Ben Holladay 6 Year Bottled in Bond Bourbon

Tasting Batch 1 from Spring '22. This is good stuff. In a blind you'd be convinced this was from Kentucky. I get rich caramel, vanilla, cherry, butterscotch, cocoa, barrel, and a little nuttiness. Profile wise I think this is similar to wild turkey 101, but maybe with slightly more butterscotch and dark cherry, and less nuttiness and citrus. Which makes sense because I believe the mash bills are similar (based on what they told me at the distillery). The only problem here is the price, but I guess that it is probably priced appropriately for the current market and considering they've basically started their releases with a 6 year product. If you guys are in the Kansas City are, go tour the distillery. The grounds have beautiful rolling hills, limestone wells (discovered by Lewis and Clark), a cave (for their upcoming double oaked products) and brick and wood rick houses, just like the big boys in KY. They'll let you dip your finger in the fermenting tanks and have a sip of white dog. The people there are awesome. I feel lucky and thrilled that this place is in my backyard. I've got a single barrel barrel proof offering I'll need to review another day, but right now just happy to be sipping on this.

Distilled Fall 2016, bottled 9 March 2023, 6+yrs. DSP MO-5, Rickhouse C, 10% 4th floor, 68% 3d floor, 22% 2d floor. Tasting neat. Dark rose copper and very light coating legs in the glass. Nose is light-- vanilla, dry grass, caramel. In the mouth, thin and sugar sweet. Little depth, some cherry and vanilla, and oak shows up late. Little ethanol or oak tannins. Watery mouthfeel. Finish shows more oak and spice, and a tingle lingers, but thin sweetness. An ice cube kills what flavors are there, leaving this thinner and sweeter. Smarties! Have had the Holladay BIB wheated and wheated rickhouse proof. But this falls short of those. Drinkable, mixable (maybe), but way overpriced. I like the bottle, the label info, and I actually appreciate the metal screw cap. Keep it simple! They're doing things right in this distillery by making their own and being patient and transparent, but this bourbon needs more time in oak, or to be mixed with barrels from higher rickhouse floors. It's a lower floor bottle. Disappointing. As always, I'll update over time... bottle flavors and my tastes do change.

Nose- traditional vanilla and caramel nose with some banana runts candy. It is not a deep and rich nose, but certainly one worthy of saying this in fact should have its merits. Palate- I find it a bit thin. Vanilla and green banana prevail with a bit of burnt butterscorch coming in. There is some acetone/ fingernail polish notes that reveal the age. It isn't bad, but it is run of the mill. Finish- a bit woodshoppy but with some pleasant caramel candies which turn a tad bitter on the end. Overall- High praise to what they have done here. Resurrected an old label, didn't source out of the box, and instead waited, released a 6yr BiB instead of just a straight whiskey. NOT an easy road to take when it would have just been easier to either release a 2+ yr old, straight bourbon, or bottle someone else's contract distillate. The whiskey is a bit thin and one note. I would be interested at trying this after another 2 or more years in the oak, and perhaps at cask strength. For now, it is a mundane whiskey but with potential. It is just not quite ready yet.

At first I did not care for this when first opening it up. It pretty much was just a simple medicinal cherry and oak. But after being open now for 3 months..... Nose: Oak and I still get some cherry, but floral aroma dominates and mixes in with some smarties candy note or a sweet cherry Kool-Aid packet. Palate: It is creamy for a six year, and I don't get the cherry anymore that I smell. Instead, there is a lot of lemon flavor followed by leather and there is a mingling of more oak and floral. I don't get any vanilla or caramel which are so traditional in bourbon. Finish: It is dry with some leather, allspice, oak and lemon. I really enjoy it other than it is too dry which hurts it's score a little. I feel like batch variability will be common here. This one is 11% floor 5, 40% floor 4, 31% floor 3, and finally 18% floor 2. But this one is really pleasant, and a real changeup compared to most KY bourbon flavor profiles. The bottle I got was really tight and one-note when I first cracked it but it is now morphed into a unique experience.

Overall: I am from Missouri, so I will try to put bias aside. I was fully expecting for the age, and price this to be very comparable to Heaven Hill BiB (which I really enjoy), but it isn't. Instead of going the dark rich dessert path it goes for fruits, and it does that well. I wish it had a better mouthfeel, but I am not disappointed in acquiring this bottle. At the price of $51 before tax, I look forward to comparing it to Old Forester BiB. My gut tells me it will be bananas vs. dates. Nose: Ripe fruit: Strawberries, and raspberries. With more time, a molasses smell melds everything together. Palate: Rye bread hit me off the bat. The spice, mixed with a hollow texture I get from campari. Its not a bad thing, but a distinct textural component of some drinks. This all quickly morphs into the sweetness of dates, and vanilla ice cream. Finish: medium to medium short. Grape jelly - authentic grape jelly, not like the grape pixie stick of buffalo trace.

Aroma - caramel, red apples, sugar candy notes, blue raspberry cotton candy. Slight hint of baking spices in the back. This is bright with nice dark undertones. Taste - caramel popcorn, then the usual suspects of vanilla and slight oak. There is a slight drying oak presence on the finish, and picking up a slight tannic profile as well. But to be honest, this is very good. Overall - This is insanely gentle on the palate and the balance on this is exceptional. Not sure what the mash bill on this is, but I would think it is predominately 75-80% corn. It is very sweet and I do pick up nice rye undertone that elevates the experience. This is a great BiB offering… I would like to blind this against EHT and Bardstown Origins BiB. Extremely Crushable 4.35