Clayton James Tennessee Whiskey

This Tennessee style whiskey seems to have a consistency problem. The last 10 or so cases I bought were all excellent, really good stuff. The two cases I bought today however, tastes harsh, shows lots of sediment and I couldn't help but notice that Big Machine, the new owners of Clayton James, (perhaps the root of the problem?) first stopped putting the barrel time on the individual bottles, and as of today's purchase, they have stopped putting it on the case as well! The barista assured me that they age a minimum of four years upon my questioning. I also learned today that their original master distiller retired in January 2023. Maybe this is the reason for the problem, or maybe it's a combination of this and the new owners. Like what happened to JD when Brown and Foreman bought them a number of years ago. I even wondered if they sourced this batch and bottled it as their own, it's that different. A close inspection and comparison between one of the newest bottles and one from my last purchase, that was clearly marked as aged 52 months on the case only, shows that the newest stuff was very lightly colored compared to the prior bottle. A taste test between the two was like comparing a fine Cabernet to a bottle of Mad Dog 20-20! Hopefully they can pull out of this nose dive, I certainly hope so for up until today, they had been my most favored whiskey. I'll give them a year or so to sort things out, if they can, otherwise I'll be back to searching for a new favorite. It's going to be awfully hard to beat the old Clayton James. Fortunately, I went through my inventory and found five older bottles left, so I'll be able to hold out for a little while. If this hadn't of happened, I would have rated this whiskey five stars...

Poured neat. Very fall-like on the nose. Pine sap, ginger, smokey oak and toasted peanuts. A little bitey on the front of the tongue bet mellows out as you sip. Sweet and spicy like a candied jalapeno with a hearty punch of smoke to tie it all together. There's a faint bit of apple cider tucked under the more prominent flavors. Standard Tennessee whiskey finish of charcoal and leather as expected. Overall a very reasonable sipper but I can also see it as a great candidate for a whiskey-based BBQ sauce the next time I fire up my smoker. Very enjoyable bottle for the price point.

I really wanted to like this whiskey. I live close by, know the owners a little, and I really like the staff at the distillery. I'm sure it will improve with age, but the 24 month currently available is good except for a slight aftertaste I can't quite explain. I am looking forward to trying longer aged examples to see if it goes away. It may be something others enjoy more and I encourage you to try it out for yourselves. I'll certainly try it again.

You can definitely note the charcoal filtering in the smoothness. Decent character, but has a touch of youth that could stand to be aged out. Good enough to drink neat, but perhaps a bit better suited for mixing. 4.0 - Good: a solid pour. Suitable for sipping, would make a quality cocktail

I wanted to like this whiskey, but the agave taste is very strong. Beneath this you get notes of vanilla and caramel, but you really have to go deep. It’s great for margaritas and whiskey sours though 😬.

Decent. No special characteristics, but not offensive either. A decent daily if it's not too expensive