Black Feather American Whiskey Review & Tasting Notes


This article was originally published on October 22, 2018, at Bourbon & Banter.



BOTTLE DETAILS

  • DISTILLER: Black Feather Whiskey (sourced whiskey from MGP)
  • MASH BILL: 70% Corn  |  21% Rye  |  9% Malted Barley
  • AGE: Two years (a blend of two and three-year selections)
  • YEAR: 2018
  • PROOF: 86 (43% ABV)
  • MSRP: $29.00

  

NOSE: Ethanol | Nutmeg | Vanilla | Oak | Citrus

 

TASTE: Corn | Pepper | Clove

 

FINISH: Short, except a light spiciness returned and left almost as quickly as it came.

 

SHARE WITH: Folks who utter "and Coke" after whiskey or Bourbon.

 

WORTH THE PRICE: $30 is the lower price for “craft” whiskey. I still wouldn't pay that.

 

BOTTLE, BAR, OR BUST: Perhaps if you're looking for a mixer, this could be a buy, but quite frankly, I don't use anything in a cocktail that I don't enjoy drinking neat. At best, this is something to try at a bar in a cocktail. It is a Bust, folks.

 

OVERALL: I'm always excited to #DrinkCurious. When I was first approached to review Black Feather, I'd never heard of it, so I jumped at the chance.

 

Black Feather is a younger, MGP-sourced Bourbon. It comes in a lovely presentation, using a heavy bottle with “Black Feather” embossed in the glass, a thick paper label, and a wax top. My bottle is from Batch 1.

 

When I attempted to open the bottle, I first noticed that the expected tab to break the wax was missing. I wound up using a knife. If I had read the hang tag, I would have learned the proper method to simply twist the cap until it broke the seal. As such, if you casually toss the hang tag, you'll miss this necessary instruction. That's not a knock on the whiskey itself; instead, I view it as a faux pas by the design team.

 

In the glass, the appearance was a lighter amber that bordered on gold. It left a thin rim that caused fat legs to fall back into the pool.

 

I had to leave my glass alone for almost 15 minutes just to get past the ethanol to perform a proper nosing. Even then, it was still dominating. When I held the glass at chin level, aromas of corn and nutmeg presented. At the lip level, vanilla and oak became evident. A very light citrus was just under the nostrils, behind the still-existent ethanol. When I inhaled through my lips, pickled ginger was the only thing I picked up.

 

The mouthfeel was thin and slightly coated. Up front, the palate was all corn. It took a few sips to get the palate acclimated to the corn to discover what was hidden underneath. Those subsequent sips led to an almost stale spice that eventually became a mix of pepper and clove.

 

The finish was short and left little to describe. However, when you think it is over and done with, it repeats with a light spice before vanishing again.

 

Overall, there is nothing noteworthy about Black Feather. Despite giving it plenty of opportunities, it was nothing more than mediocre. I've got several bottom-shelf Bourbons that soar above it.

 

 

 

My Simple, Easy-to-Understand Rating System

  • Bottle = Buy It
  • Bar = Try It
  • Bust = Leave It

 

Whiskeyfellow encourages you to enjoy your whiskey as you see fit but begs you to do so responsibly.

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