Six years old; 90 proof
Aroma: Creamy, buttery, lots of vanilla and pralines.
Taste: Very dry, lots of woodsy grain, peppery finish with a bit of a mineral fade.
Verdict: I really wanted to love Bulleit Bourbon. It has a great story: Originally created in the 1830s by Louisville tavern keeper Augustus Bulleit, who “vanished” while transporting barrels to New Orleans, it was revived in 1987 by his great-great-grandson, Tom Bulleit. It has terrific packaging: The flat, flask-shaped bottles with raised lettering are intended to evoke the frontier, and in fact were used as props on HBO’s “Deadwood.” It has won medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. And its aroma was heady stuff, with all that cream and butter and vanilla. But I liked the nose much more than the taste, which I found very dry and heavy on grain, with very little evidence of those sweeter flavors. It’s a complex bourbon, for sure, but it left me a little cold.
