{"id":629,"date":"2016-03-05T11:26:30","date_gmt":"2016-03-05T17:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/?p=629"},"modified":"2016-03-05T11:26:30","modified_gmt":"2016-03-05T17:26:30","slug":"tour-de-bourbon-day-23-blantons-straight-from-the-barrel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/2016\/03\/05\/tour-de-bourbon-day-23-blantons-straight-from-the-barrel\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de Bourbon Day 23: Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 23 is Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel, a “Bourbon Whiskey” that’s 65.7% alcohol.\"2015-12-29<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.blantonsbourbon.com\/straight_from_the_barrel#<\/a><\/p>\n

Ah, Blanton’s. I really like Blanton’s so I have high expectations. I guess it would be better if this was a blind taste test. C’est la vie.<\/p>\n

The high alcohol content is immediately obvious in the nose, which has some cherry, and in the mouth, which is smooth and burns in a really nice way. Christina calls it “powerful but flavorful” and I think that’s a good way to describe it.<\/p>\n

I’m struck by how smooth it is, despite the high alcohol content. There’s no bitterness at all. Instead there’s an almost honey quality, or maybe honeysuckle – a sweetness that’s right on the edge of detection.<\/p>\n

It’s very drinkable, again in spite of the high alcohol content. I like it a lot. I don’t, however, like it as much as I liked the Gold Edition or even the Old Scout 7. That may be due in part to my high expectations. Even so, if I ever see this for sale, it’s coming home with me.<\/p>\n

Three stars.<\/p>\n

The updated rankings:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Blanton’s Gold Edition<\/li>\n
  2. Smooth Ambler Old Scout 7<\/li>\n
  3. Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel<\/li>\n
  4. Noah’s Mill<\/li>\n
  5. Bulleit<\/li>\n
  6. Elijah Craig<\/li>\n
  7. Evan Williams<\/li>\n
  8. Jefferson’s Reserve<\/li>\n
  9. Four Roses Single Barrel<\/li>\n
  10. Four Roses Small Batch<\/li>\n
  11. FEW<\/li>\n
  12. Booker’s 7 Year<\/li>\n
  13. Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage 2004<\/li>\n
  14. Jefferson’s<\/li>\n
  15. Four Roses<\/li>\n
  16. Smooth\u00a0Ambler Old Scout 9 Year Old Bourbon (Cask 1868) Single Barrel Release<\/li>\n
  17. Michter’s<\/li>\n
  18. Eagle Rare<\/li>\n
  19. 1792 Ridgemont Reserve<\/li>\n
  20. Roughstock Montana<\/li>\n
  21. Hudson Baby Bourbon<\/li>\n
  22. Old Forester<\/li>\n
  23. Smooth Ambler Contradiction<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Day 23 is Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel, a “Bourbon Whiskey” that’s 65.7% alcohol. https:\/\/www.blantonsbourbon.com\/straight_from_the_barrel# Ah, Blanton’s. I really like Blanton’s so I have high expectations. I guess it would… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drinking","tag-tour-de-bourbon-2015"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":631,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions\/631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmatheny.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}