Distillery: Woodford Reserve
Proof: 90.4
Age: 6-7 years
Mashbill: 72% Corn, 18% Rye, 10% Malt
Price: ~$35
Company
Woodford Reserve is a Brown-Forman brand—the company behind giants like Old Forester and Jack Daniel’s. Their distillery is the site of a National Historic Landmark and the place where they make 7 different expressions of Woodford Reserve.
Production
The website claims that the “art of making fine bourbon first took place on the site of the Woodford Reserve Distillery”. They claim there are 200 detectable flavor notes in Woodford Reserve (which seems pretty hard to prove, but whatever).
Woodford Reserve aims to be seen as a high-quality whiskey. They standout in their production process mainly by triple distilling their distillate in pot stills (most brands double distill).
They also:
- Have a fermentation process among the longest in the industry
- Have a “unique” yeast strain
- Craft, toast, and char their own barrels
Nose – 90/100
Sweet, solid nose with hints of vanilla, caramel, and graham cracker. Very approachable but not unique by any stretch of the imagination.
Palate – 87/100
The palate is much thinner than expected and isn’t nearly as multi-dimensional as Woodford’s marketing material would like to suggest. I mainly tasted hints of rye, oak, vanilla, and a touch of citrus. Not bad by any means, but not the “highest quality whiskey”.
Finish – 89/100
Medium-length finish with prominent notes of oak and tobacco. Again, solid but nothing to write home about.
Value – 86/100
Woodford is usually priced at around $35 these days. The issue is, there are tons of bourbons in the $20 range that are much better.
Look, Woodford Reserve isn’t bad. It’s really a solid pour. But don’t kid yourself thinking you’re getting a top-shelf bottle here.
I would much rather get a bottle of Evan Williams White Label or even Buffalo Trace and keep a few dollars in my pocket.
Verdict – 88/100
We score each bourbon based on nose, palate, finish, and value.
Scoring System:
- Platinum – 95+
- Gold – 90 – 94
- Silver – 80 – 89
- Bronze – <80
Hunter Branch is the Founder and Director of Editorial for Bourbon Inspector. He has been writing about and professionally reviewing bourbon since 2020 (and has been drinking it for much longer). He’s been able to interview big names in the bourbon industry like Trey Zoeller from Jefferson’s Bourbon and his work has been featured in publications like TastingTable, Mashed, and more.