Being in a control state means that sometimes….well, all the time…selection can be pretty limited. Thank goodness for local bourbon groups, one of which is the North Carolina Bourbon Society. The group works with local ABC boards to set up barrel selections and picks. This Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company Single Barrel bourbon is just one of those selections.
This selection, nicknamed “The Ringer”, was barreled on April 29, 2015 and was bottled in July of 2019, so it has an age statement of 4 years, 3 months. This is very cool because the standard expression of their bourbon, it does not carry an age statement It is barrel proof, which means whatever proof the bourbon is when it comes out of the barrel, that is what is in the bottle. In this case, it comes in at 108.8 proof.
The nose is very subtle, with smoke being what I pick up initially. Some of the expected caramel and light vanilla hides behind the campfire, with a little orange in there.
First sip brings much more heat than expected based on the proof. Mouthfeel is surprisingly oily and soft given the relative young age of the product. That is due, probably, to the fact that it isn’t chill filtered. On the palate, the smoke that dominated the nose shows up, but not as forward as I expected given how heavy it was on the nose. It follows with some very nice cherry overtones. Some cotton candy, caramel and cinnamon complete a pretty complex flavor profile. The “That’s cool” moment is how the flavor comes in from the outside of my tongue and works it’s way in. There is some slight astringency, which given the fairly low proof is a bit of a surprise. This may be off putting to some, but I kind of like when I get that “tangyness”.
The finish teases you into thinking that it lasts longer than it really does because of the aforementioned astringency. There is some wheat/yeast flavors that dissipate into oak and almost grassy flavors. Given the variety of flavors, the finish was a bit disappointing.
Overall, not a bad bourbon whatsoever. It will be interesting to see how it changes after being open for a bit. Will come back in a month or so to see what happens. If you know someone in North Carolina who is in the NCBS, it is worth a sample trade to see what you think.
Cheers!
Peerless Single Barrel - NCBS Selection
6.1
Pros
- Nice mouthfeel
- Fairly complex flavors
Cons
- Less than impressive nose
- Short finish