Not sure if you guys saw this, but a $30 bourbon won best whiskey 2019. Henry McKenna 10-year-old Bottled-in-Bond
If you can find some McKenna 10-year that entered barrel #4976 in 2008, buy every bottle that you see. As a 10-year single barrel expression, there’s a ton of variability from year to year, and even from barrel to barrel. Heaven Hill freely acknowledges that they outpunted their coverage on this competition, as all 3 bottles they submitted were pulled from a single case box in their warehouse that were filled from the same barrel. It was clearly a honey barrel and this win has sold a lot of bourbon for them this year.
I find it to have a rye note that I favor, so we included it alongside some ryes we were sampling last week (a different barrel from ’09). It’s a very good bourbon and at $30 this is a great value even if you don’t get one from that special barrel.
I’ve been skeptical of the Kentucky Owl, but their rye really impressed me – worth the price as a special occasion bottle. The Midwinter’s Night’s Dram is better for me, and less expensive, but comparing a straight rye to a blend isn’t entirely fair.
Drink what you like, the way you like!
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