Bourbon

Bourbon Review: Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Old

9 /10

EDITOR

Type: Bourbon

Bourbon Review is a Bourbon whisky. Our expert rating is 9/10.

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Tasting Notes

Nose

This smells like a night at the movie theater: candy corn, A&W Root Beer, popcorn, butter, shellac. There’s also some slightly hidden aromas of tropical fruit – pineapple, coconut, and orange peel. With water, the nose takes a totally unexpected turn, transforming into an herbaceous, pungently mossy aroma with notes of algae, unsmoked peat moss, chlorophyll, and live wood.

Palate

The initial flavors are tart and a little bitter – blood orange, citrus gastrique, dark chocolate, wheat bran. As the palate evolves, more of those classic aged bourbon flavors appear like warmed prunes, nutmeg, perique tobacco, stewed cherry, and pencil shavings.

Finish

Like the nose, with water things take a decidedly herbaceous turn, with surprising flavors of fennel, sage leaf, and crème de menthe. In a strange way, it reminds me of Chartreuse.