Michter’s 20 Year Old (2019)
I gotta tell you, this is one hell of a unicorn pour for me. I found Michter’s late and fell into it hard - not every bottle was a winner, but the ones that were made the so-so ones worth the try. I had this sample for a few weeks before cracking it, because I was waiting for a specific thing to happen first. Then it did.
I scored a podcast interview with both Dan McKee and Andrea Wilson, Master Distiller and Master of Maturation, of Michter’s, respectively. I was so excited I opened the sample the night before just to talk about it. That episode is THREE HOURS LONG and was absolutely incredible to do, with so much content that I have to break it into two episodes just to make it digestible for everyone.
About the Michter’s 20 Year Old: this was the 2019 release (it’s not released every year). Obviously, it’s not their own distillate, and they don’t hide that (though no one is spilling the beans on the actual distillery). This batch had only 440 bottles in it, and came from barrels hand-picked by Dan.
Now, like I said, this is a unicorn bottle. There are only a few hundred, they’re arm-and-a-leg expensive when you find them or even find a pour, so I couldn’t help but have some expectations here. This is where blind tasting really helps, because if you don’t know what you’re tasting, you’re not wondering “will this taste like a 20-year-old bourbon” or “will this taste like a multi-thousand-dollar whiskey?” You’re just focused on the smell, the taste, the finish.
That being said…get your ass to a bar and treat yourself.
My sample came from my friend Shawn, who unfortunately was one of the many restaurant industry people who suffered financially from the COVID pandemic. Fortunately for him, he has one of the most bitching collections I’ve seen that isn’t a museum piece. I grabbed an ounce from him when he needed the cash more than the whiskey, and I’m glad he gave me that opportunity.
Now just to hunt down the Celebration and the 25 Year Old…
Michter’s 20 Year Old (2019): Specs
Classification: Bourbon
Origin: Undisclosed
Mashbill: Undisclosed Corn, Rye, and Malt Mashbill
Proof: 114.2 (57.1% ABV)
Age: 20 Years
Location: Kentucky
Michter’s 20 Year Old (2019) Price: $700 MSRP, but if you find it at less than $3500 or so you’re lucky and should grab it. More likely to be $5000 and up.
Michter’s 20 Year Old (2019) Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Red/orange dark maple - gorgeous. Medium bleeding rims and slow droplet legs.
Nose: Butterscotch, rich and fatty, gently toasted baking spices. Dried figs, a touch of proof. Whole cinnamon and clove. Beautiful, gentle, firm bourbon all around. Not the most powerful nose, but it floats out of the glass. Barest cherrywood and cherries in dark chocolate.
Palate: Somewhat spicy and astringent, plenty of cherries and broader stonefruit that battles oak and super dark cocoa. Mouthfeel is filling but not overly heavy, woody and astringent with more oak showing. Dried red fruits in 80% cocoa build after the swallow.
Finish: More chocolatey, Brookside chocolates with goji berries and lots of black cherry.
Overall: An excellent bourbon. Could be a little one note with the dark chocolate covered red fruit, but still delicious. Would love the mouthfeel to be a bit heftier, but it still filly the palate nicely.
Final Rating: 7.9
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close (Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel)
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary (GTS, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B518 and B520)
8 | Excellent | Exceptional (12+YO MGP Bourbon, Highland Park Single Barrels)
7 | Great | Well above average (Blanton’s Original, Old Weller Antique, Booker’s)
6 | Very Good | Better than average (Four Roses Small Batch Select, Knob Creek 14+ YO Picks)
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary (Elijah Craig Small Batch, Buffalo Trace, Old Grand-Dad Bottled-in-Bond)
4 | Sub-par | Many things I’d rather have (A.D. Laws Four Grain, Compass Box “Oak Cross”)
3 | Bad | Flawed (Iron Smoke Bourbon, Balcones)
2 | Poor | Forced myself to drink it (Buckshee Bourbon and Rye)
1 | Disgusting | Drain pour (Virginia Distilling Co. Cider Cask)
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