Groovy! Jack Rose 1970s Bourbon Tasting Review
Background
You come to a dusty Jack Rose tasting, and you’ll inevitably get some Grade A Bill Thomas sourcing stories. It’s like Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Defunct Liquor Store. I think I heard this from Bill at a past event, but I recall a tale about him having a plumber friend. Said friend responds to plumbing calls, and if he sees the house he’s at has a large bourbon collection he offers to connect them with Bill who is always interested in purchasing bottles. Supposedly, he found these particular bottles 48 hours before the tasting and just could not wait to try them. So here we are! I will stop rambling because there are SIX vintage whiskeys from the 1970s to cover:
1975 Jim Beam (4 Years, 80 Proof)
Nose: Honeysuckle, crisp orchard fruit, it's not overly complex but it's nice and inviting.
Palate: It's very buttery, caramel corn, it coats the palate. Gentle, not super exciting, but a nice comforting texture.
Finish: Those buttered popcorn Jelly Bellys. Bits of wood.
Sub-par to Good (4.5/10)
Overall: They actually poured current Beam side by side. Current Beam white label tastes like peanut butter and bananas with a chemical-y harshness. The dusty is not what I would call good, it's competent but pretty muted and unexciting. The modern is actively bad.
George Dickel Old No. 8 (NAS, 86 Proof)
Nose: It's a little yeasty? It smells like sourdough bread to me. Pickles? It's kind of sour. There's also some toasted coconut.
Palate: Still a little sour and yeasty! Outside of that, maple and vanilla custard. Hints of that tried and true Dickel minerality.
Finish: Huh, maple bars, tannic wood. Tabasco? It's weirdly spicy.
Sub-par (4/10)
Overall: This is weird, I usually like weird but I just don't think I like this. The tasting was much more enthusiastic than I was, I just thought it was a pretty weird mix of flavors and I kept getting that off sour note. I’d take the review of this pour with a grain of salt.
Ancient Age 1970s (NAS, 86 Proof)
Nose: Light and floral, rose and vanilla. Very delicate and passive. There's also almost a tropic note to it, like mango.
Palate: Oh yeah, that tropical note is here to stay! Mangos and (stealing this note from a friend), orange creamsicle.
Finish: Yeah still tropical, with a nice orange candy note. A bit of vanilla custard, and black pepper.
Very Good (6/10)
Overall: Oh yeah! This is a tropical party, it dances on the palate. I got hammered off some passionfruit and rum in the Dominican Republic recently and this, very lowkey, gives me some flavor flashbacks.
1975 Kentucky Tavern DSP-KY-24 (8 Years, 86 Proof)
Nose: Oh wow, this is CAR-A-MEL. Look, I know that's arguably the most common note in bourbon but this is something else. Butterscotch, toffee, all those notes.
Palate: Peanut brittle, cinnamon sticks, butterscotch, and anise. The spice starts to build towards the back of the palate.
Finish: Anise and cloves, bay leaf, wood polish, black pepper, spicy little fucker on the finish here!
Very Good to Great (6.5/10)
Overall: Finishes with a bit of spank and you know what, I'm with it. This is really fun, and with a 1975 bottling at 8 years old, this was distilled roughly when my mother was born. As an aside, the color on this bottle was absolutely wild. Like motor oil.
1975 Old Grand-Dad (NAS, 86 Proof)
Nose: Luxardo cherries, pipe tobacco, leather, muddled mint.
Palate: Leather, chocolate malt, raisins and sticky toffee. A fair bit of flavor for 86 proof.
Finish: Raisins again, it almost drinks like Pedro Ximenez sherry. Brown sugar, toffee, rich and delicious.
Great (7/10)
Overall: We actually had tasted this at a past Jack Rose Jim Beam Tasting and I still love it. It's just rich as all hell. This time I'm getting more of a Pedro Ximenez note than the pure brown sugar driven experience of last time, but lovely all the same.
1975 Old Grand-Dad Bottled-in-Bond (NAS, 100 Proof)
Nose: Punchy orange zest, toasted oak, brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts.
Palate: Oh yeah big tasty citrus, a bit of hazelnut, pralines, and prunes. Rich with a maple syrup viscosity.
Finish: Some of that raisin from the 86 proof returns. Orange zest and lovingly tannic. It pulls at the palate.
Incredible (9/10)
Overall: Like with Beam, we had the pleasure of drinking this side by side with the current Old Grand-Dad Bottled-in-Bond. The modern iteration tastes like bubblegum and banana nut bread. I don't dislike the current iteration, but the older version is exceptional. It has a melt in your mouth quality.
