There are blind tastings, and then there are blind tastings where almost every bottle on the table has a reputation before the cork ever comes out.
This was the latter.
I wanted to compare some of the heavier hitters in my collection, but I also wanted to eliminate as much of the label bias as possible. So I put together eight bourbons that live in roughly the same neighborhood: high proof, full flavor, premium pricing and enough reputation that almost any of them could walk into a tasting as the presumed favorite.
The lineup included four different Stagg batches, two Booker’s releases, a Knob Creek Cask Strength and Kentucky Rambler Cask Strength.
The proofs ranged from just 124.6 to 129.2. That meant none of them had a major advantage simply because one was significantly hotter than the others. They were all bringing roughly the same level of horsepower.
The bottles were:
Stagg 24C — 128.9 proof
Stagg 25A — 126.5 proof
Stagg 25C — 125.6 proof
Stagg 25D — 129.2 proof
Knob Creek Cask Strength — 125.3 proof
Kentucky Rambler Cask Strength — 124.6 proof
Booker’s 25-03 — 124.7 proof
Booker’s 25-04 — 126.4 proof
I poured them into samples marked only A through H, shuffled them, and started tasting.
And I had no idea how this one was going to end.
A
Solid copper color. The nose is pungent with rich toffee, caramel, toasted nuts and light oak. The palate opens with a touch of tobacco, followed by buttery toffee, caramel, cinnamon and oak. The mouthfeel is nicely viscous. The finish turns a bit tart at the outset, with cherries, toffee and light oak.
Score: 83.98
B
Solid copper color. The nose is heavy with creamy peanut butter, brown sugar, light red fruit and nutmeg. The flavors almost mirror the nose, but the cinnamon moves toward the front. The peanuts and brown sugar line up next, and some sweet oak joins the party. The mouthfeel is thinner than A but still on the viscous side, and the finish is spicy and sweet, with cinnamon and brown sugar backed by tart cherries.
Score: 83.11
C
Solid copper color. This is my favorite nose so far — buttery toffee, brown sugar, nutmeg and caramel. I know the aromas aren’t unique, but the depth is fantastic. Tart cherries move to the front on the palate, backed by butterscotch, cinnamon, nutmeg and toasted oak. The mouthfeel is nicely oily, and the finish is predictably great in flavor, but a tad quick in length, with cherries, toffee and nutmeg.
Score: 85.61
D
Mid-copper color. The nose is lighter than the others but still inviting — toasted nuts, more pecans or walnuts than peanuts, plus buttered caramel and nutmeg, with maybe some red fruit on the back end. The palate is a bit proofy, but still rich with toasted nuts, butterscotch, cinnamon and tart cherries. The mouthfeel is decently oily, and the finish is lengthy and spicy, with cinnamon syrup and tart cherries.
Score: 82.46
E
Mid-copper color. The nose is similar to the previous bottle — a little light, but still alluring. Caramel, nutmeg, toasted oak and butterscotch. The palate is the spiciest yet, with cinnamon, peanuts, brown sugar and caramel. It’s almost candy sweet. The mouthfeel is thinner than the others, but not terrible. The finish is still sweet but turns tart with cherries, along with brown sugar and caramel.
Score: 81.92
F
Solid copper color. The nose got so much better after the first sniff. Rich, sweet tree fruit, toffee, brown sugar and cardamom. The palate is intriguing — brown sugar apples, savory baking spice, butterscotch and sweet tobacco. The mouthfeel is lightly oily, and the finish lasts nicely, with light oak, tart tree fruit and caramel.
Score: 84.09
G
Mid-copper color. The nose is delicious — buttery toffee, brown sugar apples, nutmeg and creamy vanilla. The palate starts with toffee and tree fruit, but diverts into sweet tobacco and brown sugar, with nutmeg accents. The mouthfeel is nicely creamy, and the finish hangs on well, with the apples, brown sugar and caramel playing the biggest roles.
Score: 84.85
H
Solid copper color. The nose isn’t the strongest in the bunch, but it’s still interesting. It’s actually similar to G — sweet apples, buttery toffee, nutmeg and caramel. The palate is a delight, with butterscotch, cinnamon, caramel, apples and vanilla. The mouthfeel is nicely viscous, and the finish is lengthy and tasty, with cinnamon, brown sugar and apples.
Score: 83.65
Then came the reveal.
A was Stagg 25A.
B was Knob Creek Cask Strength.
C — the winner — was Booker’s 25-03.
D was Kentucky Rambler Cask Strength.
E was Booker’s 25-04.
F was Stagg 25D.
G was Stagg 25C.
H was Stagg 24C.
That gave me this final ranking:
1. Booker’s 25-03 — 85.61
2. Stagg 25C — 84.85
3. Stagg 25D — 84.09
4. Stagg 25A — 83.98
5. Stagg 24C — 83.65
6. Knob Creek Cask Strength — 83.11
7. Kentucky Rambler Cask Strength — 82.46
8. Booker’s 25-04 — 81.92
The first-place finish didn’t shock me nearly as much as the last-place finish did.
Booker’s 25-03 is a different animal from a lot of Booker’s releases. Instead of leaning heavily into the familiar Beam peanut profile, this one goes somewhere much fruitier. For me, it’s almost cherries jubilee — rich cherry, brown sugar, toffee, butterscotch and baking spice. In a blind full of Staggs, it actually fit right in, and that may be part of why it won.
Booker’s 25-04 is much more recognizably Beam. Peanuts, brown sugar, cinnamon and caramel are all front and center. That isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I like the bottle. But this blind exposed something I hadn’t expected: against seven other high-proof bourbons, it simply didn’t have the same depth, richness or mouthfeel.
And yet even calling it “last place” makes the result sound worse than it was.
The difference between first and eighth was only 3.69 points. The Booker’s 25-04 finished just over two points behind Stagg 25A and barely more than a point behind Knob Creek. This wasn’t a case of one bad whiskey getting embarrassed by seven good ones.
This was eight good bourbons fighting for room in a very narrow space.
The four Staggs also landed closer together than I expected. Stagg 25C finished second, followed by 25D, 25A and 24C. None dominated. None collapsed. They simply occupied four spots in the middle and upper half of a very competitive field.
The Knob Creek result was interesting, too. Its creamy peanut butter and brown sugar notes screamed Beam, but blind, I might have easily mistaken it for Booker’s. At around $65 when I bought it as a store pick, it also looks awfully good next to bottles that cost considerably more.
Kentucky Rambler came into the tasting as the least expensive bottle of the group at about $48. It finished seventh, so there was no Cinderella upset here, but it also wasn’t embarrassed. At 124.6 proof, it stood in the same ring with bottles costing two and sometimes three times as much and finished less than four points behind the winner.
That matters.
Because this tasting was never just about which whiskey finished first.
It was also about what happens when the labels disappear.
Stagg carries hype. Booker’s carries history. Knob Creek carries the Beam pedigree. Some of these bottles routinely sell above suggested retail because people know somebody else will pay the markup if they don’t.
Once they’re poured into identical glasses and marked only with letters, none of that matters.
The glass doesn’t know what the bottle cost.
And neither does your palate.
This time, Booker’s 25-03 beat them all.
