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The second-to-last day of the Slacker Advent Calendar was one of those bottles that seemed to confuse everyone. Guesses were spread across the board as to what this was and what its specs were. There were guesses for eight different distilleries, a range of 40 proof points, a couple of people thinking this was a dusty and a couple that seemed pretty sure it was a wheated bourbon instead of a ryed. Maybe it was the fatigue of the holiday seasons setting in or maybe it was just that confusing of a bottle, I’m not sure. Let’s look at the breakdown:
The only slight consensus seemed to be among a small group of three participants who guessed this as a Jim Beam product and three that guessed it was a Small Batch Limited Edition from Four Roses. What notes were they getting that made them think that? Here’s the breakdown:
What my graph doesn’t show you is how little tasting notes were actually submitted for this bottle. Most participants skipped entire profile segments in their observations for December 22nd and some struggled to give at least three descriptors – instead focusing on perceived heat/alcohol levels or the length of the finish. I don’t know what to make of that.
If we look outside of the “Big 4” (oak, caramel, vanilla and spices), we can see that nutty notes were very common. I also observed that three different participants found a “sour wood” note in either the nose or the palate. That’s an odd one that I haven’t really seen more than one person use for a guess this Advent. Also, the “Funky” descriptor was mentioned three times. If we lump them all together, we seem to be dealing with a fairly off-profile bourbon.
One of the biggest hints as to what this bottle could be seems to be in the “Nutty” note that multiple participants found. These ranged from peanut brittle to almond butter. That has previously been associated heavily with Jim Beam, Heaven Hill or Wild Turkey.
With so much confusion over what we were tasting, the group was on pins and needles for the 8pm (PST) reveal. 8pm came and went and the group began to get squeamish. We needed our fix! Finally, about 5 minutes past, Mary’s name popped up on our screen to give us the bottle we had been tasting. And when the picture popped up the group went absolutely wild:
December 22nd Reveal
To say this was a shock is an understatement. The chat immediately erupted in anger, confusion, disbelief and a chain of expletives. It was even more so when one participant called out that the bottle in the picture was a 2016 release and that this was supposedly one of the best in recent memories.
Just when it seemed like there was going to be a riot, we noticed the name “Mary” turn into “Tim” and a message that he was sorry to troll us all. Tim had switched his name on Slack and fooled us with a fake reveal. It was one of the best pranks in the Advent to date and showed us all that maybe we were taking this a bit too seriously. But it was pretty funny in a humbling sort of way to make everyone question themselves and their sensory receptors because really – how do you get 15 self-proclaimed whiskey enthusiasts to totally whiff on a bottle of that caliber?
Mary finally entered the chat about 40 minutes later apologizing for the delay – she was hosting a sleepover for her son – and finally revealed the real December 22nd bottle. It was:
Now the guesses from the group made more sense. This is the first release of Russell’s Reserve Single Rickhouse Camp Nelson C that hit the shelves in 2022. According to internet reviewers, this has been the least-liked version of the Single Rickhouse series. However, it is destined to be the most valuable in the years to come because not only were there fewer of these bottles released than future Single Rickhouse editions, but the entire warehouse was torn down shortly after the barrels were pulled out to make this. Now Camp Nelson only has 5 of the 6 original rickhouses remaining.
A big shoutout to Crane for pouring this one for the Advent. He didn’t have to, but I’m glad he did. Unfortunately, the rest of the group wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the pour and rated it accordingly.
The two final things I have to say about this bottle is: 1.) This cements Wild Turkey as the most “blinded” brand the Slackers submitted this year (5 of 15 up to this point came from this producer) and 2.) a Wild Turkey bottle holds 3 of the 4 bottom-ranked spots on this year’s advent (the other two being WTMK Voyage and – shockingly – Russell’s 1998). However, a Wild Turkey bottle does currently hold the #2 highest ranked bottle in this year’s Advent, so it’s not a total wash. Let’s see if all of these stats hold true tomorrow once the final bottle is revealed!