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The name “Joshua Brooks Bourbon” might sound familiar to enthusiasts on a budget. In certain areas of the country, it can still be found on shelves in the same bottle that Heaven Hill uses for brands like JW Dant or JTS Brown. It was typically priced under $13 and bottled at 80 proof which kind of tells you all you need to know about it. But the bottle I’m reviewing today isn’t that. This version carries an age statement of 15 years and clocks in at 115 proof. That combination puts it in a very different league not only with the standard version, but other vintage bottles from its time.
I’ll try hard to keep the backstory of this bottle short and sweet. What you’re looking at is a one-time release from the producer “Frank-Lin” that was bottled in 1990 and exported overseas. You know its an export bottle because the back label is in Japanese. I’ve also seen a version on the auction site “Whiskey Hammer” that wears a label that says “Imported by Nippon Food GmbH 6374 Bouchs, Switzerland” which seems to indicate some of these bottles made their way to Europe. All of the bottles I’ve seen are marked “Bottled by Distillers Products, San Jose” on the front label.
Most trusted enthusiasts have settled on Heaven Hill being the source for this bourbon. I believe that, too. According to Whiskeybase, there were only 2500 total bottles of this “Uncut” version produced. If that fact alone doesn’t make this extremely rare, the high proof is also something of an outlier among bourbon being bottled in 1990.
I want to pause this review to direct you to the writings of another whiskey reviewer that I respect a lot and who has had some incredible write-ups/deep dives into various things/events/people from the bourbon industry. In the link above, he retells the fascinating history of Marci Palatella – an unrecognized pioneer in bourbon who is often glanced over in the history books. It might be a stretch to say that she saved the bourbon industry during a time period when not much was being sold domestically, but everyone should know that because of her and the Frank-Lin company, bourbon’s popularity was spreading around the world which helped keep the remaining distilleries afloat.
As for the bottle of Joshua Brooks Uncut, the “over 15 year” age statement on the front label is offset with the wording inside of the neck hangtag that claims the bourbon was 16-years-old. That was probably common back then and might have demonstrated a delay in the label approval that couldn’t be changed, but the hangtag was something that could easily be re-printed. So I’m guessing the bourbon inside is truly 16-years-old and not the 15 that the label says it is.
One final thing that I love to point out with pre-fire Heaven Hill that makes it slightly different from modern-day Heaven Hill is that the mash bill changed slightly after the fire in 1996. Heaven Hill used to use a mash bill that would resemble Jim Beam or Wild Turkey to many enthusiasts in the fact that it was 75/13/12. Only after the fire did Parker Beam find that the using the same ratio of grains on the distilling equipment at New Bernheim wasn’t tasting the same as before. So he altered it slightly to what we know Heaven Hill as today – 78/10/12.
Enough about the history, it’s time to get drinking. I want to see what bourbon that came from the stills of DSP-KY-31 tastes like when its bottled at such a high proof. If you are a consistent reader with my reviews, you’ll remember that I’ve recently reviewed two other pre-fire HH bourbons over the past few weeks, so I’ll make sure to interject a comparison or two with them at the end of this review. A big thanks goes out to my friend Chris in the New Jersey Bourbon and Yacht Club for his generosity in sharing this bottle with me. I sampled it neat in a glencairn.
Tasting Notes
Nose: Upon first sniff, my nose is met with a wave of fully matured oak, tobacco and earthy scents. This is an old, dark, rich bourbon for sure. It’s followed up with the sweet aroma of cherry cola syrup and salted caramel. There’s also lots of vanilla custard and baking spices. These spices are not hot or particularly punchy, but they add layers to a nose that’s already jam-packed with dense notes all around. What a memorable experience.
Palate: The fully seasoned oak notes continue on the tongue along with layers of toffee and buttercream for sweetness. This powerful bourbon doesn’t stop as the next level of flavors contain cherry pipe tobacco, grilled citrus, cinnamon and allspice. Just because I’ve stopped listing off flavors doesn’t mean there aren’t any more, I’ve simply exhausted all of the ones that I can think of to describe this. The rest are a blur to my senses, but my brain tells me that there are many that just wouldn’t fit in the descriptions or comparisons to modern bourbon.
Finish: Long and warming with cocoa, tobacco, leather and that powerful oak – over and over again. While everything has been very balanced with sweetness so far, there is a dryness that starts to creep in. That’s to be expected with a bourbon this old, but it doesn’t make it bad. Chocolate coated cherries wrap it all up in a very memorable finish. I swear this tastes like a more mellow GTS in the afterglow.
Score: 8.8/10
Joshua Brooks Very Old Barrel Bourbon is a great example of how independent bottlings can punch far above their weight. The age and proof – together – set it apart from other versions of pre-fire Heaven Hill that were available before, during or after. I’ve not tasted anything so expertly put together from stocks like this outside of what Even Kulsveen used to blend in his Willett Family Estate bottles. This is something that’s less money than you’ll ever find those bottles for, and with similar specs. Does that make this kind of a deal in the vintage bourbon scene? I’d argue yes.
The concentration of flavors make me weep a little bit for all of the bourbons of yesteryear that were never bottled over 100 (or 101) proof. If this is how good the old stuff can taste at higher proofs, then how good could the stuff our parents and grandparents drank have been if they had demanded higher proofed whiskies back in their day?
Final Thoughts
Tracking down your own bottle of Joshua Brooks isn’t cheap – or easy. I already laid out just how few of these were produced, but they’re still quite the bargain when you consider how much money a block-letter Willett Family Estate would be (with probably the same bourbon inside). So while I can’t recommend for everyone to go get their own bottle, I can recommend that if you’re on the fence and have the money to plop down for one of these beauties, to go out and do it right now. That very first sip will be your own reward for doing so.
