Bourbonooga: Willett Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Bourbon C17D

What a fantastic way to kick off my Bourbon Crusaders review assignments.  These reviews should become a regular staple as long as the bourbon still flows, unlike the one-off masterpiece I had the fortune to review for this installment.I think I am similar to many that took a benign interest in sipping bourbon and whiskey and turned that interest into a true hobby and pursuit in the fact that I acclimated to higher end bourbons by focusing on the limited edition Buffalo Trace releases that dominate any Google search on the topic of "best bourbon out there."  So much so that I still recall the week after the Kentucky Derby in 2013 when I walked into Down One off of W. Main St. and asked if any of the hush-hush Spring Derby Pappy release was available by the pour.  "No, we sold out two days ago, but we have 19 different Willett Family Estate bottlings if you prefer," was the response from a bartender that I believe was truly trying to guide me in the right direction.  I declined.  I was stupid.  I was uneducated, and the price is tough to take without previous experience when Google is distracted on Frankfort.  Luckily, I did try a few bottlings not long after.  I still look to Aged Truth (Barrel No. 806, 11yrs.) as one of the best bourbons I have ever tried.  I try to be careful to qualify that statement because I have not had a full bottle, but it was with that same qualification and perhaps coincidentally with my past history in 2013 that I found myself reviewing a 22-year-old wheated Willett Family Estate bottle from Barrel No. C17D...C17D was released around Derby Week in 2015--almost two years after I opted out of a 19 bottle lineup of Willett Family Estate (no doubt a few having those famous block letters)--and it comes in at a hazardous 141.8 proof (70.9% abv).  Barrel No. C17D yielded 112 bottles.  Bottle 31 rests comfortably in my office.

I did this tasting in two separate rounds of neat vs. water with 48 hours of rest.  My notes follow.APPEARANCE:C17D is one of the 3 or 4 darkest bourbons I have ever seen in person.  Upon my first sight, I considered it almost full brown with a red and purple glint when presented at an angle.  The color was almost cherry wood, cedar bark or cordovan leather.  Two days later, I was reminded of a well-aged cognac, and I decided that this was not a standard bourbon color.  Truthfully, the only bourbons I have had that I know are darker in color are Heaven Hill Select Stock 131 proof Bottled for the Bourbon Bar and the 4th Edition of William Heavenhill (135.6 proof, 15yr.).  You can see @sippncorn's review of the William Heavenhill (with a remark on the Heaven Hill Select Stock as well) HERE.  For potential background on C17D's genesis, take a look at @SkusRecentEats article about an April 6, 1993 wheated run at New Bernheim that interestingly occurred approximately 22 years and 1 month before the release of C17D.  You can find that HERE.NOSE:I found C17D to be warm, but it did not singe the nose.  There was a surprising amount of pepper, with oak, cherry and leather predominating.  Not long after that initial nose, I was reminded of dark chocolate raspberry candy bars because there was a sugariness, almost like a donut glaze, that worked with the chocolate and cherry aspects.  C17D was very sweet, but there was hefty char as well.  As to be expected with a 22-year-old whiskey.After a few minutes, I could tell that there was significant red berry that wanted to come forward out across the wall of peppery heat in its way.  In that respect, I thought back to 2014 William Larue Weller--another wheated bourbon north of 140.0 proof.  C17D was turning into a hot, sugary red berry bomb.  I suspected a cut of water would knock out the white pepper.After ten minutes of air, C17D gave hints that it was going to turn into a brown sugar, caramel and bread pudding nose.  I was really enjoying the turn to a rich, dark dessert sweet as I am a sucker for that type of nose.  As I neared the end of the first neat pour, I was reminded of a great cheesecake crust sitting in raspberry and caramel drizzle after you have scraped away nearly all of the cream cheese filling.  There was also a touch of buckwheat and syrup.  I did not want to cut this pour with water.  C17D remained spicy and warm after all of those minutes, but the spice toward the end was due to the mix of dry, spicy oak, sugar and salty caramel.With water, the first neat pour lost all fruity character.  I was left with salted cow tails with a spicy oak bite and cocoa dusting.After a few days of taking the air, the bottle calmed the alcohol and left merely a warm oak spice, and lots of it, with that same cherry predominating.  There was less leather than the first pour, which was already not overpowering, but the leather that left after the first pour was replaced with even more sweetness.  Vanillin and caramel with a faint toffee and malt bar toward the end of the caramel.A few more minutes of air for the second pour brought out that lower level rickhouse musk.  The damp oak and char started to dominate the rest of the way.  Some may not like this much oak, but it was not green oak.  This was that smell that drapes you like a veil when you duck your head and step into Warehouse C at Buffalo Trace.  Or, if perhaps Warehouse C had a damp, musky and oaky basement.  This was not Pappy 20, or the 20-year-old Elijah Craig impressions.  This was decades of evaporating oak mingling with damp, well-shaded oak.  This was that great smell sitting at the bottom of your glencairn the next morning.The second pour did not hold up well to water.  The spice really geared up and kicked with oak and leather.   I was most reminded of a strong and bitter Four Roses OESO.TASTE:Shockingly, I could not find the amount of cherry teased by the initial nose.  This was pervasive oak and caramel--not bad at all--just unexpected.  There was no pepper either.  Just oak and caramel.After a few minutes, the taste shifted to oak and old leather.Water did improve the taste on the first pour.  I got a sea salted Mr. Goodbar with the same oak and a hint of raspberry and pomegranate seeds that came up right before the finish started.  The heat was certainly still there, but the kick took a few seconds longer to onset.The second pour was sublime.  Oh, every pour should be like the second pour!  I mean, wow.  It was so different after 48 hours open.  I was blessed with a straight stunner first sip packed with the flavors you want to chase the rest of your life.  I was going to split this second pour between neat and water.  Then, I decided to split the second pour into two pours--one neat and one with water--so as to prolong the enjoyment of C17D neat.From the start of the second pour, I was punched with warm vanilla french toast and some bite from pure maple syrup that rolls into a cinnamon and chili-infused dark chocolate bar.  The second pour had a taste that closed out with tiramisu sweetness.  So fantastic.Water, unlike with the first pour, depressed the taste on my second pour.  I got muted oak and leather, a bit of scented marker and some red berry.  I was reminded of Old Charter 8YO if it came in a much higher proof.FINISH:The first pour finished warm and everlasting.  I usually expect a big proofer with this much age to be very dry with a bite on the sides of the tongue.  C17D started mid-palate and then moved to the tip of the tongue with cinnamon red hot heat that subsided and went back to squarely mid-palate oak and leather.  The mid-palate finish was unique because it felt like I had a round peppermint sitting heavy smack dab in the middle of my tongue giving off cool, minty heat.  That doesn't mean that it tasted minty like Four Roses.  It had that cool, lasting menthol effect that you get from strong breath mints.  Oaky.  Again, long.  Most interestingly, however, there was a heartburn feel on the chest.  This was the first bourbon I have had that put pressure on the chest.With water, that mid-palate finish left and instead sat on the very tip of the tongue and the back sides of the tongue.  Yet, the heartburn grip remained.  Again, oaky, but cherry cordial peaked out at the very end of the finish.  C17D--she grips and steps on your chest.The first pour's taste and second pour's taste produced widely different reactions.  Likewise, the second pour's finish came out with a new look.  The finish was still long and warm, but this time it was jammed with salty caramel, salty peanuts (Beam like) and oak.  It didn't start as dry as the first pour, but closed its act very dry.  C17D--she no longer grips and steps on your chest.  Instead, she has that nice fireside winter warming burn.  Perhaps the only similarity was that the finish still sat squarely on the mid-palate.  Although, even that aspect was more subdued because of the numbing front-palate and top of the mouth burn.With water, I just got oak and stale cinnamon red hots as though the red hot flavor was an aftertaste from chewing Big Red gum.CONCLUSION:I prefer C17D neat to water.  I would suggest taking a few quick nips on a fresh pour and then let air do its magic.  I am very excited about the way the bottle improved after opening.  I have had a few recent bottles that peak on the first pour.  I want a bourbon that gets better with each pour until, inevitably around the half-empty mark, simple nature starts its work and its time to get into maintenance mode.How does this compare to C14D, another 22-year-old wheated bourbon released not long before C17D?  Too hard for me to say.  I like the nose on C17D considerably better after both pours, with "considerably" being as big a difference as you can squeeze when you are at this level of quality.  As for the taste, C14D was considerably better (again, caveat) after my first C17D pour, and that one-off Tootsie Roll pop flavor takes the crown, but my second C17D pour hit nearly all of the warm, rich dessert flavor I want in my baseline for an elite bourbon.  This is a push.  The finish on C14D wins the flavor battle between the two, but C17D had that unique chest pinch and pressure on the first pour that kept me more focused than the flavor of the C14D finish.  Flip a coin, I say.SCORE:Nose -8.5/10.0 Day 18.5/10.0 Day 2(Nose weighted 35%) = 2.98Taste -9.25/10.0 Day 19.5/10.0 Day 2(Taste weighted 45%) = 4.22Finish-7.5/10.0 Day 17.0/10.0 Day 2(Finish weighted 20%) = 1.45TOTAL = 8.65/10.0******9.5-10.0 bourbon basically does not exist in my scoring system.  It is a figure left for the life-altering bourbons.9.0-9.5 bourbon is as best as they come.8.5-9.0 bourbon is fantastic, and it is a mark that a limited edition release should hit.  Obviously, not all do.8.0-8.5 bourbon is a bourbon that likely has one superb feature and above average remainders, or it is a bourbon that is more than above average across the board.  This is a mark that a limited edition release must hit to avoid underperformance.7.0-8.0 bourbon is a bourbon that is probably above average across the board.  There may be one close to average aspect about it.  This is the worst bourbon that I want to pour each night when I am rich.6.0-7.0 bourbon is a bourbon with nearly every facet near average, but not yet average.  Expect slightly less reviews to fall here.5.0-6.0 bourbon is average bourbon.  Expect most reviews to fall here.4.0-5.0 bourbon is a bourbon with nearly every facet near average, but on the wrong side of average.  Expect most reviews to fall here.3.0-4.0 bourbon is a bourbon with probably one average or near average aspect, with the others being below average.  Expect slightly less reviews to fall here.2.0-3.0 bourbon is solidly below average bourbon.  I suspect I could be reviewing a few of these bourbons.1.0-2.0 bourbon is bad.  I hope I do not have to review many bourbons in this category.0.0-1.0 bourbon should be avoided at all costs.  I highly doubt I ever review a bourbon in this category.