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It’s easy to confuse the labels “Ezra Brooks” and “Old Ezra.” Ezra Brooks came first (1958) and was one of the darlings of bourbon in the United States up until the early 1970’s. Ownership switched to Medley in 1978 and a few years later they rolled out with a more premium (and older) version named Old Ezra. The difference between the two might seem obvious, Old Ezra would be the older variant of the two Ezra’s. That doesn’t mean you can’t find some dusty examples of Ezra Brooks sporting a 15-year-old age statement, because you totally can. However, after the 1980s, Old Ezra was the label that would contain the oldest bourbon the brand had to offer.
“Ezra” went through another ownership change in 1988 when Glenmore Distilleries (which was right next door to Medley) purchased the brand. They were acquired by United Distillers in 1991 who then promptly sold the brand to Heaven Hill. Heaven Hill wasted no time in flipping it to the David Sherman Corporation which eventually made it part of the Luxco lineup.
Heaven Hill agreed to supply Luxco with bourbon after the sale. Years later, they’d allow John Rempke to distill using their equipment and facility. That stopped when Luxco had finished their distillery at Lux Row. All of this is why you’ll find very few people who dispute that any Ezra label after 2000 is anything but Heaven Hill distillate.
Old Ezra finds its fame overseas
The bottle I’m reviewing today – which is either a 2012 or 2013 (a raised number 12 is on the bottom of the bottle) was repatriated from Japan. That’s where a majority of these Old Ezra 15’s came from. The Japanese market was wild for American bourbon with high age statements. From what my research tells me, this bottle was available domestically, but on a very limited level.
Let’s back up and look at something unique with this bottle. If you’re clever enough, you’d realize that if you subtract 15 years from year this bottle, that would put its distillation date sometime between 1997 and 1998. Why does that matter? Because Heaven Hill was not distilling bourbon at that time. Their distillery – DSP-KY-31 – had burnt down in November 1996 and they wouldn’t begin production until the Spring of 1999 at the New Bernheim distillery.
So who (could have) distilled the bourbon inside this bottle? Either Jim Beam or Brown-Forman. While the common belief is that Jim Beam produced bourbon for Heaven Hill while Brown-Forman produced their rye whiskey, the reality is that Jim Beam and Brown-Forman switched off who produced bourbon distillate every other year.
I could also be incorrect to surmise that this bourbon was distilled at Jim Beam or Brown-Forman. It’s entirely plausible that Luxco had older barrels in the blend and maybe they were distilled at the old Heaven Hill distillery. Regardless of that case, I’d like to remind my audience that Heaven Hill used to use a recipe that was officially 75/13/12 back then, but only switched to 78/10/12 when production began at New Bernheim. I mention this because I’m just now realizing that Beam and BF likely used the 75/13/12 recipe because the 78/10/12 hadn’t been invented yet.
So how is Old Ezra 15 Year? It’s age is impressive but its proof (101) is not. Did Luxco save their best barrels for the oversea market? Let’s find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.
Tasting Notes
Nose: Caramel and toasted vanilla come first, followed by tobacco leaf, cocoa powder and coffee grounds. Fruits include dried cherry and apricot while baking spices (cinnamon and clove) give each sniff a bit more depth. Oak and some very light nuts ground it in familiar Heaven Hill territory.
Palate: Very rich and balanced for 101 proof. I taste toasted marshmallows and brown sugar which is supported by chocolate Tannins like tobacco and charred oak give each sip some genuine maturity. Fruit continues with stone fruits like cherry and some dried apple. A little bit of rye helps the palate become more complex with notes of black licorice and anise. Oak touches everything in a good way and really lets you know of all 15 years it had in the barrel.
Finish: Long and pleasing. Oak spice lingers with cocoa and coffee grounds. Spice includes cinnamon and clove and there’s also a minty number that adds just enough rye influence to make this interesting. The dryness builds but stays controlled due to the sweetness of the caramel. This is really well done for the age and proof.
Score: 8.4/10
If you had to choose between a lifetime of drinking mediocre bourbon while occasionally finding a truly amazing bottle versus a lifetime of drinking a bourbon like this, which would you pick? I can see good reason to go with the latter because bourbon like this is so perfectly drinkable and has so many of the right notes that I don’t think you’d ever get bored with it. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it does everything so well that it’s hard to find a fault in anything at all.
Final Thoughts
What makes the 2015 export especially compelling is its position at the intersection of eras. It’s not a dusty in the traditional sense, but it’s no longer in production, wasn’t widely distributed and contains liquid from a very particular moment in Heaven Hill’s rebuilding phase. That alone makes it more than just a curiosity. It’s a snapshot from a particular moment of history when distilleries came together to help one another that feels like it doesn’t exist anymore.
Old Ezra 15 (2015 export) isn’t chasing nostalgia. It doesn’t try to mimic dusty ‘70s bottles and it’s not part of any limited time offer hype cycle. What it offers instead is poise, polish and depth that showcases how Heaven Hill’s sourced whiskey aged under Luxco’s label was a long time ago. The secondary price is somewhat reasonable on this bottle ($300) and I have enjoyed it more than, say, a certain collection of bottles containing 24-year-old Pre-Fire Heaven Hill Bourbon that spent half its life in Scotland, but I’ll let you form your own opinion. This is the bottle you want to be hunting down instead.
