Backbone Bourbon Uncut Single Barrel

Big shout out to Trail Inn/Triangle for this store pick. I’ve never had the standard Backbone, which is admittedly a suboptimal scenario. This store pick comes in just under 5 years at 123.4 proof. I bought it because I was told by a store clerk that it was one of the purest chocolate flavors available in bourbon. Let’s see if that person was right. Don’t worry: not the same store where I was told that Rhetoric 23 tasted like Pappy 23-year. Tried Neat: I get heavy vanilla and powdered sugar on the nose. Hint of maple. Pretty standard, unremarkable nose. Sufficient. Body hit early with a surprised smoked meat flavor. Did not see that coming. Good though. Rich chocolate flavor as well. Mouth feel on the finish is awesome. It’s an intense lip buzz that doesn’t feel overpowering anywhere else. But damn, my bottom lip is tripping balls right now. More powdered sugar flavor here, and the chocolate fades away with a bit of dust. Finish is by far my favorite part of this drink. “Dust” usually presents itself to me as an undesirable impurity, but it holds its own here. It’s like I picked a chocolate bar up of the basement floor, but I’m not grossed out because it’s still delicious. On the rocks: Nose goes haywire. That shy-of-unpleasant dustiness is back. There’s a sweet cherry scent there too. So now I have chocolate covered cherries on the nose. Possibly dropped on the floor. Less than 5 seconds, still very cool. Ever sipped a new Powerade flavor and said, “Wow, that tastes just a margarita,” even though you haven’t had a margarita in years? There’s something iconic there that rings true. In the same sense, this body on the rocks = Elijah Craig Small Batch. Mic drop. Finish is identical to the neat finish, less buzz. So I’ve thrown some shade at Indiana distilleries before. They deserve it. No regrets there either. However... I believe my exact target-o’-shade-tossing was: “Any distillery north of Indianapolis.” I’m delighted to still be correct on that cartographical technicality. For two reasons: 1–being correct is awesome. 2–this bourbon is a surprise delight. (At least this store pick variant.) I prefer it neat, because life is too short to not have your bottom lip buzzing. That was awesome. Flavors were solid too. The more this guy watered down, the more it resembled Elijah Craig. So much so, that I felt the need to compare mash bills. This guy: 70 corn, 25 rye, 5 magic dust. EC: 78 corn, 10 rye, 12 unicorn tears. I’m impressed by this distillery. I prefer this to EC barrel proof, which is no small accolade. If you’re able to find this guy in your region, give it a shot. If the standard version sucks, come to Northwest Indiana, and I will happily greet you with an apology and a taste of this store pick, which is exemplary. Offer expires the moment my bottle runs dry.

After being surprised by the quality of their 4 year Rye I was excited to try the Bourbon Barrel pick from my local shop. Hopefully it is just as surprising, although this time my expectations are definitely higher. Nose is really sweet here. I would say caramel, but it's almost cola like to me. A little ethanol due to the young age, but not overpowering. First sip is caramel forward for sure. At 60% i expected this to be really hot, but it is surprisingly not. There is gentle cinnamon burn that starts mid sip, but never reaches the peak any barrel proof offerings do. The finish is quite warming as opposed to burning and fades of to a soft butter toffee close. Overall this isn't quite as surprising as the Rye. Lots of traditional bourbon flavors here done really well for a 5 year. They may not be the prettiest bottles in the world, but the juice inside is pretty damn good. Definitely recommend giving this brand a try if you see it on the shelf.

Neat. Neck pour. Cork N Bottle 10 year SiB. Wow, I would mistake this for a rye. I am so surprised by this nose. It makes me think WhistlePig it is so rye forward. Behind the dill and rye, I get a hint of mint, creamy caramel and butterscotch, an amazing vanilla, black pepper. I love this but shocked it is not a rye. Nice, creamy mouth feel. Vanilla and black pepper on the tongue. Transitions to caramel, cherries, dill, vanilla, butterscotch. Definitely a more familiar MGP bourbon on the taste. The prominent dill is still a unique characteristic of this barrel. The dill really punches you in the face on subsequent sips. I know this is the high rye mash, but it is so rye forward that I would guess it’s 75%+ rye. Not barely rye like Pikesville, but a vast majority rye. The cherry and butterscotch of the taste ground it into familiar MGP territory. Not the most delicious MGP I have, but maybe the most interesting.

Neat. Open for ~6 months. Cork n Bottle 7 year pick. First impression of this bottle was average. Decided to explore it again today. There is a surprising green grass, young brightness to it for 7 years. I have had a few 5 year MGPs recently that we’re rich and deep without the young note. There is a great butterscotch note. Very rich. Surrounded by vanilla and baking spices. Hint of cherry too. Medium mouth feel, bit thin on the edges. Bright vanilla upfront front gives way to the butterscotch and baking spices. That cherry comes back on subsequent sips and lingers on the legs. This is an off profile MGP. It has familiar notes but I would probably not guess this is MGP blind. That rich butterscotch note holds up the entire experience but it is just okay.

Neat. Gallenstein pick. 5 years. 137.3 proof. (!!!) Nose was initial an uppercut of spice. Lots going on with this one. Heavy baking spice backed by tons of caramel, berries and cream, cinnamon. Delicious. One of those noses where you can sit and pick stuff out for awhile. Really thick mouth feel. Tons going on with the palate but a wave of heat took over first sip and distracted me. After acclimating to the proof, brown sugar up front followed by maple, butterscotch, and just a hint of the spice. Butterscotch getting stronger over time. This is one of those awesome dessert MGP’s. The 5 years almost scared me off. Quite glad it did not. Might be my favorite MGP. Need to put it up against Boone County.

When I was a kid, my mother used to take left over bits of pie crust , form them into something like a tortilla then dust it in cinnamon sugar and add a few bits of butter. Take that sweet tortilla add some rich caramel and you get the nose of this one. WOW!! It's dark, rich and viscous. My taste is the last ounce of the bottle and it's slow to open. Very little alcohol on the nose at any point. The taste is hot but not overwhelming. The caramel coats your tongue and there is some lingering baking spice in the background. This is a very nice expression of MGP juice, sadly gone