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Whiskey Review: Five Trail Blended American Whiskey

We review Five Trail Blended American Whiskey. It's the first whiskey release from brewing giant Molson Coors.

OVERALL RATING

7
$59.99
  • Scott Bernard Nelson is a writer, actor, and whiskey reviewer.
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Five Trail American Whiskey (image via Scott Bernard Nelson)

Tasting Notes

About:

Blend of one single malt and three straight bourbons; 47.5% alcohol by volume/95 proof; $59.99 for a 750ml bottle. Golden, Colorado.
Appearance:
Light amber, similar to wet straw.
Nose:
Supposedly 15% of the blend comes from Colorado single malt and the other 85% is the Bardstown bourbons (including 5% from a 13-year-old bourbon). The nose is definitely bourbon-forward, bringing to mind vanilla, brown sugar, maple, and something spicy, reminiscent of ginger and Coca-Cola.
Palate:
There’s a lot going on in here: Maple bar, cinnamon, wild honey, and baked figs. Underneath, there’s a vaguely aromatic flavor (if that makes sense) that makes me think of sage. It’s nicely blended, with no rough edges. Even so, it tastes just slightly immature, which is not entirely surprising since 95% of the blend comes from four-year-old whiskies.
Finish:
Comments:
This is the first release under the new Coors Whiskey Co. brand and Five Trail label, but won’t be the last. Coors says it envisions annual releases with blends and mash bills that change over time. And why not? Plenty of other brewers have moved into distilling in recent years. Whiskey is, after all, distilled from “wash,” a beer-like liquid made up of fermented grains, water, and yeast. There are good and less-good examples of brewers moving into the dark spirits, however. For a first shot out of the Molson Coors cannon, this Five Trail shows a lot of promise.rn

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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