| Hirsch Reserve 16 year old was awarded the first ever five star rating for a Bourbon by The Spirit Journal, the authoritative review of fine spirits, in November 1994. "For five years I've been waiting for this Bourbon to come my way. It's always bothered me that I hadn't given any native whiskey a five star rating in 22 previous SJ issues. But, the fact is that while I've greatly admired more than a few homegrown whiskies and have handed out four stars to twelve Bourbons and one Tennessee Sour Mash, that one American whiskey that had the stuff to transport me to distilled spirit nirvana remained elusive ... until this issue. Lustrous, rich medium amber-orange with copper-russet highlights; the tight, compact nose has sensuous fragrances of spiced orange, walnut, corn husk, a touch of resin, and most prominently, nougat - while it's anything but expansive, the bouquet subtly draws me in, forcing me to inhale deeper - in the process, layers of aroma unwrap like the delicate skins of an onion - it's as seductive and coy a Bourbon nose as I've come across; in the mouth, this robust, but polite Bourbon confidently offers happily married tastes of caramel, oats, coffee, wood smoke, maple syrup, oak, controlled alcohol, and raisins; there's even a slim trace of sweet sherry in the sublime, firm, heady aftertaste; clearly the best bourbon I've evaluated for SJ to date." - Paul Pacult, The Spirit Journal, November 1994 |
