Tasting Tuesday: The Pour I’ve Ignored

There was a time when this bottle felt special.

Not rare. Not allocated. Not hazmat.

Just special.

Before barrel finishes. Before 125-proof monsters. Before blind brackets and scoring matrices.

Evan Williams Single Barrel is the bottle that got me serious about bourbon.

To be fair, it was the 1998 vintage that started it all. I still have that bottle. Tonight, I put it up against the 2015 — the year I married Daryl.

And yes… at 86.6 proof, this is a different world from what I usually drink.

🥃 2015 Vintage (8½ Years in Oak)

Color: Decent amber.

Nose: Dusty peanuts, vanilla, heavy oak. The peanuts announce themselves immediately.

Palate: The peanuts carry over. Oak is present. Caramel and vanilla round it out nicely.

Complexity: Not overly complex, but the flavors are pleasant and honest.

Mouthfeel: Thinner than I expected for 8½ years in the barrel — though proofed down to 86.6, some of that viscosity disappears.

Finish: Predictably short. Caramel and oak dominate.

🥃 1998 Vintage (9½ Years in Oak)

Color: Nearly identical amber.

Nose: Lighter than the 2015, but peanuts, oak, and vanilla still lead.

Palate: Peanuts everywhere. Cinnamon shows up here — something the 2015 doesn’t quite deliver. Caramel and oak support it.

Mouthfeel: Slightly better than the 2015.

Finish: Better, too. Cinnamon, caramel, oak. Still not long — but longer.

Perspective Changes the Pour

Here’s the truth.

After years of drinking bottles in the 100–125 proof range, 86.6 feels delicate. Almost restrained.

But delicate isn’t bad.

For around $35 today (and about $23 when I bought the 1998 back in 2008), this is still a very solid eight-plus-year single barrel. If you’re not chasing proof, it delivers exactly what it promises.

Is it the most complex bottle on my shelf?
No.

Would it win a blind against my heavy hitters?
Probably not.

But that’s not why it’s here.

The 1998 bottle marks Lizzi’s birth year.
The 2015 bottle marks the year I married Daryl.
One day, I’ll grab a 2023 to mark Sully.

That’s something Benchmark Top Floor at $16 can’t quite do — even if at the same proof it punches above its weight.

Some bottles are better.
Some bottles are stronger.

But some bottles are part of the story.

And that’s enough.

About Douglas Blaine

Capnpen is a writer who was a newspaper and magazine journalist in a previous life. A college journalism major, he now works as an English teacher, but gets his writing fix by blogging about a variety of topics, including politics, religion, movies and television. When he's not working or blogging, Capnpen spends time with his family, plays a little golf (badly) and loves to learn about virtually anything.

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