Isaac Bowman Port Finished
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Distiller:
Buffalo Trace
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Bottler:
Isaac Bowman
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ABV:
46%
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Age:
NAS
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Price:
$$$$$
- Raided Score: 91
- Publication: The Whiskey Wash
- Excerpt: For anyone wary of port-finished bourbons or other whiskey becoming too sweet, this one draws on some of the boldness and character of port without becoming overly saturated.
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- Raided Score: 92
- Publication: WhiskyCast
- Excerpt: The finish is long with lingering spices and a hint of baked fruits. Overall, there’s good complexity and balance.
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- Raided Score: 96
- Publication: Drinkhacker
- Excerpt: The palate is largely in line with what’s come before the mint and chocolate really taking the full focus of the experience, with a melange of character picking up on the back end — cloves, honey, and an amaro-like bitterness that takes the finish into a surprising (and welcome) slightly brooding territory.
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- Raided Score: 92
- Publication: Wine Enthusiast
- Excerpt: Adding a splash of water snaps it into focus, suggesting a slice of cherry pie topped with caramelized brown sugar and maple.
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- Raided Score: 86
- Publication: Modern Thirst
- Excerpt: Solid, if uninspiring. The finish is the star here, but the subtle port finish is a solid application of barrel finishing, allowing the youthful whiskey to remain the center of attention.
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- Raided Score: 85
- Publication: Whiskey Raiders
- Excerpt: I'm really not impressed with this given what I was expecting but I'm hoping to see some redemption in future releases with more maturation time. My hunch with this here is that it is young and spends a minimal time seeing any kind of port interaction at all.
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Raided Score is a conversion from an external site's score, to our in house uniform scoring system. Please see the FAQ for more.
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Intro:
This is a non-LE release of Bowman spirit, finished in port casks. Thanks to /u/deathsnuggle, from the Whiscord Discord server for this sample. I'm not sure if this product sees distribution outside of Virginia, at least at this time.
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Nose:
Pepper, cocoa and some oak. Tobacco, faint fruitiness. Some weird new make notes. Overall, it's not bad, but a hair muted.
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Taste:
Really apparent new make notes, which I find really weird. Corn syrup, wet cardboard. There's faint cocoa and tobacco, without a lot of port character at all.
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Finish:
Short and astringent. I think it's just young. Corn, pepper and some faint fruitiness. Faint raspberry.
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Overall:
I'm really not impressed with this given what I was expecting but I'm hoping to see some redemption in future releases with more maturation time. My hunch with this here is that it is young and spends a minimal time seeing any kind of port interaction at all. Hopefully both of those things can be addressed in future batches. I get that there would be some comparison with the past LE that was also port finished, but this just isn't great as it stands right now.
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Score:
4
- Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources