Review: Cooper’s Craft Barrel Reserve Straight Bourbon

2019 brought us a new bourbon to discuss. Cooper’s Craft Barrel Reserve Straight Bourbon was released earlier this year by Brown-Forman. This is the 2nd expression released under the Cooper’s Craft brand, which is aimed at highlighting the importance of making barrels, a craft that Brown-Forman has a long history with.

This whiskey is a 100 Proof spirit made from a 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley mashbill. Every bourbon should have an angle to make it different. This bourbon has been aged (No Age Statement) in a barrel that has “a unique chiseled and charred American White Oak barrel that allows the whiskey to interact more deeply with the wood, creating a robust and more complex flavor profile.” By grooving the inside of the barrel, this allows for more barrel interaction that helps encourage a rich flavor profile rooted in tastes of leather, vanilla, caramel, and cinnamon.

This is a really enjoyable drinking whiskey. It’s very robust and almost dessert like, and is a great whiskey to drink all evening. While there is some burn, the sweet flavors help round it out. It has a beautiful darker color, which is shows off the interaction with the charred barrel. This is definitely one that you could drink neat, while taking in a cool evening outdoors.

Here is the most exciting part of this one. This bottle should not cost you more than $30.00. This is going to be one of those mid to lower shelf surprises that you will want to keep in your cabinet, share with your friends, and fib about how much you spent on the bottle. In a world where there are a lot of choices, it is easy to lean toward paying more with assumptions that paying more adds to the flavor. This cousin to Old Forester is a great example that there are lots of great whiskeys $30.00 and under.

Cheers Y’all!