While not a favorite, one of my go to bourbons at a lightly stocked bar. Decent and almost everywhere they serve alcohol
Notes: One of the newer bourbons to come on the market (relatively speaking anyway). The distillery site was home to a number of previous distilleries (Oscar Pepper and James Crow of Old Crow to name a few).The current incarnation was reopened in 1996. One of the few pot distilled whiskies and only triple-distilled whiskey in America today. An admixture of pot distilled and column distilled whiskey. See our adventure section soon for the Woodford Reserve tour pictures and commentaries.
Appearance: Amber gold color,very clear. Peppery mint with fruit and some cocoa notes on nosing. Thin edge line on the glass when you swirl it, smooth layer of whiskey on swirling.
First Impression: Rye, corn, and oak, peppery mint again with alkali tastes of tobacco and some fruitiness to it.
Taste: Rye, sweet/sour taste,spicy with mint some sweetness to it. Vanilla and cocoa notes again. Finish is somewhat long, rather spicy, and a touch hot.
Drinks: We tried it in a Manhattan and found it made a good one. Some people may find it a bit too dry in a perfect or a dry Manhattan. Works well with other ingredients for your usual bourbon based drinks.
Cigars: Works well with a mild cigar.
Final Thoughts: If you tend towards Makers Mark style whiskey you will like this one. Relatively straightforward and a touch more rounded or complex (rye influence) than Makers Mark. A solid value for the money.
Bottle: The bottle is a flask shape with more or less flat front and back and squared off sides to it. It has a pommel mark LG below the neck of the bottle There is a combination of silk screened script in front with a small rectangular plain paper label at bottom and another paper label on back. Cork with wood top gives it a more elegant (read premium) touch to finish it off. Cork always gives a nice sound when you open the bottle and lends a antique feel.
Web site: http://www.woodfordreserve.com
Fast loading after getting past the annoying date-of-birth screen (okay, it helps them gather some demographics), but I always wonder those sites do with the information. Decent information and good pictures and some basic recipes.
