Woodford Reserve Double Oaked

Quick thanks to /u/Devoz for this dram. I’ve been wanting to try some more Woodford Reserve, and well, this allowed me to do it.

Woodford Reserve Double Oaked is the first ever line extension from the company. After being a one bourbon company for 16 years, they decided to branch out.

This bourbon is the standard expression which is aged new charred white oak, then aged again in heavily toasted, lightly charred barrels.

So… I’m a little confused on heavily toasted and yet lightly charred. In all seriousness, I’m confused. Maybe it means the heat is high yet not directly on the barrel? Oh well, it’s Double Oaked, at least the name makes sense.

So, here we have it: In 2012, Woodford Reserve brought out a new whisky, which is basically the old one, aged formaybe 7 years, and then an indiscriminate amount of time in different barrels that confuse me.

Well, at least they didn’t call it a designer barrel. Let’s see how this tastes.

Price: N/A at the LCBO at the moment

Region: Kentucky

Abv: 43.2%

Colour: Dark Burgundy

Nose: Toffee, raspberry, orange peel, toasted wheat, almond, cherry, banana, caramel

Initially I would have probably guessed that the “double oak” in this case involved a sherry, and I would have been wrong.

That said, wow there’s a fruity nose on this one. I actually really like it. Nice amounts of raspberry eventually go to an almond/cherry mix. Very tasty.

Taste: Raspberry, wood, wheat, sour, cardamon, caramel

Again, nice amount of fruit, though given the lack of fall spices or sulfur, I guessed that it was just a good job of the wood. Somewhat thin for what I typically like (I like’m thick).

Finish: Vanilla, butterscotch, unripe nectarine (tart), earth/wood (lots), coconut, nutty

Starts out okay for the first half second.

And then I’m not the Flash, so I can’t just enjoy that part.

There’s too much wood and earth on this one. Also quite tart. It’s actually quite unpleasant for a finish. I’m not really enjoying it anymore.

Sad Face.

Conclusion: So here’s where it breaks down, because this may be hard to follow: Great nose, okay, interesting taste, unbalanced finish that is painful as heck. Very painful, in fact.

If this had even a boring finish on it, I’d say it was up closer (or even above) 80. However it loses a ton of points for the finish. If I didn’t enjoy the nose and taste as much as I did, it’d be tied with Distiller’s Select.

75/100

Bourbon review #47, Kentucky review #32, Whiskey Network review #350