Woodford Reserve Double Oaked is one of those bourbons that several of us really enjoy. A few of us would probably even put it among our favorites. So when we had the chance to pick up a bottle of Double Double Oaked for its $199 MSRP, we were pretty excited.
I know I had really high hopes for this one.
The Tasting
Unfortunately, Double Double Oaked just didn't deliver what we were hoping for.
It wasn't bad bourbon by any means, but it didn't have nearly the flavor we expected. One of the things several of us really enjoy about the regular Double Oaked is that rich, oaky character. We were expecting even more of that from Double Double Oaked, but surprisingly, we felt like it had less.
And when you're going to call something Double Double Oaked, I think it's fair to expect plenty of oak.
We tried it both neat and with ice, as we always do. About two-thirds of the group preferred it neat, while the other third liked it better with ice.
Worth the Pour?
For us, no.
The biggest disappointment was that we simply liked the regular Double Oaked better. We went into this expecting an improvement on a bourbon we already loved, and instead found ourselves wishing we were drinking the original.
I've seen plenty of people give Double Double Oaked glowing reviews, and that's perfectly fine. Everyone tastes things differently. It just didn't live up to our expectations.
Would we buy it again? No.
If someone who loves Double Oaked asked me whether they should spend $199 on Double Double Oaked, I'd tell them to save their money.
That's not to say they wouldn't enjoy it. We just didn't find enough in this bottle to justify the price, especially when the regular Double Oaked is already so good.