It is winter in Indianapolis, that usually equates to cold. But because of an unusually warm winter here, we are sitting outside sipping Bourbon and smoking a cigar with 60 degree weather in February. No complaints out of us. The Bourbon? Old Ezra 101 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The cigars? Rocky Patel Broad Leaf, but that is for after the Bourbon tasting. We don’t want to disrupt our taste buds while rating.
Old Ezra is not the easiest Bourbon to find. It is aged 7 years, sells in the $17 to $20 range, and like the name says, it is 101 proof. OE comes in a screw top square bottle that will immediately remind Whiskey drinkers of Jack Daniels or Evan Williams, and like Jack, it is charcoal filtered. There is an Ezra Brooks Bourbon made by the same people, we assume this is the same juice just aged longer, hence the name. But we could find no confirmation of this.
NOSE
Ron: Not much nose at all, a little caramel and a medicine type smell.
Todd: I got the caramel and a slight ethanol aroma that is probably Ron’s medicine smell. I also picked up oak, tobacco and a spicy note.
TASTE
Ron: A little caramel, ethanol, leather, oak and a nutty vanilla taste. Much better than the nose had predicted.
Todd: I was just the opposite, didn’t really get a whole lot of flavors. A little caramel, a little toffee, and a slight woody taste. Also, very hot neat, couldn’t really taste anything until two cubes had melted.
FINISH
Ron: Medium with a slight charcoal taste.
Todd: Medium-short to medium with a bit of a medicinal taste.
OVERALL
Ron: Considering it’s lack of nose it was not bad, but there are others I would rather have at that price point.
Todd: I agree to some extent, nothing about this Bourbon jumped out at me, but I didn’t think it was bad for the price. Strangely I didn’t smell or taste the charcoal filtering.
Nose 3 out of 5
Taste 7 out of 10
Finish 3.5 out of 5
Total 13.5 out of 20 Barrels
While we weren’t blown away by Old Ezra, it certainly is at a price point to at least give it a try. At 101 proof it can also stand up to being mixed. Also, it is hard to find a 7 year Bourbon under $20.