Buffalo Trace Colonel E H Taylor Warehouse C Tornado Surviving

The third installment of Colonel E H Taylor Bourbon is, like Glenfiddich's Snow Phoenix, named for the survival of whisk(e)y after a natural weather event. The April 2, 2006 storm which wrecked Buffalo Trace maturation Warehouse C left 93 barrels intact, which were left to age in a very hot Kentucky summer while the warehouse was rebuilt around them. Age of the barrels is between 9 yrs 8 months and 11 yrs 11 months. The whiskey is bottled at 100 proof. Much of it is technically Bottled in Bond, and at least one batch of it is reported to be from separate year batches of production, and thus not qualifying technically as Bottled In Bond.

Nose: strong and lovely rich maply/oaky nose, with lots of vanilla, and significant alcohol noticeable. Very sweet. Spices from wood seem more prominent here than spices from the rye. A very nice nose.

Palate: very nice wood flavours translate well onto the palate. The spice is strongly present here also, but once again this tastes more to me of wood spiciness than of rye spiciness. These are strong flavours which are high-pitched and focused. The palate is even sweeter than is the nose. This flavour profile reminds me most closely of some of the Willett single barrel products which I have sampled because of the strong wood character, and, oddly, this also reminds me a good bit of Old Grand-Dad 114.

Finish: moderate pace of fade-out of the flavours with the spices exiting and leaving a warm sweet glow.

Balance: the component parts fit together well here. This is a much above average bourbon, which it should be for the price point. It will definitely entertain. As a cask strength kind of guy, I would have loved the opportunity to have tried this at its original uncut strength, which was reported to have been VERY strong.

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