Review #: 508
Description: Smooth Ambler Old Scout Single Barrel: r/Bourbon 6 Year
Spirit: Bourbon
Background: 30 for 30 Day 2: Old Scout is based out of West Virginia. They gained fame through their single barrels of MGP bourbon and rye with 10+ year age statements and ridiculous (so I’ve heard) flavor. With the bourbon boom, those barrels dried up and they switched to Dickel sourcing to maintain the higher age statements. Those divided drinkers a bit, as Dickel tends to do, so they started going back to MGP but with some lower age statements. This one was selected by r/Bourbon (which will be a pretty common theme in this series) and comes in a 6 years old. Barrel No. 227810 that was barreled on October 14th, 2014 and bottled November 2020.
Distillery – MGP
Bottler – Smooth Ambler
Brand – Old Scout
Selection – r/Bourbon
ABV – 59.5%
Age – 6 Years
Nose – Milk chocolate, sweet red apples, maraschino cherries, vanilla cake
Taste – Caramel apple, chocolate sauce, vanilla buttercream, oak comes through
Finish – Chocolate, dates, dry tobacco, oak, Dr. Pepper
Score: 6
Would I buy a bottle? Yes
Thoughts: Already seeing a difference between this and the Smoke Wagon. A bit richer, more cake and chocolate, and the Dr. Pepper note was nice on the finish. While it may not be like their original offerings, this is still an excellent single barrel of bourbon at a great price (these picks are typically around $60).