Limited-edition bourbon season is here, and this tasting brief brings you some of the first reviews for 2023, along with a host of other recently released bottles you may want to seek out.

Kicking things off on a strong foot are a half-dozen bourbons aged 10 or more years, all excellent. The lineup includes a stunning new annual release from Maker's Mark, the latest limited-edition Four Roses Small Batch, and two 17-year-olds that show off the differences between warehouse sites at James B. Beam Distilling Co.

We also highlight another half-dozen bourbons all at barrel proof, and (once again) all excellent. This group includes an up-and-coming Nevada craft distillery, Frey Ranch, alongside much more established names like Elijah Craig and Woodford Reserve.

In addition we’ve got:

• Six bourbon blends that showcase real complexity and sophistication
• Five cask-strength bourbons, including a strong showing from a celebrity brand
• Seven bourbons finished in a variety of barrels, from Tokaji to Cabernet Sauvignon to Calvados

For more recent reviews, check out our Tasting Briefs on craft bourbons and American whiskies, Irish, Japanese, and scotch. Happy sipping!

Extra-Mature Limited Editions

Maker's Mark Cellar Aged

On the nose, heady tea rose wafts over amaretto-soaked plums and cherries, dark berry jam, and rich vanilla crème brûlée; water does nothing to diminish the intensity of the aromas or flavors. Polished, mocha-rich oak pervades the palate, whose jammy and leathery dark berries, cherries, and plums stride side-by-side with dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla, and mint. The finish is extremely lengthy, with high cacao-content chocolate, leathery oak, coffee bean, and sprinkles of warming cayenne pepper. One of the most outstanding bourbons of 2023.

Baker's 13-Year-Old Single Barrel (2023 Release)

Regular Baker's is low-key one of the best bourbons on the shelf, and the 13-year-old limited edition is truly special. Intense berry notes throughout the nose: ripe, sweet strawberries, blackberry jam, and cherry pie filling, alongside vanilla, pecans, gentle baking spices, and warm oak. The mature palate favors dark berries, dark chocolate, baking spice, and polished oak, but when water is added, a satisfying savory element emerges, and the dark fruit gets topped with chopped mint, roasted nuts, and unsweetened chocolate shavings, as oak turns leathery. Lengthy, oak-led finish.

Four Roses 135th Anniversary Limited Edition Small Batch

A combination of three of the distillery's ten recipes, aged 12 to 25 years. The nose is thick with spiced oak, oily grain, orange peel, iced tea, sugared pecans, and pralines, leading into a chewy palate of spiced red fruit, vanilla extract, dark chocolate, polished oak, maple syrup, and a streak of mint oil. Water shows off more of the maturity with bitter, leathery flavors. Naturally, the finish is quite lengthy, and has a persistent fullness of spice and oak.

Hardin's Creek Frankfort

The second in a trio of 17-year-old bourbons from James B. Beam Distilling Co., this one matured at the company's Frankfort campus. It has a mature and complex nose of berry jam, cooked plums, and cola syrup, dark chocolate, toasted almonds, leather, and rich vanilla, and a spiced, herbal, oak-led palate that's packed with leather, rancio, and baking chocolate. It finishes savory and spiced, leathery and dark with tea leaf and unsweetened chocolate.

Wild Turkey Master's Keep Voyage

Evocative and transportive: if you've never stepped into a whiskey warehouse and want to know what it feels like, take a deep whiff of this. It's full of rickhouse rancio, antique leather, grape jelly, cherry cordial, and rose perfume that bursts from the glass with a little water. The chewy palate is deeply fruity and loaded with dark chocolate, sprinkled with sweet spice, and veined with polished oak and leather. A generous finish folds cinnamon heat and roasted walnuts into dark chocolate, lengthened by polished oak. Finished in Appleton Estate rum casks.

Hardin's Creek Clermont

The first in a trilogy of 17-year-olds, each aged at a different Beam campus, this hits all the best qualities of extra-mature bourbon. The nose is generously grainy and oily, with macadamia and Brazil nuts, but well-balanced by oak spice, cacao shavings, dark caramel, and vanilla extract; water adds lemon and orange wedges. Chewy on the palate, and rich with cooked blackberries, raspberries, and cherries, dark chocolate, vanilla extract, cola spices, roasted nuts, leather, and, again with water, bright orange oil. The lengthy finish is dark with mocha, polished oak, leather, deep vanilla, and integrated spice.

High Quality, High Proof

Frey Ranch Farm Strength Straight Bourbon (Batch 9)

Willy Wonka had his Three-Course Chewing Gum, and Frey Ranch has this exceptional barrel-proof bourbon, which relays the sensation and enjoyment of a fancy restaurant dessert: on the nose, almond panna cotta topped with cooked blackberries and sprinkled with chopped tarragon and mint, drizzled in a leathery, oaked dark chocolate sauce. It tastes as it smells, with a note of maturity that hits different from the rancio of a long, slow-aged whiskey—this one bakes for around five years in the dry heat of western Nevada. Waves of herbs, oak, and dark chocolate wash over the lengthy finish. A standout bourbon, sophisticated beyond its years.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (Batch B523)

Engaging and giving, the nose is rich with peanut butter and raspberry jam on wheat toast, spiced coffee cake, dark chocolate, leather, tobacco barn, generous polished oak, and a delightful top note of honeysuckle. Dark chocolate-covered espresso bean, cherry skins, blackberry cobbler filling, Vanilla Coke, and deep and profound oak on the palate; water broadens the fruitiness and unveils a vivid spice character. Dark, rich flavors keep unfurling long after the sip is done.

HIRSCH Selected Whiskeys Single Barrel Double Oak Kentucky Straight Bourbon (No. GLD23021)

A sleeper worth spending time with: though the nose starts off simple, with nuts, hot cinnamon, vanilla, and blueberries, by the time you reach the lengthy finish, this whiskey is showing off muscle and definition. Along the way, the flavors tend toward dry and spiced: cinnamon bark, Mexican chocolate, roasted nuts, cherry skins, cola syrup, leather, tobacco, and well-integrated oak. Don't be shy about adding generous amounts of water; it brings out the bourbon's best side.

Woodford Reserve Batch Proof (Spring 2023 Release)

Woodford's Batch Proof limited editions show off the distillery's skill at executing complex balance. Reticent at first, with aromas of oiled leather, blackberries, dry-toasted grains and nuts, sassafras, vanilla, orange candy, and mint leaf. But the palate offers a mouth-filling texture and layered flavors: dark chocolate, blackberry cobbler filling, mint oil, dried ginger, coffee bean, and ample, generous oak. It finishes dark and lengthy, with mint leaf, dark chocolate, coffee bean, and leathery oak.

Preservation Distillery Old Man Winter

Spiced plums, dark chocolate ganache, raspberry jam, rich vanilla, gingerbread spices, and fragrant oak and cedar—almost incense-like—on the nose. Similarly, the palate boasts an unusually spiced character for bourbon, with baking spices as well as dried chiles, root beer spice, and gingerbread. Overall, it's dry and nutty, with dark chocolate and generous spiced oak that persists into the medium-long finish.

Tumblin' Dice 7-Year-Old Heavy Rye Mashbill Single Barrel Straight Bourbon

Some whiskies tell you exactly who they are from the first whiff, but not this one: it's reticent and shy, showing little of its energy and complexity on the nose—just a handful of herbs and spices, tea leaf, nutty oak, and a touch of maple syrup. No bother: everything comes out on the palate in spades. Root beer, rich oak, tea leaf, dark chocolate, maple syrup, menthol, roasted nuts, and well-integrated spices, all enhanced with water. Good length on the finish, with spiced dark chocolate, roasted nuts, and robust oak.

Beautiful Blends

2XO The Innkeeper's Blend

Dark and sweet and a little leathery on the nose, with boysenberry and maple syrups, blueberry compote, fig jam, Italian plums, and dark chocolate. The palate is chewy but not heavy, rich without becoming overly sweet, boasting dark chocolate, plum preserves, fig jam, roasted nuts, black tea, and polished oak at the turn. It finishes long, with minty dark chocolate, black pepper, and plenty of oak.

Jefferson's Marian McLain Blend of Straight Bourbons (Batch 3)

Commencing with bright Bing cherries and sweet oranges, edged with honeysuckle, the nose knits in well-integrated spice, candied nuts, brown sugar, and Hershey's chocolate. Water cloaks everything in darker terms: ripe Maine blueberries, raspberries, dark chocolate, and roasted spices. On the palate, deep berry fruit, enrobed in dark chocolate, meets roasted pecans, black pepper, cinnamon, and polished rich oak; again, water darkens and deepens the flavors, bringing out barrel char, burnt sugar, coffee bean, and leather. It finishes dry and medium-long, with peppery oak and roasted nuts.

Bardstown Bourbon Co. Discovery Series #10 Blend of Straight Bourbons

A blend of bourbons from Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years, a spectrum that's well balanced. It starts with younger, grainy aromas of cracked corn and oily nuts which soon meet with mature polished oak, leather, mint oil, maple syrup, vanilla bean, and dark fruitiness—cherry cordial and blackberry jam. The same juxtaposition appears on the palate as dark fruit, oak, and cola syrup harmonize with macadamia nuts and corn oil; water takes mint to a soaring prominence. Maturity overtakes the lengthy finish: leather, roasted nuts, forthcoming oak, and prolonged dark fruit.

Milam & Greene Very Small Batch (Batch 1)

A combination of bourbons distilled in Kentucky and Tennessee and aged in both states along with Texas. The nose mixes oily notes of Spanish peanuts and corn silo with Concord grape jelly, orange Kool-Aid, and veins of green oak, all suggesting some youthfulness at play—but the palate shows much more maturity in its flavors of dark chocolate and Cherry Coke, cooked berries, iced tea with orange wedge, leathery oak, and integrated spice. Water brings both sides together into a more cohesive whole. Dark chocolate-covered candied ginger, cooked cherries, and polished oak on the lengthy finish.

Barrell Craft Spirits Bourbon (Batch 035)

Starting off strong with a fragrant, sweet nose of marzipan, ripe red berries, milk chocolate, vanilla, and perky florals, the palate is a little less exciting, though still satisfyingly solid: milk chocolate, baking spices, lemon peel, sweet oak, and marzipan before water is added. Lingering nuttiness, plus chocolate and oak, on the medium finish.

Two Worlds La Victoire Bourbon (Batch 1)

A warm nose of toasted grain and oak, along with almonds, baking spice, red berries, and vanilla. On the somewhat astringent palate, oak dominates with strong toast and char flavors, alongside vanilla, well-integrated baking spice, semi-sweet chocolate, and toasted grain and nuts. Milk chocolate-covered peanuts and spiced oak round out the medium finish.

Colossal Cask Strength

Very Olde St. Nick Ancient Cask Immaculata

Warm nuttiness suffuses a perfumed and floral nose: orange blossom and peony interspersed with roasted peanuts, along with grape jelly, cooked cherries, and iced tea. There's a similar juxtaposition on the palate, with honeyed spice and orange blossom water dripping over grapes, cherries, and peanuts. Water draws out Mexican chocolate, especially on the finish, along with cola syrup and plenty of oak.

Booker's 2023-02 Apprentice Batch

Remarkable consistency from start to finish, with and without water. The nose opens with honey-roasted peanuts, cinnamon-apple cereal, dry and toasty oak chips, vanilla, and orange peel, leading into a palate of cinnamon-spiced orange, semi-sweet chocolate, peanuts, black tea, mouthwatering oak, and coffee bean at the turn. A peppery finish with leather, herbal oak, and semi-sweet chocolate.

Brother's Bond Original Cask Strength Bourbon

The nose is spiced and perfumy, orange blossom water sprinkled with cardamom, ginger, and allspice, and sweet with oak, vanilla, and light brown sugar. That profile remains consistent on the palate, where sweet mint, cardamom, and ginger offset milk chocolate and orange blossom. Adding water turns the floral notes more woodsy and etches spices into sharper relief, while coaxing out herbal flavors that persist into the finish, buttressed by generous oak and long-lasting soft spice.

Proof and Wood The Representative Straight Bourbon

Aged at least four years (two Congressional terms), this straight bourbon is light and sweet, with aromas of banana cream pie, nutmeg shavings, vanilla pudding, yogurt drops, and popsicle stick, and hot cinnamon, nutty grain, banana, and new oak on the palate. Water enhances the vanilla-banana sweetness and brings out robust spice, maple, and bakery notes. Savory nuts and oak, with milk chocolate curls, on the medium finish.

Booker's 2023-01 Charlie's Batch

Charlie is a lovable oaf: powerful and strong, lacking finesse, but with a winning personality. Oak dominates the nose, rough-hewn and scattered with its own shavings, alongside peanut shells, vanilla, and a touch of candied orange. The big, brawny palate highlights iced tea with an orange slice, crushed mint leaf, black pepper, cinnamon, dry-roasted peanuts, and herbal, leathery oak. Plenty more peanuts and oak, tinged with mint, to be found on the finish.

Barrel Finishes

Blackened x Rabbit Hole Blend of Straight Bourbons Finished in Calvados Casks

A grainy and spiced nose, like breakfast porridge, sprinkled with cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. There are also hints of chocolate, orange oil, and strawberry jam. Full-bodied and quite dry on the palate, with Mexican chocolate, cinnamon, allspice, sweet tea, hints of tobacco, and tons of oak. Hot cinnamon tea and enduring oak on the lengthy finish. A generous bourbon with lots to enjoy.

Yellowstone 2023 Limited Edition Kentucky Straight Bourbon Finished in Tokaji Casks

Mature and sophisticated on the nose, with raspberry purée, blueberry pie filling, dark chocolate ganache, deep baking spice, maple syrup, and butter-roasted pecans. Dark berries, both as jam and pie filling, mix with rich and fudgy dark chocolate, integrated baking spices, roasted nuts, and generous polished oak on the palate. More dark chocolate, polished oak, and persistent spices on the drying finish. Water dries things out further, but at the expense of some of the whiskey's deft elegance.

Blood Oath Pact No. 9 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Finished in Oloroso Sherry Casks

A sweet, spiced nose: orange pekoe tea, honey-roasted peanuts, dried apple rings, vanilla, and cinnamon crumb cake, with more fruit after water is added. The palate is spare in texture, with flavors of baking spice, dry oak, toasted peanuts, tea leaf, and touch of dried apple, and peppery spice lingering into the medium finish. This benefits from time in the glass, which coaxes out more roundness.

Traverse City Whiskey Co. Port Barrel Finish Bourbon

A nose that's equally expressive of base spirit and finishing barrel, as aromas of nutty grain, Quaker instant oatmeal, and graham cracker mingle with cherry pie filling, orange Popsicle, and butterscotch. Spiced oak, heavily spritzed with orange and burnt grapefruit peel, leads the palate, fleshed out by cooked cherries and apples, dried ginger, and semi-sweet chocolate. Dry oak, dark chocolate, and touches of cherry remain on the medium-length finish.

Traverse City Whiskey Co. Sherry Barrel Finish Bourbon

Milk chocolate, honey-roasted peanuts, sarsaparilla, damp clay, browned marshmallow, and toasted oak with a touch of barrel char on the nose, progressing to vanilla-spiced root beer float when water is added. The compact palate isn't overly complex but still gets jumbled at times; cherry skins, oak, dark chocolate, and barrel char shot through with grapefruit and orange peel. Unsweetened chocolate, coffee bean, and dark oak on the medium-short finish.

RD One Kentucky Straight Bourbon Double Finished in Oak and Maple Barrels

Made with a baffling finishing process that involves what the brand calls "molecular transfusion," it's the maple that dominates here, oozing candy sweetness throughout. Maple sugar squares, caramel-coated toasted pecans, pralines, and butterscotch ice cream top Concord grapes and cola on the nose. The palate starts off with true bourbon flavors of blackberry jam, dried cherries, bitter oak, and robust, almost burning spice, but a big sugary sweep of maple-candied nuts leading into the sticky finish overpowers them. Some people will dig such a Wonka-esque bourbon, but this reviewer finds the sweetness to be too much.