Memorable Woodford Reserve Double Oaked
Oh, Americans! They always have to do you one better, don’t they? In Scotland, it is sufficient to say “double oak” for a whisky matured in more than one barrel. Today we got a bottle on the table that was not matured in double oak, no sir, no ma’am, it was double oakED! Take that, whiskey! I am “double oaking” you! Anyway, all kidding aside, time to try a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey again, as we like to do from time to time on this blog. Keep in mind, double oak is a more foreign concept to American whiskey as it is compared to Scottish whisky, who have been “finishing” their stuff since the early 1990s already (here’s looking at you, Glenmorangie). They even pour whisky in wine barrels, brrr.
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, bottled at 45,2 % abv
First things first: This Woodford Reserve was finished in a second barrel, that was a heavy toasted new oak variant.
Upon Sipping: The bourbon is properly dark in the glass, I will tell you that. Rising from the glass is a bourbon that is seemingly on steroids. Powerful whiffs of wood smoke and vanilla, bubble gum with strawberry and mint flavour, resin, almost predicting that moment of putting up a Christmas tree in your living room. You hold up the trunk with a bare hand while below someone is trying to steady the tree. Yes, done, now smell your hand. That is what you will find in this glass of Woodford Reserve Double Oaked. Lots of caramel, too. The taste is surprisingly floral and quite syrupy. A preamble start on introducing an incredible wooded experience on mid-palate but especially the finish. This is a drink for true bourbon fetishists, because it is oh so pure on the new wood and vibrant youth in the glass. To me, it is a little bit too much over the top on the wood flavours, with almost no room for the spirit. If that was the idea, then this effort is a success. The finish is unusually long and keeps on delivering new tastes while you ponder the idea of bourbon whiskey altogether.
Word to the Wise: This is certainly not a standard Kentucky Straight Bourbon. It delivers something more, venturing dangerously close to being too wooded. For me, it actually crossed the line a little for what I am comfortable with. Am I drinking whiskey or flavoured wood alcohol? But that is, in essence, the tight rope a bourbon walks, is it not? What remains, is a tremendously memorable bourbon.
Score: 84 points.