Last Night's Tipple

I went to Spec's yesterday with Mamacita, and I could not resist the lure of Elmer T. Lee single barrel Bourbon. This is another fine product from the Buffalo Trace distillery, where Elmer T. Lee is the master distiller (hence the name). Conceptually, this Bourbon is similar to Wild Turkey's Russel's Reserve Bourbon: each is selected by the distillery's master distiller from barrels that display characteristics that he personally likes, not necessarily with an eye toward making a blend that is consistent with the distillery's mainline bottlings. The biggest difference in product type (not flavor and character -- that's a whole different ballgame) between the two is that the ETL is a single-barrel Bourbon where the Russel's Reserve is not. "Single-barrel" means that the distiller selects the barrels that he likes, and each barrel one at a time is dumped, diluted, and bottled. Because no two barrels of Bourbon are exactly the same, no two bottles of single-barrel Bourbon will be exactly the same unless they come from the same barrel. This bottle-to-bottle variation is both a blessing and a curse for the distillery: a curse because some consumers may get frustrated by the lack of consistency in the bottles they buy and a blessing because other consumers will chase the dragon in an attempt to find the bottle from the perfect "honey barrel" and thus will buy more of the brand than they otherwise might. I think that most distilleries have concluded that single-barrel is more of a blessing than a curse for their top-shelf boutique Bourbons. At least, there has been an incredible profusion of single-barrel bottlings over the past few years.

The bottle pictured to the right has a foil-wrapped top. Mine was dipped in gold-colored wax, which means that it's at least 18 months old. I don't know if Spec's is having trouble moving their stock of ETL or if they stumbled across some stock that had been sitting forgotten in some distributer's warehouse. Once I managed to get through the wax and into the bottle (wax is an attractive but non-utilitarian way to seal bottles), the Bourbon inside was very good. Lots and lots of butter and vanilla on the nose. There's also something slightly savory going on every so often. One review that I read called this note "buttered popcorn", and I suppose that that is as good a description as any. Regardless, it was a very pleasant smell. On the palate, it's spicy with some vanilla and maple sugar notes. Very nice.