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📚Background: The same mash bill as Evan Williams, bottles of this series are dumped from hand selected barrels of whiskey by Evan's master distiller each year since 1986. One of the cheapest and most tenured single barrel editions on the market (Benchmark Single Barrel at $25 is the other that comes to mind), Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage has fantastic labeling for a budget bottle, including both the barreled and bottled dates. Like wine, it prominently features the barreling year on the label. I love the lore even if it's not likely to mean much (single barrels do tend to vary quite a bit even in famed and expensive editions). Each barrel likely produces 250-300 bottles depending on the amount absorbed by the wood and evaporation. To further the crafted aesthetic, each bottle is topped with black wax and has a little booklet necklace with further marketing material around the neck. It has been awarded "Whiskey of the Year" by the Spirit Journal, "Domestic Whiskey of the Year" by Malt Advocate, and "Spirit of the Year- Bourbon Category" by the Wine & Spirits Buying Guide.
🛒Sourced: 34.99 Tower Wine & Spirits, GA. I've seen some posts saying this bottle is a Kentucky Exclusive but Total Wine, Local Vine, and Tower Wine and Spirits in Georgia are still stocking the bottle reliably thorough date of review.
🧪Proof: 86.6 proof, 43.3% ABV
🎨Color: R8 - This thing is very dark for the proof and age. Could just be the impact of the black wax topper on the light but it remains fairly dark in the glass. Perhaps they pull these off a high floor?
🥔Mash Bill: 78% Corn, 12% Barley, 10% Rye the same as all of the Evan Williams series. This bottle comes from Barrel No. 581 which was barreled on 7/28/15 and bottled on 3/19/24 (eight years, seven months, and twenty days). Info is marked in what looks like hand written sharpie on the rear label. This does reflect the consensus of 7-8 years as being the youngest to release a special edition (see also the Elijah Craig Private Barrel line), largely reflecting a decrease in average age as bourbon demand has increased over the last decade. At almost nine years, this is an older barrel for the edition. As bourbon stocks have recovered, I think we'll see some real banger bottles come out through the Single Barrel vintage line.
👃Nose: Loving oak, candy corn, and a bit of mint. Wood forward but with some dancing sweetness. Not overwhelming from first scent. Some grape or licorice scents emerge after it has been rested for a bit.
😜Palate: Strong oak transitioning into vanilla toffee. Silky on the tongue with a little kick up of heat as it hits the back of your mouth, pretty manageable. Medium mouthfeel, neither creamy or watery. For me the oak is more bitter than sweet, though I've seen others break it out more as sweet oak and black pepper in close tandem. Definitely some sweetness mid-taste.
💦Finish: A flare up again of the wood flavor, but I have a hard timing deciding if it's a long or short finish. After the flavor starts to fade, you're left with a nice buttery aftertaste almost like cake icing. This aftertaste hangs around pleasantly for quite some time.
🏆 Overall: 7 - Great - Relatively monotone but leggy and well flavored for the proof. I really do enjoy getting lots of wood character without astringent young whiskey taste or hazmat proof. I do tend to like Heaven Hill bottles and though I didn't find this one particularly minty, I wouldn't be mad if it were more so. Will plan to buy more of these.
Updated: 7/13/24 Blinded this versus Elijah Craig Toasted barrel and this bottle won. With just a wee bit of air in the headspace, this bottle opened up a good bit. I got the grape and licorice flavors listed above as well as much stronger baking/custard flavors on the palate. Really great, bumping up my rating from the initial 6/10, taking a mulligan there - honestly might have been an off day for my tongue.
Updated: 7/24/24 I choose this bottle more than most in my cabinet. The quality vs value proposition is definitely there. Is it a 7.5 or an 8? I'm not sure, but it's damn good. 7.5 is a fair rating, but honestly when I'm in the mood this bottle might hit the nines. We'll keep on evaluating. I think once I blind this one versus some other solid contenders, it may have some upward potential yet.
💵Would buy again? Absolutely. The Evan Williams Vintage line is a phenomenal value.
See how this bottle compared to our review of the Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond.
⚖️Rating Scale:
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume it by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I'd rather have.
5 | Good | Good, an agreeable dram indeed
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite.
10 | Perfect | Perfect.