Type Bourbon | Producer Woodford Reserve Distillery | Region USA > Kentucky > Versailles | ABV 45.2% | Volume 700 ml | Price (AUD) ~$85
House notes
Woodford is the bourbon that people who don’t drink bourbon often can point to by name, and there is a reason for that. Big honey, orange peel, vanilla, and a long mellow finish. Smoother than Buffalo Trace, less aggressive than Four Roses, more rounded than Knob Creek. In a Whisky Sour it gives you something closer to honey on buttered toast than sharp lemon-bourbon tension, which is exactly what some evenings call for. Neat, it is entirely polite. Some drinkers find it too polished; that same quality is what makes it the crowd-pleaser when you have seven people round and one of them thinks they don’t like bourbon.
What it pairs with
The Sour is the obvious home, but Woodford also works as a sipping bourbon with a square of dark chocolate, a bowl of roast almonds, or anything with caramel and brown butter. Less confident in an Old Fashioned; the honey character can drift to cloying with the sugar and bitters. Try it instead in a Boulevardier, a Whisky Smash, or a Gold Rush. For food, it plays nicely against glazed ham, pork belly with apple, or sticky date pudding. Not the Tuesday bottle. The I-have-company bottle.
About the producer
Woodford Reserve distillery in Versailles, Kentucky (pronounced Ver-sails, say it any other way and you will regret it in Lexington) is the oldest bourbon distillery site in the US. It is the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby, which should tell you everything about its positioning.
Recipes and cocktails this pairs with
Every post on Food & Drinks that recommends this bottle.
