American Whiskey Review #27: 1792 Bottled-in-Bond

Distillery: Barton 1792

Region: Kentucky

Price: $35

ABV: 50%

Age: NAS

Color: 1.3, Russet/Muscat. Natural Color.

Nose: (according to the wife) You get a really lovely whiff of wood, it’s not the usual oak smell but rather one of freshly stained wood furniture. There’s a slightly herbal medicinal note with a hint of cola in it. That’s followed by a bunch of caramel and vanilla.

Palate: While the mashbill for this is undisclosed, I’d imagine it’s somewhat high in rye as there’s a lot of the baking spices and cinnamon you get from a rye whiskey. There’s a lot of caramel and vanilla followed by a bit of leather towards the end.

Finish: Medium to long in length. More vanilla, more caramel, a bit of cream and a bit of drying oak.

Conclusion: If you set out to make a poster child for a really well-made yet somewhat generic bourbon, I think this would be the result. The nose is really inviting with that bit of wood furniture and cola joining the caramel. The palate, while delicious, is really only spiced up by a bit of rye. The finish is decent. Overall, very straightforward but still very well made. Would I buy another bottle? It’s definitely a nice one to keep around for days where you don’t want anything too fancy, so yes.

Final Score: 78.

American Whiskey Review #27, Bourbon Review #25, Whisky Network Review #205

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.