Thomas S. Moore Bourbon Finished in Cabernet Sauvignon Casks
Thomas S. Moore Bourbon Finished in Cabernet Sauvignon Casks
We will be tackling the Thomas S. Moore Bourbon Finished in Cabernet Sauvignon Casks as a follow up review to a previous one that I did on the Chardonnay Cask finished version. If you read the previous review, or if you did so just now, you may ask – Why did you buy another one of these bottles when you rated the previous one at 2x 🥃? As it happens, I did not go out and buy another but instead, like a sucker, I bought both of them at the same time. After my lackluster experience with the first, I haven’t been eager to crack this bottle open, but I needed to clear some room in my cabinet so here we are. If I was better at marketing, I would dedicate this section of my review to building up some suspense, providing a hook to lure you in on. But alas, this is not going to be one of those reviews. This is a full on gripe review.
Instead of recreating the explanation of what this bottle series is, below is a copy/paste of what I wrote in the previous review:
“Thomas S. Moore Kentucky Straight Bourbon is a newer whiskey on the market from Barton 1792 Distillery, sister distillery of Buffalo Trace, all under the Sazerac umbrella. This series released 3 Bourbons with an “extended cask finish” in Port, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay wine casks. According to the labels, these bourbons were aged “many years” [Editorial Note: an article which interviewed Master Distiller Danny Kahn, stated that the core bourbon was the 1792 high rye recipe aged 5-6 years] and then finished for “several more years” [Editorial Note: same article stating that the finishing was for 2-5 years]. Typically you see “finishing” for 6-12 months, so having something finished for “many years” should impart more of the wine cask elements to the final product…..”
ABV: 47.65%
How it smells…a bit musty on the nose with dark berries, cinnamon, raisins, cherries, confectioners’ sugar….really nice on the nose actually.
How it tastes…fruity to start with berries and cherries but it gets drying towards the middle with the end full of baking spices – cinnamon and allspice. The finish is oaky and very acidic in the back of the throat….this level of acid is a first for me for a bottle that’s not <$20….on my second go-around with this tasting, after it had opened up a bit, it was still fruity to start with more caramel notes in the middle while the end had some honey and all of that oak and baking spices, but milder. The finish was still a touch too acidic and drying, with some cayenne pepper.
Price….SRP of $70
Rating....🥃🥃
Final thoughts…..the level of acidity that I experienced on the finish with this bourbon was unchartered territory for me. I typically have a pretty solid constitution and the only time that I can remember getting severe acid reflux was probably 15+ years ago after being in Atlantic City for a bachelor party and surviving on nothing but french fries, Red Bull & Vodkas and nicotine for 72 hours. I had a similar experience with my first night sipping this bottle. I’m curious as to what type of Cabernet they used because it kind of felt like that awful back-of-the-throat taste one may get after budget buying two bottles of Bigfoot Wine in your early 20’s and drinking them on a Thursday night while watching 24 (was this too specific to feign that it could be a fictitious statement?). Honestly, for a minute I thought I was having an allergic reaction. I must say that on the 2nd tasting, I didn’t have as much of a visceral reaction to the sip, but the acid continued to be present, but to a lesser extent than the first go around. The only way I could enjoy this bottle was with a lot of ice (and not the big cubes) and having it be my 2nd or 3rd of the night, not my first. For a $70 sipper, this isn’t the way to live. A 2x 🥃 is generous.
Of these initial three cask finished releases, I purchased two. I didn’t buy the Port finished version as there is a lot of Port finished whiskey on the market and I wanted to try something different and I thought that both the Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon would be interesting. Now the key word in the first sentence of this paragraph is “initial” as Barton has released four additional versions in this line, with finishes in Madeira Casks, Merlot Casks, Sherry Casks, and Cognac Casks. For this second round of releases, they are again using 5-6 year old bourbon and finishing it for up to 4 years in the finishing cask, so similar aging recipe from the first batch of 3. This is a respectable age statement for non-age statement bourbons. Again, in theory these all sound amazing, but the first two that I purchased were a disappointment. The Chardonnay finished wasn’t a bad sipper, but I didn’t think it warranted the $70 price tag. This Cabernet Sauvignon was a subpar sipper and adjusted for price it was even worse. I don’t think I will be continuing with this Thomas S. Moore series, which is too bad because I’m a big fan of Barton’s line up with its 1792 releases.
Curiously enough, Barton doesn’t seem to have a website dedicated for the Thomas S. Moore brand, nor do they list it on the 1792 or Barton Distillery pages…all I was able to find as a direct source of information (not just reviews or news releases) was this facebook page. How dedicated can they be to this brand if they won’t even maintain a website? That might be a bit of a stretch or a petty comment, but this isn’t a small Mom & Pop operation, this is owned by a very large company with a proper marketing budget.
Nice Sipper Ratings Reminder…
All ratings are done on a scale between 1x 🥃 and 5x 🥃 according to the following criteria
1x 🥃 = I don't like this at all and/or not worth the cost by a mile.
2x 🥃🥃 = This is "meh" and/or slightly overpriced.
3x 🥃🥃🥃 = This is good stuff and/or the price is right.
4x 🥃🥃🥃🥃 = This is wonderful and I'm always keeping it in stock especially at this price.
5x 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃 = This is amazing and/or this is way underpriced for the quality of the experience.
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