| Distillery: | Buffalo Trace |
| Type & Region: | Bourbon, Kentucky, USA |
| Alcohol: | 45° |
| Composition: | Mash #1, speculated to be 75% corn, 10% rye, 15% barley |
| Aged: | 10 years in virgin American white oak |
| Color: | 1.2/2.0 on the color scale (chestnut, oloroso sherry) |
About Eagle Rare
Here is another star from the Buffalo Trace whiskey collection. Buffalo Trace boasts the highest professional scotch of its own. Many limited issues of the distillery become hits and disappear from sale in a matter of weeks.
Eagle Rare, 10 Year Old, Single Barrel Bourbon is a premium bourbon, arousing the interest of many true whiskey connoisseurs out there. The complex, full-bodied, soft bourbon of Eagle Rare has an extremely delicate and long finish. The taste of whisky contains notes of ripe plums and cherries, and the flavor contains shades of spices, cocoa, and maple syrup. It is recommended to be served neat or over ice.
If you love oak-aged whiskey, this is a great bottle to have on hand.
Color
It has a dark amber color, a little like brandy, but not too reddish, no weird shades, a little honeyish. It’s thick and tears come slowly down the glass.
Smell
The first scent to reach your nose when you bring it up to your face is your original interaction with the bourbon. Initially, with the first sniff, the aroma is a little sharp, just like when an eagle is holding onto its prey. But when the aroma is released, the sharpness vanishes, and a saturated, classic vanilla-caramel scent is revealed. After a few sniffs, you can tell that there’s a secret door to a delicious cherry-sugary world. You get candied cherry, cane sugar, and overgrown fruits. And you can scent the pleasant fragrance of the old cellar.
Once diluted with water, the flavors become more complex: dried fruits are added, apricots in particular. The vanilla aroma remains the same, with the added complexity that comes from mixing different flavors. And on top of that, you can smell nutmeg when combined with the presence of sugar molasses.
Flavor
If you are looking for a smooth taste, this would be a good bourbon to try. The nice thing about Eagle Rare is that it’s not too rigid. It has a nice balance to it. The first thing you notice is the strong vanilla-caramel taste that hits your tongue, which gradually gives way to the typical woody taste that most bourbons have. It is immediately followed by oak notes. Then the spicy notes come in: cloves spice up your tongue while cayenne pepper warms your throat. As a first sip, you are getting a lot of heat from the reference of neat, well-maintained port wine, but as you drink more, the heat subsides, and it turns into a sweet blend of spices.
‘Chewing’ significantly influences the tasting notes you can experience on your palate. The combination of soft and smooth vanilla with the powerful taste of oak, is a bold move that creates a unique flavor that perfectly describes the flavor of the drink.
Finish
It has a pretty powerful, memorable, but not very long sweet aftertaste. You can also notice the wooden flavors of the walnut and oak come out. In the end, on the back of your tongue, you’ll taste a slight note of coffee. After tasting this bourbon, you get an oak smell, like freshly cut wood.
Eagle Rare 10 Year Alternatives
Let’s see how Eagle Rare 10 Year matches up against similar bourbons. Play around with different alternatives to learn more about Eagle Rare 10 Year.
Wild Turkey 101
Wild Turkey 101 is a higher alcohol version of the base bourbon. The 101 is almost cask strength. Some bourbons of the brand are unaged, which means they’re bottled at a low proof and you can add water to increase the alcohol content. It won’t need too much water to boost it to 50.5°.
If you were to just smell the whiskey, peppermint spice is the strongest scent you’d sense. Swirling this bourbon shows it to be loaded with grassy and floral notes, light hints of cherry, vanilla, and bubblegum.
The peppermint flavor is very strong, and you’ll feel it on your tongue when you drink it. The citrus notes are also not-so-subtle, but they make it easy to immediately recognize the bourbon. To sum it up, Wild Turkey 101 tastes like a typical, high-rye bourbon despite being made from a low rye mash.
Maker’s Mark
This is a bourbon produced by the Maker’s Mark distillery in Kentucky, USA. Being the brand’s most popular and widely sold product. This whiskey is a wheated bourbon, which means the wheat is used more than rye. It has a sweeter and less spicy flavor, like wheat bread instead of pumpernickel bread.
The initial smell is light to moderate, sweet tea-like (a blend of honey, orange, lemon, and alcohol). Wood, grass, and floral smells get released by the swirling. The alcohol’s potency also increases. All in all, you will be pleasantly surprised by the odor.
Mostly, you will taste sugar with a little bit of woody flavors and alcohol that wraps around them. ‘Chewing’ produces a stronger taste of corn and wheat. While this bourbon has a sweet and simple taste, it still has many subtle flavors which make it complex and enjoyable. The aftertaste’s lining includes vanilla, lemon tea with honey, and some wood spice. It is a very solid option if you’re looking for a bourbon that is not too hard to drink straight.
Stagg Jr.
The Buffalo Trace Antique Collection includes a number of extremely rare and hard-to-find bourbons. The Stagg Jr. flavor is one representative example of this brand. Makers release it in small batches, which releases twice a year. Each batch has a unique characteristic from the other.
Sniffing the first round of this you can tell it has an incredibly rich and woody aroma. The scent affirms that caramel, vanilla, fuji apple, cinnamon, and allspice tend to complement each other. Wood from older barrels and peanut-flavored candy also show up. Give it a 10-minutes time and you will start to sense the incredible smell of musty raisins.
If you take a sip, at first the alcohol will take over and you will taste caramel, corn, peppermint gum, and pumpernickel bread. Gradually, the flavor explodes in your mouth, with strong lemon and peach flavors, along with rich caramel and deeply charred wood. You’ll also taste cinnamon and toasted nuts. Summing it up, Stagg Jr is like a monster truck, but it’s also very smooth.
The Verdict
If you’re looking for a bourbon that’s well balanced and has essentially everything you could want in a bourbon, Eagle Rare 10 is pretty good. It might be a little rougher than you might think it should be. However, it depends on individual preferences. The appearance of the bottle seems to be recognizable among others. It’s essential to be able to spot the right bottle when you’re shopping for bourbon. Regarding the cost, it may be a better financial decision to seek a wallet-friendly alternative. Nonetheless, if you are about to buy a bourbon 10 years of age, 30$ per bottle is a reasonable price.
FaQ
Is Eagle Rare Worth the Money?
The Eagle Rare 10-year-old single barrel bourbon is created by the Buffalo Trace distillery. It’s not an over-hyped bourbon steeped in history and it’s not aggressively marketed. There are some who call Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon one of the crème de la crème of bourbon whiskey. It is not just that it is old and mature, but more importantly, it always delivers and leaves a lasting and full-bodied impression on its drinkers.
How Much Is a Bottle of Eagle Rare?
When it comes to the bourbon industry, the older the whiskey is, the pricier it gets. A decent bottle can cost $15 while an extraordinary one could be over $100. Eagle Rare, 10 Year Old is just another addition in Buffalo Trace’s lineup of excellent-quality bourbons. Eagle Rare, 10 Year Old, Single Barrel Bourbon is originally retailed for $30 per bottle. When it comes to 10 years of whiskey and a respectful brand name, that’s a reasonable price.
Does Eagle Rare Increase in Value?
Often when adding a bottle of Eagle Rare to your collection, you will likely fall in one of two camps. First, there are those who know about this bourbon and want to add it to their collection enjoying the knowledge that they have something very few other people own. The second group of owners is people who happened across a bottle in their travels. That’s all it took to hit the jackpot with an experience that few others have enjoyed.
Is Eagle Rare Better Than Maker’s Mark?
If you feel like you’re having a hard time choosing what bourbon to buy then your main decision should be between Maker’s Mark and Eagle Rare. Both of these brands offer a great-tasting bourbon that you will love. The differences between Maker’s Mark and Eagle Rare are their flavor profile, the proof of each bottle, and the cost.
What Makes Eagle Rare Special?
When it comes to Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon, if you like to try something different and unique, rather than the same old thing in a bottle, then this is definitely for you. This is a very special bourbon for multiple reasons, it’s diverse in style, age-stated for the majority of its maturation, well-balanced, not too spicy or sweet, offers the incredible depth, and exudes the original character of the Buffalo Trace Distillery.
