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Noah's Mill

Average score from 5 reviews and 27 ratings 86

Noah's Mill

Product details

  • Brand: Noahs Mill
  • Bottler: Unknown
  • ABV: 57.2%
  • Age: 15 year old

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@Maltfisher
Noah's Mill

At $50 a bottle and at the ABV% it naturally should be compared to Booker's. So of you had to choose between the two which one should you go with?
Supposedly, this comes from the Willet Distillery, though it doesn't say so on the bottle. So, this is a sort of an Indy bottling. On the nose, molasses, confectionary sugar, heavy oak influences, spicy vanilla, toasted coconut and charred ash. On the sip, powdered sugar, juicy fruit gum. In the middle...not a lot..heat kind of like ginger heat..on the finish, it's sweet, slight baking spices cloves nutmeg allspice. This one is all about the arrival. The middle and finish are lack luster. So if you have an open slot on your wall and need to choose...I would go with bookers.

n

from a purchased sample-

Nose: Dark and dry rye wood. Cocoa and peanut brittle - there's definitely a peanut quality lurking in the second row. Tobacco. Spearmint. Very minty. Menthol. Butterscotch and toffee and more rye spice. (with water) water brings out some varnishy though otherwise lighter notes. Honey, toffee, cocoa powder, dry sawdust. More balanced here.

Palate: Very approachable neat. Butterscotch, bitter wood (standing over the other dark flavors). Honey, rye, anise. (with water) Ahh, much better. Same as the nose, but there's that heavy wood and bitterness leading the way.

Finish: More on the bitter and wood than I'd like. This has some really good qualities, and great texture, but the bitterness is too much for me, even neat. C+/B-

@Wills

I just have to review this one. This is the first REAL Bourbon I've ever got and I just love it from the first moment I've tried it. This is a small batch Bourbon coming to you with a nice 57.15% ABV in a special wine-like bottle. The label says 'Handmade in the hills of Kentucky' - so far, so good.

When I opened this one and smelled it the first time I was fascinated by this armory of flavors: caramel, plums, chocolate, coffee, dark berries (maybe blackberry). There is also some spicy notes from the oak. Besides that I get some fresh herbal aroma like mint. It is just an awful intense and complex nose.

Taking the first sip this one is really soft and pleasant to drink, despite the high ABV. The attack is amazingly warm and rich. There you get some vanilla. It develops to really nice roast flavors, coffee beans to be more specific. At some points the aftertaste is just coffee. When I swallow the next time it is pure caramel and finally there is an intense cherry taste like Black Forest cake.

The finish is long. Really long. Very smooth. Sweet honey is the last in my mind just to remember me to take the next dram.

Maybe there are lots of high proof Bourbons which I like this much. I don't know yet because I lack in experience. All I can say is that I enjoy this bottle and would highly recommend it to friends of strong and complex drams.

Thx to the Bourbon experts here for sharing their knowledge. Some weeks ago I've never heard of Noah's Mill at all. Special thanks to @AboutChoice, your great review made me really eager to buy this bottle. Glad I did!

Hi Mark. Thx for your kind words. It's hard to compare our scores I beliefe. You for example already tasted hundreds of whiskies. I am still quite new to the topic. That being said it is a special dram for me because it's my first good Bourbon. So for me it is indeed one of the very best experiences I've ever had.

To take this in mind I could have rated this lower, just to let there more space to the top. But I also didn't give it the max. score ;)

Maybe I could rate it a little lower but it is definitely a 92+ for me!

Very nice review, indeed. I do believe the score to be somewhat high, though. When I compare all three notes (yours, About Choice's and my own), it is clear we all like it very much and enjoy it, but the scores range from 88 to 92 to 96. That's quite a difference. Is this really worth 96 to you? That would mean this is one of the ultra very best experiences you've ever had... seems a bit unlikely, hence my question.

@markjedi1

This Noah’s Mill is, like the Rowan’s Creek, produced in the Mecca of bourbons, Bardstown, Kentucky and matured for 15 years (although the label does not carry an age statement). It is bottled at a strength of 114,3 proof or 57,15% ABV. It won a gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2005. I’m curious.

The sweet nose gives away oak, dried fruits, liquorice but most of all a whole lot of hay. I picture myself on the hay-loft of a big ranch. There is a strong hint of mold as well. Some butterscotch, too. After a while, the hay and mold subside to make room for a more typical bourbon nose. Corn and caramel dominate. Adding water makes something sourish, but pleasant, come out. But I do prefer the undiluted nose.

Despite the high ABV, it does not burn. It is nice and creamy, delivering violet candy, brown sugar, old leather and dry oak. Quite a bit of mint and tobacco. With water, it loses some of its punch and makes it to docile.

The finish is wonderfully long and warming and dries the mouth completely, without turning bitter.

This is probably one of the best bourbons I have tasted so far, uncut. Do not add water to this one.

@AboutChoice

Noah’s Mill (NM), a small batch Bourbon, bottled at 57.17% ABV, and produced by Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, Ltd, Bardstown, KY, is the boldest offering in their Small Batch Collection: Noah’s Mill, Rowan’s Creek, Pure Kentucky XO, and Kentucky Vintage. They also distill Johnny Drum Old-fashioned Sour Mash Whiskey, Vintage Bourbon 17, and the Old Bardstown series. Though my bottle has neither an age statement nor a batch number, many descriptions indicate a maturity of 15 years. Finally, Noah’s Mill is one of the elite members of rare cask-strength bourbons. According to the distiller, NM is bottled at a strength that best compliments its age … which gives me the feeling that, although the ABV is right up there, it may not, technically, be at cask-strength.

Though not a ubiquitous whiskey, I have seen NM now and then on the internet, and I suppose I was attracted by its rarity and seemingly small production as compared to the mainstream bourbons. The label on its wine-type bottle, which appears almost hand-designed, also generates a degree of fascination

Bottle Nose: Tantalizing old cask, dried fruit, licorice, and butterscotch. Dried residue likely contributes to the bottle nose, but this is such a treat with these mature bourbons … and often a better predictor of the imminent taste experience.

Glass Nose: After resting for 10 minutes, we have old piney wood, tobacco and leather.

Palate: Tasting the smallest sip possible without water, your tongue receives a blast of concentrated medium-sweet brown sugar and then dry and leathery old-wood flavor. There are also hints of mint and tobacco. Do not dare to swallow yet, until the nectar has spent some time on the palate, while self-diluting, and then in its own time, has percolated down. When it is all over, there is no doubt that you have just consumed something bold and remarkable!

Finish: You will need to sit down for this lovely and warming medium-long ending … a moment of silence, a catalyst for contemplation … a panacea for all ailments. Upon returning to reality, you notice that there was no bitterness and little or no burn … only a lingering soft and warm dryness.

Conclusion: Noah’s Mill Bourbon may well be, at near cask strength, about as good as bourbon gets; I have gleaned that sometimes a bourbon that has been too long in the barrel, tends to become overly woody and looses what it has taken so long to achieve. I do not believe this is the case with Noah’s Mill.

For those Scotch drinkers who have tasted and enjoyed Macallan Cask, Laphroaig Cask or Aberlour a’bunadh, the cask strength adventure with Noah’s Mill will be familiar. Though NM may neither be a “go-to” nor a desert-island whiskey, you will want to have such a high-octane bottle in reserve or those moments in which you are thinking: “take me to another land!” ... might that be Kentucky?

If done properly, NM is quite drinkable and highly rewarding w/o water. Adding water, sometimes for me, transforms NM into a full-bodied and luscious dram (not a problem at all), but also drops it down out of the bold, sock-it-to-me category … thus loosing that flagrant cask-strength flavor rush. It would seem that the proper dram for these fine high-ABV whiskies would be no more than 1/2 oz (15ml), and that slowly experiencing small sips would take 20 to 30 minutes.

Today I am enjoying NM a bit over the 63% Booker’s … one of its few heavy-weight bourbon peers … I think it might be the slight bitterness I find in Booker’s (although indeed a fine drink itself). Also, I feel that NM is smoother, richer and sweeter than Booker’s. Another peer that comes to mind is George T. Stagg bourbon at a staggering 70%, which begs to be tasted next to Noah’s Mill.

Well I just came in from shoveling a blustery snow, and I am now giving this writing a final review, along with a few sips of Noah’s Mill … indeed the perfect dram to rejuvenate the spirit and warm the innards !

Score: 92/100

"Bulk" whiskey isn't necessarily bad whiskey, and it's not necessarily in the interests of the distiller (Heaven Hill or whomever else that may be) to gamble on the market when they have a sure bet—a contract, that is—with an independent bottler. Certainly, the Scotch industry thrives on selling their spirits to independent bottlers and even to other distilleries for use in blends. Moreover, independent bottlers can age the whiskey themselves, as I believe Kentucky Bourbon Distillers does. Finally, an independent bottler might source and "co-mingle" whiskey from more than one distillery. All of this can go a long way to making good whiskey even better, or at least different from what else is on the market.

Well I never heard of this Bourbon before today. So I read Mark's new review and got quite interested. Then I read this amazing review and I am just blown away. I have to try this one!

Thx for the review, it is indeed one of the best I have read so far.

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