Woodford Reserve Double Double Oaked Bourbon (2025) Review

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This is a strong statement to make, but I believe that Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon is one of the most successful new products the brand has rolled out over the last 15 years. I say this because their other releases are either misses (most of the Master’s Collection), aimed directly at more serious enthusiasts (Batch Proof) or available only in Kentucky at certain times of the year (the “Distillery Series”). What this boils down to is a brand that doesn’t have much else in the way of a premium-ish offering for average consumers to find on a shelf.

The success of Woodford Reserve Double Oaked seems to hinge on striking a sweet spot between the casual bourbon consumer and the hardcore enthusiast. The secondary barrel it gets finished in amplifies the base bourbon into something darker and richer. Perhaps its biggest achievement is that it sparked a revolution among virtually all distilleries to release a double-barreled product of their own. But could Woodford improve upon their original design?

What if Woodford Double Oaked, but aged longer?

I want to catch everyone up if they’re unsure about what Woodford Reserve is and how we got to Woodford “Double Double Oaked.” First let me clarify what standard Woodford Reserve is. It starts as a blend of bourbon distilled on the column stills at the Brown Forman Distillery with a still proof of 138, a barrel entry proof of 125 and aged for 4 to 5 years. The other part of the blend is bourbon made on the pot stills at Woodford Reserve with a still proof of 158, a barrel entry proof of 110 and typically aged for 6-7 years. They both use the same mash bill and are aged in heat-cycled warehouses.

Double Oaked takes the standard Woodford formula and cuts it with water until it reaches 100 proof. Then they fill a second heavily toasted, lightly charred (about 5 seconds) oak barrel all the way up. It is then aged for another year. As an aside, this is why stores that get a “single barrel pick” of Woodford Double Oaked get over 200 bottles every time.

That leads us to “Double Double Oaked.” The only extra step that separates it from Double Oaked is that it rests in the secondary barrel for two years instead of one. I think that some casual enthusiasts believe it was dumped into yet another barrel what with the confusing name and all. I’d like to give Woodford’s “Director of New Label Names” a piece of my mind with why they named it that, but the last anyone has heard of them, they were hired by Buffalo Trace and responsible for creating the label “Double Eagle Very Rare.” Who knew?

Each year since 2015, Woodford Reserve’s gift shop would have a release of Double Double Oaked Bourbon as part of their ~3 very limited releases for that year. I did a review for the 2019 release here and found it to be quite good. Since then, the hype for it has grown so much, it usually sells out on the same day it’s released. We’ve also seen retail and secondary prices rise accordingly (it used to be under $50 for a 375ml bottle). It wasn’t until this year that Woodford has finally given us a full-sized bottle (well, 700ml at least) and a nationwide release. For the first time ever, you don’t have to schedule a trip to Kentucky to buy your own.

Now that we know how it’s made and that you should be able to find it anywhere fine spirits are sold, how does it taste? Thanks to my friend John, I get to find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: I liken the nose to smelling a hot S’more fresh from the campfire. Semi-sweet milk chocolate, vanilla, gooey marshmallow (a common scent whenever toasted barrels are involved) and even some grainy characteristics (graham crackers?) all invade my nostrils. And is that a touch of smoke as well? I am also finding plenty of oak and cinnamon spice. The nose is still very sweet overall due to the large amount of caramel found with every sniff.

Palate: The tannins are exceptionally strong for the proof. Each sip queues up a long line of oak, charred wood, saddle leather and dark chocolate. The vanilla marshmallow flavor is still quite pungent, but gets hidden behind the stronger tannins fairly easily. The mouthfeel has a nice oily richness to it. But for all the more time this has seen maturing in a barrel, I still find a touch of graininess with each sip. I think that’s the nature of the distillate being physically young despite the best intentions of the heat-cycled aging process.

The bitterness of the oak (and a little bit of coffee grounds) will become apparent if you hold it in your mouth for a long period of time, but for the most part a rich and heavy caramel flavor ensures it never overpowers the other notes. As for fruit notes, I’m not really finding much outside of maybe a flambéed cherry or dehydrated banana chip. The heavier flavors are masking them if so.

Finish: A moderately long finish that concentrates heavily on oak throughout. Some of the immediate flavors I find upon completion of the sip include burnt caramel, barrel char, cinnamon rolls and the faintest hint of banana chips. As those flavors fade to black, all I can taste is the lingering charred oak. That’s either a good or a bad thing depending on who you ask. I happened to be in the mood for a lot of barrel influence for this review, so I’m marking it as a good thing.

Score: 7.8/10

Overall, this is tasty, flavorful bourbon that gets a little one-dimensional as the session goes on. As long as you know what you’re getting into before purchasing a bottle like this, you should appreciate every last bit of it. I personally like bourbon with a lot of barrel influence which is why I rated it accordingly. What would it have taken to receive a higher rating? Probably more proof, depth and complexity. But this is what Woodford is known for and it tasted every bit the way I expected it to.

Final Thoughts

So let’s talk about the elephant in the room, namely, the price. I know the price for Double Double Oaked gets a lot of hate, but in my opinion, it needs to get more. Most stores have it priced at $200 although there have been a few warehouse clubs selling it as low as $169. This is still absurd when you consider the gift shop in Kentucky was selling the 375ml bottles for $80 last year. I’d like to remind my readers that this is just a 700ml bottle – which makes the value slightly worse. Considering I can go scoop up a bottle of Woodford Double Oaked for around $50, that means the extra year of age increases the value four fold.

I know that’s all been discussed ad nauseum when this bottle was first released, but I feel as though Brown-Forman needs to keep hearing this so that they will learn from their mistake. We’re starting to see the beginnings of a slowdown in whiskey sales in general. I’m not saying that Woodford should sell their products at a loss, but at least make the pricing look like you tried. I know many friends who have not bought a bottle of this specifically because they can’t get behind the value proposition.

This batch may sell out eventually but there’s going to be little appetite to buy a second one in the future (this appears to be a regular release?). So good job, Woodford, for making a buck today while sacrificing two bucks tomorrow. Until they regain some common sense from a pricing perspective, I advise you only buy a pour at a bar and feel good about saving your money on something better.