Background

I’ll be honest, there is not a lot to write about Evan Williams that hasn’t already been written! Let’s start then with my favorite Evan Williams fun fact… all of that “Kentucky’s First Distiller in 1783” history on the side of the bottle, it’s entirely fabricated. As bourbon historian Michael Veach points out, the Filson Historical Society has a receipt for Evan Williams passage to America dated in 1784. Whoopsies!

Today’s review covers Evan Williams 12 and 23 year releases. The 12 year offering started as an export-only Japanese release until The Evan Williams Experience opened in downtown Louisville. Evan Williams 23 also was primarily exported to Japan, with some being made available in Heaven Hill gift shop over the years and again at the Evan Williams Experience- both places charge a cool $350. Worth noting two things before we get into the review: This particular Evan Williams 23 year release is distilled post Heaven Hill’s distillery fire. This Evan Williams 12 year is also a Japanese exported bottle, though I could not find any difference between the Japan releases and the US releases.

Evan Williams 12 Year (12 Years, 101 Proof)

Nose: Flambeed cherries, musty leather, caramel sauce. It's a classic bourbon profile.

Palate: Cherry cordials, dark chocolate... it's such a robust maraschino cherry and chocolate profile; those notes pop above anything else.

Finish: Cloves, black pepper and Dr Pepper. A nice syrupy finish, though medium in length. The profile is nice, but you just wish it’d hang around a bit longer.

Great (7/10)

Overall: Rich, delicious, and consistent from pour to pour. It's not the most dynamic bourbon but the notes it has are wonderfully consistent. This, to me, is basically a highly overqualified daily drinker. It’s just a supremely well executed bourbon.

Evan Williams 23 Year (23 Years, 107 Proof)

Nose: Oh much darker notes, dark chocolate first and foremost. Dark polished wood, and some hints of overripe plums.

Palate: Leather, molasses, toasted wood. It's got a nice syrupy texture that coats the palate. Some of that red fruit from 12 stays around here but is much more in the background.

Finish: That nice pull at the palate you get from a bite into dark chocolate. Cheerwine, orange peels and nutmeg.

Excellent to Incredible (8.5/10)

Overall: The complexity and maturity shine. It tastes old and rich, with an inviting nose, rich palate and tantalizingly long finish. You want to keep coming back to it and letting its refined age notes wash over the palate. What I don’t get is any sense that it’s over-oaked, instead striking an excellent balance of age and complexity.