A Sessioning of Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Review

It's almost Christmas time so we here at Bad Wine Reviews wanted to spread a little holiday cheer by asking a bunch of alcoholic adults to participate in a giveaway opportunity to open, taste, review and finish a bottle of 2017 Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year. Because what better way to do good in this world than to drink with people you don't know?

So here's what we did. A few weeks ago I asked members of the Houston Bourbon Society to like this nonsense page and in doing so they would be entered to participate in this "session." They did and four winners were selected. We did the awkward facebook messaging thing and after 78 different schedule changes we were finally able to settle on December 22nd to make this happen.

Joining us today was Mitch Curry, Luis Baston, Rodney Willis and Loren Fisher - four strapping young lads who obviously need some charity in their life. Poor souls. Each individual was given a very rare Glencairn glass, some Cane's chicken fingers, a badass cheese spread by Mr. Loren Fisher and I screamed at them until I was hoarse about the rules of this tasting.

We started it out by taking the really awkward picture you see above you - it only took me 35 uncomfortable seconds to find the timer. And by me I mean Mitch had to show me on MY camera where the timer was. Good start.

So how we went about this was I basically opened up the bottle, which killed me a little inside, poured a shit ton in everyone's glass and then said alright tell me about it while we talked about our past and love lost. I asked that everyone come to a conclusion on an overall ranking out of 5 using two significant digits. Don't worry about that - just know it's important.

Here's the boring shit you nerds are interested in. Nostril notes:

-Vanilla, Sweet Corn, Cherries, Oak, Jams

Palate thangs:

-Oak, Sweet Wheat, Sweet Brown Sugar, Cherries, Vanilla, Orange and Honey Comb

The finish:

-Pleasantly long with Jammy Fruits

As for the mouthfeel, we pretty much all agreed it had a medium-oily thing going on that really helped bring out those jammy fruits at the end. All in all everyone at the table liked it and agreed it was a damn fine bourbon.

But everything has negatives/weaknesses right? This is no exception. Obviously the biggest thing hurting this bottle is the allocation side that makes it $400 on the secondary market - is it worth that? Fuck no! Is it worth its retail price of $50? Fuck yeah! One of the other things we discussed is a lot of the notes opened up with a little water - some of us (ME, IT WAS ME) - deducted points if water HAD to be used. Don't confuse that with it's bad - but a spirit that does not NEED water to open up receives more points from me. I was certainly in the minority on that and several of the other vultures appreciated that water allowed it to present varying notes.

To end this compliment sandwich, we tried some Old Weller Antique 107 next to it and honestly there was no comparison. The ORVW was far more complex with a far superior mouthfeel and it just looked over and said, "Bitch you don't know me."

So with all of this how did the ol' boy do? Well, the scores were as follows:

Darryl - 3.75
Luis - 4.2
Loren - 3.8
Rodney - 4.1
Mitch - 4.1

This brings the overall ranking to a 3.99 which if you follow the Bad Wine Reviews ranking system falls right at this description: "This liquor has sophisticated notes of spice, fruits, nuts, etc. and the finish is present between sips." I personally feel this is dead on and it was cool to see how everyone was pretty much right in the ball park.

In all seriousness, this is a fantastic bourbon that received accolades for a reason. If you find the opportunity to somehow steal a bottle then please do so otherwise make some time to try it at a watering hole.

Before I go I want to leave you all with a quote from Rodney Willis today that pretty much put everything into perspective about life and alcohol:

"At some point everyone who drinks water will die of something."

Wise beyond his years. Thanks, to those guys for joining Bad Wine Reviews in a badass day of food and booze!