Old Elk 10 Year Old Straight Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

The last of the trio from Old Elk’s new collection of 10 year old whiskeys is named as the 10 Year Old Straight Bourbon, which is so named because there is a wheated bourbon in the trio. By calling it “straight,” what they mean is that it uses the traditional, rye-is-the-flavor-grain recipe.

Except that it really isn’t. The mash bill for this bourbon is 51% Corn, 34% Malted Barley and 15% Rye. In my lexicon, when the malted barley exceeds the flavoring grain in the mash recipe, it becomes a “high malt.” When I get to doing my notes, I will be surprised if the grain-derived spicy flavors are even a major presence next to what all that malt is going to do. This is the same as the native component in Old Elk’s Blend of Bourbons, so the source of stock is elementary. I know I am not the only person who referred to the Blended Bourbon as “high malt,” so I am hoping that language catches on; maybe we will see it on a label someday. It is more descriptive than “Straight Bourbon.”

The whiskey is bottled at 105 proof.

The Bourbon
The nose on this middle-amber pour led with toasted corn kernels, with some blue corn in there for earthiness, and oak, with the cinnamon and brown sugar present, but very much in the background. The flavor was turned in a more conventional direction, leaning on brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla in the main, with the woody and grainy aspects of the nose evolving into a background current of nuttiness. The toasted corn and wood came back on the finish, though, tinged with a note that was minty at the first and peppery at the last.

The Price
Expect to pay $70 a bottle.