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Before we begin, I’m alerting readers who have clicked on this review before the others that I’m in the middle of a blind Advent Calendar with a whiskey group I’m in called The Slackers. For the past 6 years, they’ve done an Advent Calendar with contributions by the members which arrive blind. We don’t do all 24 days, but 16 days of samples will still be a bit of a challenge. You’ll see why in a moment.
December 2nd
Today’s Advent Calendar started off with a rather odd phenomenon. The first 5 participants to submit a guess all guessed it was a Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition Bourbon. When the data was tabulated later that evening, the number increased to 6 for that release (exact vintages differed). Usually when there is consensus like that, it’s going to be that bottle.
There was also another contender that placed a close second: Willett. Three participants guessed December 2nd was a bottle of Willett. Third place went to MGP. All three brands are known for their high-rye profile notes, which is why a large number of participants listed “rye” as one of the profile notes they found. Surely one of those three groups was going to be right, right?
Here’s a breakdown of the guesses that day:
And just for more context, here’s the breakdown of the most popular tasting notes of the day:
It shouldn’t be unusual to expect that Oak, Caramel, Vanilla and Spice are the most common notes on any bourbon or rye whiskey, but one thing that you can see really stood out to the group was the large number of “rye” votes on the nose. I also recorded a lot more people commenting on the texture where it seemed as if there a split on if this was a thin mouthfeel or a thicker mouthfeel (bottom center of the graphs). Many noted their feelings changed around the halfway mark. Fruit notes were somewhat sparse while baking spices were somewhat plentiful.
December 2nd Reveal
When the clock struck 8pm PST, the reveal came out and there was an audible gasp across the board. For so many votes of high rye bourbons, there wasn’t actually any rye in it at all:
I personally enjoyed the 2024 more than the 2023 when I reviewed it last year. But I’ve also pointed out at length that the Cellar Aging that Maker’s uses imparts very strange flavors to a wheated bourbon that don’t normally belong. Perhaps this is why it was so confusing to the group. I’m not sure. Here’s a round up of the scores the other guys gave it.
My scores between the bottle I reviewed last year and this blind sample were only .2 points away from each other, so I’d say my opinion of it hasn’t drifted too far. I think the thing that surprised me even more was that the group seemed to enjoy this bottle even more than yesterday’s PHC 10 Year Heavy Char Bourbon. That may have been the most shocking part of all.