Taste Test: This New Bourbon From Buffalo Trace’s Sister Distillery Is Too Strong for Its Own Good
Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Sunday for his latest whiskey review.
There can be too much of a lot of different things: tuna, Timothee Chalamet movies, Donald Trump presidencies, and alcohol. I’m not talking about alcohol in general, of course—after all, I write about it for a living. I’m talking about literally too much alcohol in a single bottle, when the proof is just too damn high. Such is the case with the new Abraham Bowman Oak Series: American Oak, from Buffalo Trace sister distillery in Virginia A. Smith Bowman, which otherwise would be a pretty excellent new whiskey.
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What makes this particularly disappointing is that the first release in the Oak Series, French Oak, was one of the very best whiskeys I tasted in 2024. This American whiskey (not a bourbon because of its maturation) was bottled at 100 proof, a totally reasonable, logical, delicious amount of alcohol (50 percent) to have in a whiskey. Granted, A. Smith Bowman is no stranger to extremely high-proof whiskeys approaching hazmat levels. The last few Cask Strength releases approached 140 proof, and one of them shattered the booze ceiling to reach 144.5 proof. I’m convinced that people are being disingenuous when they claim to like a whiskey that strong. All of this is nothing new, however. I recently had a conversation with a couple of whiskey writer friends who firmly believe the conversation about extremely high proof whiskey jumping the shark is very three years ago, but here we are.
The point of the Abraham Bowman Oak Series is to highlight the effects that different types of wood have on a whiskey’s flavor. “We know American white oak as today’s trusted wood for aging whiskey, but this experiment is about testing numerous oak varietals in pursuit of making the best whiskey possible,” said head distiller David Bock in a statement. “A whiskey that has sat for 12-plus years has the potential to be too oak forward, but I am very pleased that American Oak has a delicious balance of flavor components… We landed at 135 proof to showcase the tart apple paired with hints of pepper notes, which makes a really enjoyable spirit that I think our fans will love.” Okay, but at 135 proof is it really possible for the effects of any specific wood to shine through?
This new whiskey is a 12-year-old bourbon made from a blend of different liquid streams that was bottled at, as Bock mentioned, 135 proof. Some notes I can pick up are butterscotch, oak (of course), vanilla, red berries, fresh cut wood, and leather on the palate. But at that proof, the heat just kind of overpowers everything else and buries any complexity. I added some water and that was a little bit better, but I would have loved to try this whiskey proofed down by the experts in charge. I’m not talking about turning it into Jim Beam White Label, but maybe more like Booker’s, somewhere around the 120 mark.
That was not to be. I guess that’s not the point of this whiskey, although I wonder why the French Oak expression was proofed down and not this new bourbon. Regardless, I think this has turned a potentially excellent whiskey into something that has potential but is just too intense. Some whiskey drinkers will agree with this assessment, others will think I am secretly an 80-proof vodka drinker at heart. So be it. American Oak was initially available to purchase via lottery at the distillery’s website for $80, but that is now closed. Surely, this whiskey will appear on the secondary market for more than that, but I’d pass unless you are truly a fan of high proof whiskey (or claim to be). I look forward to trying new expressions in the Oak Series in the coming years, but personally I hope they are a little less intense.
Score: 84
100 Worth trading your first born for
95 – 99 In the Pantheon: A trophy for the cabinet
90 – 94 Great: An excited nod from friends when you pour them a dram
85 – 89 Very Good: Delicious enough to buy, but not quite special enough to chase on the secondary market
80 – 84 Good: More of your everyday drinker, solid and reliable
Below 80 It’s alright: Honestly, we probably won’t waste your time and ours with this
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