Wheel Horse Bourbon 101 Review

Wheel Horse 101
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
101 Proof
MSRP: $34.99
Review

Please enjoy our Wheel Horse Bourbon 101 Review by Laura Becker!

Green River Distilling produces All Wheel Horse Whiskeys

Our earlier Wheel Horse Double Oak Bourbon Review shares the pertinent production details of Wheel Horse Whiskeys. Green River Distilling, located in Owensboro, KY distills all Wheel Horse Whiskeys. Wheel Horse’s facility in Rumford, Rhode Island, blends and bottles the whiskeys. The brand’s flagship whiskeys are their Wheel Horse 101 Rye and Wheel Horse 101 Bourbon.

The Specifics – Wheel Horse 101 Bourbon Review

Wheel Horse 101 Bourbon is distilled from a sour mash bill of 70% corn, 21% rye and 9% malted barley. It is distilled in copper stills then aged in 53-gallon char level 4 new American oak barrels for a minimum of four years. The brand states that “all Wheel Horse small batch whiskeys are bottled at 101 proof and without chill filtration.”

Tasting Notes

Let’s taste it:

🛏 Rested for 15 minutes in a Glencairn Glass

Nose: Floral perfume notes, pear, apricot, a light waft of creamy caramel
Taste: Brazil nut, subtle vanilla and butterscotch notes, light oak, very light baking spice
Finish: Caramelized sugar notes, reminiscent of the top of a crème brulee; initially bold and slightly hot but quickly settles into a medium finish

The flavors that develop as one noses Wheel Horse 101 Bourbon are floral and fruity. Those flavors did not carry over to the taste. The taste presented itself with our typical bourbon characteristics of vanilla, butterscotch, a slightly nutty flavor and very light spice. Initially, the taste was quite bold but that heat dissipated quickly rounding out into a very pleasant and approachable bourbon with a moderate complexity.

Conclusion

Overall, Wheel Horse 101 Bourbon is very pleasant to drink. It is quite approachable and could easily become a daily drinker with its very reasonable MSRP at $34.99. I enjoyed the journey from the floral nose to the palate of traditional bourbon flavors, with enough complexity to ponder before I took the next sip. I also paused to reflect on those other 101 proof bourbons I have tried in the past. Even with 21% rye in the mash bill, I feel like the this bourbon has less overall heat and less intense spice which may make it more palatable for folks new to drinking neat bourbon. Have you had tried Wheel Horse 101 Bourbon? What did you think? Cheers!

We hope you have enjoyed our Wheel Horse Bourbon 101 Review by Laura Becker! Would you like to learn more about Green River Distillery? Then check out our Green River Distilling Tour Review! Also, you can read about a related bourbon in our Wheel Horse Double Oak Bourbon Review. If you would like to read about another double oak bourbon from a brand owned by this boubon’s parent company, Latitude Beverage Co, then check out our Copper & Cask Double Oak Bourbon Review.

Note: This bottle was graciously provided by the brand for our review. Thank you!

About the Author: Laura Becker, an Executive Bourbon Steward of the Stave & Thief Society, serves on the boards of the Lexington Bourbon Society and Kentucky Bourbon Influencers. Laura also works as a Brand Ambassador for few different distilleries. Lastly, each summer she and her husband, Frank, teach Whisk(e)y education experiences at Chautauqua Institution in New York.

Would you like to learn more about distilleries and bourbon? Are you planning a trip to Kentucky Distilleries? Maybe you would like to live the bourbon life vicariously through us? If any of these are true, then check out BourbonObsessed.com today!