From Green River Distillery, makers of Ezra Brooks and others, comes Green River Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Green River Distillery has a long history, all of this from their website. “In 1885 J.W. McCulloch founded Green River Distillery, becoming the 10th oldest distillery licensed in Kentucky.” “By 1907, Green River became the most advertised whiskey in the world.” After a fire, a rebuild, and probation, the slogan is changed to “The Whiskey Without Regrets.” “Between 1956 and 1993, the distillery changes hands several times and is eventually abandoned.” In 2014, reconstruction began, and in 2016 “Once again, Green River Whiskey is distilled where it originally started, 131 years ago.”
Green River Bourbon is 70% corn, 21% rye, and 9% malted barley. It sells for $35, is 90 proof, and comes in a non-descript corked bottle. There is no age statement on the bottle or website, but it is generally considered to be aged for five years. We have not seen this bottle very often. Then again, we were not looking for it, so we are not sure about the availability of this Bourbon.
Neither of us has had this Bourbon. It was a spur-of-the-moment buy. While this distillery makes multiple whiskey in multiple expressions, the only one we have heard of or tried was Ezra Brooks, and that was so long ago neither of us could remember if we liked it. That was a long-winded way of saying this is a new experience for us.
NOSE
Todd: A lite nutty nose with hints of toffee, cereal, red apples, and just an overall sweetness. Ice brought a little caramel.
Matt: Fresh and lite is my first impression with some barley, caramel, brown sugar, and, like Todd, red apple. Ice gave it more sweetness.
TASTE
Todd: Pretty hot neat with some spice and sweetness. Needs a cube. After ice, I picked up toffee, vanilla, some kind of grain, and some rye, all very faint.
Matt: Yeah, hot neat, but still pick out rye and caramel. With ice, I get some vanilla and cinnamon. Not a ton going on.
FINISH
Todd: Medium with a little sweetness and a bit of menthol.
Matt: Medium with not much to add.
OVERALL
Todd: So-so Bourbon without much complexity.
Matt: While I could easily drink this on the rocks, it doesn’t compare to others in its weight class.
Nose 2.75 out of 5
Taste 6 out of 10
Finish 2.5 out of 5
Total score 11.25 out of 20 barrels.
We were not real impressed by Green River Bourbon. Granted, it is only $35, but there are a lot of good bourbons out there under $40. It wasn’t very complex on any of the three senses, especially the taste. We did not try this yet, but given its heat, it could make for a decent cocktail. Our problem with that is the same with people telling us to use mediocre wine in cooking. If it is not that good to drink, probably not the best idea to add it to your favorite recipes.
As we have stated before, at $35, it is not that high of a price that you couldn’t just try this yourself. As for us, we will not buy another bottle of Green River Bourbon. But, since we can’t stand to waste liquor, and going against what we mentioned above, we will finish the bottle in cocktails.