By Richard Thomas
Rating: B+
(Credit: Richard Thomas)
Last month, newcomer whiskey company 15 Stars announced a line extension, meaning they added a new line to the brand: First West. Briefly, 15 Stars was started by the Columbus, Ohio-based, father and son team of Rick and Ricky Johnson. A negociant/non-distiller producer (NDP), 15 Stars released their first bottlings just a few years ago, but have garnered much attention in a short span of time because those bottlings have been pretty damn good. The name refers to Kentucky’s place as the 15th state, so upon its admission as the Union as its first state west of the Appalachians, the flag had 15 stars. The company relies upon a mix of aged whiskey sourced from various producers plus contract production from Bardstown Bourbon Company. At least some of that contract production uses the same heirloom corn varietal used by the Johnsons in their previous venture, a popcorn company.
The potentially confusing part about First West is that some of the previous bottlings from 15 Stars were also called “First West.” One suspects that is why the new set of three separate bourbons received a very different style of bottle and label from the main line of 15 Stars. Also, the main line includes many expressions that simply must be one-shot limited editions, whereas everything in the First West line could easily be sustained in regular release. However, enough potential remains that I felt the need to drop “15 Stars” from the title of this review to distinguish it from the previous 15 Stars First West Bourbon release, a very different whiskey from last year.
The entry level bottling of the new line is First West Small Batch, a blend of 5, 6 and 7 year old bourbon which includes at least some of their proprietary “popcorn” mash. The exact sourcing is not stated. It was bottled at 102 proof.
The Bourbon
Those nose smacked of a kitchen where banana bread and caramel apples are being made at the same time, which would make for quite an autumnal birthday party for some lucky kid. Add an extra helping of baking spices to one or the other and you’ve got it. The fruitiness on the palate continues to run in the apples vein, becoming apples and pears plus golden raisins. The banana note disappears, so this is not too much like a Brown-Forman bourbon, and a damp tobacco note rises on the back end. That tobacco rolls over into the finish, fading down to a lingering trace of oak.
The Price
Expect to pay $60 a bottle for this item.
