Jack Rose Willett Tasting (Round 4!) - A Joint Review with Jonathan Glover, Drinkhacker Contributor
Background
Jonathan and I are activating our Wonder Twin powers in the form of a joint review of the most recent Jack Rose Willett tasting! Fun fact: we did not share notes before writing this. We merely set up a shared Google doc and dumped our notes in, so it was fun to see the overlap and differences. Not going to waste any more time on the intro since below you’ll find BOTH of our notes for each of the six whiskeys in the tasting.
Willett 8 Year Wheated Bourbon (8 Years, 108 Proof)
Jonathan
Nose: Dried figs, vanilla and marzipan. It has a modest wheaty Willett funk that I’m always a fan of.
Palate: Jesus this is hot. Like, the hottest 108 proofer I’ve ever had. Cheap cinnamon, which my wife described as “a grocery store cinnamon broom.” I did get what I, at the time, described as “Fudge Rounds.” In retrospect, I meant Keebler Fudge Stripes cookies. I have never had, nor will I ever have, a Fudge Rounds brand snack cake. I apologize for the mixup.
Finish: The biggest, sloppiest Kentucky Hug imaginable. It is massively imbalanced.
Good (5/10)
Overall: While my notes aren’t necessarily flattering, I actually liked this more than I expected. I suppose that, as a fan of the Family Estate offerings, the MSRP on this along with the appropriation of the “purple top” rubbed me the wrong way. Always looked like a bit of a larger-market cash-in. But, no, it’s an interesting if messy pour with a personality of its own.
Frank
Nose: Cranberry Ocean Spray. It's a lush, red fruit forward nose. Honestly reminds me of a slightly artificial, red fruit note.
Palate: Strawberries and cream and some brusque oak and cinnamon Red Hots candies. Sweet and spicy leading to…
Finish: … Whoa, baby. Hello spice. It bum rushes the palate with a spicy finish. Crushed red pepper and toasted oak.
Good (5/10)
Overall: To me this whiskey isn't bad so much as it is very unbalanced. It just drinks hot for its 108 proof, and that big spice rush at the end is just aggressive.
Willett Family Estate Bourbon “Palenque” (10 Years, 123 Proof)
Frank
Nose: Nectarines and generally fruit driven, mostly citrus but I also get occasional notes of melon, particularly cantaloupe.
Palate: Juicy natural citrus and orchard fruit. Toasted peaches and burnt orange peels. Candied citrus and a bit of a syrupy texture.
Finish: A late heat arrives hard, black pepper, baking spices and that citrus persists. That burnt orange peel note in particular.
Very Good (6/10)
Overall: It leaves a nice, syrupy coating on the mouth… But again, my biggest problem is that the heat hits hard on the finish, throwing the experience a bit out of whack. It’s fun to see Mothlight get the same imbalance. I love all the citrus and fruits earlier on, and this might have been the best nose of the tasting, but the finish puts me out.
Jonathan
Nose: Incredibly fruity, effervescent, sweet clementines and lemon. Light anise note which, combined with the fizziness reminded me of old world cinnamon candy, the kind that’s broken into shards and has a thin white powder on it. This is a thing, right? Right… ?
Palate: Vibrant, almost electrifying. It has a little bit of smoked orange peel that’s offset by a vegetal bitterness. I kept getting a note that I could only describe as “maple bacon,” though I have no idea where the idea of “maple” came from. Perhaps the whole thing was just breakfasty?
Finish: Deliciously smoky citrus and freshly ground black pepper.
Very Good (6/10)
Overall: I liked it! Just as imbalanced as the 8-year wheater but with way more to dig into. It’s a weird pour, fruit forward with an underlying smokiness (that I’m now seeing Frunk didn’t get at all. Fun!) that persists from the nose to the finish.
Willett Family Estate Bourbon “Cantucci” (10 Years, 126.6 Proof)
Jonathan
Nose: Yeah, so, it smells like straight up frosted cake. Most appropriately named WFE ever.
Palate: Drinks way lower than its proof. Lightly grainy biscotti with a sprinkling of vanilla. It’s a gentle pour, a dessert pour. I unironically wrote “smooth.”
Finish: Sweet oak, a bit thin but not unsatisfying. I’ll sound like a broken record when I say it had a nice aftertaste of cocoa powder sifted onto, you got it, warmed cake.
Very Good (6/10)
Overall: Such a dessert pour. Gentle, sweet but not cloying, I found it a little thin in places but it’s accessible as a 127 proofer gets. Not my favorite of the night but a great candidate for the unique identity of the WFE line. Would be fun in a side-by-side with literally any other pour we had tonight.
Frank
Nose: Angel food cake and creme brulee, very vanilla forward but there's also some cocoa too.
Palate: Tiramisu, coffee and anise. The spice level is very gentle amidst otherwise more vanilla/custard notes.
Finish: I get a ton of espresso beans and wood, reminiscent of barrel aged coffee beans. There's also dry dark chocolate and a bit of cloves and spices.
Very Good to Great (6.5/10)
Overall: This really is a testament to how different single barrels from Willett can be, it could not be more different from Palenque. Where Palenque is brash, sweet and spicy with a bunch of fruit… this is all dessert-y vanillas. I weirdly got this coffee note no one else did. I’m not entirely sure the bartender didn't open a container of cold brew for cocktails right as I was taking notes…
Willett Family Estate Bourbon “Movin’ to the Country” (10 Years, 126 Proof)
Frank
Nose: Canned peaches, green tea, and Caramel deLite Girl Scout cookies.
Palate: Peach marmalade. It's got big time desert vibes: cobbler, pie crust, etc. There's also a bit of chewy caramel, and shortbread. Twix, basically.
Finish: A slightly abrupt switch over to herbal notes. Green tea, lingering herbal notes big time.
Great (7/10)
Overall: It's a little Jekyll and Hyde for me on the finish, but overall this is a really nice profile of tasty desserts that is grounded (almost literally) with some delicate herbal and earthy notes.
Jonathan
Nose: Got a little wet dog wheat that dissipated after a minute or so of nosing. Neither my wife nor myself got actual peaches. More like the fuzzy skin of a peach when pressed to your nostrils.
Palate: That’s more like it. Sweet peach cobbler balanced with a bit of licorice and burnt caramel.
Finish: Satisfying. The herbality really covers your cheeks (like butter) and lingers; more licorice, green tea and wet fall leaves.
Great (7/10)
Overall: Easily the bourbon of the night. Vibrant, weird, challenging but not off-putting with a finish for miles. It’s nowhere near the best Family Estate I’ve had (and, to be honest, I was slightly let down by this set of selections in comparison to the last by local Willett distributor, Prestige Ledroit) but it’s one I’ll remember.
Willett Family Estate Rye “Son of a Sipper” (10 Years, 118 Proof)
Jonathan
Nose: Honey, coriander, tobacco and clove.
Palate: Honey, lemon, cinnamon, delicious. None of your archetypal modern KY rye notes but rather it tastes like dusty PA or MD rye. It’s completely parsable but luxurious. Like being wrapped up in a blanket.
Finish: Warming honey, herbs and lemon.
Excellent (8/10)
Overall: I am now going to post a note written by my completely unpretentious wife who, as far as I know, does not like rye: “So good. Like looking at a landscape at 4 o’clock in early October.” Dunno what else you need to know. By far the best bottle of the night, I’d love to snag one if it weren’t hundreds of dollars.
Frank
Nose: Hot Toddies and Lemonhead candies. Big honey and citrus on the nose, and it does remind me immediately of a leveled up version of some of my favorite four year bottlings.
Palate: Take that hot toddy note and lock it in here. Honey, lemon, and rich sticky syrupy notes.
Finish: Limoncello; you're sensing a theme here right? I get big lemon citrus candy and honey notes throughout.
Great to Excellent (7.5/10)
Overall: Hello old friend… man I fucking love Willett rye. I've said this before but these higher age Willett ryes get this lovely syrupy texture and it just gets me every time. I could not agree more with the name, which is meant to evoke pouring a big glass and just sipping on it. Count me in.
Willett Family Estate Rye “Adios” (9 Years, 131.4 Proof)
Frank
Nose: Bit of a muddled nose, somewhat pun intended given one of the few things I do pick up is some pint, but all in all I'm having a hard time parsing this. There's some natural herbal notes, like pine needles. It's a little dank honestly.
Palate: Muddled mint, floral and earthy. There's some more of that pine from the nose as well and some baking spices for good measure.
Finish: Earthy, green tea and spearmint, honestly a lot of herbal and spearmint notes to bring us home and that baking spice from the palate seems to have largely dissipated.
Very Good to Great (6.5/10)
Overall: It was shocking to look down at the tasting sheet and be reminded that this is 131 proof because it certainly doesn’t show that way. All in all though, it’s just not my favorite taste profile, I prefer the brighter, more citrus driven Willett Ryes. It’s still tasty, just not the barrel I’d personally gravitate towards.
Jonathan
Nose: So much more astringent and herbaly than the previous pour. Lots of dill, lots of spearmint.
Palate: Again, more typical rye notes. Get a little pine, some mint and fennel. Way more drinkable than it has any right to be but also a hell of a lot less interesting than the previous pour.
Finish: The finish is a winner but it kind of had to be at this proof.
Great (7/10)
Overall: I think this was simultaneously a logical endpoint of the tasting and an interesting comparison of Willett ryes, but boy did it suffer because of that comparison. An absolutely solid rye that paled in comparison to the previous pour. A completely typical, well done Willett rye.
And now, a sign-off from Jonathan: "Thanks to Frank for letting me collab on this. I know everyone missed my two-thousand word intro about eating MoonPies on the dusty floor of my Nana’s house or my Antique 107-precipitated sexual awakening, but we thought this was for the best considering the gazillion tasting notes and the fact we’re both busy af.
