Taste Test: This New Bourbon Is Priced Like a Collectible, but the Flavor Falls Short
Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Sunday for his latest whiskey review.
It’s mid-fall, which means we are deep into the season of new American whiskey releases, particularly as it pertains to collectible annual unicorn expressions. For example, next week we will find out the details about the new Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, a series of bourbons and rye whiskeys that are immediately marked up way past their laughably reasonable SRPs. Another whiskey that seems to want to be part of that conversation is the new Horse Soldier Bourbon Commander’s Select VI. But is a 12-year-old sourced whiskey really worth its $600 asking price?
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Horse Soldier, which was founded in 2015, is named after the Green Berets who went into Afghanistan on horseback after 9/11, a group that included founder Scott Neil (something that was recounted in the 2018 film 12 Strong starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon). Each bottle is made using a mold that was forged from steel salvaged from the destroyed Twin Towers, and the brand has a distillery called American Freedom Distillery in Florida. But that’s not where the actual bourbon is made—it’s contract distilled in Columbus, Ohio at Middle West Spirits, a craft distillery that makes some pretty good whiskey, vodka, and gin. That will change eventually, because the brand is building its own $200 million distillery in Kentucky, but it will be years before production commences and we get to try any of that whiskey.
Currently, there are three core expressions: a four-year-old straight bourbon made from a mashbill of 65 percent corn, a Small Batch wheated bourbon made from a mashbill of 70 percent corn and 20 percent wheat, and a barrel-strength version of that whiskey. The bourbon in question here, however, is a special limited release called Commander’s Select VI, a high-rye Kentucky bourbon that was aged for 12 years and bottled at cask strength of 120 proof with no chill filtration. The exact distillery is not revealed, but Neil told Robb Report it was “one of the big four distillers in Kentucky and distilled in Bardstown” from a mashbill of 78 percent corn, 18 percent rye, and four percent malted barley, and pulled from just 20 barrels.
To be clear, this is a good bourbon—a 12-year-old, 120 proof bourbon is hard not to like unless it is very poorly made or aged in tiny barrels, which clearly this is not. The nose is rich with notes of caramel, vanilla, and plum. The palate is a bit hot without becoming aggressive at that proof, with classic bourbon notes of cinnamon, baked apple, molasses, brown sugar, and honey, and a flash of black pepper and mint on the finish. This is a totally solid, well-aged Kentucky bourbon.
All that being said, $595 for a bottle of sourced 12-year-old bourbon is a tough ask. You can find bottles of 12-year-old whiskey from Dickel (bottled-in-bond Tennessee whiskey, but essentially bourbon), Knob Creek, Wild Turkey, and even W.L. Weller for less than that, and those are all made at their respective distilleries. Not there is anything wrong with sourcing, because there absolutely is not. And not that there is anything wrong with this bourbon either—on the contrary, it’s pretty tasty. Neil says that signed bottles have raised about $75,000 to date at special events for veterans’ charities, which is certainly commendable. But given the insanity of the whiskey market and skyrocketing prices, this release feels like a case of manufactured desirability where there is no need for it. I’d be willing to pay $150 for this bottle, but nearly $600 is just not really worth it (and it’s selling for more than that on the secondary market). If you have the means to get a bottle of Commander’s Select VI, go ahead and do so and you won’t be disappointed in its quality. But if you’re saving up for a nice 12-year-old bottle of bourbon, your money might be better spent on buying a couple of bottles of any of those other options.
Score: 85
100 Worth trading your first born for
95 – 99 In the Pantheon: A trophy for the cabinet
90 – 94 Great: An excited nod from friends when you pour them a dram
85 – 89 Very Good: Delicious enough to buy, but not quite special enough to chase on the secondary market
80 – 84 Good: More of your everyday drinker, solid and reliable
Below 80 It’s alright: Honestly, we probably won’t waste your time and ours with this
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