Bulleit 95 Rye

Preamble: Transitioning through LAX, swing by Duty Free and spot this 100cl bottle of this little gem for about 2/3rds the price of the 70cl bottle in the UK. Yoink, as they say.

Nose: Burnt sugar, little hint of tree sap- that faintly woody note you get in the spring in a pine woodland. That vanilla undertone I get in many a bourbon and reminds me of the tricolor'd slab of Angel Cake from my childhood.

Taste: There's a deep, burnt orange smokey battering ram with the first sip- then this huge arc of woody-phenolic flavour that overcomes all for most of the time it's in your mouth, giving way to a deep spicy and herby end. The Oaky-cigar-box taste is really prominent in the middle ground all the way through- it makes the whole thing much more aromatic than the bourbons I tend to like. I was bit taken aback by this blast of wood- it immediately made me think of the last couple of times I've refinished gunstocks- the tang of teak oil and the mouth-drying beech or walnut dust in the air that you can taste as much as smell. Phenolic almost. Definately leathery. While this is lighty, it deepens with an ice-cube from a less burnt wood to a more resinous wood.

Overall- It's a grower rather than an instant love. That blast of oak calms down a load with an icecube, but it's still a challenge. I've noted that a lot of folks suggest letting it breath stretches it's legs and rounds off some of the sharp edges.

Definitely something I'll reach for when I fancy something more unusual.

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