Much like Old Grand Dad – this is another bargain, decanter filler, cheap bourbon meant to throw into your cocktails when you’re looking to make use of the ethanol instead of the aromatic artisanal mint you’ve been saving. It’s 100 proof so it’s running hot, and maybe a little too much considering how downright awful the aftertaste is.
We usually try to not outline the issues of something before the fold. But the back end of this whiskey is meaner than a hippopotamus. It kicks and shits all over you, and while they tell you outright to mix with whiskey or ginger ale – the short fact is that it barely helps.
What they Say: “Kentucky, USA – Specially selected grains and natural woody notes convey the smooth taste of bourbon country. Great taste for a great price. Perfect to be served with cola or ginger ale.”
Taste: 6.0 – It starts off, kind of like how it smells actually. There’s a bit of bourbon, some real sweetness and the overall sense this would make great in a whiskey sour.
Aftertaste: 0.5 – The reason we run this site is because while somewhere else would wax poetic, say it was subpar and maybe offer constructive criticism – we don’t. This aftertaste sucks fat fucken donkey balls.
Burn/Smooth: 1.0 – This burns, and partly due to aftertaste it most certainly does not ‘go down smooth’ there is also not a calm warming to improve it.
Aroma: 6.0 – It smells like sweet, but not overly sweet cheap whiskey. The sweetness is not complex and you still get that whiskey twinge of burning.
Honesty: 8.0 – I mean, they don’t lie (well okay they say smooth taste, but it’s the smooth taste of a county which is mostly dirt and rocks). But they call out their cheapness and say it’s better with cola or ginger ale which is more true than if they said ‘fine straight up’. Plus it’s named after and has a picture of Colonel Lee, and I mean he lost, but still some good points here.
Mixability: 4.0
Whiskey and Coke: 4.0 – I mean that’s a fine whiskey and coke, it’s fallen into the trap that many whiskies can fall into. It’s just too sweet forward that while the coke removes the awful aftertaste, it ends up being too sweet.
Whiskey and Ginger Ale: 4.0 – It does at least not have the issue some whiskies do of ruining the ginger ale flavor, but it’s not exactly a tasty concoction.
Editor’s Note: It actually makes an okay Whiskey Sour; however they specifically mention perfection in Cola and Ginger Ale, so they forced our hand.
Value: 6.0 – I mean it is dirt cheap, and it works fine in whiskey drinks that you can lower the sweet component. It’s just – there are other things that are worth the little extra in terms of what they can and will mix with, and the cost with them. So it gets points here, but not much.
Google Shop Average: $10
Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barton_Brands
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 3.0
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Metric Score: 31.5/70 |+| Metric Average: 4.5 |+| Reviewer Average: 3.0
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Final Thoughts: I know objectively the cheapness and honesty should raise my score. But I am still reeling from the taste of this, and at the end of the day it’s job was to mix well – and it fails. Seriously people there are other options at this price range so I urge you to let the southern dream die and look elsewhere for your whiskey.
>> there are other options at this price range
Uh, so name some.
This seems to me another superior example of the good-enough-tasting high-value bourbons out there, and since I drink little else, I am interested in others’ sense of the land. Benchmark 8 is classier and more complex, of course, setting the gold standard for cheap by a head. This seems preferable to Old Crow and, some days, to the elegant but excessively dry Evan Williams.
I would argue Old Crow is better, and Ezra is better. Also, you can often fine Old Grand-dad in handles for this price effectively.
Spot on awful aftertaste
For a cheap Jim beam Knockoff, it will fit the bill. However if you are looking for a real burbon, this is not it. There are many others at the same price point that will not disappoint you.
Tastes much like but not quite as good as ten high used to in the 80s and 90s when it was 3year i believe
By the way the old Ten High beat many a bourbon that was triple the price and was a favorite of mine other favorites are Clyde May’s, Fistful of Bourbon, bookers, bulleit, four roses, larceny, trader Joe’s, high west, Jack Daniel’s in the 80’s and 90s, fighting cock