Belle Meade Bourbon Finished in XO Cognac Cask™ is the result of painstaking attention to detail to create a product of unmistakable quality and character. We start by seeking the perfect casks for the project because like any other ingredient, the finishing cask must be exceptional in order to achieve exceptional results. We use casks made of French Limousin Oak that have been used for 12 years to age one of the world's premiere Fine Champagne XO Cognacs. One smell of these casks tells you that they hold truly magnificent potential as finishing barrels. We then fill the casks with a blend of well-aged Bourbons to coax the best results from the casks. The blend we select brings out the spice and fruit characteristics of the cask while bringing rich depth and complexity which plays perfectly with the soft, luxurious flavors of the well-aged Cognac flavors embedded in the French oak. Belle Meade Bourbon Finished in XO Cognac Cask is the perfect way to wind down the day when sipped neat, with a splash of water, or on the rocks.
What you smell and taste in a whisky is highly subjective.
Even the pros do not always agree on the tasting notes. Therefore, we have combined the tasting notes from several sources into a cross-section Nose, Palate, and Finish to find the commonalities between two whiskies. We use the Aroma Wheel with its concentric circles of increasingly specific tastes and smells (general in the center; more specific the further out you go) to find Exact, Secondary, and General matches between two whiskies. We also take into account other important factors like mash bill, barrel type(s), ABV, region, ratings, price and more. We then weight each factor based on what we believe to be the approximate importance it has in determining whether two whiskies are similar.
We're all different.
Again, we cannot stress enough that what you smell and taste in a whisky is likely going to be different than the person you're drinking it with. Whisky Mates is meant to be a guide to help you find what you like drinking, using the best methodologies available. In the end, rely on your own palate to tell you what you like and don't like.