Baseball and Bottled-in-bond Bourbons… doesn’t get much more American than that! Except I’m in Canada, and I’m watching the Blue Jays. I’ve had these two bottles for a while, and the Henry McKenna came in a swap with /u/lecheconcarnie nearly two years ago. Realized I could do a three-way BiB multi-review, so let’s see how they fare! (both the bourbons and the Blue Jays… I’ll give updates throughout the reviews).

First up is the Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond. It’s been my go-to easy drinking bourbon for Blue Jays games as you can see in the feature picture. let’s see how it stacks up under scrutiny. Not sure what the charcoal filtering will do to this.

Evan Williams White Label Bottled in Bond – 50% ABV

• Nose: sweet candied corn, oak, vanilla, molasses, quite sweet. Brown sugar, some fruit. almonds, more nuts. I get more nuttiness when re-visiting this nose after the others. (and just like that Josh Donaldson hits yet another first inning home run for a 2-0 lead!) .
• Palate: creamed corn, oak, grain, vanilla, caramel, spicy, somewhat bitter. Some berries and fruit and peanuts. Nuttiness stronger after the other two.
• Finish: woody, a little bitter, spicy. Fairly short. (TB’s Ramos hits a home run to cut the lead in half).
• Score: 78

a decent entry level bourbon, but nothing special. I feel maybe the charcoal filtering takes something away here as it doesn’t have a ton going on.

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The Old Grand-Dad BiB is a bottle I picked up in Buffalo a while back. I’ve previously reviewed the OGD 80 and 114 proof expressions.

(Jays strand a pair 😥 after getting them on with no outs)

Old Grand-Dad 100 Bottled in Bond – 50% ABV

• Nose: oak forward, cinnamon, nutmeg, other spices, little bit of fruit, some nuttiness. Fruit gets more prominent the longer it sits…apple, orange, lemon. (The Rays loaded the bases in the top of the 4th on two walks and a hit batter, but fortunately Tepesch got the flyout to end the threat).
• Palate: tons of mulling spices, cloves, dried fruit and prunes, demerara sugar, cotton candy, candy corn, rich oak, fairly tannic. Tons of flavour in this one, and good depth. I feel it’s likely not as young as the EW. Orange peels.
• Finish: medium length, some corn, oaky vanilla, sweet, banana.
• Score: 87

this is a really nice bourbon, and I’m glad I’ve got a lead on where to get more of it for cheap! Just checked and see I’m giving it 1 more point than the 114 proof which surprises me somewhat, but I do like this a lot!

(ugh, Jays waste a triple by Steve Pearce when GoGo’s RISP powers fail to activate and he Ks to end the 6th inning. Tepesch deserves more run support than he’s gotten.)

The Henry McKenna 10 Single Barrel BiB is from Heaven Hill like the EW. Very interesting brand, only releasing at 10 years and only single barrels. I know very little about this and have never had another release of this. THis is barrel 640, bottled in November 2000.

(a few more wasted opportunities on both sides, including this odd reviewed play that led to the Rays stranding a couple leaves the score at 2-1 Jays after 7)

Henry McKenna 10 Single Barrel – 50% ABV

• Nose: sawdust, fairly oaky, quite a bit of bright fruit and some spice. Corn syrup. Candy apple, Citrus, banana.
• Palate: whoa that’s interesting. It’s got a bright sweet fruity note that is like apple pie. Cinnamon. nutty. Lots of vanilla and spices. Good dollop of oak and caramel. Rich mouthfeel… definitely thicker than the other two. More spice with cloves and nutmeg. Bananas.  (In the 8th, Donaldson hits a ground rule double and Smoak moves him to 3rd on a fielder’s choice, Morales grounds out and they put Pearce on to pitch to GoGo, who is hitting really well with RISP this season. Sadly he grounds out to the mound leaving the Jays 3 outs away)
• Finish: long, super spicy, oak, nutty.
• Score: 89

beautiful bourbon. Thoroughly impressed. Tons of flavours and a great mouthfeel. I’m a fan and will be looking for a bottle next time I’m down in the US.

(Osuna had come in in the 8th for the 4-out save and got the first out on one pitch, then in the 9th gets a ground-out, a strike-out and another ground-out to get his 30th save to complete the game. Turns out JD’s first inning homer and some amazing pitching was all it took. It’s Ballgame Blue Jays and only 3.5 games out of the wildcard!)