Angel's Envy Port Barrel Finish

One of the coolest bourbon bottles around, complete with wings on the back. I really like the way this bourbon is finished in port. That is a nice extra touch.

Nose: Artificial cherry flavor, sliced honey ham, oak

Taste: Cherry again, imitation vanilla, maple syrup, sweet white corn on the cob, apricots.

Finish: Fake cherry syrup, caramel, quince preserves.

I was a little disappointed with this bourbon. It features the same heavy chemically derived "cherry" flavor that is a bit overwhelming in most good bourbons such as Maker's Mark. In less expensive bourbons, this cherry flavor goes sour and bitter. That, thankfully, is not the case with Angel's Envy.

My take on bourbon is this: most of them, with the exception of wheat bourbons, taste more similar to each other than single malt scotches, which have infinitely more variation. Then again, I am biased: I favor scotches. They agree more with my stomach and general constitution. More than three glasses of bourbon during the course of an evening invariably will make me feel a little nauseated and weak the next day. Not so with scotch. I can drink 3-4 glasses through the course of an evening and feel fine the next day. In my mind, I equate the next day blues with that sickly sweet cherry flavor, and so this has gradually turned into a slight dread of it since I associate nausea with that flavor and smell.

Angels Envy, while better than most, is also typical of this cherry flavor, despite the fact that it is finished in port wine barrels.

Most reviews of bourbon do not even mention the cherry flavor because it is so ubiquitous.

Rittenhouse rye is a notable exception, as is Bernheim, which is wheated. I like Rittenhouse and would go out of my way to order a glass in a bar. The cherry flavor is more like stewed prunes in a Moroccan chicken dish. Just fine and "deeper" in flavor than the grating high pitched ubiquitous fake cherry that reminds me of cherry flavored soda, which is often made from chemical ingredients designed to imitate the flavor of cherry (badly). The only thing worse than fake cherry flavor is fake water mellon flavor, which tastes absolutely nothing like real water mellon to me.

If Angel's Envy were served to me, I would gladly drink one glass but no more. I will never buy a bottle of it again, but, this said, I will save this bottle. It's way cool.

Find where to buy Angel's Envy whisky