Michter’s Bourbon 20 Years is one of their ultra-premium releases and fetches insane on the primary market and ludicrous prices on the secondary market. Like everything else they do it’s sourced and they skirt the disclosure line when they talk about it.
In Michter’s Words: Michter’s Bourbon 20 Years
“While we regularly sample all our Michter’s barrels to see how our whiskey is aging, we pay even extra special attention to our barrels once they are over 17 years old. At Michter’s we consider 17 to 20 years the “Fork In The Road Point” when certain barrels of whiskey can achieve an extraordinary level of quality. It is these particular barrels that our Master Distiller Pamela Heilmann personally selects for our very limited bottling of Michter’s 20 Year Limited Release Kentucky Straight Bourbon.”
It’s continuously funny to me that Michter’s keeps calling out their master distiller(s) in the descriptions as if they had anything to do with the creation of this whiskey. Like everything else Michter’s puts out the Michter’s Bourbon 20 Years was sourced from another distillery because they only recently started distilling their own whiskey.
I think this is seriously to their detriment because when they get to the point of putting out their own whiskey it’s not going to taste like the stuff they’ve been sourcing and that’s going to be a curveball to customers who don’t know that Michter’s only puts out sourced whiskey right now.
And with that let’s jump on down to the Michter’s Bourbon 20 Years review.
Michter’s Bourbon 20 Years Info
Region: USA
Distiller: Unknown
Bottler: Chatham Imports / Michter’s
Mashbill: At least 51% Corn, Rye and Malted Barley
Cask: New Charred Oak
Age: 20 Years
ABV: 57.1%
Price: $1,000+
Michter’s Bourbon 20 Years Review
EYE
Dark caramel
NOSE
Oak, roasted grain, Smarties, toffee, minerality, complex baking spice, sour cherry candy, dried fruit and vanilla.
PALATE
Oak, toffee, roasted grain, sour cherry candy, cinnamon heavy baking spice, minerality, buttery brittle, powdered sugar and a touch of mint.
FINISH
Long fade of dark fruit, roasted grain, spice and oak.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Perfectly balanced, full body and heavy rich feel.
OVERALL
There is an overarching essence here that reminds me of Dickel. The Michter’s Bourbon 20 Years has to be 20 year old Dickel, the roasted grain and overall character just screams Dickel to me. Which it could easily be since they don’t say it’s from Kentucky and we know from rumors that old Dickel barrels have been released on the open market a few years ago. So if the rumors were true, then here they are.
We also know that Diageo has some great old Dickel barrels in their SW warehouses and if they could make a quick buck selling them to the Michter’s folks why wouldn’t they? It’s more costly to bottle it as your own so why not just offload it quickly at a higher margin? Either scenario I’d be stunned if the source of the Michter’s Bourbon 20 Years ended up not being Dickel because that’s the only thing I could think of while drinking it.
SCORE: 93-97/100 (A, not consumed at home)