McKenzie Bourbon: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Calandro's Supermarket

McKenzie Bourbon Whiskey

McKenzie Bourbon Whiskey is the final whiskey in the string of WW posts from the Finger Lakes Distilling in New York.  Making a bourbon comes with quite a few rules and regulations, though none of them say anything about Kentucky.  The grain bill must be at least 51% corn and the whiskey must be aged in new charred American oak barrels.  There's more, but you get the point.  Since the Finger Lakes Distillery isn't that old, this bourbon only got about a year and a half in a smaller barrel.  The first larger barrels will be available in 2013 after three years of aging.  Hopefully Brian McKenzie and the crew will let some of the barrels continue to age even longer.  The McKenzie Bourbon has a nose that reminds me of the sweet char of oak.  The vanilla and oak flavors come across strong on the palate, and I also got flavors of toasted corn and Corn Nuts.  The bourbon finished smooth... almost too smooth.  I actually think it took a little away from the bourbon to just fall off the back of the tongue and leave little behind.  It probably needed a little more aging, but I certainly understand the need for a new distillery to sell some product.  I'll be very excited to head back to Finger Lakes in a few years to try all their whiskeys again after they've had more time to age.  All the signs of a great bourbon are there!

McKenzie Bourbon Whiskey

64.5 Average Score

Whisk(e)y Wednesday is a blog post series on Bite and Booze sponsored by Calandro's Supermarket. Calandro's has one of Baton Rouge's best selections of bourbon, Scotch, and other whisk(e)ys as well as wine and craft beer. WW is created and rated by the hosts of Raise a Glass. Scores are marked for Nose, Taste, Finish, and Balance and Complexity using our own propriatary scoring system. Marks are then added and averaged, leaving us with a final score out of a 100 point scale. Our scale should be looked at on the full range of 0-100 rather than an academic range where 70 is passing and anything less is failing. A 50 should be considered a very mediocre whisk(e)y while anything below 20 is absolute horse piss and anything above 90 is rather extraordinary.