First Round Blind
Barrel 1
Nose is fresh rain, herbal, soft oak **
Palate is fruity but grainy.
Barrel 2
Nose is rich and sticky, leather, brown sugar.
Palate has big oak - enjoy this a lot. Dry finish, butter, fruity.
Barrel 3
Nose is brown sugar, softer leather, grain.
Palate is honey, clinging rye spice, oak.
Dry rye finish, vanilla and sweetness but two dimensional.
Barrel 4
Nose is rich is decandent - oak, butter ***
Brighter palate, oak & citrus. Toasted finish, a bit sharp and falls off.
Barrel 5
Nose is rich but brighter, leather and pecan. **
Palate has a great balance of flavor, chewy, drying mid palate with soft floral and oak.
Second Round Blind (1,4,5 moved forward and one new added)
Barrel 1
Leather, bite. Rich rye - leather on the palate.
Barrel 2
Deep brown sugar, grain. Brown sugar, sweet, lots of oak but a little rye, floral.
Barrel 3
Deep oak, bright, soft leather. Bigger oak on the palate, subtly boring, dryer. (WINNER)
Barrel 4
Rich leather. Nice balance on palate, spice, a bit too bright.
Final Thoughts
Going back over the notes, of the 3 we moved on... one was this knob creek-esque dry medicinal one (#2 in the first round), one we all enjoyed but was a little two dimensional (rye forward spice, #3 in the first one), and the last was the toasted one with the good nose but fell off on the palate... yet still was most picked (#4). In the end, that one we all enjoyed the most got NO votes second go round. I personally liked what ended up being the new one, and then the knob creek whacky one. Fortunately for us, the main of the group DIDNT like that one either, so it. And down to the one that was rye forward but a little 2 dimensional (and I noted too bright second go round) also happened to be our second favorite of the first go round, and then the new one which offered new stuff. I still believe that 5987 COULD have been the better pick based on the first pass, but definitely was presented differently in the second blind. The one we ended up with presents a lot more oak than the others we tried, but also hints of all the flavors New Riff CAN offer but not always all together: brown sugar, fruit, floral, rye spice. It’s more oak and rid bit more rye spices and less fruity version of Ken Riffey Jr, if you ask me.