George T Stagg Fall Bottling 2008- 70.9%

[Bas]

Because this bourbon is by most of you is considered as 'supreme bourbon' i just had to taste it. I had the chance to order a 5cl sample from this Fall Bottling 2008.

Nose; Highly etheric, more like thinner or accetone.
Taste; A real tearjerker( really it did) because of the high proof. My tongue went almost numb.
First impression; To much proof to be really appreciated.

So i added( totally against my principals) some premium water to it, covered the glass with cellophane and tried it again, a day later.

Nose; citric, vanilla.
taste; Vanilla , oak, slight taste of chocolate.

Overall impression of this bourbon;
Too high proof to appreciated as sold.
Needs to be cut with some water.
There are other bourbons out there which cost less and taste far better

[azoth_melusina]

well, at that high proof ( now i admit 127+ might be as high as i can go STRAIGHT ), it needs a FEW drops of water...a slight dollop.

i am waiting for my own 2008 version...last year's 144+ proof version numbed my tongue too...but i found the right SLIGHT amount of water...it still ranks up there as one of the finest i've ever had.

maybe it's sister BTAC bottle, Handy Saz, has it beat....

return to any Stagg expression at different times. you should eventually nod your head in agreement that it is magic stuff

[gillmang]

I've tried this year's and find it excellent but really, no whiskey was ever made to be consumed neat at such proofs and nowhere near in fact. Even 100 proof, the gold standard for packaging bourbon, was rarely drunk neat. Addition of water to drinking proof - I mean drinking neat - (40-100 proof max) is highly advised.

It is sold this way to give an indication what it is like coming out of the barrel, but that's all. In effect at 140 proof you get almost two bottles in one - it is more a pricing thing than anything else. Not to say some people don't appreciate taking very small sips of such strong things, but this is far from the norm even amongst experienced samplers.

Gary