Woodford Reserve Barrel Strength Rye | Review

It finally happened: we’re doing our first official bourbon review, and we’re starting with a heavy hitter: Woodford Reserve Barrel Strength Rye.

In this episode of Arsenic Culture, Matt, Jason, Drew, and Jordon dive into the bottle that helped define a generation of whiskey drinkers. From early bourbon memories to tasting notes, ratings, and laughs, the crew breaks down what makes Woodford unique, and whether this one’s worth adding to your shelf.

Is Woodford Barrel Strength Rye the real deal, or just marketing magic?


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Transcript

0:00

What's your favorite Rye? It's Van Winkle. Yeah, that's just a great drink. I mean, I'm not gonna just go buy a Van Winkle. Oh, I would if I could. Oh, well I would if I could. Yeah. Lemme take that back. I'll buy Matts if he's not. welcome back to arsenic culture. I am Jason I'm Matt. I am Drew Jordan, and we are here today for a bourbon review. A little bit different than what we've done. We've done some of these in the past. We're gonna review Woodford Reserve Barrel strength. Rah, I feel like we're setting this up for like a quick shot. Yeah. Almost. tell a quick I know like a 15 minute shot. So, And go. a little bit different format. We talked about this for a little bit, Matt. So. What we're gonna do today is the first one of these, we're gonna review a bourbon. Uh, we're gonna rate it on a scale of one to five in 0.25 increments. And Then we're also going to talk about will be kinda like buy it, recommended. it, things Sure, sure. So Woodford Reserve, has anybody heard of it? Never heard of Never heard of 'em. Never heard of them? No. Are they big? I I don't know. can't I can't remember. So what's your 15 barrels a year, maybe? Very. So, Jordan, what is your first experience with Woodford Reserve? You got one? Yeah. Um, whenever I was first getting into bourbon, honestly, um, honestly, uh, Woodford actually had a lot of digital media out there on YouTube. Yeah. And whenever I was just researching, like doing the stuff I do when I get into certain stuff, like hobbies or whatever, I, I always like, one of the first things I do, I look everything up on YouTube and see how much I can dig up and figure stuff out. Chris Morris had all these tasting videos about Woodford Reserve and I didn't even have a bottle of it yet. Yeah, you're talking about regular Woodford, Yeah, regular. Regular Woodford. But he was so convincing back when I was younger I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go buy a bottle see if I can pick out these uh, flavors and you know, I couldn't pick out the 90 something different flavors that he said Zen I was getting ready to say It comes, to flavor wheel Yeah. And Woodford. But, but you know what I appreciated. the effort that They, uh, put in to try to make content for everybody on, uh, uh, YouTube and stuff. I thought it was really cool. Which, When was that? That was probably, when was that? That was probably 10 years ago when I first got back into Burger 15. So they actually, the brand started in 1996. That's when Woodford kind of came to market. The first time I remember it, we were in college, probably 2000 ish, um, at Eastern. And I remember watching, I think it was The Man Show. or Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they were doing like a review of like work Kimble Yeah. Adam Crow. Yeah. They were doing a review on like what's hot or something. And Woodford Reserve the old one. Yeah. And it had, was it LA Bro and Graham, or, I think that's how you lng. Yeah, Lare. So that was what was called before Woodford Reserve Distillery. So that was the first time I heard of it and I'm like, this is the top shelf of the top shelf bourbon. But you know, they paid for that. spot. Oh yeah. But we're gonna, but not, I didn't know that Back then, but we're like, we're gonna pull our money and pay $40 for this. spot. Oh my gosh. that's This was the national lot days, you know, so, which is, is, well it's funny 'cause you say they started back in 1996, You think about a lot of bourbon brands and they're like heritage brands. that have been around like, like after Prohibition was repealed, you know? It's kind of crazy that you see a brand as big as Woodford, you know, only having been around for. eight years. you, think of, you think of Woodford though? I mean, it's a staple, right? Like the name itself. I just feel like it's been around a lot longer than that. When I read that and found it out, it's kind of weird. So in 2003, they actually changed their name from Lare and Graham to Woodford Reserve Distillery. And of course, brown Foreman's the, the parent company. This one though is released October 2nd distillery only. So just a couple weeks. Um, MSRP of 1 29 99 secondary is about two 40 ish. so Not too bad. So this has secondary? It does, it does. Uh, proof on this one's 1 25 0.1, and then age is not disclosed. But me and Jordan, were talking a little bit about it. I would say most rise you see in this realm, probably four to six, probably six years old. He's thinking maybe eight. So we'll call it six to eight is Our best Right. Okay. So what do you think on the nose of this one? Hot. Hot. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I mean Woodford's, what, 90.4? usually. I mean, they're very specific this is the fir Well, it's sort of the first drink of the day. We yeah, we've had a few don't count, Beers don't count. this coming out of the gates yeah. Holiday. Is a hot one. So this one is like the mash bill on this one. It, it's not really disclosed, but it's kind of a barely rye. So it's like 51%, It's 53%, so barely over. Um, so it's kind of a bourbon drinker's rye. So that's what I. would say. Also pretty shitty. It's a 700 milliliter bottle instead of seven 50. But we'll do I I do love their bottles. today. It's cool It also weighs 700 pounds. It Does It does. It's hard to lift with one hand if you like you know, got a little little bourbon on your hand. Seriously? Yeah. And it's distillery only right now. at this Point. Uh, It's going to hit up. distro, they said So it's going to five states. many did they say? How many bottles they are They did not. I think it's still available to distillery, but I think it's two per person. is what the limit is right now. This is their highest proof rye whiskey they've ever released. They have released some in like that master's collection. I think a few of those, but the proofs aren't this high. Before we jump into the taste, we will, um, give a little shout out to never say die real quick These are our sponsors. Never say die This stuff is delicious.'cause you find out a liquor store near you, Jordan is trying to steal focus from this bottle, but. uh, you get a, you can get a good idea of it right there. And But Matt never says die, and he will not let Jordan still. focus. Yeah. Yeah. But these guys are great. You guys check em out. A liquor store near you. Uh, good stuff. We appreciate them being our sponsor. What do you all, have you tried it? Any tasting notes? Yeah. What do you, any any notes? Don't start with me. Yeah. I, I, get, I get, the barely rye aspect. I really do. I was hoping for a little more spice and I just, it's not, it's not really there actually, you know, I like the barely rise. Uh, sometimes, you know, I do like the 95 5 rise, but sometimes they're a little bit too. Man, sometimes in those 9, 5, 5 rise, I get like a deal note to it. Yeah. And a lot, some people get a experiment note, but I get like a big deal note to it, so I'm kind of glad this doesn't have that aspect to it. I don't get that at all. in this. I think a big thing for me is one of our friends who've been on the show before Andrew, um, he does not like mint in a RI don't either. This one does not have that. So most of your barely eyes don't have that. It's more than 95. fives. or you mean you get that Literally the note. I mean, you don't No, he doesn't actually put 'em in in this. exactly. Okay. That would be a, that would I just wanna clarify the that would be what, what do you, what do you call that? That would be, uh, what do they like for the Kentucky Derby Min Julip, that'd be a mint ju. which is an awful. drink. Which Woodford pays. thousands of dollars big money. maybe millions also sponsor a lot of the races in and around the Breeder's Cup and um, the hell did we get the mint jewel for the Kentucky Derby? I don't know. that's. some shit. That's some bullshit. Anybody tells you a good drink. that's episode worthy, they're episode worthy. you know, uh, actually is. Woodford has such a tradition being the official mint ju up of the Kentucky Derby. They have their official recipe and they actually, I believe have like a specialty glass. or What, what do you call that? The sterling silver. kinda they, they have a stealing silver cup that is and it's like. Couple legit, like sterling's, like stirlings. I I bet it really enhances the flavor. of the mint Oh, for sure, for sure. got to, But, uh, I think it's like $10,000. It's so many thousand dollars for a drink at the actual Kentucky Derby if you get that cup. like that Sterling soup. Yeah, it's I think like looking back when I was younger, Woodford Reserve, it was always, it was, it was built to be a top shelf bourbon when it was invented. And that's what I always remember it being was, uh, you know, in a small town. or Yeah. Where I'm from, Woodford was like probably three times the price of regular Jim Beam or Jack Daniels. what I was telling you. In college like when we, say like literally we pulled our money, me and two roommates to buy a$40 bottle of bourbon, which Back then would be a hundred dollars. 120 now. You know what I mean? So it's like college a student. That's, that's a big spend, you know? Well, and the name Le Bro. And Graham too, I think it has, they try to create like a certain mystique with it. You it's, yeah. It sounds, it sounds more, yeah. It sounds more established A little more pretentious. I think I The only bourbon for your men. Ju liberal. Yeah. lab brat. Yeah. I want, I want your finest lab brat and grandpa, get out, sir. Get out. O. Actually, that That'd be pretty funny. walking into a bar now saying that. uh, 'cause they would probably would know, they wouldn't know what? you're Talking about, so any tasty notes on this Jordan Brown, sugar, A little bit of graham cracker. Um. But honestly of LA bro. Yeah. But, but honestly, I, I do enjoy the mouth fill. Mm-hmm. Nice. Viscous mouth fill on this one. Uh, but it is pretty proofy. I, I think it's gonna be awesome when it opens up. close up. yeah. Yeah, I could see that. I mean, for me, I can't pick out a lot of flavors on this one just yet, but, you know, it's got some baker spice very light my tongue's tingling a little bit. Um, I, I don't know much beyond that. Like I couldn't I don't get much fruitiness. at so, so here's the Tasty Notes. I'll get to you all in a second. But The tasty notes from online. So Juicy Orange, I, I'm not getting that. Or is you buy clove. I could get that kinda Baker Spice, right? Leather. I think that's in almost every bourbon. Right? nutmeg. I mean, I wouldn't pick nutmeg out, but, okay. Maybe. nut. Well, nutmeg is such a docile spice. Yeah, you could almost say that about. any bourbon. Yeah, Probably true. And then tobacco, which is also kind of catchall. Like if You say smooth and vanilla like Elmer t Lee, you're You're, you're going across the board. the fact that they put leather and tobacco in their official tasting notes makes me think this actually has some decent age to it. Even though that they don't, Even though that they don't state what it is, because' those two tasty notes are pretty well aged bourbon or rye. r So a lot of times when they don't put an age statement on a Product. Why do you think that would be? Do you have like a, a theory on that? for me, uh. well, I actually do, so my theory is this, if you do an age statement, it has to be the youngest Bourbon in the blend. Right. So what they've probably done in this, and they've probably got some four yearold eye, but they've also probably got some 12 year they might have some two year ride. year ride. Yeah. could do. exactly. Exactly. Right. So It's at Blend. So if you put an age statement on it, it'd say a two year ride, nobody's gonna buy it. Yeah, Right. But if you leave it off, it's like really? It's probably on average, probably an eight year, 10 year blend. But you do probably have some younger, ride. but in theory, if it is a blend, you're allowed to say what? it's blended with. can, yeah. And it wouldn't be, away, you know, you're giving away, quote, unquote, more information than maybe you want to for marketing purposes. but does a good job with that. there. Bourbons on the side of the bottle. Very You might second guess paying one 30 for this, if you saw. A blend of a two Well, I mean, that's a good point. know, maybe. But I mean, again, if you saw 12 year on there, even if it was exactly. Yeah, you're right. like, well, okay, the, the color on. It's great. Uh, It is. I think it's, It's actually the kind of, to your point, it does have almost like a silky, smooth mouth feel. Well, when you get past the, you know, it's a little harsh. Um, it actually feels great. in my mouth. But yeah, the, the flavor profile, I'm getting a little bit of spice on those. I was really hoping to get a little bit more on the palette. And I know you. Jordan, you said you like it with a lower rye quotient. I actually like it with a little bit more. So I'm a little disappointed there, especially for $120 rye. But, but, but you say that and I, I, I don't disagree. I'll, I'll agree with that, but what's one, what's your favorite rye. I know. What it is, what's my favorite ride? What's favorite rye? It's Van Winkle. Well, yeah, but, I mean, that's that's that's a. barely, that's a barely rye. Yeah, that's just a great drink. I mean, I'm not gonna just go buy a Van Winkle. Oh, I would if I could. Oh, well I would, if I could. Yeah. take that back. Yeah. Hold on. Hold on. be, I'll be totally happy to, buy mats if he's not buying my ball in. But again, though, that's a barely r so I think, I think barely rise are different. They're created. not equal, yeah, yeah. But I agree with you. I mean, I like 95 5 mgp. That's where I'm at with Rise Law, that very spicy. But they can change with the barrels or aging process. So. Any other tasty notes Matt Drew have? we've a little bit of the brown sugar. Um, yeah, I, I do, I do like how it feels and I do, I'll like a little bit of a tingle on the tongue too. It just kind of lets you know that you're, you're working with something there, you know. I like that. I I like a little tingle on the tongue. I like a lot of Any tasting notes from you, sir. More tasting notes, I thought. Did you give us any Yeah, I didn't even hear em. What'd you say? Uh, I said we don't. we don't, we don't Okay. All right. So would you buy this at one 30 Retail Jordan? Well, I did. And So I guess, are you happy with the purchase? Would you buy it it? Yeah, I, I had this for the first time last weekend and uh, I thought it was good. And here's the thing, that being one 30 to me felt like an actual goodbye because double, double oaked was 200. Yeah. And it was 90 proof. Sure. This is one 30. Yeah. And it's 125 proof. so I, thought you can comparing Woodford value to Woodford value. Yeah. That, that's true. Well, any value, I mean, the price on limited editions right now are insane. I mean, for the most part. What we need to do is, uh, get, uh, president's Choice, R If we know anybody that has that, and put it neck to neck.'cause President's Choice Rye is$300. And this is one 30 and it's made by Brown Foreman, both of 'em. So you'd be about one 30, what about secondary? At two 40? Let's call it Would you buy at That No. Okay. That's fair. I'm probably Max at. MSRP. Okay. You know Drew, what about one 30 for MSRP on this one? Yeah, I like it because it's one of those bottles I'm gonna bring out with some friends probably. Um, again, if it was secondary, I wouldn't touch it. Yeah. Two 40 is a little steep. What about You, Matt. I'm gonna disagree with Jordan about it opening up, and I could be wrong. but I don't, I don't, I just don't know if it, I feel like it doesn't have enough depth to, to get, you know, any more nuance out of it. Um, what'd you say? One 30? Yeah. For price, retail. No. Knowing what it is. If I saw that, I didn't know what it was, I probably would. but after fair. yeah. I mean, I, I put 90 on it, honestly. But definitely not secondary. That's, that's in the same ballpark of a will it. Right. So, I mean, will it, will. it Four to six years, probably 90 to one 20. I don't know what they are. four years. Probably 70 to 90. is my guess. Um, for me, I, I, I bought this bottle. I mean, I think it's worth it for retail for me. Definitely not getting secondary. I do think it'll change. I do think it'll open up. I I really I hope it does. I really And we'll see. I mean, we'll leave it open for three or four minutes. Four, try it again. Yeah. Now that the neck Yeah, Exactly. So let's go to rating. So again, one to five scale 0.25. increments. What would you rate this, Jordan? I I wanna do 3, 7, 5 out of five. Okay. Okay. Anything you compare it to, any other products you've had Rise? I would assume like what about a Jack Daniels barrel proof fry? That's Okay. Yeah, that's, That's actually, yeah, you're right. Uh, I would buy probably a good store pick of a JD Rye barrel proof. Okay. Over this Makes sense. What about you, drew? What would you rate it? I'm a four. Okay. I think all my bourbon ratings are gonna fall in a, a pretty, you know, narrow range. Um, talk about that for a minute before we go any further. So I think our scale's a little different than other bourbon reviewers. Some, of 'em, a lot of those review on a one to 10 scale. I'm used to the untapped beer. I know you are. You are. So if you want to get our 10 point scale, just double our score. But um, I think, I think we all tended to rate a little higher than some of them. I'm not gonna crush anything to me. If it's a 3.5 or above, it's worth a pour. You know what I mean? Right. Like if you're talking about something that's a two, I'm never buying that bottle. I'm not even buying a pour. Right. So it to qualify or quantify our rating Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, you. it's a four for me. Um, it's, you know, it's, it is good. I think, I don't know that I would ever find a bourbon that, you know, I'm gonna give it a five to necessarily, um. one a little bit. I mean, maybe, um, I'm excited about that, but, but yeah, I mean, it's again, it the price point, it's a buy for me, it it, and I give it a four, and I gotta, you, I gotta weigh value in there too. Like, oh, I think you should. Yeah. It's, for most Woodford products, especially like the double, double Oaks and stuff like that, they're, they're fine. I just, I can't, justify those prices. I think double, double oaked is, is a really good product, but at the price point it's, I mean, you can't, we, we tried. it with Anthony and uh, Kenny on the show. It's like, It's It is good. but geez, like, What is it, like$200 for like for that? same size bottle, 700 mil thought it was even smaller than, 70 more than this one at the same size. It's like, Like, I can't, my, my mom used to work at Woodford Reserve. She used to do tours and she got a bottle. I mean, she's hasn't worked there in a long time, but maybe 10 years ago. And it was either the double rye or the double double rye. I don't know. I forget what it was, Probably double Double oaks. I No, it was rye. Yeah. And it came in a pint. Oh. And, um, it was like a, a very limited thing. I don't know if even know if they sold it.'cause I have never seen it anywhere I have heard some stories not fantastic. I may have seen some in person, but there are, uh, rumors that escapes that facility of barrel strength products to employees. Really? Yeah. So like I, I've seen, bourbon, I've seen sample bottles from, pulled from barrels that are barrel. strength 'cause they won't release anything really. barrel. strengths I would love, I would love to see that. It's fantastic. It's fantastic. What what was your score. you was gonna give? So I'm between a three half, 3.5, 3, 7, 5, But I'm probably gonna, I'm probably gonna default to a three and a half. Again, I think it's, I think it's decent. I think it's a little overpriced and I would like a little more dimension of it. So I'm gonna fall back to three and a half. I still, it's I agree with the dimension part about, and that's why I think hopefully when it opens up when it's not as hot, maybe I can pull more flavors outta that. I'm gonna go, I mean, same, same ballpark, right? So I enjoy it. The price is a little high. I would buy it again, I'm a 3 7 5, but like what I talked about, me and Jordan talked about in Mango, with the Jack Daniels barrel pre fry, all the barrel picks I've had of that, except one I've probably had, eight or nine of those are better than this so far it's not opened up yet, but uh, that's why I couldn't. give it higher. like 70. Exactly. So it's half the price of this. Right. And it's a seven 50 instead of 700 those 50. milliliters make A huge difference dude. That's like 38 cents a. worth a bourbon. Yeah. So I mean, I appreciate everybody coming on here. I guess I'm the host on this one. not You Screw you. is, uh, your show now, Yeah. So this is our first bourbon review. Thanks for tuning in. If you liked us, like and subscribe on YouTube. Like all of our socials, we are@arsenicculture. See you next time.