1792 Ridgemont Reserve.. Not a Third Stringer...

By Keith Adams

Time for another guest bourbon review featuring 1792 Ridgemont Reserve.  Since my last selection was sub-par, I took a slightly different approach when selecting my next bottle. This time I decided I’d go by name alone. As I scanned the shelves, I stopped on 1792 and thought back to a saying one of my friends has…. “Except for the B-52's, all bands with numbers in their name suck.”  I wondered to myself whether this same statement would hold true for bourbon’s, or would 1792 prove to be the B52’s of bourbon?

The first sip of this bourbon is incredibly smooth.  It seemed to go down like water.  I sat thinking about how amazingly smooth this was for about 5 seconds and then made the mistake of trying to breathe.  Holy shit, it was like I couldn’t get any air into my lungs. I don’t want you to think this was a bad experience; it was actually a very nice burn that left as quick as it started. It just caught me by surprise. Then came the overwhelming dryness you might associate with wine.  Again, not a bad thing.

Let me cut to my actual impressions of this bourbon. And then bore anyone who stays around with an odd story.  I really liked it.  It is a solid offering that I will keep in my cabinet for the foreseeable future.  It starts out slightly sweet and ends with a subtle oakey finish.

Anyone still here? Anyway, after I poured the first glass and took a few sips, I decided to read the bottle. While reading I noticed something floating in the bourbon.  Upon closer examination, it appeared to be a string or possibly a thread. 

I’m assuming this came from the stitching on the decorative lip and it ended up in there during the bottling process. I went ahead and poured another glass and drank it.  This was when I decided I should drop a note to the nice people over at Buffalo Trace Distillery.  They contacted me the very next business morning and asked me to ship the bottle back so they could have it tested.  They FedEx’d me a return shipping box and are sending me a check to cover a new bottle. I headed over to my liquor cabinet to get the bottle and send it back. 

It was about this time I realized that 1792 was a popular drink in my home.  Apparently my daughter's boyfriend has taken a liking to it and there was only about half the bottle left; luckily the thread was still floating around in there. I packed it up, sent it back and then went out and purchased a new bottle. I'm assuming my check will be for $10. I originally told them the bottle was almost full so they may not want to refund the full amount.  I considered splashing some around in the box to get a nice bourbon smell going so they might think it leaked during shipping.  Just kidding, this stuff is too good to do that.

Head out, buy yourself a bottle and check for floating threads! 

Taste: Sweet caramel/cinnamon/ginger

Price: $29

Purchase Again: Yes