Lusty Claw Bourbon

Back in college, there was this one woman, we’ll call her “C”. She always wore these religious cult like T-shirts, a bandana, and mismatched sneakers. She also always used to ask me to come over her place, generally late at night, to look at her knife collection. Like every week. ‘ hey, I just got this awesome switchblade to add to my collection. Want to come over tonight to take a look? I’m good after 11pm”. Or, “ hey, I just got this awesome sword, sharpened it real good too. Want to come over around midnight?” Problem was, I never knew that if I went in, if I’d ever come back out. Needless to say, I always politely refused. I didn’t have medical insurance back then...would’ve hated to bleed to death while waiting at the ER. That takes me to this beauty. Over the holidays, a friend bought this over, saying it’s been sitting way back in his cabinet, and he thought I’d like to have a taste with him. Problem is...the name and looks of it, I just didn’t know if I’d come out alive after a few sips. Never heard of this brand; bottle looked weird as if he got it from the shelf of an odd ends bin store; and the name...well, no self respecting distillery would use Lusty as the name. Unless it’s cheap rum targeting spring break co-eds as their primary consumer base. Then I can see Lusty as a great moniker. Anyway, I did have a few sips. It’s not drain worthy...but it’s bad. Young, heavy handed in the corn-saccharin taste, and a rough itchy finish. I can see it mixed well with high sugar cocktails, but neat is just plain wrong. I didn’t drink or go on spring break in college ( 25 credits.semester and dual major saw to that), but if I did, this might be my go-to condiment. My personal opinion: as grown adults, we should never invite people late at night to look at our knife collection, nor should we be drinking this neat.

Review transfer from Barreled from October 2017 At my brother in laws kitchen bar in Windsor right now and he insisted that I try this Kentucky straight bourbon that he bought a few months ago. Not because it was good, but because it was "really bad". So I currently have a good size pour in a glencairn and I'm finding out for myself. Not much info available on the origin of this whisky that I could find. The bottle itself is very ornate, with a big bronze looking emblem and a huge bald eagle head on the cork. The bottle says that it is distilled in Kentucky and bottled in Florida. 45% ABV, natural color that is rusty, and it is chill filtered. According to the website the mash bill is corn and malted barley, but gives no ratio. The bottle also states that it is a minimum of 3 years old. The nose is somewhat anemic. Plenty of vanilla and oak. Some honey and corn. A little cinnamon and clove, and a whiff of mint. Very little else. No real complexity to speak of. The palate is more of the same. Honey and vanilla mostly. Soft, but warm oak. Nothing special here. It is very smooth and unobtrusive though. I would have expected stronger flavors at 45%, but not the case. The mouthfeel is light to medium bodied and dry. A short finish for a bourbon with vanilla and oak trailing off. While I don't think this is anywhere near as bad as my brother in law claimed, it's not all that good either. Very weak, but not bad either. At $55 I would say absolutely pass on this one. They should have saved money on the bottle design and invested it back into what was going into the bottle. I bumped it up to 3 from 2.75 because of that bad ass eagle head though. Cheers

Sadly this gets advertised as "Kentucky bourbon" when it is sourced from and bottled not in Kentucky. This is the worst of the current "designer bourbon" craze, massively hyped in gaudy packaging and sold to the unwitting rubes as a "genuine traditional" bourbon. They could have just as well added "small batch" as another meaningless hype term or "extra aged" as well. My info tells me it is sourced from MGP, making it majority or entirely "Indiana" and not Kentucky juice and bottled in a rum plant in Florida. Apparently "passing through" Kentucky is enough now to make claim of being from Kentucky. Don't be fooled. Typically this will be massively overpriced for what it is and a single star may still be too generous.

Im a fan. Like most people who’ve picked up the bottle you’ll “judge a book by its cover”. Fancy bottle with an eagle cap wrapped in gold rope. Who wouldn’t be interested?! Flavor is good, doesn’t hit like a 95% bourbon but I put a glass down with easy. I’m also a fan of on the rocks which is how I had this

I don't remember what I paid. Cool bottle, but middle of the road on the nose and taste. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing great about it.

Cool bottle, but they need it to attract buyers for a poor whiskey. It’s like candy … that I never want to try again.