Whiskey Tasting 2015-01-24 Bourbons

The theme of this whiskey tasting was “Bourbons”, with a few exceptions. Bourbons are synonymous with American whiskey, the majority of which are made in Kentucky. The main thing that sets bourbons apart from other whiskies is that the primary grain used for fermentation is corn, as opposed to for example malted barley for Scotch whiskies.

Order Whiskey Buyer Region

A1 Maker's Mark Ester/Phil KY

A2 Eagle Rare Mark KY

A3 Widow Jane Basil NY

A4 Woodford Reserve Basil KY

A5 Four Roses Debbie KY

A6 Jack Daniel Giorgio TN

B1 Jim Beam (Honey) Jing KY

B2 Evan Williams (Black) Basil KY

B3 Bulleit Debbie KY

B4 Knob Creek (Straight) Ben KY

B5 Black Saddle Cloud/Noelle KY

B6 Crown Royal Mark CAN

Our selection had a terrific mix of small batch and more common mass-market bourbons, including a few entries from outside of Kentucky. Picking which one to buy is always a lot of fun for me.

Order Whiskey Buyer Region Batch Size

A1 Maker's Mark Ester/Phil KY Mainstream

A2 Eagle Rare Mark KY Small Batch

A3 Widow Jane Basil NY Small Batch

A4 Woodford Reserve Basil KY Small Batch

A5 Four Roses Debbie KY Small Batch

A6 Jack Daniel Giorgio TN Mainstream

B1 Jim Beam (Honey) Jing KY Mainstream

B2 Evan Williams (Black) Basil KY Mainstream

B3 Bulleit Debbie KY Small Batch

B4 Knob Creek (Straight) Ben KY Small Batch

B5 Black Saddle Cloud/Noelle KY Small Batch

B6 Crown Royal Mark CAN Mainstream

While there is no standard definition for “small batch”, it typically refers to distilleries that produce a small number of barrels compared to the more mass-marketed mainstream brands.

Order Whiskey Buyer Region Batch Size Mash Price

A1 Maker's Mark Ester/Phil KY Mainstream High Wheat $30.99

A2 Eagle Rare Mark KY Small Batch Traditional $39.99

A3 Widow Jane Basil NY Small Batch High Rye $60.00

A4 Woodford Reserve Basil KY Small Batch High Rye $37.99

A5 Four Roses Debbie KY Small Batch High Rye $27.99

A6 Jack Daniel Giorgio TN Mainstream Traditional $25.99

B1 Jim Beam (Honey) Jing KY Mainstream Honey $18.99

B2 Evan Williams (Black) Basil KY Mainstream Traditional $12.99

B3 Bulleit Debbie KY Small Batch High Rye $34.99

B4 Knob Creek (Straight) Ben KY Small Batch Traditional $31.99

B5 Black Saddle Cloud/Noelle KY Small Batch Traditional $40.00

B6 Crown Royal Mark CAN Mainstream Rye $32.99

Traditional mash typically consists of 75% corn, and equal measures of rye and barley. High rye bourbons typically contain 20% or more of rye, but still mostly corn. Prices come from Martignetti Liquor, just as an equalizer.

In this blind testing from our panel of 9 tasters, Maker’s Mark came out as the group favorite (ranked ordered list below). Two of the mass market bourbons, Evan Williams and Jack Daniel, also fared very well, beating many of the more expensive small batch whiskies.

Basil made the most number of correct guesses, but missed Black Saddle and Four Roses. Ben managed to confidently identify his Knob Creek. Several people tried to guess Jack for what they thought tasted “cheap”. The biggest surprise to me was just how good Jack actually tasted.

Favorite 2nd 3rd

Cloud

Ben

Paul

Basil

Debbie

Theresa

Matt

Giorgio

Mark

Average

Here’s the leader board. Ben was the only one who picked his own contribution as his favorite. Evan Williams, the lowest priced bourbon, though not being anyone’s 1st place favorite, appeared in the top-3 among 7 out of the 9 tasters!

Mainstream vs. Small Batch For the group average, there did not appear to be any difference in preference between mainstream and small batch bourbons. But among each individual taster, there was a clear divide. Mark and Matt had the biggest bias towards the mainstream bourbons, while Paul and Ben leaned the most towards the small batches.

Mainstream Score = 7.0

Small Batch Score = 7.0

# of Std Dev

Traditional Mash vs. High Rye The group did seem to have a preference for traditional mash, in comparison to high rye. The non-bourbon rye whiskey, Crown Royal, actually received the lowest overall score aside from the JB Honey. Paul and Mark had the biggest preference for traditional mash, while Debbie was the only one in the group who had an overall preference for high rye.

Traditional Score = 7.3

High Rye Score = 6.7

# of Std Dev

High Price vs. Low Price Overall bourbons are less expensive than the single malt scotches we had last time. For the group, prices did not appear to be a strong indicator of preference, which I think is always a good thing! Though we did drink these blind -- and psychologically, one often enjoys a drink more when one knows that it is of an expensive variety.

High Price $35 to $60 Score = 7.2

Low Price $13 to $33 Score = 7.1

# of Std Dev

Cloud Ben Paul Basil Deb There Matt Gio Mark Ave

Cloud 1.0 0.1 0.8 0.3 0.3 0.8 0.2 0.8 0.1 0.8

Ben 0.1 1.0 0.5 -0.5 0.2 -0.1 -0.5 -0.1 -0.1 0.1

Paul 0.8 0.5 1.0 0.2 0.5 0.7 -0.1 0.5 -0.1 0.7

Basil 0.3 -0.5 0.2 1.0 0.2 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.1 0.5

Debbie 0.3 0.2 0.5 0.2 1.0 0.6 0.0 0.6 0.2 0.7

Theresa 0.8 -0.1 0.7 0.5 0.6 1.0 0.5 0.8 0.3 1.0

Matt 0.2 -0.5 -0.1 0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 0.3 0.5 0.5

Giorgio 0.8 -0.1 0.5 0.4 0.6 0.8 0.3 1.0 0.2 0.8

Mark 0.1 -0.1 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.2 1.0 0.4

Average 0.8 0.1 0.7 0.5 0.7 1.0 0.5 0.8 0.4 1.0

Here’s a correlation matrix comparing the tastes and preferences between each taster. Ben appeared to have the opposite preference as Basil and Matt. Ben and I both had very different preferences to the rest of the tasters, but it’s mostly because we rated the Jim Beam Honey very highly. Theresa’s taste matched up perfectly with that of the group consensus, as well as closely with that of Cloud and Giorgio.

Special thanks to Basil, Liene, and Ivan for once again being such gracious hosts, Lihua our scrutineer, all the folks who helped pour, and everyone for sharing and participating, especially the non-whiskey drinkers who actually contributed whiskies!

The biggest surprise for me was just how different and how good Jack Daniel’s actually tasted. I guessed “Crown Royal” for Jack because it’s a Canadian rye whiskey, but it turned out Crown was just pretty unremarkable, and could’ve very well passed as a traditional bourbon. This is why I love taste test comparisons. You always find out something interesting about your own preferences. This was so much fun.