Bib & Tucker takes its name from a nineteenth-century American expression meaning one's finest clothes — reserved for special occasions and dressing up. The brand, part of 3 Badge Beverage Corporation's portfolio, launched its original small-batch 6 Year bourbon in that spirit, leaning on vintage typography and a tall embossed bottle to set the tone.
The 10 Year expression extends that original formula with an additional four years in oak, and the extra maturation shows. Bottled at 92 proof as a small-batch Kentucky straight bourbon, it trades some of the younger expression's brightness for density, depth and tannic polish.
The nose leads with dark caramel and butterscotch, threaded with toasted pecan, vanilla pod and polished oak. A whisper of tobacco leaf gives it gravitas. On the palate it's full and rounded — brown sugar and maple up front, then dark cherry and baking spice filling the mid-palate. The oak is firm but integrated, never drifting into bitterness, and the extra years have layered in leather and cocoa notes absent from the 6 Year.
The finish is long and warming, closing on toasted oak, dark chocolate and a slow fade of spice. Bib & Tucker 10 Year is a bourbon to pour when the occasion calls for something dressed up — a celebratory neat pour, a fireside sipper, or the centrepiece of a proper old fashioned. It lives up to its name.
