The Bourbon Review: Evan Williams Kentucky Straight Bourbon Review

Kentucky’s first distillery that opened on the banks of the Ohio River in 1783 & named after a Welsh distiller who settled in the Virginia frontier

Launched in 1957 as a 7 year old at 45% abv/90 proof it has like a lot of brands changed over the years.

It is now one of Heaven Hill’s flagship brands and uses their standard bourbon mash bill of 78% corn, 12% malted barley, 10% rye

This bourbon is labelled straight but doesn’t carry an age statement so it has to be at least 4 years old but is rumoured to be 5 to 5.5 years old

You can watch my full YouTube review below.

Evan Williams Kentucky Straight Bourbon 43%/86 proof $16

Nose: Brown sugar, cherry menthol, some cinnamon, a touch of anise, oak and cask char

Palate: Pretty hot on the arrival – pepper and fresh red chilli, unsweetened black tea, caramel and corn and vanilla essence….oak quite prevalent

Finish: Short length with the chilli pepper heat and oak tannins the lingering notes

Overall: This was really rather unenjoyable and is very much bottom shelf material. The spice would probably help it cut through as a cocktail base but even then I think there are better options available for making cocktails.

Score: 2 out of 10 – Whiskey Bore

If you’d like to support my site and continued whiskey exploration there’s a ‘buy me a coffee’ link on the homepage menu bar. Thanks for reading!