Henry McKenna Single Barrel
Distillery: Heaven Hill Distillery. Bardstown, KY Age: 10 YR Proof: 150 Nose: A nice wood driven nose peppered with notes of vanilla, caramel, rye spice, cinnamon, clove, butterscotch and some light dark fruit. Palate: Like the nose it’s wood driven with notes of dark fruit, vanilla, rye spice, red licorice, butterscotch and cardamom hitching a ride. A little water brings out more of the red licorice and some corn along with a touch more spice and a thin wispy note of dill. Color: Caramel Notes: This particular single barrel of Henry McKenna was picked out by the gregarious folks at K&L and I’ll cut to the chase here… it’s good. Real good; I’m glad I listened to David OG when he said pick it up. From a taste perspective Henry McKenna bourbon is something I haven’t been too familiar with until this year. Yes I know it’s the same mashbill as Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, Fighting Cock and more, but as you probably already know when distilleries put out different brands from the same distillery using the same mashbill it’s because they do something a little bit different with it to change the overall profile a bit. I don’t exactly know what that difference is when it comes to the regular Henry McKenna Bourbon, but here in the single barrel version it’s not all too dissimilar from some of the Evan Williams Single Barrels I’ve had. This one definitely has a richer wood driven character to it than any of the EWSBs I’ve had, but instead of me blabbing on about the ghosts of whiskey past let’s get on with the review of this “ghost” of whiskey present shall we? |