Review #279 - Woodford Reserved Double Oaked Bourbon
One of the classic double-oaked bourbons: Woodford Reserve. It's produced in huge quantities, making it available everywhere, and we can generally find it for quite a reasonable price, as well. Like Woodford Reserve's other core range whiskies, this is bottled at 45.2% ABV (90.4 proof).
The second round of barrels used in the maturation also has a slightly different profile: they are highly toasted, before getting a lighter char level. Because of that extra oak maturation, this comes with a gorgeous dark color.
Woodford Reserved Double Oaked Bourbon
USA - Bourbon
Current Locally Available Price: USD 44 (2024)
Age Statement: NAS
Strength: 45.2% ABV
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 3 years; bottles at 50%, 60%, 20%, and 90% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Very sweet: medicinal cherry, red apples, apple butter, vanilla, and brown sugar. Caramel comes in, and there's hints of maple and cinnamon as well; accent scents of oak, cayenne spice, cocoa, and herbal notes are found from time to time.
Palate: Much more oaky on the palate - barbecued wood, wood smoke, and a bit of astringency. Hints of sweetness from cherry and spiced cookies, but not nearly as sweet as the nose. Barrel spice and pepper give way to soft herbal and earthy notes in the late palate; the mouthfeel is medium-thin.
Finish: Medium length, with a lot of prickly wood tannins and some baking spices - sugars, syrup, and a hint of pepper, before soft caramel arrives. From time to time, hints of nuttiness and cherry can be found; there's still an herbal element lingering from the palate, as well.
Final Note: A great nose full of dessert scents, but this became much more drying and oak-forward on the palate. Still nice to sip on, but we were looking forward to a more dessert-like whisky based on that nose - it didn't pan out that way entirely. Still, value is decent, here - the price is reasonable, and if anything, it's come down over the last year or two in our area.
Our Average Rating: 6.2 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.94
Check out our other Woodford Reserve reviews:
Review #255 - Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Review #209 - Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Malt Whiskey
