Review: Samuel Maverick Private Reserve Bourbon Bottled-In-Bond
Review: Samuel Maverick Private Reserve Bourbon Bottled-In-Bond
Maverick Distilling has graced these pages three times prior to today, with its Private Reserve Bourbon and Barrel Proof offerings classic examples of the Texas whiskeymaking style. Now we’re back with another spin on the bourbon formula: a bottled-in-bond offering of the Private Reserve expression.
Private Reserve has a mashbill of 72% Texas-grown corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley, and the original was bottled at an age of 4 years and at 90 proof. The only real change here is the abv: We’re now at the mandated 100 proof, while the 4 year age statement remains the same. Only two barrels are being released at this time (dropping yesterday). We tasted a sample along with the distillery bosses via Zoom. Let’s see where this expression gets us.
The apple clearly hasn’t wandered far from the tree: This whiskey noses with intense notes of charred wood, wet leather, and loads of green hay pitched into the barn. Smoldering campfire notes are impossible to get away from here. Leave the whiskey in glass for a few minutes and you can smell the torched lumber from a few feet away. In a nutshell: Very familiar, and a strong example of the Maverick house style.
As was much the case with the mainline release, the woodsy punchiness is tempered on the tongue, featuring a slug of mint before sweeter fare arrives: butterscotch, vanilla, and some honey. While the smoke on the nose gets stronger and stronger, things surprisingly settle down on the palate the longer it lingers in the glass. Chewy caramel and a touch of chocolate give the midpalate its gravity, and touches of Maraska cherry in the mix had me thinking about giving an Old Fashioned a try with this expression. By the time the finish hits, the wood has largely faded into the background — still present but no longer dominating. The conclusion is hearty and a bit hot, but by this time the fruit and grain characters carry more of the experience. Cleansing, minty notes linger.
The Maverick clan calls this “the Texas-est whiskey” around, and that’s hard to argue with. But whatever the operation has done to temper the blown-out impact of wood on the palate in recent months, well, it may be a little less “Texas-y,” but it’s working.
100 proof.
B+ / $80 / maverickwhiskey.com
Samuel Maverick Private Reserve Bourbon Bottled-In-Bond
$80
