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!

🥃📖🥃

Bushwood Spirits - Long Ball Single Barrel - Review

The Details

Bushwood Spirits Long Ball

Premium Straight Kentucky Bourbon

Black Label

Single Barrel

NAS (No Age Statement)

Bushwood Spirits - Stanford, Kentucky

Distilled in Kentucky

100 Proof

Mashbill: Undisclosed

Price: ~$80

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

Appearance: Gold

Nose: Light Fruits, Vanilla, Baking Spices, Earthy and a scent of Honey

Palate: Crisp Green Apple, Warm Caramel, a touch of Vanilla and Cinnamon

Finish: Sweet, Medium Finish met with a very light spice.

Overall: This was my first time trying anything from Bushwood Spirits. They were kind enough to reach out and send me this bottle to see what I thought with no strings attached. I'm happy to report, no mulligans were needed and it's quite delicious. The bottle design lures you in. As a golf fanatic, I am drawn directly to the crystal golf ball topper. The labeling on the bottle is also very aesthetically pleasing to look at as the wording seems to pop off the background.

So, let's tee it off and talk a little about the bourbon. The nose meets you with light fruits and the baking spices we all love. I get a scent of honey and just the right amount of an earthy "funk" like when I duff my wedge a few yards from the green. The palate follows suit with the light fruits and bring forward a crisp green apple tone. If I'm going to be serious, this reminds me of going to the fair and enjoying a warm caramel apple (without the nuts). Add a sprinkle of cinnamon to that treat and you might as well just stick me on the ferris wheel. The finish is very well rounded with a sweet medium finish and a nice viscosity which had me smacking my lips a few times in anticipation for another sip.

A lot of times, companies will try to get creative and market something with shiny packaging and a product that just isn't quite there yet as far as age, taste and overall complexity. That's not the case here. Long Ball Black Label is a gimmie in my opinion. Now, if I can just keep it in the fairway...

Library Rating: 8.1 / 10