Review: TX Bourbon Barrel Proof
This weeks review comes to us from the great Jeff Underwood, Certified Bourbon Steward. Last week, Jeff revisited some of TX's line up along with their barrel strength bourbon. For more tasting notes and whiskey news & notes, be sure to follow Jeff at @bouboninblack. Take it away Jeff!
Michael Veach posted on Bourbon Veach super positive reviews a week ago on Firestone & Robertson's newest release of their TX Bourbon Barrel Proof. Personally, I stood out in the unseasonable ice cold for hours at the old F&R distillery in December 2016 for the first barrels of TX Bourbon to drop. Got the cool signed bottles, pictures, the whole nine. I'd been a fan of TX Blended Whiskey for it's uniqueness--love it or leave it, you won't find a vanilla creme bomb like it anywhere on the planet. In any case, I'd pointed out barrels 1 through 4 in the F&R warehouse on my first visit 6 or 7 years ago--THAT's my bourbon up there--I had some ownership! Ridiculous, but I have a place close to my heart for Texas bourbon and have had drinks with head distiller, Rob Arnold on numerous occasions. Most of you know the story from here. That bourbon SUCKED. But, I decided to give it another shot since Veach gave the rare Texas nod, and I settled on a side by side tasting old and new F&R juice.
Issued: Feb 2020 @ barrel proof 63.7% ABV
Nose: Plenty of raisins, dark cherries, molasses
Taste: honey roasted peanuts, buttery sticky buns, and a tiny hint of cocoa. There's the standard Texas high minerality from our water. I think this hardness often fools drinkers into thinking Texas whiskey is "young". But we don't have water filtered out over centuries of limestone shelves, and regardless of reverse osmosis technique, heavy water gives our bourbon it's character.
Finish: Long and somehow syrupy