American Whiskey Review #36: Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel

Image Credit: Malt Imposter

Distillery: Buffalo Trace

Region: Kentucky

ABV: 50%

Age: NAS

Color: 1.4, Tawny.

Nose: There’s a lot of wood in the nose here, it’s like smelling freshly stained wood furniture. There’s also a few fruity notes as well in the form of blood oranges, an orange cordial, spiced oranges, and peaches.

Palate: On the sweeter side of things. There’s a lot of cherry pie filling, the kind made from dark cherries, right up along with a healthy dosage of baking spices of which cinnamon is the highlight. There are some more spiced oranges along with a bit of peach pie filling. After this whisky has had some time in the glass, a note of vanilla and creme soda pops up as well.

Finish: Fairly short. Strawberry soda is the main note along with a bit of bitterness in the form of orange rinds.

Conclusion: I had low expectations going into this whisky, especially given how I’ve found other Buffalo Trace products to be quite lacking compared to the hype surrounding them. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. The nose starts off with a fantastic note of freshly stained wood furniture which works well with the citrus and peach fruit notes that accompany it. The medley of pie fillings, spiced orange, and creme soda in the palate was a lot of fun and really delicious. The strawberry soda note at the end is a bit unusual but perhaps my favorite one in this dram. Overall, it’s lovely. Would I buy a bottle? If I could find one that wasn’t insanely overpriced, absolutely!

Final Score: 85.

American Whiskey Review #36, Bourbon Review #29, Whisky Network Review #246

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.