Noah’s Mill
“I think when you are named Noah, you are destined for a certain way of life”
Noah’s Mill is produced by Kentucky Bourbons Distillers (KBD) which operates out of the Willett distillery. Interestingly however, most of the brands that are owned by KBD do not identify KBD or Willett as the producing company on their labels. For instance, the Noah’s Mill bottle is marked as being produced by ‘Noah’s Mill Distilling Company’. The Gents are sure there is a good reason for this, we're just not clever enough to figure out what it is.
Noah’s Mill is one of several ‘small batch’ offerings by KBD. These include Rowan’s Creek, Kentucky Vintage and Pure Kentucky to name but a few. As you may be aware the term ‘small batch’ is a contentious and also undefined term, but the number of barrels for this small batch is reportedly as low as 20, which is remarkably low. Originally the bourbon was matured in charred oak barrels for 15 years, however, since around 2012 there has been no age statement declared and settles for the wording on the bottle as ‘aged until fully mature’. We blame Mav for buying so much of it that they had to start producing more.
Noah’s Mill is an exceptionally well-made and balanced bourbon full of complexity. The nose is to die for with lots of toffee, Christmas cake, raisins, rum, chocolate, cream and nuts - cashews in particular. The palate doesn’t let you down either, there you will find smoke, lots of oak, tobacco, and toffee, all wrapped up in a creaminess (probably not a word but its the best descriptor we can find for it) leading to a very long and warm finish. If that doesn’t make you want to run out and buy a bottle then we’re not sure what will.
Noah’s Mill was one of the first bourbons that was in the running for a 10 out of 10 on our scoring scale. Ultimately we decided on one lower, but wow this is a good bourbon. Yes, the quality has dropped a bit since the early days of the 15-year-old version, but it's a testament to how good it is that we still drool over it even today.
