Distillery: Ghost Coast Distillery
Proof: 86
Age: 3 years
Mashbill: N/A
BACKGROUND: The Ghost Coast Master Bourbon comes from a unique blend of 4 bourbons. The mashbills all contain the typical ingredients of corn, wheat, rye, malted barley, and oats finished with either saison or traditional yeast. The goal of the master blender was to use the spice of the rye, the sweets of the corn, with the smoothness of wheat to make a delicious approachable dram. Ghost Coast aims to make a “cozy” bourbon that could be enjoyed by all whiskey drinkers.
NOSE: From the second you raise your glass to your nose, you are immediately welcomed with bright notes of cherry, caramelized nuts, and a sweet shortbread smell. A bit young, but still quite enjoyable, as the sweet flavors come and go a delicious graham cracker scent controls the nose. (21/25)
PALATE: As you take the first sip, a light oily sweetness swishes around your mouth full of orange rinds, white raisins, walnut, caramel and baking spices. The warm sugary flavors almost remind you of a sweet muffin. The young age definitely shows with some stronger ethanol hints, but a combated with a very fresh clean airiness to the drink. (29/40)
FINISH: The finish is short yet very smooth. Flavors of charred oak, cracked pepper, and tobacco leave with an ever so light trace of spice. (21/25)
VALUE: For $30 this is a wonderful bottle to keep on hand for making cocktails or drinking over ice. Definitely shows some flaws but for the price, it packs a whole lot of flavor. (7/10)
Overall: 78/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Ghost Coast is a delicious whiskey with a lot of great potential if it gets a few more years in the barrel. Full of delicious flavor that will only show more of their character in time. I am very excited to see what else they come out with in the future!
Slightly Better Whiskey: Michter's US*1
Equal Whiskey: Basil Hayden
Slightly Worse Whiskey: Evan Williams Bourbon
Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
Below 50: Give away
