Tasting Date: 2021-05-03
Region: American whiskey
Type: Bourbon
Age Statement: NAS
Size: 750ml
ABV: 44% ABV
Cask Type: Charred white oak barrels
Distiller: Wyoming Whiskey Inc.
Location: Kirby, Wyoming
Bottler: Wyoming Whiskey Inc.
Purchase Location: Chateau Louis Liquor Store 11450 117St NW Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Purchase Date: January 9th 2021
Cost: $51.95 including GST & Deposit
Tasting Notes From The Wyoming Whiskey Website:
NOSE: floral, with a hint of vanilla bean and caramel pudding
PALATE: floral with brown baking spices and browned butter, vanilla crème, caramel, and a hint of cinnamon
MOUTHFEEL: light and smooth with vanilla bean and cinnamon spice filling the mouth cavity, hint of mint
FINISH: medium length finish with toffee. Spice and vanilla fade.
Colour: Dark amber
TransparentSmoke Review: I bought this on sale for $51.95. It was regular $70 something. That would have been a big ticket for my first whiskey out of Wyoming. I actually try to buy most of my whiskies on sale. I always have an overwhelming sense of disappointment and failure for not liking something I just bought. My feeling of failure compounds when having to live with the fact I paid too much as well. So sale Wyoming Whiskey it was. I must admit that I would be hard pressed to actually be able to tell you where this whiskey is from based on the flavour. It presents as a pretty normal bourbon. At first nothing really stands out as especially “Wyomingy”.
The Wyoming Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey is hot off the pour. I have tried it over and over again and all I get is an astringent ethanol overtone on first nose and first sip. It has never really presented as pleasant during my first third of a bottle worth of drams. It’s the first time I wished I owned a hand-held Alcohol Refractometer; a device to tell you how much alcohol is in the whiskey. It may help to explain the super amount of alcohol on the nose and palate. It wouldn’t be the first time alcohol made it to sale here in Alberta with the wrong ABV: Bombay Gin Recall.
While I fell down the rabbit hole figuring out the difference between a refractometer and a hydrometer, I learned that I was wrong trying to call them refract-o-meters and hydro-meters. In fact the correct pronunciation is re-fract-tom-eter and hy-drom-eter. During all of my learning I left my dram of Wyoming Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey to air for more than 30 minutes. When I went back to it I was pleasantly surprised.
There are notes of caramel pudding and vanilla on the nose when all the alcohol disappears. The palate is classic bourbon with the distinct taste of browned butter and cinnamon. I will call that brown butter note uniquely “Wyomingy”. It was a pleasant surprise. It is the first time that I have read a suggested set of tasting notes and found so much of the manufactures expression in the whiskey. I am missing the mint on the finish, but there is still alcohol there and that could be confused with spearmint menthol sensation. This dram gets a few extra points because of a happy accident of a rabbit hole and a judicious airing.
Our Score: 76/100
Bottles on Hand: 
Wyoming Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey – Bottle Front Wyoming Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey – Bottle Back
