The Bourbon Cheapskate, Vol. 51: Seven Bottles, One Blind, and a Few Surprises

There are times when a blind tasting confirms exactly what you thought you knew.

Then there are times when it rearranges the furniture.

For this Bourbon Cheapskate tasting, I pulled seven bottles that had two things in common: respectable proof and at least a reasonable argument for value. Two of them sit squarely in traditional Cheapskate territory. Others stretch the budget a little farther, but all seven offered enough proof and promise to make the comparison interesting.

The lineup ranged from $35 to $65, and every bottle landed between 107 and 114 proof:

Seelbach Wheated — 108 proof, $40
Weller Antique 107 — 107 proof, $62
Rebel Kyle Busch Single Barrel — 108 proof, $40
James E. Pepper Decanter — 109 proof, $60
Jim Beam Single Barrel — 108 proof, $35
Baker’s 7 Single Barrel — 108 proof, $65
Old Grand-Dad 114 Single Barrel — 114 proof, $50

As always, the bottles were tasted blind. No labels. No reputations. No price tags sitting beside the glass whispering that one pour ought to be better than another.

And while the eventual winner wasn’t much of a shock, several of the bottles underneath it were.

Seventh Place: Jim Beam Single Barrel — 80.83

The lightest copper whiskey in the group opened with a sweet, creamy nose of peanut butter, toffee and brown sugar. Sweet cinnamon arrived early on the palate, joined by candied citrus peel, creamy caramel and tart cherries. The mouthfeel was lightly creamy, and the finish stayed sweet and spicy, with citrus and sugary vanilla leading the way.

This one surprised me.

The first time I sampled Jim Beam Single Barrel, I wasn’t particularly impressed. This tasting moved it considerably higher in my estimation.

Yes, it finished seventh. But context matters.

The entire field was separated by just 2.17 points, and this is a 108-proof single barrel bourbon that cost me $35. Finishing last in a strong blind doesn’t necessarily mean a whiskey failed. Sometimes it means the company was pretty good.

At this price, Beam Single Barrel made a much stronger argument for itself than I expected.

Sixth Place: Rebel Kyle Busch Single Barrel — 80.94

Rebel showed a light copper color and a nose of lightly toasted walnuts, honey, caramel and nutmeg. The palate shifted those nuts toward light peanut butter, with buttery toffee, cinnamon, honey and caramel following. The mouthfeel was adequate without becoming creamy, and the finish brought sweet cinnamon, caramel and vanilla.

At $40 and 108 proof, this bottle fits comfortably within the Bourbon Cheapskate mission.

It didn’t distinguish itself enough to rise higher in the rankings, but there also wasn’t much wrong with it. It delivered a pleasant, sweet profile at a respectable proof without asking for much money.

Sometimes that’s enough.

Fifth Place: Seelbach Wheated — 81.81

This mid-copper pour offered dusty peanuts, light caramel, vanilla and nutmeg on the nose. The palate became considerably richer, loaded with butterscotch and cinnamon alongside caramel, vanilla and oak. The mouthfeel was modest, but the finish improved things with buttery toffee, nutmeg, oak and light cherries.

At $40, Seelbach sits right beside Rebel in the value conversation, but it managed to edge ahead on the strength of a more interesting palate and finish.

Nothing about it screamed for attention, but there was enough depth here to keep me interested.

And in a tasting where the most expensive bottle cost $25 more, finishing less than a point behind several of those higher-priced competitors matters.

Fourth Place: Weller Antique 107 — 82.13

Weller offered a mid-copper color and a nose that leaned slightly savory while still carrying butter, mild baking spice, caramel and vanilla.

Cinnamon appeared quickly on the palate, followed by brown sugar syrup, caramel and a floral note that added an unexpected wrinkle. The mouthfeel bordered on viscous, and the finish was very good, with cinnamon leading the floral element and caramel lingering behind it.

At $62, however, this is where Bourbon Cheapskate begins asking uncomfortable questions.

Weller 107 is good whiskey. I enjoyed it. It finished ahead of three bottles and only 0.87 points behind the overall winner.

But it also cost nearly twice as much as Jim Beam Single Barrel and more than 50 percent more than either Rebel or Seelbach.

That doesn’t make Weller overpriced. It simply means the value equation becomes harder to ignore.

Third Place: James E. Pepper Decanter — 82.68

This may have been the most intriguing whiskey in the entire tasting.

The nose led with leather, brown sugar, lavender, nutmeg and caramel. That floral note immediately threw me. The palate lost most of the lavender and leaned instead toward brown sugar, buttery toffee, mild citrus and light oak. The mouthfeel was lightly oily, while the finish returned to sweetness and spice with cinnamon and toffee.

I’m still not sure I love this bottle.

But I keep wanting another sip.

That may be more interesting.

There are whiskeys that immediately fit comfortably within your preferences, and there are others that force you to think about what you’re tasting. Pepper falls into the second category for me.

That lavender note doesn’t necessarily make the whiskey better. It does make it distinctive.

And apparently, when I removed the label and judged what was actually in the glass, I liked it more than I thought I did.

Second Place: Baker’s 7 Single Barrel — 82.79

Baker’s was another major surprise.

The nose was toasty, with toasted oak, warm toasted nuts, buttery toffee and nutmeg. The palate became intensely sweet, bringing citrus, brown sugar, caramel, vanilla and cinnamon. The mouthfeel was lightly creamy, while the finish was strong and persistent with brown sugar, cinnamon and orange.

This bottle came within 0.21 points of winning the entire blind.

That matters because Baker’s was another whiskey that had previously left me less impressed than its reputation suggested.

Not this time.

Blind, it nearly won.

At $65, Baker’s was also the most expensive bottle in the tasting, which complicates the Bourbon Cheapskate verdict. I can’t call it the value winner when a $50 bottle beat it and a $35 bottle finished less than two points behind it.

But I can admit when I underestimated a whiskey.

I underestimated Baker’s 7.

First Place: Old Grand-Dad 114 Single Barrel — 83.00

This one didn’t surprise me much.

Old Grand-Dad showed a mid-copper color with orange peel, cinnamon and vanilla on the nose. The citrus and cinnamon returned on the palate alongside peanuts, caramel, vanilla and toasted oak. The mouthfeel was slightly creamy, and the finish stayed spicy with orange, cinnamon and vanilla hanging around.

It was balanced, flavorful and assertive without becoming unruly.

And at 114 proof, it was also the strongest whiskey in the lineup.

Old Grand-Dad 114 Single Barrel finished first at 83.00.

At $50, it wasn’t the cheapest bottle on the table. But it was $15 cheaper than Baker’s, $12 cheaper than Weller and $10 cheaper than Pepper.

That gives it an unusually strong combination of score, proof and price.

The result wasn’t shocking. It was confirming.

What the Blind Changed

The most interesting part of this tasting wasn’t that Old Grand-Dad won.

I expected Old Grand-Dad to perform well. What mattered more was what happened underneath it.

Jim Beam Single Barrel came way up in my estimation from my first experience with it. Baker’s did the same and nearly won the entire tasting. James E. Pepper remains slightly strange to me, but apparently that strangeness is part of what keeps pulling me back toward the glass.

And that may be the larger lesson. Blind tastings don’t always tell us that our favorite whiskey isn’t actually our favorite. Sometimes they do something more useful. They force us to reconsider bottles we thought we had already figured out.

Old Grand-Dad proved itself.
Baker’s redeemed itself.
Jim Beam Single Barrel rehabilitated itself.
Pepper complicated itself.

And for a Bourbon Cheapskate, that’s exactly why we take the labels off in the first place.

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