Woodford Reserve

Where did the old comments go? Glitches glitches glitches...

It is interesting how differently people perceive things,...though clearly from having sampled different bottles. To me Woodford Reserve always seems thick, woody and low-pitched. Few bourbons seem particularly thick to me, but this is one of them. Others? Old Forester Signature, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, William Larue Weller, George T. Stagg, and some very old Willetts.

I am sampling some now to check my observations. What do I perceive? Yes, there is some high-pitched grain, but I see it set against very strong low-pitched wood flavours, AND THOSE ARE THE FLAVOURS WHICH I MOST NOTICE AND MOST STRONGLY REMEMBER. Need it be this way? No, of course not...it is just an idiosyncrasy of my individual perceptive faculties.

Keep on truckin', @hunggar!

Thick, woody, and low pitched? Elijah Craig, sure. But I get NONE of those characteristics from Woodford. This is easily the lightest bourbon in my cabinet in terms of body, and the wood notes don't come off as heavy to me at all. Well we're certainly not on the same page on this one! At least we can agree on the graininess. Thanks for the comment, @Victor.

Its funny to read your comments, because to me, both Elijah Craig 12 and Woodford are more light-bodied Bourbons (woody i agree).In contrast to things like Bakers,Blantons etc which are far more thick (just in my opinion) (i hope its ok to comment my thoughts here too :) )

I don't backtrack a lot, but in this case I will say that my use of the word 'thick' here was more to describe my perception of the wood flavours, and not really as as statement of the 'body' of the whiskey. I was careless with words, in this case. As to Elijah Craig 12, I was referring not to the standard version, but only to the Barrel Proof expression, and in particular the first three batches of the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof.

I'd just be happy to find a bottle of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof! The standard 12 year old is very nice after a bit of air. @hunggar, this (Woodford) is a wonderful summertime bourbon that is very drinkable. Hats off to you here on your review.

@bijalon: Yeah I'd love to get my hands on ECBP. I've heard nothing but good things about it. Sadly only the 12 is available here in Taiwan, and I'm not a huge fan of that one. And yes, Woodford is great in the summer!

I'm not a huge fan of Elijah Craig 12 year old either. For the price point here ($23) though, it is a relatively good bourbon that I don't mind keeping in stock. Obviously, my locale being next door to Kentucky gives me a great variety of bourbon to choose from. So Elijah is one of those kinda ehhh, take it or leave it bottles. Not going to turn my nose up to it, but not going out to stock up cases of the stuff in the event of a zombie apocalypse either! I will say that my last, now dearly departed bottle, definitely changed for the better after 3-4 months of air. The spices mulled and the wood took on much more depth and sweetness came out. I'm still waiting for my new bottle of Woodford to oxidize into top form.