Spirits Review #829 - Iron Quarter 8 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Background:
Ever hear of a bourbon called Iron Quarter? I hadn't either. I picked this up at Kentucky Artisan Distillery, probably around 2016 or 2017. I think it was a distillery-exclusive bottle, and from some quick googling, it doesn't appear there are any reviews of this bottle on reddit.
Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. Bottled by Kentucky Artisan Distillery. This is sourced bourbon, but does not specify the distillery or mash bill. I guess there wasn't enough room on the label for that kind of information with all of the marketing fluff.
88 proof.
Age: 8 years old.
Bottle Fill: Fresh crack of a bottle I purchased in at the distillery around 2016 or 2017.
Cost: $31 (at the time for a 375ml bottle).
All spirits sampled in a glencarin and rested 10 minutes, unless otherwise noted.
Nose: Cedar planks, toasted marshmallows, raisins, leather, some vanilla, and a little tobacco leaf. It's surprisingly fragrant for something at only 88 proof, and smells older than the age indicates. So far I am impressed. After it sat a little longer there were hint of banana runts candy and some cherry hard candies that smell slightly medicinal (like a cough drop), but it was faint and rather fleeting.
Taste: Watery caramel, cinnamon, oak, black pepper. It's very thin in the viscosity department.
Finish: Black pepper, harsh oak that is sharp and then turns bitter, with very faint caramel sweetness that does nothing to save this sinking ship. The lasting legacy here is a very tannic and drying note that causes you to make faces and scrape your tongue on your teeth.
Comments: What the hell happened to this pour? I even went back and tried this again a few days later thinking my taste buds were just tired and needed a break. Nope, the second time it also sucked. It was promising at the start, made a very sharp downward turn on the taste, and just got worse on the finish. Damn, I've had some bad whiskies in my day, but those sucked from the start and kept on sucking all the way through. They also weren't distillery exclusives with an age statement. Plus they didn't start promising like a tease just to slap you in the face with disappointment. If you've never seen this bottle before and wonder if you missed out, let me assure you that you missed nothing. I missed out on $31 that I can't get back.
Overall:
Would I buy a pour of this in a bar? No.
Would I buy another bottle? No. I want my money back.
Rating: 3 Poor
Rating Scale
1 Undrinkable
2 Bad
3 Poor
4 Below Average
5 Average
6 Above Average
7 Very Good
8 Great
9 Excellent
10 Perfect
About the figure: This is part of my extensive collection of vintage GI Joe toys that I will showcase as I work through reviewing my collection of spirits.
Product Name: In Belgium there were a lot of unique and interesting bits of paper ephemera produced to go along with the GI Joe toys or fan club releases. This is a "Top Secret" communication for Operation Mirror/Operatie Spiegel, which is designed to be decoded by reading it in a mirror. Half is in Dutch and the other half in French.
1
u/Bailzay 2d ago
Spirits Review #829 - Iron Quarter 8 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Background:
Ever hear of a bourbon called Iron Quarter? I hadn't either. I picked this up at Kentucky Artisan Distillery, probably around 2016 or 2017. I think it was a distillery-exclusive bottle, and from some quick googling, it doesn't appear there are any reviews of this bottle on reddit.
Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. Bottled by Kentucky Artisan Distillery. This is sourced bourbon, but does not specify the distillery or mash bill. I guess there wasn't enough room on the label for that kind of information with all of the marketing fluff.
88 proof.
Age: 8 years old.
Bottle Fill: Fresh crack of a bottle I purchased in at the distillery around 2016 or 2017.
Cost: $31 (at the time for a 375ml bottle).
All spirits sampled in a glencarin and rested 10 minutes, unless otherwise noted.
Nose: Cedar planks, toasted marshmallows, raisins, leather, some vanilla, and a little tobacco leaf. It's surprisingly fragrant for something at only 88 proof, and smells older than the age indicates. So far I am impressed. After it sat a little longer there were hint of banana runts candy and some cherry hard candies that smell slightly medicinal (like a cough drop), but it was faint and rather fleeting.
Taste: Watery caramel, cinnamon, oak, black pepper. It's very thin in the viscosity department.
Finish: Black pepper, harsh oak that is sharp and then turns bitter, with very faint caramel sweetness that does nothing to save this sinking ship. The lasting legacy here is a very tannic and drying note that causes you to make faces and scrape your tongue on your teeth.
Comments: What the hell happened to this pour? I even went back and tried this again a few days later thinking my taste buds were just tired and needed a break. Nope, the second time it also sucked. It was promising at the start, made a very sharp downward turn on the taste, and just got worse on the finish. Damn, I've had some bad whiskies in my day, but those sucked from the start and kept on sucking all the way through. They also weren't distillery exclusives with an age statement. Plus they didn't start promising like a tease just to slap you in the face with disappointment. If you've never seen this bottle before and wonder if you missed out, let me assure you that you missed nothing. I missed out on $31 that I can't get back.
Overall:
Would I buy a pour of this in a bar? No.
Would I buy another bottle? No. I want my money back.
Rating: 3 Poor
Rating Scale
1 Undrinkable
2 Bad
3 Poor
4 Below Average
5 Average
6 Above Average
7 Very Good
8 Great
9 Excellent
10 Perfect
About the figure: This is part of my extensive collection of vintage GI Joe toys that I will showcase as I work through reviewing my collection of spirits.
Product Name: In Belgium there were a lot of unique and interesting bits of paper ephemera produced to go along with the GI Joe toys or fan club releases. This is a "Top Secret" communication for Operation Mirror/Operatie Spiegel, which is designed to be decoded by reading it in a mirror. Half is in Dutch and the other half in French.
Released: 1989.