August 30, 2024
By Wayne McBrayer 

Rebecca and I have been doing tasting over the last year and it’s always fun.  Today, I decided to spring on her a mystery tasting that I called “Match Up.”  I placed stickers with the number 1 and 2 on the bottom of our Glencairn glasses.  Rebecca was instructed to enter the bourbon room, mix them up a bit (so I won’t know either), and bring the glasses out for the tasting.  For the notes, we will go with each person’s A (left) & B (right). I looked forward to having a fun and different tasting with my wife.

This will be fun since we don’t even know if we have the same pour in the A or B glass!

Wayne Blind A	Wayne Blind B	Rebecca Blind A	Rebecca Blind B
Aroma: It’s a lot of sweet. I get cherry and cotton candy, maybe a little vanilla – that’s three things I’m getting.	Aroma: Baking spices, there’s a stone fruit, and cinnamon. The nose might be cherry.	Aroma: Caramel cinnamon, maybe a hint of red apple.	Aroma: There are some darker tones in this one. Caramel – almost to a toffee, some wood notes coming through as well as some baking spices such as nutmeg.
Tasted Neat: I get a nuttiness, almost peanut, wood, and not very sweet.	Tasted Neat: I’m getting cinnamon, white pepper, light, brown sugar.	Tasted Neat: Vanilla, not very sweet, cinnamon on the back.	Tasted Neat: There’s a lot of spice on the palate. It does give way to some notes of vanilla & caramel. Very woody and very light on the spice – more like nutmeg and white pepper.
Finish: Finish is a little cinnamon and a little white pepper; short.	Finish: The finish is short.	Finish: The finish is somewhat woody, cinnamon, hints of white pepper, and medium too long.	Finish: Medium in length, oak comes through on the finish as well as white pepper.
General Thoughts: I’m guessing the age is pretty young. I don’t think it’s older than four years. The proof is probably in the 90s. Short finish. Honestly, just OK.	General Thoughts: This is not bad and I get a little bit more on the taste and in the nose than I did the first one. Overall, it’s OK.	General Thoughts: The proof on this one is probably low-mid 90s, maybe 4 years old. I think it’s OK. It’s not overly dynamic. It’s got good flavors, just not a lot of them. It is a decent poor.	General Thoughts: The nose matches the pallet pretty well. Sweet and with little spice. Proof is likely under 100. Young but maybe a bit older than the first one.
	This was Wayne’s winner.		This was Rebecca’s winner.
Wayne’s Blind A = Our Bourbon Journey 2023	Wayne’s Blind B = Rebecca & Wayne 2022	Rebecca’s Blind A = Our Bourbon Journey 2023	Rebecca’s Blind B = Rebecca & Wayne 2022

Ironically, we were tasting the same thing and selected the same winner!!

The Match Up Reveal

The bottles I selected were from Barrels & Billets.  It’s located next door to the Louisville Slugger Museum and it’s a place we recommend.  It’s fun experience where you can create your own bourbon based on a series of questions regarding your preferences.  Our winner was our Rebecca & Wayne 2022 bottle, which has no age statement and is 90 proof.

As I was putting this tasting together, I honestly thought we would end up selecting the Our Bourbon Journey 2023 bottle, which also has no age statement and is 90 proof. I was confident that I had selected the 2023 and was surprised I had selected the 2022. Rebecca was equally as surprised that she selected the 2022 as well. The 2022 represented a sweeter profile while the 2023 was a little more savory and smoky.

It appears on this day, we went back to the future with our pick.