Background

A quick first round recap!

• Part One: Bradshaw Bourbon bested Drake’s Virginia Black Dumpster Runoff. Then Longbranch beat out Digits, meaning Scottie Pippen will not be adding another title to his 6 rings.

• Part Two: Brother’s Bond (from the two Vampire Diaries guys who apparently are very IG famous) triumphs over Sweeten’s Cove (RIP Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick). Then our tasting panel split our votes on Heaven’s Door vs Blackened and decided to just knock out Bradshaw because it’s not very good.
   

This brings us to our final four! Let’s matchup our contestants and see who advances to the finals.

Blackened (3) vs Longbranch (4)

Pour 1:

Nose: Brown sugar, sugar cookies, hints of cherry.

Palate: Maple, sweet wood, caramel, luxardo cherries. Dark sugar forward overall

Finish: Oak forward, brown sugar again, cherries again.

4.5/10

This pour turned out to be: Longbranch

Pour 2:

Nose: Berries again, compote. It’s overall brighter and fruitier on the nose than Pour 1

Palate: Blueberry, pie crust, toaster strudel.

Finish: I’m still getting berries, particularly blueberry here, alongside caramel and vanilla.

5.5/10

This pour turned out to be: Blackened

Notes from the Panel: From one of our panelists: “I feel like these are really the best two in the bracket.” Blind, there was a fair bit of back and forth debate on which is which, I personally equated that berry note with Blackened (and likely deriving from the black brandy casks). But the overall takeaway is that blind tasting is really hard.

Winner: After a 4-2 vote… Blackened takes it and advances to the finals.

Send off for Longbranch: Matthew McConaughey has left Longbranch and so have we. This 8 year, mesquite charcoal filtered Turkey offering is just alright alright alright… As a product it’s hard to justify ever buying this against Wild Turkey’s slate of other, fairly findable products. 101, Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel and Russell’s Reserve 10 Year I’d all have as slightly to much better than Longbranch, and none are particularly expensive.

Brother’s Bond (2) vs Heaven’s Door (6)

Pour 1:

Nose: Vanilla, frosted cookies, orange peels.

Palate: Sweet cream, cherries again. Citrus again. Nice and balanced palate.

Finish: Citrus and cherries again, hints of oak, vanilla.

5.5/10

This pour turned out to be: Heaven’s Door

Pour 2:

Nose: Pear.

Palate: Pear Pear Pear.

Finish: Pear Pear Pearrrrrrrrrr.

5/10

This pour turned out to be: Brother’s Bond

Notes from the Panel: Ok, less from the panel this time and more from me. That fun unique pear note we discussed last time is now decidedly less novel in comparison to a better whiskey. Which is why I got so angry when…

Winner: Again on a 4-2 vote, Brother’s Bond. Yes, I was one of the two. While I found Brother’s Bond to be a quaint, one note whiskey… Heaven’s Door was clearly the superior product in my opinion. Our panel, on the other hand, thought the uniqueness of the Brother’s Bond deserved to be rewarded again.

Send off for Heaven’s Door: Bob Dylan sadly misses out on a chance to win what would surely have been his second most important prize of his illustrious career. This Tennessee whiskey has a minimum of 6 year whiskey in the blend, and honestly provides a nice balanced sip. I’ve heard really nice things about other offerings of theirs (particularly the 10 year and some great single barrel picks), and I look forward to giving them a shot now. You got a rough shake in this bracket Heaven’s Door!