🥃Whiskey Frankenstein - Evan Williams 107

Ezra Brooks and Evan Williams Whiskey Blend with a graduated cylinder whiskey Frankenstein

My personal sweet spot in the proof-flavor continuum is between 100-110 proof (albeit with some notable exceptions). For things that are barreled at 125, I find that this amount of dilution serves only to make the whiskey more drinkable and doesn't unduly harm flavor. Recently, I took a look at some Ezra Brooks Cask Strength, contract distilled by Heaven Hill, and was intrigued. The heaven hill stocks used shared the same mash bill as their hallmark Evan Williams line (heck, they may even have started life intended to be dumped into Evan bottles). This gave me a lovely 120 proof base to dilute down into my preferred ABV range. I toyed with the idea of using some Evan Williams Single Barrel as the complementary bottle, but ultimately decided that it would be too disproportionate (EWSib is only 86.6 proof). The stalwart Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond will stand in as the Ezra Brook's dance partner for this exercise.

Vámonos!

For the uninitiated, Whiskey Frankenstein is the practice of whiskey blending at home to create improved or interesting combos.

🧪Preparation

I blended the two spirits to arrive at the target 107 proof point for a 50ml sample - 17.5ml Ezra Brooks and 32.5ml Evan Williams BiB.

Whiskies were measured using a 100ml lab-quality graduated cylinder wielded with questionable skill. Mechanical agitation (stirring/shaking) is applied at the time of blending and prior to consumption. Blend married for about a month before tasting and was agitated prior to final consumption (I've been working nonstop and didn't get to it for a bit). Let rest for 10 minutes in Glencairn.

👅The Tasting

Nose has plenty of orange peel and vanilla but definitely is rough around the edges, some of the white label at work there. Not bad as long as you don't take too large a whiff. Prickly on the palate - medium thickness with some astringency, hot brown sugar and kerosene. A little bit of Heaven Hill mint creeps in a la Vick's Vapor rub. Finish is surprisingly short, clementine and lily blossom.

🏆Verdict

2 - Inferior - This blend takes the worst attributes of both the Ezra Brooks and the Evan BiB and mixes them into an oily mess. It's not intolerable but both are much better on their own. I think the difference in age of the two bourbons is partially to blame. Don't try this one at home. One thing is for sure though, if Heaven Hill did put out a real well-aged Evan Williams 107 I would be a buyer.

Now that the hard work is over, time for a real quality PHD (pretty huge drink). Thanks for reading!

💀Scoring Reference

1 - Abysmal - Maybe I'm the monster? This is a war crime.

2 - Inferior - So preoccupied with the knowledge that we could, we didn't stop to think if we should.

3 - Neutral - A simple average of its parts. At least we did no real harm.

4 - Superior - "Jinkies Gang", we might be on to something here. Target whiskey is improved.

5 - Genius - Mad Science does have it's perks; this is a breakthrough. Better than all inputs.

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