Tonight we cross the Atlantic, and I do not mean the short stretch of water leading from Islay in Scotland over into that other land of whisky Ireland, but that very long stretch into America.
I will be reviewing the Bulleit 10 year old bourbon. Bulleit also has a regular bourbon without an age statement bottled at 45%ABV. That one is usually composed of bourbon which has aged between 6 and 8 years.
There is also a cask strength bourbon, consisting of bourbon aged 5 to 8 years. The ABV depends on the barrels, but usually well over 50%
Legally there are a number of requirements for a whisky to be called a bourbon, in short these are:
Produced in the USA
Aged in new oak barrels
Based on a mash containing at least 51% of corn.
Nearly all bourbon is apparently produced in the state of Kentucky, but this is not a legal requirement.
Bulleit uses for its bourbons a mash of 68% corn, 28% of rye and 4% of barley malt. This is used for both the regular, the cask strength and the 10 year version.
Besides these Bulleit also produces a Rye whisky. Rye can use a different mash, but is also bound by certain rules. I will review a Rye in the future.
This the full bottle:
I again got myself a sample in order to taste however.
On to the tasting
The aroma
When smelling the opened bottle, there is fresh wood, which makes sense, being aged in new casks, besides that, the smell is mainly sweet.
After having smelt the opened bottle, I poured it into the glass.
Than I smelled again.
As always the aroma in the glass is somewhat more developed, due to the agitation of the pouring, and subsequent swirling. There is wood, but there is something sharp in the smell. When I smell it gently, not inhaling deeply, but gradually letting the fumes invade my nose, there is definitely something chemical there. Paint? Solvent? Not a pleasant smell...
(Note to beginners in tasting: I am not claiming there is actual paint or solvent in this whisky, just that the aroma is reminiscent of those substances).
The empty bottle immediately after pouring revealed only wood. I wonder whether tomorrow morning I will find caramel there.
The flavour
The immediate onset of the taste is pleasant. There is lots of fresh wood, and a definite vanilla flavour (this is actually a byproduct of the fresh wood). But the chemical aroma which was present in the scent now continues in the taste, producing harsh and unpleasant tones, which clash with the corny-sweetness…
This bourbon comes in at 45.6% ABV, but when going down, it burns more strongly than many 50ABV+ whiskies I’ve drank.
The aftertaste
The aftertaste is mostly sweetness and fresh wood, but there is no more chemical harshness here. The aftertaste is by far the best part of this bourbon. It Remains for a number of minutes.
My judgment
To me this was not a very good experience. In my area, this bottle would come in at around 45€, I could walk into a liquor store and blindly pick a 45€ scotch, and I would probably have a more pleasing product than this. Because I liked the aftertaste, I will give it a passing 5.5/10 grade.
About the brand:
The Bulleit bourbon used to belong to the Bulleit family, until it was sold to Seagrams in 1997. Eventually the brand ended up in the Diageo portfolio. In 2017 a new Bulleit distillery was opened in Shelbyville Kentucky, but due to the age of this bourbon, it cannot yet have been distilled there.
Cheers
Previous tastings:
I: Dalmore port wood reserve: @walkerlv/whisky-review-dalmore-port-wood-reserve
II: Lagavullin 16yo: @walkerlv/saturday-night-whisky-review-lagavullin-16