Whiskey Review: Bulleit Bourbon Frontier Whiskey

For some completely unfair reason, I have always been snobby towards Bulleit, both their boubon and their rye.  To be frank, I am not 100% certain I have even tried both prior to establishing this opinion.  So tonight I thought I would give them a fair shot, and will start with the bourbon, something I am more familiar with in general than a rye.  I thought I'd take a picture of the bottle with a nicer than my normal bland background to maybe take away some of my negative stigma.

This will be the first time I sample this bottle as I write this, so here it goes.  OK, the first impression of the nose or smell or whatever you are supposed to call it, is it smells like a whiskey.  Nothing too special about it.  The taste is also somewhat on the...meh...side.  It is a solid whiskey, not too assertive, but not too mild either.  There is a slight burn and a lingering warm after taste.  I am not sure that this bourbon necessarily stands out from the pack in any way, but it doesn't fall behind either. I noticed as I am working on this, the after taste does seem to linger quite a bit, so for those of you who are NOT fans of the whiskey taste, this offering is not for you.

I really have no reason for serious ill will towards Bulleit, I can't seem to figure out why I had a preconceived opinion.  Then I realized...its the word Bulleit.  Reminds me too much of this guy:

HOW DARE YOU MOCK MY BELOVED KENPO.  But wait...upon further investigation...Master Ken, well at least the actor and creator of this show, is actually a Kenpo practitioner!  AND, his Youtube show Enter the Dojo, is actually hilarious.  Fine.  Bulleit is not bullshit.

The numbers:  I purchased this bottle at Vons for $24 and could have been less if I had done the six bottle deal.  I think at this price point it is in the ballpark of what you would expect.  

It reminds me of...going to a hipster bar that requires a password to enter, and claims to be a speakeasy-like place, with your favorite person on the planet, just to find out that the whiskey selection is not quite what you expected, but you settle down with a familiar whiskey that is in a way comforting and a stark contrast to the hippy dippy mixed drink menu, just to find out its karaoke night? What? Bail out!

The verdict:  I personally would not label this as a must have, or include this in my daily whiskey rotation.  I feel like there are other whiskies in the same price range that have more to offer; that being said, I think I may be more inclined towards the unique.  This is a solid whiskey over all, and I would drink this over something more generic like basic Jack Daniels.  This one is definitely a "try it and find out for yourself" type of offering.  I can see that this may appeal to people depending on their preferred flavor profile.  If you like this, you have found yourself a very good deal.    

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Professional tasting notes:
thewhiskeyjug.com
whiskey-reviews.com