Whether you’re eyeing a £35 bottle or splashing out over £1,000, Woodford Reserve has something to suit.
We’ve ranked every expression currently available in the UK (where I am based). From dependable core releases to limited edition outliers, so you know exactly where to start (or what to skip).
It goes without saying that this is my personal ranking. You may not agree. And that is okay! In fact, why not tell us what your favourite Woodford Reserve whiskey is in the comments below?
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked is a decadent delight that deserves to hit the lips of every bourbon drinker. Aged in classic virgin American oak and then finished in toasted casks, this is a dessert trolley served to you with 43.2% ABV.
Its shape reminds me of an upside-down Mjölnir (Thor’s Hammer) and packs as big a punch when it comes to truly over-the-top notes of rich caramel, toffee sauce, decent rue spice, and the influence of oak across both of those barrel types. I love the standard Woodford; it’s an incredibly versatile product, but the Double Oaked just pushes everything that bit further in all of the right ways.
Woodford Reserve Straight Rye
A few years ago, well, nearly a decade ago, I gave this my whiskey of the year on Whisky Wednesday. It was from the first batch released into the UK, and it just sang with these incredible notes of chocolate, mint, and gentle rye spices.
It retains all of those classic Woodford notes of caramel and oak as the rye content is only 53% of the mash bill. However, where it needed to be a rye, it was. Drinking it neat gives you swathes of warming, sweet flavours that don’t get too earthy, just that touch of mint. In cocktails, it allowed other ingredients to retain balance.
Making cocktails with rye sometimes requires alteration of amounts poured, but as this has a lower rye content than brands like Bulleit or High West, it allows every other flavour to talk. Outstanding bottle of rye.
Woodford Kentucky Straight Bourbon
The classic bottle that has lined many a back bar, and in the modern world, was probably the first Kentucky bourbon that most people have tried. Be it neat or in an Old Fashioned order at any bar across the planet.
It has dominant sweetness, pleasant spiciness, a welcoming price tag, and can lend its hand to being drunk neat, on ice, or mixed down into your favourite cocktail or mixed drink. The word “utilitarian” isn’t used enough when it comes to whiskey, as they all can be. Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon is the very definition of that word.
Woodford Reserve Batch Proof (59.2%)
So when I first tried this, it was at a blind tasting at a friend’s house, and I was convinced it was from Buffalo Trace.
The notes of old leather, buttery corn, the tingle of ABV, and wood spice on the nose. My brain instantly jumped to Weller or Stagg products. Wrong, cask strength Woodford Reserve Batch Proof. I ended up buying a bottle of this, and as it has opened up, the notes of cherry that run through it are simply remarkable. It comes in at about £120 a bottle, but given that’s what we used to be able to get some of the Buffalo Trace bottles for, this is still good value in my mind. People have paid much more for serious quality, high proof bourbon, and when the distillery is as reputable as Woodford, that price tag is fair for me.
Woodford Reserve Historic Barrel Entry
This was a strange one for me. Essentially, Woodford filled some casks with 100 proof (50% ABV) bourbon compared to their usual 110 proof (55% ABV). They’ve done this for historical purposes, as well as a few scientific ones, too. Sugar extraction from American oak tends to be higher at a lower entry proof, so we’re getting some very potent flavour from this.
It is absolutely loaded with heavy cream, raspberry, hazelnuts, and dark coffee aromas. You’re getting less of that classic vanilla and caramel note. Instead, it’s all about very wood-driven fruit notes. The banana and chocolate notes at the end of it are pretty insane.
This is another bottle that comes in around the £120 mark, but is a very different style to the classic Woodford that we all know and love. However, if you’re wanting something fun and that delivers more than what the label says, this is certainly it.
Woodford Reserve Wheated Whiskey
As a wheated bourbon fan, I bought this as soon as it came out. It was exciting, and at the time, American distilleries were releasing a lot of fun experiments. This one did fall a little flat, though.
Wheat is the dominant grain, taking up 52% of the mash bill, and I think it pushed it into this more earthy territory than what I wanted from it. It’s bright and green with apple, cinnamon, and sawdust, but I longed for that combination of corn and wheat and all the big, buttery sweet things that come with it. It’s a fun experiment that isn’t expensive if you fancy trying a bottle, but do be warned that it’s a rather different style.
Woodford Reserve Five-Malt Stouted Mash
On the subject of experimentalism, Woodford’s Master Collection has always held a few more unusual releases in it. This is one of them.
The merry folks at Woodford decided to distill malted rye, malted barley, unmalted barley, rye, and wheat to recreate the flavours of stout distiller’s mash. The result was a pretty Guinness Guinness-leaning style of bourbon. You get all of the coffee, cocoa, and slightly bitter barley notes that you’d expect from a fine pint of stout, but with 45.2%.
It was fun to try this, but I just felt that, as an experiment, it was fine. I again would’ve liked more sweetness brought in by corn, but this wouldn’t have achieved the result of the stout style. You win some, you lose some.
Baccarat Edition
Now, I bear no animosity towards Woodford when I talk about this bottle, but why did they release this? It’s their classic mash-bill finished in XO Cognac casks and presented in a rather lovely Baccarat crystal decanter. That’s cool, but it’s not £1,400 worth of cool.
I have had the privilege of trying this, and it’s an extremely nuanced and articulate style of bourbon. It has this poached pear, dark chocolate, and mocha style notes to it. But I feel that you’re mostly paying for the fancy decanter.
There are premium buyers in the world of bourbon, but you see these things still lingering on shelves for quite a long time. It looks good and has a very interesting, subtle taste profile. But I wonder what the cost would have been without the fancy crystal.
Woodford Reserve Straight Malt
Another throwback to when American distilleries started releasing all of the fun stocks that they kept quiet.
This was released in 2018, I believe. I only remember that as I was in New York at the time, I wandered into a bar with a friend and saw that blue label behind the bar. Asked for a double, they poured me a quadruple – American hospitality at its finest, and I didn’t like it.
I’ve tried it again since, and it has grown on me slightly, but I just don’t think this style of American malt whiskey works. The mash-bill is 53% barley, but again, it’s beginning for something a little sweeter to pull back from those very dominant grass and grist notes.
Again, at the price of about £40, it’s fun if you want to try something new and different, but much like the Wheated Whiskey, it’s not the classic profile.
What’s Your Go-To Woodford Pour?
From the rich sweetness of Double Oaked to the curveball of Five Malt Stouted Mash, Woodford Reserve’s lineup covers a lot of ground. But ranking whiskey is always personal, so which bottle would top your list, and which one left you cold? Let us know what you think.
Read the full article at Every Woodford Reserve Ranked Best to Worst
