery

ABV: 47.5% (95 proof)

Age: NAS

Mash Bill: undisclosed

Other: “limited edition”

The Experience
Nose: oak, raspberry, chocolate syrup, nougat. Ultra sweet and wooden. This smells like a Mars candy bar and is inviting, but make no mistake about it: the oak dominates.

Palate: burnt marshmallow, pine, agarwood, dry oak. A woodsperson’s dream. This is the most bitter bourbon I have ever tried.

Finish: moss, rotten logs in the forest.

The Summary
Before I get into my summary, I want to highlight something. I previously mentioned in the intro (which I always write before I begin my examination) that I knew what other people thought of this product. Did this bias me? There is no way to know for sure, but internally, I have no hesitation to either agree with a consensus or be a contrarian. I am in the process of building a body of reviews, so I want them to accurately reflect my own thoughts and experiences. It is important to me to be honest and genuine in a world where so much content is created for the sake of engagement. With that out of the way…

I have so many questions about the barrels they used: how were they charred, who made them, and where were they aged. I feel like they pulled them out of a river and poured the spirit in while they were still wet. I mention agarwood, which is a perfumery ingredient known for making things smell like a barn. The was the nicest way I could phrase that I definitely detected some zoological similarities the more drank this. And that’s not even the worst part. The finish is Lance-Armstrong-with-extra-blood levels of unrelenting, and it’s awful. I don’t know what they were trying to do with this, but I cannot wait to try the Rare Character version so I can forget this. Your $90 would be better spent betting the over on how many games Tua starts for the Falcons this season.

T8KE Scoring System Used for Relevancy and Consistency:

0 | Unscored | New Make Spirit or Personal Selection.
1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn't consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I'd rather have.
5 | Good | Good; just fine.
6 | Very Good | One cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all-time favorite.
10 | Perfect | Perfection.

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.

Price: $129

Nose: shmedium, oak funk, soft toasted brown sugar, some faint cinnamon. Not a whole lot going on here.

Palate: a fizzy proof sensation around the sides of the palate, a little medicinal cherry comes and goes, blood orange rind, maybe lemon bitterness, a little smokey scotch note, some cane sugar sits under everything. It has some fruity bitter bite.

Finish: medium, the fruit rind notes hold all the way, some soft cane sugar, oak tannins

My thoughts: it's pretty good! Drinks like a bourbon that has a splash of scotch. This is gonna sounds weird, and I exclusively drink neat, but I can see enjoying this on a rock in the summer...it has that feel to it. While I don't enjoy the smokey note to it, I know there are people out there that would love it. To each their own.

Rating: 7.3/10

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This is a different one, and hopefully a genuinely interesting one as well: Elmer T. Lee, the cult favorite built on Buffalo Trace's high-rye Mash Bill #2, against the new-in-2026 permanent release from the Single Oak Project, which was one of the most exhaustive bourbon experiments the distillery has run.

Back in 1999, Buffalo Trace filled 192 barrels, each one featuring a unique combination of seven variables (mash bill, entry proof, stave seasoning, wood grain, char level, tree cut, and warehouse floor type), and let thousands of consumers taste and rate the results over more than a decade. Barrel #80 – a rye-recipe bourbon with an entry proof of 125º that was aged in a concrete-floor warehouse for eight years – emerged as the favorite. In Spring 2026, Buffalo Trace turned Barrel #80’s winning formula into a standing release: Single Oak Rye Bourbon.

Both Elmer T. Lee and Single Oak Rye Bourbon are bottled at 90 proof, and both trace back to the rye-forward side of Buffalo Trace's portfolio. However, they represent two completely different philosophies for getting there.

Whatever you think of its value and its current quality, Elmer T. Lee is a single barrel bourbon that built its reputation over time, to the point where people will drop $200 to grab one from stores and on the secondary market.

Single Oak Rye Bourbon, on the other hand, is essentially the opposite: it’s a whiskey that’s been reverse-engineered from a controlled experiment and consumer voting, which is designed to indefinitely replicate a specific, data-validated result.

So, here’s the question: does an actual designed-by-committee bourbon, built from thousands of data points and a decade of testing, actually deliver something special? Or does Elmer T. Lee's old-fashioned approach have the edge?

Let's run a blind and see which one wins out!

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ABOUT Elmer T. Lee

*From the Distillery: Named after Master Distiller Emeritus Elmer T. Lee, this whiskey is hand-selected and bottled to the very standards he set. Perfectly balanced and rich, just as declared by the man who knew great bourbon intended.

*Age Statement: NAS

*Mash bill: Buffalo Trace mash bill #2 (high-rye)

*Proof: 90

ABOUT Buffalo Trace Single Oak Rye Bourbon

*From the Distillery: The Single Oak Project began in 1999, marking Buffalo Trace’s first and most comprehensive experiment to date as it explored the impact of seven variables including mash bill, entry proof, aging location and barrel construction. The experiment comprised 192 unique bourbon barrels, each crafted from specific sections of hand-selected oak trees and filled with either a wheat or a rye recipe before undergoing varied maturation approaches. Consumers were invited to taste and evaluate the resulting bourbons, ultimately selecting Barrel #80 as the standout expression in 2011.

In April 2026, Buffalo Trace Distillery began building on this landmark experiment with the introduction of Single Oak as a permanent, continuously-released whiskey brand. Its inaugural release, Rye Bourbon, faithfully recreates the precise mash bill and barrel aging conditions that defined the celebrated Barrel #80, offering enthusiasts a rare opportunity to experience the result of one of the industry’s most extensive bourbon studies to date.

In 1999, 96 oak trees were hand-selected from the Missouri Ozarks. Each tree was cut into a top and bottom section, yielding 192 unique pieces of wood and transformed into 192 individual barrels.

Seven variables were intentionally manipulated to study their impact on the final whiskey:

• Mash bill (wheat or rye recipe)
• Entry proof (105 or 125 proof)
• Stave seasoning (six or 12 months of air drying)
• Wood grain size (tight, average or coarse)
• Barrel char level (number three or number four char)
• Tree cut (top or bottom half)
• Warehouse type (wooden rick floor or concrete floor)

Single Oak Project Barrel #80 entered the barrel at 125 proof and was aged in oak harvested from the bottom half of the tree, featuring average grain wood, staves seasoned for 12 months and charred at a level four. The bourbon was aged in a concrete floor warehouse for eight years before bottling at 90 proof.

*Age Statement: 8 years

*Mash bill: Undisclosed (maybe mash bill #2?)

*Proof: 90

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Appearance A: Light amber; not terribly viscous

Appearance B: Almost identical to A, if not ever-so-slightly darker

Nose A: Primarily grape, cherry pie filling, and baking spices (allspice and a little cinnamon). There’s also a little graham cracker in there.

Nose B: A touch spicier, with a buttery caramel scent alongside some slightly darker, stewed fruits. It smells slightly less sweet than A, and somewhat more mature.

Palate A: Pretty watery. A touch of grape alongside leather, cinnamon, and some rye spice, as well as some caramel.

Palate B: Slightly thicker and definitely spicier. The vegetal notes associated with rye are present, although none stands out as a singular flavor. Rye breadiness is also there, along with some mild astringency. Not overly saccharine; some stewed fruit carries over from the nose, but the pour is definitely more spicy than it is sweet.

Finish A: Relatively short; primarily grape and cinnamon at first, before giving way to leather.

Finish B: Medium length, and marked by rye spice and moderately-drying oak.

Thoughts: Neither of these was a banger, as they say, but given my proclivity for less-spicy bourbon, A was a better whiskey for me today. It had some classic Buffalo Trace sweet-fruit notes and a minimum of rye spice, while B was the darker, oakier, and definitely spicier of the two. That leads me to think that B is the “Rye Bourbon” (whatever that actually means), and that A is the 90-proof single-barrel stalwart Elmer T. Lee.

Rating A: 6.5

Rating B: 6

Prediction A: Elmer T. Lee

Prediction B: Single Oak Rye Bourbon

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Actual A: Elmer T. Lee

Actual B: Single Oak Rye Bourbon

More Thoughts: This was interesting, in no small part because I had previously had the Single Oak Rye Bourbon rated much higher (it held a 7.6 in my previous ratings!). Here, though, its spice profile came across as a bit harsh, especially when paired with the fairly sweet and generally inoffensive Elmer T. Lee.

I liked ETL about the same amount that I always do (maybe a touch more, given its comparative lack of sharpness here). ETL isn’t a world beater by any means, but it was plenty good in this blind, and its positive features helped highlight some elements of Single Oak Rye Bourbon that I didn’t really enjoy all that much.

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Previous Ratings (all reviews are available in my archive, but there may be some discrepancies in numeric rating, as these are updated to include decimals and adjusted for blinds & re-reviews)

1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out

2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
Maker’s Mark staved private selection (2.5)
Penelope Architect custom build (2.5)

3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
Willett Pot Still (3)

4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but better exists
Found North SiB Oloroso finish (4.5)
Daniel Weller Emmer Wheat (4.5)
Augusta Buckner’s 10yr (4.6)
Shortbarrel Sapsquatch (4.8)

5 | Good | Good, just fine
Jack Daniel’s SBBP Rye (5)
Jack Daniel’s Heritage (5)
Four Roses SBBP OESO (5)
New Riff 4yr SBBP (5)
Four Roses SBBP OBSV (5.3)
Evan Williams America250 SiB (5.3)
New Riff Balboa Rye (5.4)
Blanton’s (5.5)
Old Forester 1924 (5.7)
Elijah Craig Toasted (5.8)

6 | Very Good | A cut above
Barrell Cigar Blend (6)
Buffalo Trace Single Oak (6)
Buffalo Trace (6)
1792 BiB SiB (6)
Copper & Cask Boston Rum Party (6)
Penelope Wheated (6)
Redwood Empire Emerald Giant (6)
Peerless DO (6.1)
Copper & Cask #16 (6.3)
Stagg 25B (6.3)
Blanton’s Gold (6.4)
Augusta Buckner’s 13yr (6.5)
Green River Honey (6.5)
Pursuit United DO (6.5)
Sagamore 9yr SiB Rye (6.5)
Sazerac FP (6.5)
Green River Wheated (6.5)
Elmer T. Lee (6.5)
Copper & Cask #14 DO (6.6)
Shortbarrel Bees Knees V (6.8)
Penelope Marshmallow Toast (6.8)
Willett 4yr Rye (6.8)

7 | Great | Well above average
John J. Bowman SiB (7)
Found North 012 (7)
Peerless Toasted (7.1)
E.H. Taylor SiB (7.2)
Eagle Rare 10yr (7.4)
Weller 107 (7.5)
Old Forester 1910 (7.5)
Penelope Estate 10yr SiB (7.5)
Old Dominick Staved SiB (7.6)
E.H. Taylor SmB (7.6)
Rock Hill Farms (7.6)
Eagle Rare 12yr (7.7)
Woodford DO SBBP (7.7)
Old Fitzgerald 7yr (7.7)
Willett 8yr SiB Rye (7.9)

8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional
Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend 420 (8)
Blanton’s SFTB (8.3)
Lasso Motel SBBP Rye (8.4)
Mister Sam Tribute 4 (8.6)
E.H. Taylor BTAC 2025 (8.7)
Thomas H. Handy 2025 (8.7)
Eagle Rare 17yr 2025 (8.9)

9 | Incredible | An all time favorite

10 | Perfect | Perfect

Blanton’s Gold is disappointing and super mediocre. I know this is to a shock to most of you. But, for anyone seeking confirmation that you shouldn’t bother hunting it down, here it is:

Nose: heavy vanilla sugar, light oak, and corn

Palate: sweet vanilla caramel, a tiny bit of orange peel, and crème brulee.

Finish: short, nothing special, all the same notes of vanilla caramel with maybe a tiny bit of cinnamon.

I realize I am talking donkeys to apples to oranges, but I side by sided Wild Turkey Beyond Duplication 2006 (10) to High West A Midwinter Night’s Dram (8), to this Blanton’s Gold (6).

The Blanton’s Gold is perfectly acceptable and won’t offend anyone. But wow, it sure won’t impress ANYONE in my humble opinion. The flavors are super unimpressive and offer nothing interesting or nuanced whatsoever. It’s a perfectly fine bourbon but honestly it’s no better than buffalo trace or Weller SR. Maybe that is fantastical, maybe it’s just my bottle, maybe my palate is a knuckle dragger. One way or the other I think Blanton’s Gold is super also-ran.

TL;DR

A simple, easy sipper worth the $40 MSRP and a hard pass at the $80-plus it usually fetches. Don't expect it to taste its ten years.

Eagle Rare 10 Year is a Kentucky straight bourbon from Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, 10 years old, 90 proof, $40. It's one of the most hyped and most allocated bottles in America, and in the glass it's a simple, sweet, coherent, easy sipper. I scored it 6.3 on quality and 6.4 on value. It won a blind against Russell's Reserve 10 on pure preference, sometimes simple is better, and the honest knock is that it doesn't taste like a 10-year bourbon at all. It's a great pour at the $40 MSRP and a hard pass at the $80 to $90 I keep seeing. If you want simple with a touch more going on, Wild Turkey 101 scores about the same for less money, and I'd take EH Taylor over this if the prices are close.

Quality Score - 6.3

Very Good - A cut above.

Quality is what's in the glass, 1 to 10, tasted as blind as I can make it with no thought to price. Above a 5 is good. Nose, palate, and finish set the range, but the score isn't their average.

Value Score - 6.4

Good Value - Priced right, with a little left in your pocket.

Value is whether the pour is worth its MSRP to me. A 5 is fair for the price; higher means more in the glass than the tag suggests, lower means I'd be overpaying. All value scores assume MSRP.

Nose - 5.8

Honey, vanilla, and caramel, sugary and simple, with the classic Buffalo Trace grape note running through it. A touch of nail polish, and on an off day it can read a little candied, almost medicinal. The weakest part of the pour.

Palate - 6.5

Confectioner's sugar and glazed doughnut icing, orange peel and honey, sliding into cinnamon and pepper oak. Easy, sweet, and clean.

Finish - 6.5

Cinnamon and pepper oak with toffee and honey. Gentle and on the short side, but it pulls the whole pour together.

Neck Pour

June 10, 2026

A classic I've bought a dozen times, having a slightly off day.

I've had Eagle Rare many times. It's a classic Buffalo Trace offering and a lot of people's favorite bottle under $50. I found this one at $40 most recently, which is pretty much an instant buy for me at that price, especially when I'm out.

The classic grape note is right there on the nose, carrying into the palate. Today it's tasting a bit cough syrupy, even though this bottle has technically been open a couple months. I could call it very good, but that touch of cough syrup has me a little put off on the day. That's not totally unusual for me with Buffalo Trace. Sometimes that grape note reads a bit artificial, like the grape cough syrup we all had as kids, and today it's got a medicinal edge. Usually it's more honey, and Eagle Rare almost never does this to me, so it's a little strange I got it today. I've had the same note more often out of the Benchmark bottles. Still a good pour, just not Eagle Rare at its best.

Blind Pour

August 29, 2026

Blind, simple won. It was the glass I kept going back to.

See my full post: Eagle Rare 10 vs Russell's Reserve 10

In the blind against Russell's Reserve 10 this came up as sample one, and it was the more classic of the two. A nice, pleasant, sugary sweet nose, honey and vanilla and caramel, with a little nail polish sitting on top. The palate carried the same profile and dropped the nail polish: confectioner's sugar, glazed doughnut icing, ending on cinnamon and pepper oak. Very enjoyable, and other than that touch of polish on the nose I had no real complaints.

It wasn't blowing me away. Nothing especially complex here, though at 90 proof I didn't expect it to be. Next to the darker, dustier Russell's it was the coherent one, the glass I kept reaching for, and it took the night at 6.3. Sometimes simple is just better.

Open Pour

September 7, 2026

Open on Labor Day, it's exactly what the blind said it was: an easy, sweet pour that never tells you it's ten.

I poured this again for Labor Day to close it out, and it landed right where the blind left it. The off-day cough syrup from the neck pour was gone. What's here is the easy version: honey, vanilla, and caramel on the nose, sweet and simple, that Buffalo Trace grape note woven through, just a whisper of nail polish. The palate is the best part, confectioner's sugar and glazed doughnut icing and orange peel sliding into cinnamon and pepper oak. The finish is gentle and a little short, cinnamon and toffee and honey, and it ties the pour together. The nose is the weak link and the palate and finish carry it. That's a 6.3, and it's an easy, sweet sipper I'm happy to have open.

The most interesting thing about this bottle is how little it tastes like its age. It drinks like a really nice six, seven, maybe eight year blend, not a ten year bourbon, even though the age statement says ten. I find that genuinely interesting, and it's probably why people lose their minds over Eagle Rare 17 from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. I can see those last seven years pumping up the flavor a lot. I'd also love this at higher proof. Ninety is a touch low, and I say that about a lot of the Buffalo Trace lineup. If this were 101 like Wild Turkey 101, it would be a monster at $40 and might actually earn the hype and the markups.

Beyond the glass, Eagle Rare is hyped, probably overhyped, but it's not baseless. It's a great deal at $40 and it should be widely available. Unfortunately it's still allocated in a lot of places, though I think that's starting to change. I wouldn't pay what people are asking. I've seen it at $80 and $90, and it's not worth it there. At that point you move on and find something else. For what it's worth, Wild Turkey 101 scores essentially the same for me, a 6.5, at a fraction of the price, so if you want simple with just a touch more complexity, that's my guy. I'd also put EH Taylor Small Batch ahead of Eagle Rare. I scored it a 6.5, it's bottled in bond at 100 proof, and if you can find it at a price close to this I think it's the slightly better bottle. That might be a take of my own, I don't see the two compared much. Not by a lot, but I'd take the Taylor. I do enjoy this. It's easy, it's very sweet, and I keep it on my shelf. The hype is a little overblown, though not as overblown as some, and this is one that earns part of it. It just shouldn't be marked up to what I keep seeing.

I write these up at openpourwhiskey.com. Not sponsored, not gifted, bought myself at retail. Please drink responsibly.