Bourbon

Bourbon Review: Ben Holladay Bottled-in-Bond Missouri Straight Bourbon

We review Ben Holladay Bottled-in-Bond Missouri Bourbon. It meets all the requirements for a new state law creating the category.

OVERALL RATING

7
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Ben Holladay Bottled-in-Bond Missouri Straight Bourbon (image via Debbie Nelson)

Tasting Notes

About:

Appearance:
Ben Holladay was a transportation baron known as the “Stagecoach King” in the late 1800s for creating the Overland Express stagecoach lines, which explains the stagecoach on the label. The whiskey inside is dark amber, almost orange.
Nose:
You can definitely smell the rye; there’s something tangy underlying the sweet. Think ginger spice underneath soft gingerbread cake. There are traditional bourbon notes such as vanilla and honey. But the potpourri and spice predominates.
Palate:
This whiskey is rich with molasses and dark cherries, and just a little bit spicy. It’s sharp at first, but mellows quickly and nicely. There isn’t much of a finish.
Finish:
Comments:
I have to respect a distillery that did things the slow way, waiting six years to release this initial batch. Kudos to parent company McCormick Distilling Co., which provided the funding to allow for it. It’s not an overly complicated bourbon, but it shows a lot of promise for a new label. This, I could see myself drinking regularly. And at $60 a bottle, I could afford to.

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Scott Bernard Nelson

Scott Bernard Nelson is a writer, actor, and whiskey reviewer based in Portland, Oregon. While currently working in higher education, he previously dedicated 22 years to journalism, covering impactful events such as 9/11 in Manhattan, crossing into Iraq with U.S. Marines, and contributing to The Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of abuse in the Catholic Church, which inspired the film "Spotlight." Since 2019, Scott has shared his insights as a whiskey reviewer for The Whiskey Wash.  

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