Woodford Reserve Masters Collection Select American Oak Bourbon (2018) Review

2018 saw two different Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection releases – “Oat Grain” and “Select American Oak.” That might seem odd that they had two in one year, but there is precedence: Woodford previously released two rye whiskies for their Master’s Collection in 2011 and two different malt whiskies in 2013, to highlight how two complementary releases could differ with one change.

The two 2018 releases didn’t really have anything to do with each other. The reason that they released both at the same time was because they were both declared fully matured that year. Rather than go through the hassle of trying to vat an entire batch and store it for a year, they decided to do a dual release. The Oat Grain version saw the inclusion of oats into the regular recipe resulting in a totally unique ratio of 66% corn, 18% oats, 12% malted barley and 4% rye. The other release I’m reviewing today takes Woodford’s standard 72/18/10 recipe and ages it in barrels made from oak specifically from the Ozarks region.

Woodford Reserve Select American Oak

Since Brown-Forman owns their cooperage(s), it was much easier to do a project like this. They tracked the harvesting of the trees and followed the staves all the way into their cooperage to create these barrels. Brown-Forman typically makes their barrels from an equal mix of oak from the Ozarks, Northern America and the Appalachia Mountains, so you can appreciate the distillery’s caution to ensure they don’t get mixed up.

Woodford’s press release stated that they wanted to experiment with the effects of the oak’s terroir on the flavor of the whiskey. However, I noticed something unusual that I don’t think that any previous review had picked up on. In this interview by Distiller.com, Chris Morris (the former Master Distiller for Woodford Reserve), goes on to offer the tidbit that the oak they used from the Ozarks is “quercus muehlenbergii.” The oak they harvest in the other two regions is primarily “quercus alba” – which is white oak.

It’s strange that Morris only refers to the oak trees as their binomial names during interviews. I say this because most whiskey enthusiasts would instantly recognize it if he used its much more common name of Chinquapin Oak.

Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection “Chinquapin Oak”

If you’re a true whiskey nerd, the wheels in your head are probably spinning. There’s another brand who talks an awful lot about using Chinquapin Oak – Michter’s. And everyone knows that Brown-Forman made whiskey for Michter’s for a period of time. Ironically, there’s one Michter’s release that consistently touts using barrels made from Chinquapin Oak – Bomberger’s Declaration Bourbon.

Coincidence? I think not. Both Woodford Reserve Select American Oak and the very first (modern example) Bomberger’s were released in same year – 2018. I smell another famous Bourbon Culture theory cooking…

If Michter’s was cut off from their contract with Brown-Forman in 2011 (which we know to be true), then we could assume that the last batch of bourbon made for Michter’s had a portion that was barreled in these same exact Chinquapin Oak barrels. This could mean that the bourbon used in both the 2018 Bomberger’s release and the 2018 Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection were at least 7 years old. Add in the fact that both were matured in heat-cycled warehouses and we get an even more mature whiskey than you’d expect.

Of course, side-by-side comparisons probably won’t yield many similarities because both bourbons start out differently. Michter’s bourbon technically uses the old Early Times mash bill (79/11/10) with a 103 barrel entry proof and a yeast that’s probably very similar to Early Times yeast (which I haven’t been able to identify the nomenclature) while the Woodford uses their own yeast (internally known as “78B” or “72B” depending on the source) with a 110 barrel entry proof and an Old Forester mash bill, but I wouldn’t fault you if you did the side-by-side anyway.

The point I’m trying to make in all of this is that it’s somewhat comical the lengths that Brown-Forman takes to hide or disguise the fact they had this contractual relationship with Michter’s. I think it’s fairly obvious when two products were hatched from the same idea. Who came up with it first? Maybe it was Michter’s idea which is why Brown-Forman/Chris Morris avoided using the word “Chinquapin” while talking about it in interviews. But in reality, that’s what this Woodford release should have been called. Could they have labeled it differently if it was released in 2024 instead? I guess we’ll never know.

So how does Chinquapin Oak Woodford taste? Let’s find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: I’m loving the nose on this (and spoiler alert, it’s the best part of the bourbon). There’s this dominating sweetness from the oak that simultaneously gives off notes of toasted marshmallows. Sweetness also comes from “honey sticks” and Cow Tales that been left in the sun and slightly melted. Fruit is a bit more hard to find, but I can smell a little bit of cherry cough syrup. Still, I can’t get over how great that oak note is.

Palate: The nose was impressively oaky, but the palate seems to be full of much more antiqued wood notes (somewhat bitter with a varnish flavor) than I was expecting at 90.4 proof. It’s a nice touch, but kind of obscures the other flavors like honey, orchard fruit and vanilla. There is also an underlying grainy note similar to grits. I didn’t expect that for a fully-mature bourbon. Wrapping it all up are spice notes similar to mulling spices. I find cinnamon and allspice stick out the most.

Finish: The finish is equal parts dry oak and sweet oak. In between them is a sour oak note (something I rarely find) and fruit notes that rapidly leave my taste buds. The finish brings down the whole experience due to its lack of flavors and relatively shortness.

Score: 7.4/10

Sipping on this with two other friends, we all concluded that the nose was the best part about this bourbon. It’s so sweet and oaky that it keeps drawing you in for another sniff. Of course, if fantastic noses were all that counts to make a great whiskey, this would earn a “10” rating. But the body and finish failed to deliver as much as the nose did.

While I’m certainly a fan of oaky bourbons, this one concentrated on it too much. The other flavors suffered as a result. Proofing down the final product should have allowed the oak to release its stranglehold on the dram and allow more flavors and scents to show up, but they didn’t. This may be one of the few times you’ll ever hear me say this, but maybe Chris Morris and his Woodford team were right in their decision to proof his one down to 90.4 proof? Otherwise, I can only imagine the tongue-drying bourbon this would have been at over 110 proof.

Final Thoughts

Woodford’s Master’s Collection releases are typically a big waste of money. $130 for an experiment that was never meant to go mainstream? It’s a hard pass 95% of the time. But – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – American Select Oak may be one of the few ones I’d say you should try to find. It’s only after I began to research more of the backstory behind this bottle did it start to get more interesting. If you learned something new from my findings I wrote above, then maybe you feel the same way.

I know that not every expensive bottle is a winner or can satisfy most palates out there, but sometimes you buy a bourbon to keep in your collection that allows you to have a more complete experience of modern-day bourbons. If that’s the case, this is one of those rare instances of a bourbon that really can help paint a more complete picture. Chinquapin Oak makes this release pop and now that you know its secret, maybe it’ll make you track down a bottle to experience for yourself too.