Smoke Wagon Desert Colt

SMOKE WAGON DESERT COLT GLASS: Glencairn COLOR: 1.6 Mahogany NOSE: Wasn’t getting anything at first, but after about 15 minutes it opened up nicely with Rich Vanilla, Hay, Dry Oak, Clove, and Cinnamon. NEAT: Rich and Clingy. Spicy notes of Clove, White Pepper, Orange Oil, and Cinnamon Stick. Some Vanilla shows up on the finish along with some Drying Bitter Tannins. Nice Hug blooms while a Peppery coating aftertaste lingers. Just a bit Youthful and Unrefined, but thankfully missing the overwhelming Corniness that I’ve been getting from MGP lately. SPLASH: A Little Water actually ups the spice with the Clove becoming dominant on Nose and Palate. It’s kind of giving me underaged Wild Turkey vibes. A little more water and the Cinnamon becomes dominant. VERDICT: I haven’t been the biggest fan of Smoke Wagon, but when I saw this No Water Added, High Proof, Non Chill Filtered release for a very reasonable $36 I thought I’d give it a go. Glad I did! If you like some spice in your dram, you could definitely do worse than this $36 bottle.

The batch I had sat at 59.89% abv. And boy could you taste every bit of that. This is dense and bold, with loads of barrel spice and tons of character on the palate. But I can’t say the nose is all that great for such a high abv. It’s classic bourbon oak and cherry, just louder, but with not much sweetness or any other interesting notes behind it. Maybe some pepper. But that’s much more prevalent upon the taste. And the burn of the abv is harsh, which I tend to like, but you’ll want to prepare for it. I’ve had better from Smoke Wagon, but I’m still a very big fan of what they’re doing.

(Lowering score... It's doing the opposite of opening up...)It's one of the best bourbons for the price. Uncut Unfiltered, move over... It's like they somehow took out the high-rye spicy note out of Uncut, and you just have waves of creamy vanilla left over. . I also wondered if a pricing error was made by the store or distillery, but let's keep it that way!

Nose in neck pour was pretty heavy erhanol, but thst was expected. Pleasantly surprised. Getting a lot of cherry notes. Some chocolate. Very well balanced w phenomenal mouthfeel. Finish is hot. Some ethanol coming back in. This is going to open uo beautifully.

Very fruit forward, particularly on the nose. Red apple, lemon. Slightly bitter as well. The nose is similar, cherry with some vanilla. Red hot candies. Spice and oak on the back end. Maybe its nothing to write home about, but pretty good nonetheless.

The nose is sweet with notes of brown sugar, caramel, cherry, and butterscotch. Palate is rich with notes of cherry, cinnamon, chocolate, pepper, vanilla and citrus. Finish is peppery and hot with notes of vanilla.