It is always a nice surprise when you get your hands on something that not many people ever talk about, never seen and then is gifted to you by a member of COWS. By a show of hands how many of you have even heard of Old Charter 10 Year? Now how many has even seen it? I wouldn’t have raised my hand until this wonderful gift. Now let’s see if this was a gift or maybe they were trying to poison me. Only one way to find out.

Make sure you put in the comments any bottles that you would like me to review.

NAME – Old Charter 10 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

PROOF – 86

AGE – 10 years

COLOR – dirty blonde (1.3 russet mascat on the Whiskey Magazine Color Chart)

NOSE – Undeniable mash bill #1 from Buffalo Trace. Honey, honeysuckle, vanilla, sweet oak, new tanned leather, cherry taffy.

TASTE – Cherry, honey, vanilla combo right up front. There is that sweet oak and tanned leather in the mid-palate with a very slight almond note coming late.

FINISH – I would call this a short finish. This is where the 86 proof shows up. Not a long finish at all with some honey, leather and some tobacco but pay attention or you will miss it.

REVIEW – This rivals Evan Williams Single Barrel as my absolute favorite bourbon under 90 proof. This is a fantastic pour that gives you all the traditional flavor profiles you look for in bourbon. No it doesn’t give you anything outside the traditional flavors but what it gives you is really well done. The only draw back is the short finish but can be forgiven for all of the rest it gives you.

FINAL COMMENTS – The Old Charter uses the famous mash bill 1 from Buffalo Trace which is their low rye mash bill. Rumored to be at 10% rye. Other brands that use the same mash bill is their namesake Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, E.H. Taylor, George T Stagg, Stagg Jr. and Benchmark. This absolutely can hold its own with Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare. The low proof hurts it against the others.

How I wish this was something easily found. This is a great couch pour watching a game or having with dinner. Maybe Buffalo Trace will do something similar as they have with Benchmark and create several different varieties. They could have The 10 year Old Charter be the “premium” offering in the lineup.

Thanks again to Greg Skinner for the gift and not for trying to poison me.