Review: Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon 2007 Vintage
Review: Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon 2007 Vintage
After a two year drought, we are finally back with another Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon review.
What happened to 2005 and 2006? Good question. At the time, rumors swirled that the Single Barrel line was being discontinued or was becoming a distillery-only product. The distillery went dark to questions about the line, but apparently neither of those scenarios happened, and you can still find a smattering of reviews of the 2005 and 2006 online, though both are mixed. Neither release is widely available today, but diligent hunters can track both of them down with a bit of effort. To this day, I still haven’t sampled either one.
Fast forward to this, the 2007 release, which is an 8 year old expression (bottled in November 2015), making it a bit younger than the last EWSB we reviewed, the 9 1/2 year old 2004.
Let’s taste it.
This is a bigger, bolder, more wood-forward whiskey than previous releases in this line. The nose offers ample honey, butterscotch, and caramel corn notes, with a big lumberyard character backing up the sweeter elements. Wood again dominates the palate, which offers an initial rush of brown sugar followed by some lightly winey notes, some cloves, and licorice. It’s tannic and brooding at times, the finish coating the mouth and lingering as it washes away the upfront sweetness.
It’s a bit at odds with some of the older Evan Williamses, which are better balanced, more citrusy, and more rounded, often showcasing pretty chocolate notes. The older vintages, which I spot-tasted in preparation for this review, are almost unilaterally both more mature and more interesting. That said, a bit of youth isn’t the end of the world, and the 2007 release isn’t without its share of charm.
Compare to: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.
86.6 proof. Reviewed: Barrel #1.
B+ / $34 / evanwilliams.com [BUY IT NOW FROM CASKERS]
Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon 2007 Vintage
$34
2007 is actually my favorite EW-single since the 1998, also initially tasted against a newly opened bottle of 2004 due to 2007’s difference from past releases. 2007s across this area of NJ were bottled in early Dec 2015 (all barreled end of Aug 2007). 2007s here are mostly gone from shelves now, replaced by the 2008 (not tasted). Thanks for this review.