Castle & Key Small Batch Bourbon (Batch 5) - Review

The Details

Castle & Key

Small Batch Straight Bourbon

Batch 5 - Bottle 01034

Castle & Key Distillery - Frankfort, Kentucky

Aged 4 Years

100 Proof

Mash Bill: 73% White Corn, 10% Rye, 17% Malted Barley

Retail Price: ~$50

Poured Neat in a Copita Nosing Glass - Click Here to order.

Color: Deep Gold

Nose: Ripe Pear, Frosted Flakes Cereal, Tres Leches Cake, Toasted Almonds and light Floral notes

Palate: Creamy Caramel, Nougat, Peanut Butter, Hints of Light Fruits and Honey

Finish: Warm Medium Linger with a slight White Pepper Spice

Overall: I constantly preach that each bottle tells a story. Well, this bottle is no exception. Let's call this a happy little surprise.

Batch 5 demonstrates exactly what consumers want to see with variety and continuous improvement. I hope you don't mind some honesty. I have the first two batches and while they were quite unique, the overall flavor profile missed the mark for my palate. I haven't seen or tried Batches 3 or 4 but I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time for Batch 5. That place was the Wisconsin Whiskey Fest just a couple weeks ago. Wilson and Sheila, representing Castle & Key, were quick to not only greet me a big hug, but to also pour me some of the newest Batch 5. Talk about a complete 180* from the initial batches. I immediately pulled ripe pear notes which turned quickly to a creamy cake on the nose. The palate brought a memory of eating an Abba Zabba candy bar. Nougat and peanut butter followed by some light fruits made for an exceptional mouthfeel. The flavors and overall composition of Batch 5 won me over.

A great big THANK YOU to Wilson and Sheila for being amazing people in this whiskey community and for the very unexpected surprise. K

Library Rating: 8.3 / 10

Oak & Eden Wheat & Honey - Review

The Details

Oak & Eden

Bourbon Whiskey Finished with a

Honey Soaked American Oak Spiral

Batch B001 - Bottle 0065

NAS

Distilled in Indiana

Bottled by Oak & Eden - Bridgeport, Texas

90 Proof

Mashbill: 51% Corn, 45% Wheat, 4% Malted Barley

Price: $59.99

Poured Neat in a Copita nosing glass - Click Here to order

Appearance: Golden Amber

Nose: Honey, Oak, Cream, Frosted Flakes Cereal

Palate: Vanilla, Honeycomb, Toasted Oak and Sweet Cream

Finish: Easy Finish with a slight, warm linger

Overall: I'm not going to lie, this is my first time trying anything from Oak & Eden. I kept an open mind and wanted to embrace the unique approach of dropping a Honey Soaked Spire into the Bourbon to "In-Bottle Finish". The honey and oak flavors all seem to mesh quite well. The end result isn't too sweet or too oaky. The honey is subtle enough to not come across as a medicinal cough drop, but it still coats the throat very nicely. The linger is a little short but the drinkability is very impressive. With honey finishes quickly becoming a popular option for many whiskies, I feel this takes the perfect approach to uniqueness and drinkability.

"Oak & Eden is built on the foundation of innovation, believing whiskey should be constantly fresh and distinct, never the same. This pursuit leads the brand to constantly create new and unique whiskies that could only be achieved by its patented process of In-Bottle Finishing. Oak & Eden follows traditional distillation and aging to the letter, aging their whiskeys for at least two years in American Oak barrels. They then break tradition in the finishing (or double barrel) process, where instead of putting the fully aged whiskey in a second barrel to add more flavor coming naturally from the wood, they place in the bottle a Spire; a 5” long spiral-cut piece of oak fashioned from the same species and treatment as barrel oak."

- Oak & Eden Press Release

I'd like to personally thank the folks at Oak & Eden for providing this bottle to try without any strings attached. The presentation of the box it arrived in was fantastic and the color of the bourbon had me salivating. I look forward to future releases taking this same approach. You can order and find out more about Oak & Eden by clicking here .

Library Rating: 8.1 / 10

Trade- Up Tuesday - Part 18 - The Final Chapter

What better way to close out this 10 month project than to watch it all come full-circle? That’s right, the last trade I made was not a “trade-up” but rather one that completed an exciting journey. The final trade was an Ezra 7 Year for a JTS Brown. This wasn’t as much of a favor as it was closure to a fun time.

Through this project, I was able to interact and personally meet a lot of great people. I’m a people person so chatting for a long time about a passion / hobby we love is always exciting to me. I like to think this project served as an ice-breaker to a few folks who were reluctant to make trades because they “didn’t even know where to start”. As I said, 10 months of trades is quite a lot to manage. But it was my mission to stroll through the journey and show you how a single bottle of JTS Brown turned into a small collection.

Thank you all for following along and engaging with me during this. I made it

a point not to mention the folks I traded with and that seemed to work out well. With the exception of a comment or two on some of the threads, it seemed to go without much disrespect or negativity. I just kept pushing the idea of a “bigger picture” mentality.

If you would like to read about each trade, you can check out each segm

ent broken down here on my website under Reviews and then Projects.

Cheers and thanks for Trading Up with me!

🥃📖🥃