Oldies But Goodies?
Bourbon Blind!
We Were Wrong? Revisiting Three of Our 2024 Bourbons Blind
What happens when you go back to three bourbons you reviewed near the beginning of your channel, strip away the labels, pour them blind, and see whether you still agree with yourself two years later?
That was the idea behind this Tortured Bourbon episode.
We pulled out three bottles we first tasted back in 2024:
Widow Jane Baby Jane Bourbon
Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey
Larceny Barrel Proof Batch A124
And this time, we took away the branding, the history, the proof statements, the reputation, and every other little thing that can get into your head before you ever take a sip.
Just three glasses.
Three whiskeys.
And two people hoping they were not about to completely destroy their old opinions.
Why Revisit Old Bourbon Reviews?
One of the interesting things about reviewing bourbon over time is that your palate changes.
Not necessarily because your tastes get “better.”
That is one of those phrases that can make bourbon people sound insufferable in a hurry.
But experience absolutely changes what you notice.
The more whiskey you taste, the more reference points you develop.
You begin recognizing different kinds of oak.
Different sweetness.
Different proof levels.
Different grain influence.
Different finishes.
And sometimes a bottle that absolutely blew you away two years ago simply hits differently today.
That does not mean the bourbon changed.
It means you did.
That is exactly what we wanted to test.
Why Taste Bourbon Blind?
Blind bourbon tasting is one of the best ways to expose your own bias.
Everybody has it.
Brand matters.
Price matters.
Proof matters.
History matters.
And if somebody tells you none of those things influence them, they are probably lying to themselves.
Put a highly allocated bottle on the table and people expect greatness.
Put a $25 bottle next to it and people expect less.
Put “Barrel Proof” on the label and suddenly somebody is already preparing to describe the finish as “powerful.”
Blind tasting removes almost all of that.
No label.
No price.
No story.
No marketing.
No famous distillery name staring back at you.
You either like what is in the glass or you do not.
Which is also why blind tastings have a wonderful habit of embarrassing bourbon reviewers.
Including us.
Widow Jane Baby Jane Bourbon
Widow Jane Baby Jane was one of the more unusual bourbons we reviewed early on because it did not feel like just another standard Kentucky profile.
Widow Jane built the release around proprietary heirloom corn and has always leaned into a slightly different flavor identity than a lot of mainstream bourbon.
Baby Jane comes in at 91 proof, which puts it in a comfortable drinking range.
Not aggressive.
Not thin.
Just enough proof to carry flavor without turning the experience into a wrestling match.
When we tasted it originally, we had the benefit of seeing the bottle, reading the label, knowing the story, and knowing what the whiskey was supposed to be.
This time?
Nothing.
Just the glass.
Would that unique profile stand out?
Would we recognize it?
Would we even like it as much as we remembered?
That became one of the first interesting questions in the flight.
Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey
Then there was Uncle Nearest 1884.
Uncle Nearest has one of the most recognizable stories in American whiskey, built around the legacy of Nearest Green and the contribution he made to Tennessee whiskey history.
But none of that matters in a blind tasting.
The story cannot help you.
The bottle cannot help you.
The awards cannot help you.
You are left with the whiskey itself.
Uncle Nearest 1884 is bottled at 93 proof and is intended to be approachable, balanced, and easy to drink.
That puts it pretty close to Baby Jane from a proof standpoint.
Which makes for an interesting blind comparison.
When you remove branding, can you tell which whiskey has more depth?
Which has more sweetness?
Which has more oak?
Which one simply drinks better?
That is where the fun starts.
Larceny Barrel Proof A124
And then there was the wrecking ball.
Larceny Barrel Proof Batch A124 comes from Heaven Hill and clocks in at 124.2 proof.
That is a massive jump from the other two bottles.
Larceny Barrel Proof is also a wheated bourbon, so it tends to carry a different flavor profile than rye-forward bourbons.
Think richer sweetness.
Vanilla.
Caramel.
Dark sugar.
Sometimes oak.
Sometimes baking spice.
And then, of course, a whole lot more proof.
Going into the blind, you would think this one would be obvious.
More heat.
More intensity.
More weight.
But blind bourbon has a funny way of proving that “obvious” does not always mean obvious.
Sometimes a whiskey hides proof beautifully.
Sometimes a lower-proof bourbon drinks hotter than expected.
Sometimes the one you are sure is the barrel-proof pour turns out to be something else entirely.
That is exactly why we wanted it in the flight.
The Real Question: Were We Wrong?
That was the hook behind the entire episode.
Not which bourbon was “best.”
Not which bottle had the most history.
Not which bottle had the biggest proof number.
The real question was much simpler:
Did we still agree with ourselves?
Did two years of tasting bourbon change the way we experienced these bottles?
Would we rank them differently?
Would one of our old favorites suddenly fall flat?
Would one we were lukewarm on suddenly surprise us?
And most importantly…
Would either of us have to sit there after the reveal and admit:
“Yeah. Apparently I had no idea what I was talking about.”
Around here, that possibility is always on the table.
Blind Tasting Is the Great Equalizer
That is really what makes this kind of episode fun.
Blind tasting does not care about MSRP.
It does not care about distillery prestige.
It does not care whether the bottle is allocated.
It does not care what somebody on YouTube said.
And it definitely does not care what you said two years ago.
It just gives you the whiskey.
Then you have to deal with the result.
That is also why blind bourbon tasting is one of the best tools for people who want to better understand what they actually like.
Not what they think they should like.
Not what the internet says they should like.
What they actually like.
And sometimes those are very different things.
Three Bottles. Three Completely Different Personalities.
That is what made this particular flight so interesting.
Widow Jane Baby Jane brought a lighter, more unusual profile.
Uncle Nearest 1884 brought balance and drinkability.
Larceny Barrel Proof A124 brought proof, power, and a completely different level of intensity.
They were not three nearly identical bottles.
They were three very different whiskeys competing under the exact same conditions.
No labels.
No excuses.
So Who Won?
That is where we are not going to spoil it here.
Because the reveal is half the fun.
What we can say is this:
Going back to bourbon you reviewed years ago is a surprisingly good way to find out whether your palate has changed.
And doing it blind?
That takes away nearly every safety net.
There is nowhere for your old opinion to hide.
You either still agree with yourself…
Or you do not.
And when we finally revealed Widow Jane Baby Jane, Uncle Nearest 1884, and Larceny Barrel Proof A124…
Well…
There were definitely some opinions.
If you enjoy bourbon reviews, blind bourbon tastings, whiskey comparisons, Kentucky bourbon, barrel proof bourbon, wheated whiskey, or simply watching two people discover whether their old opinions survived contact with reality, this is exactly the kind of episode Tortured Bourbon was made for.
Because around here, every bottle eventually lands somewhere on the official Tortured Bourbon scale:
Piddlin’
Bless Your Heart
That Dog Will Hunt
Hush Your Mouth
Cock of the Walk
And whether we agree with our younger, slightly less bourbon-soaked selves?
That is another matter entirely.
We suffer through bourbon so you don’t have to.
