Ancient Age (80 Proof)

Begin disclosures: 1 - I am a bit of a Buffalo Trace fanboy. I do not own a giant bronze Buffalo, retailing at around $400 at buffalotracegiftshop.com, but as you might’ve guessed, I’ve considered it. 2 - Once one enters the “BT fanboy refreshers tent” and drinks the Kool-aid, one discovers sub-genres of fandom. Inside the BT tent, I am 100% a BT mash bill #2 fanboy. Elmer T Lee, Rock Hill Farms, Blanton’s, Hancock’s, and (you guessed it) Ancient Age. The other 4 on that list range from “I like this” to “this is one of my all time favorites.” Although this is NAS, word on the street is that this juice is aged around 3 years. This makes sense on a few levels, so I buy it. 3 - I am firmly on team “cost should factor into a rating”. A whiskey can be objectively better than another and still receive a lower score because most of us aren’t that asshole who posts Facebook videos where he mixes Pappy with Surge. Value matters. 4 - No stores near me carry this, which is absurd given some of the obscure stuff they do carry. I paid $15.99 + tax + $10 shipping to get this 1 liter from an online liquor store out of CA. I do not regret this decision. End disclosures. Nose is bitter and sour. I get almonds, walnuts, and lemon. I can understand why one might say cherry, but I’d stick with lemon personally. A bit of yeast and cedar, but those notes aren’t as intense as they are in Jack, Beam, or Woodinville, to name a few. Body has orange, maple syrup, caramel, and powdered sugar. That orange to powdered sugar has a sweet tarts vibe that I am really enjoying. It’s juicy, sweet, and delicious. I could see how one might say apple on the body, but I’d stick with orange. Finish is yeast, pepper, and banana. This is the first place where it really becomes obvious to me that this is necessarily younger juice. Could do without the finish, but that’s okay. I’ll just drink it faster. I mean, it’s like $0.50/oz, so why not? This whiskey is simple, young, and tasty. It’s on my shortlist for best whiskey under $20, and it’s my current favorite whiskey in an Old Fashioned. You can mix this with no regrets, but you can also drink this neat. I can see the connections to the other whiskeys in mash bill #2, and perhaps a good bit of my enjoyment here comes from the fact that this is a study piece for me. In particular, I can see the relationship to Blanton’s gold (the nuttiness and sweet tarts bit) and Hancock’s (the juicy and fruity bit). I know that I’m biased towards this whiskey, but if you’re a fan of BT mash bill #2, I don’t know how you could avoid appreciating this on some level. This shouldn’t be anyone’s favorite whiskey, but it deserves better than the community rating here, especially when the world is flooded with craft distilleries making inferior juice at 4 times the cost. Would recommend to any friend who’s into mash bill #2, BT in general, lower cost bourbons, or good mixers for an Old Fashioned.

Rating: 11/23 I hear a lot of praise here and there for both this and Early Times (which weirdly both have names that mean pretty much the same thing). I got Early Times, didn't like it, and then it grew on me. It still isn't good whiskey, but I was intrigued, so I grabbed a bottle of this as well. Let's see how it is. N: It has a lighter nose than Early times does, with a bit more spices and cereal, but less oil and fruit. There's this lightly malty creaminess to the nose as well. Being faint and light, the result is thoroughly uninspiring. There isn't any problem with alcohol presence though. P: I get some caramel here, but it's generally a pretty light palate. There's a lightness to the caramel that makes me think a bit of just sugar and it comes with a faint cereal note that blends nicely into the mild, smooth creaminess. There's some vanilla in with the creaminess and a light, faintly fruity tartness rounding out the palate along side a nice dash of spices. The mouthfeel is moderate, which works well enough. This isn't awful by any means, but this is one of those ones that is more of an introductory bourbon or the type of thing that you throw in a mass-produced cocktail for a party. It actually reminds me a bit of a scotch, strangely enough with this soft creaminess. The light flavors aren't really anything I particularly like and it's hotter than Early Times despite being more lightly flavored, but it still doesn't have much alcohol presence despite its mild flavor, so that's quite nice. F: The creaminess lingers. This is possibly the best part of the experience because the creaminess just lingers on and on. The tartness stays at first, but it quickly drops out. There's some vanilla and a light general sweetness from the caramel lingering as well. This is a different experience than Early Times, but both fill the niche of a $10 mild bourbon that is friendly for new drinkers and easy enough to just drink if you really don't want to analyze your beverage. I'm pretty on the fence between them, but I'm currently leaning a hair toward Ancient Age. Ancient Age does better if I haven't had anything to drink right before it. Early Times, on the other hand, benefits from its full oiliness if it has to compete with a more robust bourbon, such as Wild Turkey 101, preceding it. I'm thinking 9 to 11 on this. A 10 to 11 seems most appropriate since I like it a little bit better than Early Times. I think the gap is large enough that I need to go with 11.

Rating: 11/23 N: Sweet with some cotton candy and a bit of that sour mash. There's a bit of alcohol, but also some complexity to dig into. P: There's a sort of dusty corn sweetness that brings in a light cotton candy flavor. I get a bit of wood, but really just enough to add a light flavoring. There's a little bit of caramel, like the cotton candy was overcooked a bit (though not more than slightly burned). The spices are there just enough to add some flavor in with the light sour mash tartness. This isn't really harsh, but there is a bit of a burn. F: It's a pretty light finish. The sour mash lingers with that bit of caramel sweetness created from the sweet corn's combination with the light wood. - Conclusion - Early Times is smoother, but a bit stranger in its profile. This kind of just tastes like a very youthful bourbon (nearly white dog). While that isn't usually what I'd look for, it's kind of a fun thing to have around and consider from time to time. It's a close call between this and Early Times, but I feel like there's some aspect of the fundamentals in which this wins because Early Times doesn't quite manage to tell a compelling narrative of why it has its strange flavor profile. I think this still earns an 11.

Rating: 11/23 N: There's this light spiciness with some orange zest. I get some light caramel from the wood and some corn, but it's quite light. A faint whiff of a musty grain, like it's been sitting in a slightly warm warehouse for a day or so. P: It's sweet and light with some orange, ethanol, light caramel, and corn with a bit of malted barley. It's soft an easy to sip. I can't remember the mashbill on this one, but I'd guess it's a wheater or possibly made with a sweet mash. F: It's a mellow finish. The alcohol comes out a bit more here, but it isn't overwhelming. The orange, grain, and light caramel all fade gently. This is still a weird, but fun bourbon. I like it just as much as I did before. I'm not sure it's a great mixer, but it's weirdly fun to sip for its price and immaturity. The lack of harshness really makes this work even though the alcohol still shows through. I'm going to stick with my previous 11. Honestly though, if you'd ask me what kind of whiskey this was, I probably wouldn't have guessed bourbon. Some sort of corn-based Japanese would have been most likely.

A very mild, classic bourbon nose that’s a tad on the green side. Certainly a note of rye bread, the seedless variety, plus pressure treated lumber, allspice, a hint of cherry cough drop, some caramel corn, a smidge of vanilla, and a whisper of green apple. It’s really all quite muted, and probably a bit too watered down, but there’s nothing too unpleasant about it. A bit more going on with the palate. Sweet, herbal, peppery, fruity, and nutty. Candied orange peel is followed by rye, mint, a little hot pepper, dried apple and cherry, vanilla, peanut brittle, and even cocoa. After a swirl, legs are reluctant to form, appearing only just before the descending sheet returns to the liquid below. Thin textured in the mouth too, light and fluffy. The finish is short. Slightly dry, with hints of the palate plus a little bit of bitter wood varnish. Not a bad bourbon, but don’t add ice or water to this already ABV deficient, thin feeling, bottom shelf libation. Nose: 7 Taste: 8 Body: 6 Finish: 7

Bottom shelf from Buffalo Trace, $11.95 every day. Ancient (to kindergarteners) at 3 years in oak. But that's a lot better than many of its shelf-mates, and it's been around since 1946, so why not? Light in color, medium legs. Nose is light vanilla floral, sweet corn, and a little ethanol. Thin dry and dusty, lightly sour at first brush. Some vanilla, little to no body or depth. Sweeter as it finishes, but that's not long coming or staying. As one of the "Olds" (Old Grand Dad, Old Crow, Early Times, Old Tub, etc) this leaves something to be desired, but there you go. So mixing this seems appropriate. Equal parts AA, ice, and ginger ale (no more, no less) works. Or pick your own soda of choice, but... do use more AA than soda. Way better than taking ivermectin (DON'T!!!).