Blaum Bros. 118.7 proof. The Legend.

Blaum Bros. Oldfangled knotter bourbon 118.7

These bottles were all the rage just a few years ago before all the old stock ran out. Blaum Bros. made a name for themselves for sourcing some of the best 10-12 year mgp barrels in the nation. This one however was especially notorious for being the best of the best of the non-store pick barrels and as such, deserves an honest review. Its released as a 10 year but rumor has it to be an 11 year bourbon. So here goes nothing. I'll do my best to do this as honestly and non biased as I possibly can but I'm pretty excited. 

N: First whiff is a little rubbery in a sweet/good way. Further inspection reveals dark fruits and berries. Very minor rancio smell; just enough to harken nostalgia. There's a hint of coffee mingled with traces of cigar smoke and a bit of umami. The whole thing is padded with soft vanilla. It has a little bit of that, "every time I dip my nose in, it changes a little bit", thing going on. I'm gonna do my best to list some of those smells as I dip in several times...

Mixed herbs, plum, spray paint, dry erase marker, apple, burnt sugar, quince, Madagascar vanilla....

I'll leave it at that. 

(Solid 10)

P: Apples, super glue, tannic and perfumed. To be perfectly honest, I want to give this a 10 to but I kind of realize how that will come across. 

(9)

F: The apple changes to a bright citrus and quickly does a 180 for a deep dive into darker flavors or toasted vanilla, dutch chocolate, oak and tannins. 

(10)

O: So yeah. That was very pleasant. Dissected in this fashion, seems to scream best whiskey ever. Yet as a unit, although impressive, let's just say I've had better. That's a bad way to put it. This honestly ranks in the top 20 which is saying a lot. It is an incredible pour. I guess I'm saying it looks better on paper. Each part scored so high because all of it was pleasant and none of it was offensive but the flavor, although great is not my absolute favorite in the whiskey world. Man, it's hard to put in words. OK. Let's try this. I've had whiskies that were on par with this in the metrics whose flavor was more my style. I think that does it. 

(8)

Total: 37