The Colonel E.H. Taylor Cured Oak Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey

This limited Colonel E.H. Taylor release uses Buffalo Trace’s low-rye Mash Bill #1, aged seventeen years in barrels built from oak staves cured for thirteen months. Those staves spent more than twice the usual time seasoning outdoors, pulling deep character from the wood before a drop ever hit the barrel.

Warehouse C does the rest. Cool brick walls, long seasons, and patient evaporation stretch the bourbon into something lean, layered, and quietly powerful rather than just oaky. Bottled-in-bond at 100 proof, it carries a focused, old-school Kentucky profile where fruit, vanilla, and seasoned lumberyard notes move together instead of fighting for attention. This feels like a love letter to meticulous barrel work and long, careful aging. The personality leans richly fruited rather than heavy and brooding. Red apple, cherry, and dried fig mingle with vanilla, toffee, and a touch of mint before dry oak and tobacco notes drift in.

On the palate, that fruit turns deeper and darker, laced with cocoa, brown sugar, and a clean lumberyard edge that reminds you how long it sat in wood. Sweetness never loses the thread of seasoned oak, leaving a bourbon that tastes both generous and sharply defined.

The finish holds your attention for a long time. Dry oak, cocoa, and gentle spice sit over lingering fig, cherry skin, and faint cigar-box notes. Heat stays civilized, rising slowly rather than flashing hot, which makes each small pour feel more like a slow unfolding than a quick hit. It’s the kind of bottle people open when they want to sit with a glass and actually pay attention.

Nose: Aromas of red apple, cherry, and dried fig rise first, wrapped in vanilla, toffee, and a soft mint lift.
Tobacco leaf, dry oak, and warm lumberyard notes follow, adding a seasoned, slightly dusty depth without smothering the fruit.

Palate: Medium-plus in body, the palate shows ripe apple, cherry compote, and fig over vanilla cream and toffee.
Dark cocoa, brown sugar, and a clean sawdust note weave through the mid-palate, joined by gentle spice and long-seasoned oak. Everything feels precise, not clumsy.

Finish: The finish runs long, dry, and quietly complex.
Layers of vanilla, toffee, and fig slowly give way to dry oak, cocoa powder, and a trace of tobacco. A lingering echo of fruit and seasoned wood hangs on the tongue, leaving the mouth warm and slightly parched in a satisfying way.

This Cured Oak release pairs beautifully with rich, savory dishes that respect its age and dryness.

Seared duck breast with cherry reduction or roast lamb with rosemary and garlic both play well against the bourbon’s fruit and oak.

Char-crusted ribeye with simple salt and pepper lets the seasoned wood and cocoa notes bounce off the char and the rendered fat.

On the cheese side, choose aged Gouda, clothbound cheddar, or a firm Alpine style where nuttiness and salt can meet the bourbon’s toffee and oak.

For dessert, lean into a dark chocolate tart, a fig and walnut cake, or a salted caramel pot de crème.

Those pairings echo the vanilla, fig, and cocoa tones without burying the structure that seventeen years in cured oak built.