Ezra Brooks Distiller’s Collection Bourbon – OHLQ Selection #1

Allocated bourbon and store picks are exciting.  They offer an opportunity to receive a single barrel selection at an equal or better price than the equivalent bottle.  Theses picks are typically highly sought after and generally hard to find.  They also have a significant amount of bottle to bottle and batch to batch variability.  In some cases, it can even be dependent on the selector for the store or liquor authority.  For these reasons, I generally don’t purchase these selections since they’re two variable to recommend as liquors for bases for cocktails.  I generally follow this rule, but made an exception for Ezra Brooks Distiller’s Collection Bourbon – OHLQ Selection #1.

Ezra Brooks Distiller’s Collection Bourbon – OHLQ Selection #1

Ezra Brooks Distiller’s Collection Bourbon – OHLQ Selection #1 has a 53.5% A.B.V. (107 Proof).  It’s barrel number was 7015900, and the barrel was filled 2/23/15.  I purchased the bottle in early January of 2021, shortly after it’s release.  OHLQ provided the following information on the barrel:

• Warehouse: 1
• Floor: 5
• Rick: 39
• Tier: 3
• Position: 17
• Description:  Warm caramel and vanilla, sweet.

Sight:  Bordering on tawny.

Smell:  The nose undoubtedly starts sweet, and instantly leans into vanilla and caramel.  Touches of hay and wheat join in, with black cherries and black tea.  A rough splash of clove joins in with touches of clove and tobacco.

Sip:  The sip starts smooth and sweet, before opening up into vanilla, caramel, brandied cherries, and oversteeped spice tea.  Pops of clove overwhelm the other spices, before allowing oak to come to the forefront.  A hint of ethanol comes out too.

Savor:  The finish gets tannic, pulling in notes of charred wood, strong clove, and a slight sour cherry.

Ezra Brooks Distiller’s Collection Bourbon – OHLQ Selection #1 is sweet and spicy sip that doesn’t disappoint.  The proof isn’t so high as to be difficult to drink, but it comes loaded with flavor.  The texture is smooth with just a hint of burn.   The complexity is in line with a $35 bottle, and opens up with more sweetness, especially after a sip of water.

In Cocktails

This particular bottle of Ezra Brooks is unbelievably great as a Manhattan.  The caramel and vanilla notes come through with touches of black pepper and black tea.   The weight feels perfect, just like liquid silk should.  The play off the vermouth shows them sharing the space as equals, giving space for the fruity flavors of the vermouth and the sweetness and herbal notes in the bourbon.

Ezra Brooks Distiller’s Collection Bourbon – OHLQ Selection #1 in Review

Ezra Brooks Distiller’s Collection Bourbon is honestly one of the standout bottles I’ve had in 2021.  Upon sharing it with my father, he confirmed my bias to enjoy it.  At $35, I picked this up as an impulse buy and found it punched well above it’s weight.  Which led me to wonder whether or not the rest of Ezra Brook’s selection is anywhere near as good.

In short, I recommend Ezra Brooks Distiller’s Collection, but as a store pick or limited time offering, we won’t be adding it to any of our formal lists.