Bourbon

Whiskey Review: George T. Stagg (2016)

We save the strongest for last: George T. Stagg is the final entry in our 2016 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection reviews, and it's a doozy at a mouthwatering 144.1 proof.

OVERALL RATING

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Tasting Notes

About:

Appearance:
Rich mahogany, slightly lighter than the Weller
Nose:
Salt, beeswax, dark fruit (skins, not real juicy), a bit of anise, caramel cream sauce, wet pavement. Quite oaky too. Interesting, complex, appealing, but get too close while you’re sniffing and you’ll singe your nose with ethanol. With water, there’s dandelion flower, old attic, and vanilla extract.
Palate:
Have you ever gone out for Szechuan food and bitten into your first soup dumpling with excitement, only to sear the interior of your mouth with boiling hot liquid so badly that you can’t taste anything else for days? That’s what drinking this straight is like. Massive waves of knee-quivering oak and excoriating ethanol made my eyes water almost immediately. Behind it all, I still picked up a few flavor notes that weren’t like licking an unfinished hardwood floor: anise, potpourri, sandalwood – but it was hard to decide if I was tasting spice, or just feeling the prickle of pure alcohol. With water, things become a bit more manageable. Notes of gingersnap cookie and Ceylon cinnamon suggest a successful Christmas cookie swap, although there’s a mouth-puckering tannic quality in the finish that reminds me of over-steeped black tea. Final thoughts: Call me a wimp, but this is just too hot for me. Adding water certainly helps, but after tasting it straight, I felt like my mouth was too eroded to really sense what was going on for several minutes afterwards. The intriguing nose and spicy, cookie-like components of the entry are quite nice, but the finish left me unconvinced. Score: 85 [SHOP FOR A BOTTLE OF GEORGE T. STAGG] [scribd id=329908768 key=key-CcbygYnlxruHoKL0GkQk mode=scroll]
Finish:
Comments:

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.

Margarett Waterbury

Margarett Waterbury is the author of "Scotch: A Complete Introduction to Scotland's Whiskies" and a full-time freelance writer and editor specializing in the beverage industry. Her work has graced the pages of numerous publications, including Whisky Advocate, Food and Wine, Spirited Magazine, Artisan Spirit, Edible Seattle, Sip Northwest, Civil Eats, Travel Oregon, and many others. She also boasts editorial experience as the former managing editor of Edible Portland and as a co-founder and former managing editor of The Whiskey Wash. In recognition of her talent, Margarett received the Alan Lodge Young Drinks Writer of the Year award in 2017 and was awarded fellowships for the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers in 2017 and 2019.

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