Hillrock Solera Aged Bourbon

Disclaimer: Based on the official review, I do not believe this is the correct bottle, but I am unsure. My bottle looks identical to this one, and there is a label that states it was finished in sherry casks. However, written by hand on “barrel no:” is “Sauternes-23”. Not a wine guy, but I’m pretty sure Sauternes does not equal sherry. This bottle was marketed to me as a Sauternes finish, and after having a handful of these, I am convinced this is in fact a Sauternes and not a sherry influence in my mouth hole. End disclaimer. Hillrock versus Boone County 1833. Sauternes Cask Finish Bracket. Winner to face Jefferson’s. Full competition recap: In Sherry finish bracket, Wild Turkey Revival beat out Joseph Magnus, Noble Oak, and Rabbit Hole to be in the final 5. Port, Rum, and Red Wine brackets still TBD. I literally had to turn down the lights to do this blind taste test. There’s a drastic difference in color between BC and Hillrock, Hillrock being more in line with the other Sauternes cask finishes I’ve tried. Flavor-wise, it wasn’t hard to pick out BC. That is one delicious cask finish. Ultimately, BC had more to offer, and progressed on to the next round. Hillrock needs some work, to be sure. The nose on Hillrock does not give away its cask finish. It’s very plain, and I mean that is a bad way. I did not come here to drink a plain bourbon. Where did the Sauternes go? For lack of better descriptors, Hillrock smells like young whiskey. There’s an industrial smell (I’ll go with rubber gloves tonight) that is reminiscent of the Journeyman line. I didn’t know what Solera aging meant, so I looked it up. Now this nose makes sense. It’s not as harsh as a lot of young whiskies, because it’s mixed with sourced MGP. In my opinion, that’s kind of like pissing in lemonade and trying to take credit for how sweet your piss tastes. There’s a hint of raisin behind the industrial scent, but it’s almost impossible to suss out. Body hits smoothly, before the harshness sets in. That first hit is the only place you’re going to find your Sauternes influence. There green grapes, sugar, raisin, and vanilla. It’s a nice touch that, unfortunately, is far too fleeting. Finish hits early with the harsh, acidic bite of a young whiskey. It’s hard to get much in the way of flavor, because I’m honestly more in survival mode. If I had to toss out something, I’d say licorice and tea leaves. But then something awesome happens. The harshness fades away, and on your molars and sides of mouth, a pure sweetness comes back. I get tangerine, lemon, cane sugar, and more grapes. So the Sauternes was there after all, amidst the harshness introduced by the Solera “aging” process. Not of fan of that on principle, but I understand the practical value there. This entry wasn’t enough to make me never try Hillrock again, and for young whiskey, I think they’ve accomplished something far better than Journeymen, Cleveland, and many of the other young distilleries that charge you three times the cost of a WT101 for an inferior product. I will likely let Hillrock earn it’s stripes on someone else’s tongue, and check back when they’ve switched to actually aging, the good old fashioned way. Will not rebuy at this time.

Tasted at room temperature / Denver & Liely Whisky glass / no water or ice added. 92.6 proof. Note: this bottle has been in my collection and open for a long time. Likely 2 years or more. I'm sure this will affect the tasting to some degree. The nose has pear, cherry, and vanilla, and a little alcohol to it. Quite pleasant overall. Worth nosing a few times to get the full experience. The aromas definitely triggered my taste buds. Funny side note, when I first nosed this and tried to identify the first word that came to mind, it was "bourbon." As in - the bourbon characteristics you get from a bourbon infused maple syrup, or bourbon ice cream, bourbon coffee, etc. It's what bourbon smells like when it is the flavoring ingredient in something else. On the palate, this shows a little more "young whiskey" than I was expecting based on the nose. Orange, cinnamon, vanilla and a little hint of a ginger-like bite... Maybe it's the rye influencing this? It's interesting that this is very subtle on the palate without being boring. In fact, it's somewhat complex. The only other whiskey I remember coming across as this subtle yet still clearly layered and complex was Elmer T. Lee. These don't taste alike, but the layering is similar. For all this, I can't say I'm in love with the flavor. It's good. It's interesting. It's not great. Young is forward. The finish is pleasant and floral. It lasts. Getting a little vanilla, orange or orange zest in the finish that I wasn't really expecting.

Been curious about this one and it’s big square bottle for a while now and finally decided to pull the trigger, let’s see how it shapes up… Nose is pungent and complex with gingerbread, pear, cherry, toffee, cedar, leather, walnut, and clove. Some mild ethanol which is a bit of a flaw given the proof. Palate has the sherry cask finishing doing some good things as we get pear, grape syrup, chocolate, molasses, tobacco, dark dried fruits, and almond. You can kind of tell that the base bourbon here is a little young as there are some slightly rough edges and a bit of prickliness, but the overall flavor is pretty well balanced. Long finish for the proof point with date, fig, light caramel, grape, ginger, and cherrywood. There is a note after everything else fades that I swear is reminiscent of fruit punch. Some youth shows here again in the form of alcohol heat. Mouthfeel is oily and medium bodied and suits the flavor profile perfectly. Overall at 89.99, my initial reaction was to say “decent bourbon, but overpriced”, and as much as I have come to like this I’m going to have to stand by the initial impressions. At $90, we shouldn’t be dealing with flaws. A worthy effort and a tasty whiskey, but I’m going to say just falls just short of a rebuy. Gets the non-existent rating of 3.95.

Smooth. Spicy. Vanilla. Caramel. Brief, I know. I was out to dinner yesterday, and the manager recommended this Hillrock. I was immediately impressed. Not sure if I will buy a bottle at the $100+ price point. But if I did, it would be wholly justified. Added 12/25/23: Received a bottle from Santa Claus! Having a pour tonight in the comfort of my own home... From nose to palate, I'm getting "cherries" (as in cherry cough drops), as well as what I am going to identify as "molasses". Slight burn going down. It's sweet, and I remember why I liked it as much as I did back in September.

I've never had anything from Hillrock in the past so i decided to have myself a pour at a work outing. The aroma had a mix of vanilla, oak, honey, and rye spice. When beginning the tasting process, I immediately got a rye spice and a slight heat kick. In the following sips there was some dried fruit and oak probably from the sherry cask. The finish was dry and on the shorter side. Not too shabby overall.

Medicinal and cherry notes are readily available. It comes in sweet and pleasant then moves into some spice in the middle. It feels like its going to get hot but fades in the nick of time to a nice finish fading back into cherry. Very interesting just not the flavor profile I prefer. Second tasting was slightly better with more oak and traditional bourbon notes.