Tag Archives: review

Reviews

Frey Ranch Straight Bourbon Whiskey Review

Leave a comment

Frey Ranch prides itself in being a true Estate Distillery. They grow, malt, distill, mature, and bottle all of their Straight Bourbon whiskey on-site in Fallon, Nevada.

Frey Ranch Straight Bourbon, Composition, and Proof

  • Mashbill: 66.6% Yellow Dent Corn, 10% Winter Wheat, 11.4% Rye and 12% Malted-on-site Two-Row Barely
  • Age: 5 Years
  • Proof: 90
  • Parent Company: Independent

Frey Ranch Distillery, located in northern Nevada, stands on a 165-year-old, 1,500-acre family farm. They grow all their grains, malt their barley onsite, and produce and age their whiskey on the same grounds. Their unique combination of continuous and pot still distillation allows for both quantity and quality control. They also own the distinction of being the first licensed distillery in Nevada since prohibition.

History: Founded in 2006 by Colby and Ashley Frey, Frey Ranch Distillery stands on the family’s 2,000-acre farm in Fallon, Nevada. Their roots in Northern Nevada farming span over 150 years, making them a fifth-generation legacy. Frey Ranch is Nevada’s sole distillery that grows 100% of its whiskey grains on-site.

Process: Frey Ranch’s grain-to-glass approach is a labor of love. They cultivate around 2,500 acres, growing corn, wheat, barley, rye, and oats. Every step, from growing the barley to milling, malting, and distilling, occurs on their farm. Their slow-grown wheat, rye, and barley yield over 100,000 9-liter cases of Frey Ranch Whiskey. Quality prevails over quantity, with a majority of their barrels dedicated to their Four Grain Straight Bourbon.

Uniqueness: What truly makes Frey Ranch exceptional is their unwavering commitment to using homegrown grains in every bottle. They experiment with different mash bills and malting processes, leveraging their abundant grain resources. As climate change impacts agriculture, Frey Ranch adapts, ensuring their ingredients never leave their possession. Their sustainable practices and genuine passion for whiskey make them a standout in the industry

Frey Ranch Straight Bourbon Review

This bottle is heavy duty. It’s cylindrical, and is capped by a big ole metal stopper. Frey Ranch gets mega points, however, for the amount of info they put on this bottle. They include a detail breakdown of the mashbill, along with a note from Colby Frey, and literally the coordinates of their ranch.

Nose

The nose starts with a heavy hit of malt. Right when you’re getting used to the hit, a strong whiff of spicy rye takes it’s place. Once the rye and malt finish fighting it out for superiority, oak, earth, and citrus settle in. Interestingly enough, the nose has a distinct lack of heat. This makes it a prime taster for people who enjoy bourbons that sit on the more mellow side of the spectrum.

Once you’ve allowed this bottle to open up after around 15 minutes or so, rye and oak takeover, with interesting undertones of hay, fresh-cut grass, and clay.

Score: 8.2/10

Palette and Finish

The palette is very mellow. You get hit with a lot of sweetness up front (which is customary for corn & malted-barley bourbons). At first pass, the sweetness is mostly honey and sweet barley. But as the flavor sets in, you get a hint of the rye that underlies this mashbill. Oak intertwines with the sweet honey flavor, and the entire pour takes on an earthy vibes. Something you’d want to drink on your back porch on a hot summer day… or something that would remind you of your grandpa’s old rusty tractor (in the most nostalgic way possible).

Score: 8.0/10

Value

Per booz.app, this bottle retails for around $49.99-$68.86. That pricepoint is about on-par with something like Old Forester’s Whiskey Row collection.

One downside to this bourbon, however, is that it isn’t easy to find. This is a worthwhile bottle to order (if your state allows delivery), but otherwise your best chance at getting Frey Ranch Straight Bourbon Whiskey might be at a bar.

You can also buy Frey Ranch straight from their website (here).

Score: 7.5/10

Best Cocktail to Make with Frey Ranch Bourbon

One fun note about Frey Ranch, is that they actually sent a recipe for a Gold Rush Cocktail (which they title the “Ranch Hand”, recipe here).

Of course, your friends at Bourbon Dose immediately capitalized on this opportunity. We spun up a delicious Gold Rush cocktail recipe variation of our own, which you can read below. Frey Ranch was an excellent fit for this cocktail.

Read: Bourbon Dose’s Gold Rush Cocktail Recipe

Bourbon Dose Final Score

You can really taste the love that went into distilling this bourbon. The amount of work it takes to make a pure estate bourbon, including the grains, distilling process, learning, and aging, makes Frey Ranch a unicorn in its own right. They didn’t outsource the grains or the process. They made it all on their ranch. And you can absolutely tell that they take pride in their work, and dumped an extra dose of love into the process of bringing this bourbon to our tables.

Get a bottle of this, and thank the farmers in your life.
Final Verdict: 7.9/10.

Reviews

Penelope Barrel Strength Bourbon Review

Leave a comment

Penelope Barrel Strength is strong, complex, and delicious. Read our full review for Penelope’s Barrel Strength bourbon, along with tasting notes, rating, and background.

Barrel Strength Age, Composition, and Proof

  • Mashbill: 74% Corn, 16% Wheat, 7% Rye and 3% Malted Barely
  • Age: 4-5 Years
  • Proof: 116.0
  • Parent Company: Luxco

Penelope Barrel Strength Bourbon is a product of Penelope Bourbon, a company founded in 2018 by two childhood friends, Michael Paladini and Daniel Polise. Named after Michael’s daughter, Penelope Bourbon has been one of the country’s fastest-growing whiskey brands. Penelope’s “core” is a series of straight bourbon whiskey expressions that are all uniquely blended from three different mash bills sourced from MGP. Penelope Bourbon has its own distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, where it bottles and labels its products. The distillery is situated on a plot of land that was originally part of a large plantation, and has been in continuous operation since the Civil War.

Penelope Barrel Strength is one of the 4 “Core Series” of Penelope Bourbon. This offering is a “Four Grain” bourbon, consisting of corn, wheat, rye, and barley as the core ingredients.

One interesting note is that while this has a four-grain blend, this is still technically considered bourbon. According to federal law bourbon must contain at least a 51% corn composition to meet the legal definition.

Penelope Barrel Strength has a mash bill of 74% corn, 16% wheat, 7% rye, and 3% malted barley. The bourbon is aged for 4 to 5 years in new charred oak barrels, and is bottled at cask strength, which varies from batch to batch. Typically, the average proof is around 115. Penelope’s four-grain approach gives the bourbon a uniquely complex pallet. This is balanced especially by the small presence of rye in this blend.

Penelope Barrel Strength Review

First off, the least important stuff: The bottle is nice. There’s a flower on the bottle, and we here at the Bourbon Dose have reached out to Penelope to figure out exactly what the backstory is on that.

[Update: We just heard from Penelope that these flowers are peonies.]

Nose

Spicy rye and honey hit you right up front, with a touch of oak and vanilla. It’s actually a pretty strong nose, all things considered. A little overpowering, but still delicious. At the end of the nose, there’s vanilla, and a lingering essence of ethanol.
Score: 6.7/10

Palette and Finish

Complex. Carmel-y wheat hits you first, then a huge dose of spicy rye. Penelope Barrel Strength runs around 116 proof, which is pretty strong. Because of this, you get a pretty solid hit of ethanol, subdued by cinnamon and vanilla.
Score: 7.3/10

Value

Bourbon Dose paid $61 for this bottle. Per booz.app, this bottle typically runs around $80-$85 – so this was a steal. Penelope generally is hit or miss on availability, so this is a bottle you might want to grab if you see it. At barrel strength and 116 proof, $61 ain’t bad.
Score: 9.0/10

Bourbon Dose Final Score

We liked this bottle. The nose is complex, the value is excellent, and the flavor is complex. Buy this if you see it for a bargain, but there’s other bottles that we like better.

Final Verdict: 7.7/10.Nice bottle. Nice flavor. Worth buying.

Reviews

Booker’s “Mighty Fine Batch” Bourbon Review

Leave a comment

Booker’s “Mighty Fine Batch” is a delicious and sophisticated bourbon that would make Booker Noe proud. Read our entire review of Booker’s Bourbon “Mighty Fine Batch.”

Booker’s “Mighty Fine Bourbon” Composition, Age, and Proof:

  • Composition: 75% corn, 15% rye, 10% barley
  • Age: 7 years, 10 Months
  • Proof: 126.6
  • Parent Company: Jim Beam

Booker’s “Mighty Fine” Bourbon is the distillery’s 2023 release, and has the distinction (along with all of Booker’s products) of being a completely uncut and unfiltered bourbon. That means that the bourbon you’re pouring is coming straight from the barrels. At 7 years, 10 months old and coming in at 126.6 proof, Booker’s yields quite a punch, mellowed out by mature aging.

Per the distiller’s notes:

This batch is made up of barrels from seven production dates that were aged in six different warehouses. The breakdown of barrel storage for Booker’s “Mighty Fine Batch” is as follows: 2% came from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse Q
3% came from the 6th floor of 7-story warehouse Z
8% came from the 5th floor of 9-story warehouse G
10% came from the 6th floor of 7-story warehouse I
10% came from the 5th floor of 9-story warehouse H
12% came from the 5th floor of 9-story warehouse G
55% came from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse 3

While this lengthy recipe probably doesn’t mean much to the average bourbon drinker, the distiller’s notes hint at the precision that went into blending this “Mighty Fine” bourbon.

Booker’s “Mighty Fine Bourbon” Review:

When you get a bottle of Booker’s, the first thing that hits you is the packaging. If you’ve never seen a bottle of Booker’s in the wild, it’s wedged in a dark-finished wooden box, and “protected” by a flimsy clear plastic insert. Unlike the 30th anniversary edition of Booker’s, which was wedged in a box made from reclaimed wood, there is nothing special about the box for your everyday bottle of Booker’s. In fact, we found the company that makes these boxes, and it’s literally a marketing company called “Promo Wood.”

A common trope of Booker’s is that it’s a “$60 bourbon in a $30 box.” You can be the judge of that.

Now for the fun part.

Nose: The color is on the dark side of amber – as is common with bourbons aged for 7-8 years. The nose on Booker’s “Mighty Fine Batch” is butter, brown sugar, and all things malty. There’s also a hit of clove (and maybe some banana) on the nose, but the sweetness is really the star of the show.

Score: 8.6/10

Palette & Finish:

The palate on Booker’s “Mighty Fine Batch” hits you with a punch of alcohol (not shocking, considering this is a 126.6 proof pour), and this bourbon goes down smooth. Brown sugar and butterscotch hit you up front (which isn’t shocking considering this pour’s corn pedigree), sweet new oak comes next, and a hit of spicy white pepper lingers to remind you that rye is, indeed, still present.

The finish on Booker’s “Mighty Fine Batch” is spicy, with white pepper and corriander making themselves known.

Overall, this was an amazing pour, and absolutely something that will make you look good in front of your bourbon-loving father-in-law.

Score: 9.3/10

Value:

At a retail price of $79.99, this bourbon is right in line with what you’d expect to see out of uncut, unfiltered pours. According to booz.app, however, you’ll have a hard time finding this bottle on the secondary market for under $125.99. At $120, this bottle is too expensive, but $79.99, this bottle is just right. Now imagine how much better a value this drink would be if Booker’s got rid of the box.

Score: 8.4/10

Bourbon Dose Final Score:

Booker’s “Mighty Fine Bourbon” is delicious and sophisticated. If you show up to a bourbon-tasting party with this bottle, and you’ll impress your friends without breaking the bank.

Final Verdict: 8.8/10 – Delicious. Can’t wait to see what Booker’s up their sleeves next.

Reviews

Pinhook “Resolve” Flagship Bourbon Review

Leave a comment

Pinhook’s 2023 Flagship bourbon is a delicious and complex everyday sipper that belongs on your shelf. Read the full review – Tasting, palate, finish, info, and Bourbon Dose rating.

Pinhook Flagship Bourbon Mashbill, Age, and Proof:

  • Mashbill: 75% corn, 15% rye, 10% barley
  • Age: 3 years
  • Proof: 101.48

Coming in at 15% rye, Pinhook’s Flagship Bourbon is right on the border of the rye-heavier side of bourbon. It is 3 years old and comes in at 101.48 proof, yielding a decent punch and youthful age.

Distilled under contract at the acclaimed Castle and Key distillery (which was actually built by legendary bourbon pioneer Col. E. H. Taylor), Pinhook is also among the newer bourbon brands (it was founded in 2010).

Pinhook Flagship Bourbon Review:

The bottle is very cool looking, and features an image of a racehorse. It’s sealed up with orange wax, Maker’s Mark-style.

Apparently the Pinhook owners are from Kentucky and really into horses. This particular bottle sports the hourse “Bourbon Resolve“. Nice-looking horse. It looks like Bourbon Resolve won around $85K in cash prizes in 2023, which is good?

Pinhook also owns a horse named “Bourbon Resolution”, which appears about as intuitive as a family that would name both of their kids “Jonathan” and “John.” Bourbon Resolution has earned around $325K over its career, so I guess we all know which horse is the favorite these days.

Now for the nitty gritty.

Nose: The nose on Pinhook’s 2023 Flagship comes on strong with butterscotch, brown sugar, and rye. There’s also a hint of orange peel and clove. It smells very sweet, almost like creme brûlée.

Score: 8.5/10

Palate & Finish:

The palate on Pinhook’s 2023 Flagship is very rye-heavy and oaky. The flavor comes across very strong at first sip… which is something that could be mellowed out with age – but at 3 years, this bourbon is a child. Pinhook’s 2023 Flagship is also a 101-proof bourbon, and definitely succeeds in being strong without overpowering.

The finish is very citrusy, but the oak & rye is harsh and takes away from some of the more subtle flavors in this bourbon.

Overall, this was delightful to drink, and there’s a lot of complexities in this bourbon.

Score: 8.3/10

Value:

At $42.99, this bourbon is on the pricy side for blended pours, HOWEVER it comes in at a robust 101.48 proof. With another year or two of aging, this bottle could have a completely different flavor profile. This is a fantastic pour for easy drinking and introducing some core bourbon flavors.

Score: 8/10

Bourbon Dose Final Score:

Pinhook’s 2023 Flagship is delicious and easy to drink. This bottle would be a great everyday drinker, or as a premium ingredient to add complexity to a cocktail.

All in all, this would be a good bottle to introduce to friends who are new to Pinhook – and definitely brings a unique flavor to the table. I look forward to reviewing move of their lineup in the near future.

Final Verdict: 8.3/10 – Horses are fun. Would buy again.

Reviews

E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof Review

Leave a comment

E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof is the king of Buffalo Trace’s famed Mash Bill # 1. It is a classic-tasting bourbon that punctuates its sip with a sky-high proof. It’s a staunt, constant, and confident sip. This bourbon is crafted from hand-selected barrels and is bottled directly from the barrel; uncut and unfiltered at more than 125 proof. The particular release we reviewed came in at a whopping 129.0 proof (64.5% ABV).

Taste Profile

The taste profile of E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof is a rollercoaster of flavor. Once you get past the massive hit of alcohol in this high-proof bourbon, there’s a very flavor of cherry, followed by brown sugar and actually quite noticable vanilla.

Finish

The finish is truly impressive. This fluctuates between the front and back of the palate with sweet delicious baked fruits, oak, caramel, vanilla, and spice. It’s nearly everything you could ever ask for.

Is E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof Worth Buying?

Colonel EH Taylor Jr Barrel Proof is a few bucks less, and significantly easier to find, than George T. Stagg, and all things considered, not a terrible buy. We came across this bottle in a bourbon lottery (at MSRP), but for a seconardy price of around $500+, this bourbon is way pricier than it’s worth.

For a better (and more affordable) E.H. Taylor experience, go with the E.H. Taylor Small Batch, which you should be able to find on the secondary market for around $120.