E. H. Taylor Small Batch
You don't know judgment until you see a family of four side eyeing you in Central Park while you're trying to capture photos of your bourbon bottles and, most importantly, minding your own business. Side eyeing me when there's a Game of Thrones cosplay taking place ten feet to my left -- interesting (& shoutout to whoever the guy was playing Jon Snow -- you killed that, homie). Anyways, I was out capturing some shots of the Colonel E. H. Taylor Small Batch, the starter bottle of a line of bourbons that receive high praise in the whiskey community. The bottle's namesake is also a pretty big deal in terms of American whiskey's historical narrative. Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr. is renowned for being instrumental in the passage of the Bottled-In-Bond Act of 1897 along with introducing innovative and modernized distilling techniques to the bourbon culture during his time at the O.F.C. Distillery (modern day Buffalo Trace). This bourbon is rich in history and came with some lofty expectations.
Unfortunately, those expectations were never met (at least not for me). Don't get me wrong...this is a very solid bourbon, but I wouldn't call it one of my favorites. It's just -- solid. Those nose was probably my favorite part about the experience. Smells of caramel, oatmeal cookies and butterscotch made their presence known. The palate, however, was just alright. Flavors like vanilla, caramel and raisins came to the forefront while some black pepper surfaces after a moment or two. The finish was particularly long with the vanilla closing things out alongside some slight alcohol burn. This wasn't the most unique bourbon in the world, but it's very drinkable and, again, -- solid.
I may have expected too much from this bottle. I just hear so many great things about it from all different angles, I figured it would knock my socks off. And while I'd definitely buy it again, it's not exactly the first bourbon I'm running to grab from the store, especially at the $50ish price point. The silver lining here is that this was my first of many encounters with the E. H. Taylor line and with a handful of other offerings like their Single Barrel, Straight Rye and Four Grain, I'm sure they have something that'll sing to me.
