Review #16: Evan Williams Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey 43%

I picked this little gem up in Walmart when we got to "the big island" on our trip to Hawaii last year. 9$ is what this whiskey cost me.... Yes I picked up this bottle of whiskey for 9$!!!! Yes 9$!!!! and would you believe it, it's actually quite good! Very drinkable, lovely tasty whiskey. Well worth the 9$ gamble on an unknown quantity! 

Price: 9$ for 43% straight bourbon the cheapest best value whiskey I'm ever likely to find. Nothing more to say. 6/6

Appearance: Golden brown. Legs present but I'm beginning to think I wont ever find a whiskey that wont have nice looking legs. Apparently at international whiskey competitions the appearance of a whiskey when being judged as a rule gets scored 0 points. So I'll only deduct points in future if something looks really wrong with a whiskey which is not likely to happen as I probably wouldn't drink it in that case. Still though nice to look at and describe what I'm drinking. 6/6

Availability: I can pick this up in a bottle shop albeit for significantly more than I paid for it in the states ($45 aus). I think I've seen it in a few pubs but generally not behind the bar in most pubs also I've never noticed this in duty free: 4/6

Marketing: check out the website link below, they provide some tasting notes and cocktail recipes, not bad but nothing special: 4/6

http://evanwilliams.com/bourbons.php?page=black-label

Packaging: No age statement. Straight bourbon so its at least 4 years old with no additives, either flavorings or colorants. There is a silly story which might be stretching the truth about the man for whom the whiskey is named and some other waffle which doesn't really tell us much about what's in the bottle.  4/6

Nose: Not too much going on. Slight solvent smell and maraschino cherries. Oakwood, sweet caramel, crystalised ginger and you can smell the mash or wort in the background too. 14/20

Taste: sweet cherries, oak, pepper: 15/20

Finish: medium to short finish some licorice: 14/20

Mouthfeel: Has a nice body to it, nice and smooth, not amazing but not bad: 6/10

Total score for this most budget of budget whiskies: 73/100

I was really chuffed with myself for having taken a punt on this while on holidays and I remember tucking into a dram of it on several nights while in Hawaii, happy days!

cheers,
Kev