Old 55 Single Barrel Bourbon

To quote a former US president: “There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.” By the gods, I wish this saying were true. After overpaying for this bottle once, at the behest of a local liquor store (they did a store pick on this), I gave this one a second shot. And I was fooled again. Now, to its credit, this is one of the best whiskeys produced by Journeyman. Wait, what? This isn’t Journeyman? It has that same paint-thinner favor profile. Are you sure? Nose is promising. Sugary sweet. Bit of caramel. Body is the first hit of that undesirable flavor. It must be a barrel sourcing/water sourcing issue. Never had anything like this from Kentucky. Everything from Journeyman has it. Now this does too. Honestly, paint thinner really is the best way to describe it. I can’t get past it. Finish is a bit of reprieve from it. It’s still there, but I also get cinnamon and pepper. Dear people of Indiana: why do you like this crap? And by this crap I mean this and also all Journeyman bourbon and rye whiskey. Dear bourbon distillers north of Indianapolis: wtf are you doing? Htf are you getting that flavor? Ffs, please stop. Now for the good: this store pick is LEAGUES better than the first bottle I bought. That bottle was basically undrinkable. I intend to use it to degrease an engine this fall. Maybe remove some painted lines from the CVS parking lot, just to screw with them. Unlike that bottle, this bottle will probably be consumed at some point. However, I will never, ever, ever buy an Old 55 bottle again. And there are very few bourbons to date that have made me say that. As G-Dubs said, “You can’t get fooled again.” Let’s just pretend he meant time #3.

Old 55 comes from a small distillery in Indiana, and not a MGP. For a small distillery it’s a decent bourbon. I’ve been told that I should try the 100% sweet corn from same distillery. I’ve had two tastes of this bourbon from different barrels. The first one had a big burst of sweetness, little bit of cinnamon, still pick up on some corn flavors. Relatively smooth, not much bite on it. That 2nd was much more subtle, not as much sweetness, got more corn, oak, and dryer flavors. Still finished smooth, very little burn. Overall a good local bourbon, the 1st was better just had a little more flavor and complexity to it, 2nd was alright flavors were much more subtle and on the dryer side.

Came across this at my local liquor store, and having previously enjoyed Old 55's bottled-in-bond expression, was excited to give this a try. Very dark color to this bourbon. Nose presents classic notes of caramel, vanilla and sugary sweetness. Nice oily, viscous feel on the palate. Sweetness continues, along with a medium warming sensation. Finish is fairly long, with a numbing spicy cinnamon note. More rich and satisfying with each sip. Very enjoyable whiskey! Purchased 10/2022 - Batch #18F2, Bottle #49, 113.6 Proof.

Don’t know how to describe how delicious this is. It tastes like a candy bar, smells like a candy bar. Almost had a caramel/chocolate taste to it. Drank with Tom. Really like it. One of my new favs.

I will note this bottle is at 55% ABV, not 40%. Nice dark brown color. A sweet nose that follows up with a nice caramel flavor with a bit of burn that finishes smooth.

ABV 55.3 Lots of variety and depth. A favorite for me.