Blood Oath Bourbon Pact No. 6

Rating: 19/23 N: Sweet, but restrained. Kind of musty, but not overwhelming. A bit of caramel, a bit of fruit (big on the orange, with maybe a dash of cherry and hint of lemon), a bit of dry spice with some minerals coming out of the must. I get a dry, slightly floral, herbal scent that makes me think rye. It's very complex, but not insanely bold. It makes me think of Corsair Grainiac in that regard, but sweeter with more emphasis on careful blending of different barrels rather than use of different grains. Between the two, this does have the bolder nose. P: Very balanced with some nice complexity. It's initially dry with mineral notes, but then the wood with must rolls in before being overtaken by the sweet fruit and caramel with sweet spices (mainly cinnamon, with a faint hint of nutmeg) that give way to dry herbal spice as it heads toward the finish. There's a hint of smoke in the middle, but it's far from overwhelming. The wood comes across as mature but not super bold, much like in Russell's Reserve 10. These flavors here are less lively and vibrant than those in Corsair Grainiac. This definitely tastes more mature and refined with a more traditional (albeit still fun) profile, but it doesn't have the same punchy complexity or fullness. Really digging into this, I do get all sorts of subtle flavors coming out. In terms of its subdued presence, this reminds me a lot of a nicely oxidized bottle of Russell's Reserve 10. I like the core Wild Turkey funkiness of the Russell's Reserve, but the complexity here is certainly greater and the interesting fruity flavors (I'm betting from a cognac cask) really enhance this tremendously. This has a bit more of a Blanton's mellowness in it, but it is certainly more complex (and I would argue also more balanced). F: The finish is pretty dry. There are hints of fruit and caramel, but it's mostly just kind of a clean rye with a hint of floral or mineral and a dash of wood. This is the part that I am the least enthusiastic about by far. - Conclusion - This is some really good stuff! It's one of the best bourbons out there. It feels low proof (like 45% or less), but it isn't really that low. It's higher proof than Corsair Grainiac, but also less full and with less presence. That's a bit odd and I think hurts this bourbon, but it's still quite excellent. The richness here does in large part help to compensate for the underwhelming fullness, but that's only rich in comparison with Corsair Grainiac, which isn't saying much. Between the two, I'd take the Corsair. On the other hand, I'd easily take this over Blanton's. Getting a little further afield, I think that this might be a hair better than Wild Turkey Rare Breed 116.8. I put the Wild Turkey at a solid 18 and sometimes 19. The Corsair is a 21 to 22. Therefore, this is going to be a 19 or 20. I'm landing on a 19 because I feel like this is closer in quality to the Wild Turkey than to the Corsair, but I can definitely imagine myself raising this up to a 20. Thanks @pkingmartin for the sample of this!

Sometimes you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. I was in a Total Wine picking up a Garrison Brothers Cowboy when I saw this 2020 wooden coffin in the aisle, decided to go for it and brought it home. I had tucked it away and forgot about it until recently, so now that I’m half a bottle into this, let’s see what I’ve managed to find in this one. The nose starts with cinnamon churros, fruits of cherry and orange zest, grape must, cloves, leading to light cognac influence, dark chocolate-covered raisins then dusty oak, leather and finishing with buttery caramel popcorn, almost no ethanol on the nose. On the taste: medium-thin mouthfeel starts with light caramel covering over cinnamon churros, then to fruits of cherry, orange zest, grape must, some spice of cloves, then light cognac notes, dark chocolate covered raisins leading to barrel spices of dusty oak and light ethanol burn. The finish is medium length cinnamon churros coming back covered in caramel then fruits of cherry, orange zest, grape must, leading to those cognac notes, dark chocolate-covered raisins with barrel spices, dusty oak and a last note of buttery caramel popcorn that lingers for a few minutes after each taste. Overall, I think this is a great sipper but I wish it was a higher proof. I think what happened is that the blender was able to work towards creating something incredible and after all that time and energy had something near perfection. Then when the work for the blender was done, marketing came in, took a few drinks, cause it’s a bad ass bourbon, then checked the proof and dumped a bunch of water to make it fit their blood temperature requirement of 98.6, bottled it up, put them in coffins and shipped them out. The mouthfeel is very thin and picking out notes from this was hard. As an experiment for comparison, I watered down my Peerless bourbon proof from 112.8 to 98.6 and had the same issue as the flavors became more muted. Hopefully one day Lux Row will decide to either get rid of this gimmick and release cask strength versions or do an Ardbeg style of Committee bottlings at higher strength and a standard bottling for the wider release. If this had been cask strength, I think this would have easily been a 5, but watering it down brought it to 3.5 for me.

Nose: Jumps out of the glass. Plenty of light brown sugar, oak, and vanilla on tap, but balanced against the cognac barrel influence. Connecticut cigar tobacco. Chocolate covered almonds. Orange zest. Classic baking spices - hot cinnamon (the real stuff, not the cassia bark you get that's labeled cinnamon at the store), nutmeg, clove, anise. Fennel, too - slightly herbal. Dusty leather. Red grapes, raspberries, blackberries, Luxardo maraschino cherries. Charred wood. Really lovely. Palate: All the brown sugar, vanilla, and tannic, dry oak are here. Nice back and forth between thyme and mint, while there's an underpinning of basil. As mentioned, there's a nice tannic quality going on, with some subtle bitterness and char coming through. Dusty leather, cigar tobacco (now more maduro), and cocoa are all along for the ride, as well. That fruity grape note is still there, along with some bright lemon/lime character. Ripe dark fruits and berries. Maybe a hint of maple in the very back. Blood orange keeps coming to mind. This is absolutely rich and complex, but cohesive. This emphasizes upper palate, while the middle and lower are quite evenly balanced against each other. Medium-light mouthfeel. Finish: Sweet vanilla and charred oak swell up, with mint and berries coming just behind. This excellent tannin, ethanol brightness, and grape character comes in. Fade out on cream, leather, cocoa, vanilla, and mint. Just a tinge of pipe tobacco ash at the very tail end. Medium long finish, with the relatively low oil content still doing a great job helping this hang around. Other notes: This is excellent. Though it's not the big, super high proof, chewy type of bourbon I typically go for, the depth and complexity make this wonderful. The cognac finish really helps bring this together in a cohesive way while also adding a complimentary set of flavors that pair very well. The only thing I can really dock here is that the mouthfeel is a little lighter than I'd prefer, though stylistically I don't know that it particularly needs it. I can highly recommend picking up a bottle if you can. I might seek out a second if I finish this one fast enough.

Surprisingly, I wasn't too impressed with Pact 5. Not that it was bad, but it definitely didn't live up to the hype I expected from my first Blood Oath release. Fortunately, I read some very positive reviews for this one around here, so I'm going into this without any reservations. Nose: Vanilla and caramel. Cinnamon, apple (think Applejack cereal), honey, and toffee. Delicate plum and leather. Cotton candy and jelly sweetness. Milk chocolate and walnut. Some dill and rye spice. A bit on the light side but very pleasant and unique. Palate: While the nose was a soft, and somewhat ambiguous type of whiskey, the palate tells you that this a bourbon right off the bat--and in a powerful way. Dusty corn, caramel, and vanilla hit hard. Apple, plum, raisin, and leather. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. Salted almond. Menthol. Orange rind, barrel char, and oak. Awesome palate. Finish: Applejack cereal. Milk chocolate, caramel, brown sugar, and raisin. Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, dill, and oak spice. Long finish. The aforementioned spice notes ride out for quite a while. Very nice. It's a well-balanced whiskey. Delicate but layered nose. Powerful palate and finish that epitomize high-proof bourbon. The Cognac barrels played a big role on the nose, and while the palate/finish were bourbon forward, the Cognac barrels still left a noticeable impact there as well. 4.25. Solid improvement over its predecessor. The Cognac barrels play well with the grain Lux Row is putting out. In fact, this one makes me feel as though I need to revisit what I have left of the Rum cask Ed. 5. Either way, this one days a damn good job. I'm late to the party with this one, but on the off chance you enjoy the Blood Oath line, grab this if you see it. And if you like wine barrel-aged Bourbon, try this--though it's not wine barrel-aged, it's much more well-integrated than and delivers a similar. Damn good stuff here.

Blind pour. Golden amber in color. Fast teardrop legs. Fruit, soft grain and young oak. Makes me think of 4R and BT profiles. Apricot, pecan, bits of dried fruits. Subtle light brown tobacco and vanilla. Rye bread and tea. Medium to thin on the tongue with a burst of mild heat, fruit, vanilla and then a slow fade to oak, rye and tea notes. No big surprises. I’m wondering if this isn’t an EHT single barrel with the subtle tobacco notes. It also reminds me of Elmer with a bit of extra oak and BT mashbill #2 fruity notes. The finish is short with vanilla, fruit and light brown tobacco. So, I don’t know what this is but 4 out of 5 EHT lovers would love this. It also reminds me a lot of a Murray Hill Club batch but now we’re getting into the weeds. Likewise could be a Hancock or Bowman brothers (tweaked) BT distillate. I’m going with BT mashbill 1 1/2 (or maybe 1 3/4). Reveal: Blood Oath Pact 6 Well hell. I can see now where the cognac barrels really brought out the stone fruit in this. Likewise the rye still manages to poke through and the oak plays a big role. Altogether seems well executed but not exciting. Much like Buffalo Trace. I will say this - the $100 price tag makes this a better value than Elmer T Lee on the secondary. That said if you can score an EHT small batch or Blanton’s at MSRP of $40-65 respectively then go that direction. Thank you to @pkingmartin for sharing this one with me!

Nose - toffee, vanilla cream, apple, mint, cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, tobacco, clove, black pepper, orange zest, milk chocolate, marshmallow, walnut, rich oak, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - caramel, vanilla, clove, allspice, chili pepper, cocoa, mint, anise, raisin, tannic oak, ginger, floral notes, leather, tobacco, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with caramel, orange zest, raisin, and baking spice flavors. This is my first of the Blood Oath releases. I’m really not sure what to expect. I know it’s pricy stuff, so my expectations are pretty high. The nose is rich and spicy. Standard bourbon notes are in the mix with a double dose of clove, mint, and anise, no doubt from the significant rye component. The cognac influence makes itself more known on the plate, with some jammy raisin and floral qualities. Otherwise, it’s similarly rich and spicy with strong baking spices carrying through the finish, along with caramel and a citrusy zing. Overall, this is tasty bourbon. It’s really rich, but actually comes off as younger than I know it is. I’m guessing the rye spice and citrus are fooling me into registering this as bright. It could also be the dilution. I agree with others that it seems a bit underproofed as well. I’d say this probably isn’t worth the price of a bottle, but it’s a solid sipper nonetheless. Big thanks to @pkingmartin for the sample!