Belle Meade Cask Strength Reserve Bourbon Review

Hey guys, what's up? My name is Clifton, and I am so excited that I've gotten my hands on a bottle of Bellmead Cask Strength Reserve

So there have been a lot of whiskey events out here in Southern California, and I've noticed that Bellmead has always been there, every single one

And the first one I went to, you know, I saw, I didn't know much about them. I saw that they were like a Tennessee-based distillery

thinking it was more like Jack Daniels or whatever you know I passed on them for a while but

I eventually made my way there to their booth and I tried a bunch of their like finished

whiskeys like they have like a sherry cast finish a Madeira cast finish they have a lot of finished whiskeys and they were good

not gonna lie I did really enjoy those but they said that they had

a cast strength option but they had ran out at the first tasting I went to

and they said that their representative had gone out to a liquor store nearby to grab a bottle of it

So they'd be right back and they'd be back in like 20 minutes. So I made sure to come back around and I got my first taste of Bellmead Cask Strength Reserve

And let me tell you, that was the highlight of the night

That has been about six months or so ago. I have not had a Bellmead product since

So my taste may have changed. Who knows? So I'm going to open up this brand new bottle for you guys

So while I let this sit a little bit, I'm going to tell you a little bit about Bellmead and this bottle

This is actually, I don't think this is the same batch that I had at the tastings

This is batch number 22, bottle number 483 if you're curious. But it 58 alcohol 116 proof That definitely I know like the first batch of these were a lower proof so this is definitely a higher proof than that one

So I'm excited to see, you know, I love higher proof stuff. You guys know Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is like my gold standard of whiskey

I got this bottle for $55. Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is about $60, and it's not, it's not not available, but it's not, this was just on the shelf

I wasn't planning to pick this up. saw it on the shelf, you know what? I figured for $55, I gotta have a bottle of this. So I think that

is a perfect price point. I think a lot of barrel strength whiskeys are in that same price range

$50 to $60, maybe even up to $70, like Booker's and Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. So I think that's

a really fitting price point. Let's go ahead and, oh wow, I just got a whiff of that

Oh, all of those robust flavors. Now, like I said, I love Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, but

I remember tasting this for the first time and my little first thought was like, this has to be

artificially flavored. There are so much ridiculous flavors coming off of this glass. There's no way

they achieve this naturally. But let me tell you, now that I've learned more about it, absolutely

It's kind of overwhelming at first. I did have a warm-up bourbon before I started filming

So it's not going to be as overwhelming as if you just started your night with this one. Um, but it is a little, um, comp, it's so complex that like, I can't just give you an opinion based on the nose on it

Um, so we're gonna have to give it a taste. Um, don't mind if I do. Sorry I just like taking in the moment of how transformative and on your tongue

This is an incredible whiskey. Coming back to the nose, I get a lot of oakiness that I missed the first go around because, again, I wasn't prepared for how intense the flavor profile on that was

I love Elijah Craig Barrelproof. You guys know this, and a lot of you guys turned me on to Elijah Craig Barrelproof

but not gonna lie at least this batch of this Bellmead cast strength takes the cake this this

is my new favorite cast strength whiskey in my collection you get so much of that dark caramel

note that I adore about bourbon I get a lot on Elijah Craig but it's like amplified in this whiskey

and it's combined with like a you do get some fruitiness like almost like but not like a like

a fresh apple, which I get a lot on a lot of other whiskeys I've reviewed recently. It's like a baked

apple pie in a glass. If I can explain it that way, there's so much dessert-y, bready qualities

on this, and it's a pretty high rye mash bill. It's 64% corn and 30% rye and the rest of malted

barley, so it's pretty high for most standards. I mean, I know there's definitely higher ones out

there, but I'm just shocked. And one final statement about the people at Bellmeat at these

tastings. They have been some of the nicest, most passionate people I've seen talk about their

whiskey and their heritage. I haven't been to Kentucky yet, and I'm sure the people at the

distilleries there are just as passionate, but I'm talking about the representatives that come

to these tasting events across the country The people at Bellmead have been so friendly and they told us their story and you know what They very upfront about the fact that they do source their whiskey but they are really passionate about the product and their brand So kudos to Bellmead for just

being straightforward with what they do. I think that's the biggest thing I admire in them other

than the fact that they make the best cast strength whiskey I own. So that about does it for my review

of this. As you can tell, I absolutely love it. And if you see this on the shelf under

I would say under $70, grab a bottle, try it. Even if you're not familiar with Bellmead

maybe if you've never tried some of the older MGP stuff, grab a bottle. You will, I have

not heard anyone that's tried this that's been disappointed. Try it at least once. I

promise you, you're going to get so much flavor in your glass when you pour one of these that

you're going to say, oh, now I get why there's expensive whiskey in the world. You know

you can try all the pappy you want of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, but once you try a really

good cask strength bourbon, you're going to realize that there's so much more to explore

That's where all of my money goes now. So thank you guys so much for watching. If you like this

review, I'm going to put a playlist right at the end of this video where you can see my other whiskey reviews. And if you're new here, I would love if you could subscribe and like this video and all

that jazz. It just really means a lot to me putting these videos out each week and doing live streams

Just hearing feedback from you guys and comments really does mean a lot

So thank you so much for watching. And until next time, I'm here to help you drink good whiskey

Cheers