Review: Cleveland Black Reserve Bourbon Whiskey

Cleveland Black a whiskey that makes a bold claim of replicating the flavor and complexity of a 8-12 year whiskey in a fraction of the time.

I myself have often thought of a way to expedite the maturation process of this whiskey and other aged spirits; it seems that a Cleveland based distillery has figured out a way to accomplish this.

Whether or not they are successful, its an interesting trademarked processed called "Pressure-Aging", basically they age the whiskey for about six months cut up the barrel and then smash the barrel up and mix it back in with the whiskey in a metal barrel, effectively turning the barrel into woodchips to better extract the flavor.




Cleveland Black Reserve Bourbon Whiskey: 50% ABV (100 Proof)

Paid: $ 26.99 (on sale)

Color: Dark Amber.

Nose: Alcohol, sweet, earthy.

Pallet: Woody Oak, very oaky, a spicy, a hit of honey.

Finish: spicy alcohol, still very oaky in flavor.

Overall: Not bad, certainly not a 8-12 year whiskey by any means. The deep oak flavor is a bit over powering, and masks any other subtle flavors you would get in a true mature whiskey.  Very one note. It is closest in flavor to Devil's Cut, which uses a similar process to draw the whiskey from the barrels, I would assume a similar process is employed.  The end result is an Oak heavy pallet, and not much else.

An interesting concept however not as advertised. I am not sure that I would buy another bottle, possibly if I was hosting a party and wanted to offer my guests a different whiskey experience, however one might be better off picking up a bottle of Devil's Cut.

Granted this is the first whiskey I have officially reviewed, so my comparisons to Devil's Cut could be suspect.

Thanks for reading.

5/10

Not bad, an interesting whiskey worth a try.