George Remus Single Barrel Straight Bourbon (2020 Release)

Rating: 15/23 N: This nose is on the lighter side. I get something faintly nutty in the coconut or almond range, but it's light. There's a hint of banana/caramel. Maybe a little bit of wood. My immediate impression is of a less bold and complex Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof. The Jack Daniels has a little more banana and much more green vibrancy, as well as more of a light floral vanilla as opposed to the more mineral character here, but the overall impression is still kind of similar. Between the two, I would take the Jack Daniels without question though. P: It's spicier than I'd expected. I'm getting some clear rye spice and minerality in here along with a bit of light banana (though lighter on the banana than I'd expected) and caramel. I get more of apple peel and something kind of bitter and tart on the fruity side. There isn't much of it and the profile is dry. I'm feeling a little bit of a harsh burn beyond just the effect of the high ABV. There's a faint floral wood going on and the palate is kind of chewy from the high ABV. I get a bit of tartness from what I presume is a sour mash, but there isn't a ton else going on. I feel like there might be some other flavor, but it's muddled in there. The added proof is nice here, but the overall complexity and richness and even fullness aside from the raw ABV are low. There might be a dash of smoke and more robust wood, but it's minimal. Jack Daniels Single Barrel Barrel Proof absolutely knocks the socks off of this in terms of complexity, richness, fullness, and quality of flavor. There just is no comparison. F: The wood, and kind of bitter but still very light caramel linger. Toward the long finish, I get a faint green banana, but there isn't much. It's totally serviceable, but uninteresting. - Conclusion - This whiskey mainly benefits from its high proof. I'd put it on a similar level with Russell's Reserve 10 (without benefitting from oxidation) and Elijah Craig Small Batch. I'm looking in the 14 to 16 range here and leaning more toward a 15 or 16. I was going to go with a 16, but then I remembered that harshness, so I'm landing on a 15. Thanks to @pkingmartin for sharing!

Neat. Neck pour. Party Source pick. 113 proof single barrel. How old? Not sure. 5 guys standing around the bourbon section at Party Source and not even one knew the age on their own store pick. Not exactly encouraging right off the bat, but I love MGP and bought it anyway. It was $58 which screams 5-6 years old to me with MGP. MGP runs about $10 a year on these picks mostly. (Bad customer service though, really disappointed with Party Source on that interaction...) Okay, on the nose this is a neck pour and it is a bit hot. But I am getting hints at a lot of flavors, just need to ease into it on this one. Oh this is an MGP butterscotch bomb. Makes me think it may be the low rye mash on first impression. The butterscotch is so good though. It’s surround by vanilla and a melody of berries. The berries are a range of high and mid range notes so apples, peach, cherry or berries. With each sniff I lean a different way on how to describe the fruit, which is fun. That much fruit on an MGP is unique too. I usually get apple or cherry but not this melody. Fresh pie crust and nice baking spices, cinnamon and sugar. There is this blast of black pepper though that keeps the experience from being overly sweet. Slight hint of green that I can get with young MGP. Sticking to the 5-6 year assumption. Super creamy and awesome mouth feel. Much much darker on the tongue than I was expecting. A dark maple syrup. Transitions straight into the butterscotch and fruits that were there in the nose. I’m going to narrow in on apple and cherry. Next to the butterscotch it starts bright like an apple but darkens quickly into the cherry and the cherry is what remains on the finish. Butterscotch is the main note. There is some nice vanilla that lingers on the finish too. Almost a vanilla cherry cola even. This is a fun MGP butterscotch bomb, still sticking to my low-rye assumption as well. 5-6 year low rye. For the price, I would take an Old Scout 5 year pick over this though. This is certainly delicious and better than 80% of the young MGP I have had over the last year but it’s not a killer bottle compared to other things I can get for $60.

Cask what? Damn, it's not that hard. Too bad I don't have a clean photo to make my own (although I can see that clean photos don't mean as much to others). Liquor Barn 2020 barrel pick, barrel #498. Bottled at 121.5 proof. I've passed on this once before, as I usually try not to give any business to whiskeys that remain mysteries (great way to do business). However, with this being a barrel pick and cask strength, it did intrigue me enough to pull the trigger. The nose has plenty of ethanol, but that was expected. It is hard to get any other notes, but since I have to fill in the blanks myself, I'd say it does smell high corn, with rye making up the rest. I do specifically get some butterscotch and vanilla, leading me to the high corn assumption. Of course, the taste starts hot, but it is manageable, as are all cask strength whiskeys. It's bland, but not flavorless; it has good traditional rye bourbon flavors typical of MGP bourbons, but struggles to distinguish itself any further. There's charred oak, caramel, vanilla, brown sugar, yadda yadda, but so far it's just the proof that's different from other MGP nobodies (no hate to MGP, but decent hate for mystery MGP). Yeah, it's a good cask strength offering, but being a barrel pick was the only way it could get away being priced at what it was, and even then it was still too expensive for what I got. It will appease my friends who absolutely cannot drink anything less than 120 proof, but hopefully even they can see that this is just bourbon. Having said that, I believe this is a good standard to judge all bourbon across, as it's simple, traditional, and, most importantly, not watered down.

Got this a month ago at Total Wine. No age statement but guessing 7 years and it clocks in at 122 proof and been open a few days as the neck pour was too hot to handle. Still prefer it with a couple drops of water over ice. MGP high rye is becoming one of my favorites and they are now getting it right under their own label. I assign highest points to the nose with this being one of the best I have experienced. Surprisingly, you don't have to get past the alcohol as it is fairly tame and a couple drops of water hits the sweet spot. First, you are greeted by rich butterscotch at just the right amount. There are layers and layers of spice and fruit below that and they evolve with each sniff. The taste is true and it evolves as well but I keep going back to the sniffing part. It approaches perfection. Boone County 1833 barrel proof has the same heritage with a slightly lower proof and more age but they are really close. Love 'em both. Other bourbons have a longer finish but even my empty glass still has that wonderful nose. Can't wait to try the Repeal Reserve IV

Nose - caramel, vanilla, cherry, sweet floral notes, orange, anise, allspice, clove, chocolate, apple, oak, dry herbal notes, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - salted caramel, vanilla, apple, ginger, sweet floral notes, anise, leather, clove, grass, cocoa, cinnamon, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium short with caramel, vanilla, and baking spice flavors. George Remus is a new brand for me, but MGP isn’t. I’m expecting some decent high-rye bourbon, and I think that’s what we have here. The nose is classic bourbon with some added rye spice. Nothing more, nothing less. The palate follows the same trajectory. Good flavors, leaning bright and youthful, but it’s not harsh or unpleasant. The mouthfeel and finish are average. I don’t have too much to say about this one. It’s better than average bourbon. More time in the barrel would improve it. Review over. Many thanks to @pkingmartin for the generous sample! I’ll be diving into a few Remus Repeal releases next.

This is a Justin’s House of Bourbon barrel pick for their monthly bourbon club and the whiskey comes in at 121.9 proof. So lets dive in to see how their pick went. The nose starts off with baked apple crisp, mingling with orange, cherry, some medium caramel notes, then grapefruit pith and lastly spearmint. Taking a sip revels the same notes as the nose with baked apple crisp right front, medium mouthfeel with light caramel, orange zest, cherry liquor, grapefruit pith then transitions to a blast of barrel spices showing off that barrel and an alcohol bite, then cinnamon redhots, apple crisp and last note of spearmint that lasts for a while. Overall, for 40 dollars and a single barrel pick, it’s inexpensive and has interesting flavors. I don’t want another bottle of it, but am happy with the selection of this one.