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Bourbon Review: Rock Town Fifth Anniversary Bourbon

We review Rock Town Fifth Anniversary Bourbon, a true craft, Bottled-in-Bond bourbon release from a young distillery out of Arkansas.

OVERALL RATING

  • Savannah Weinstock is a whiskey enthusiast and industry professional.
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Rock Town Fifth Anniversary Bourbon

Tasting Notes

About:

Appearance:
Rock Town bourbon is a medium-light caramel tone in the glass.
Nose:
Bananas and brown sugar a la bananas foster is the first impression on the nose. Surprisingly mild for its BIB status, Rock Town is light, fruity, and funky on the nose. Buttery, doughy notes mingle with a cornucopia of warm tropical fruits, with pineapple, banana, and raw almond standing out. As the nose develops, it becomes quite funky; papaya and guava come through with significant vegetal funk. After some time, the topical fruit funk settles in with a buttered popcorn and grassy notes.
Palate:
Bitter, nutty, and almond-forward on the palate, Rock Town has a light, almost thin mouthfeel with a slight BIB burn. A fun-house mirror reflection of the nose, the palate accentuates the funky, tropical vegetation of the nose, with adding a distinctly bitter element. Hot fruit comes through with the grassiness of the nose turning to hay on the palate. Midway through the palate, buttered popcorn comes through to accompany the tropical, vegetal notes that have transferred from the nose. Slightly chocolatey on the finish, popcorn carries all the way through. Conclusion: Rock Town Fifth Anniversary Bourbon is absolutely a strange bourbon. While the tropical, vegetal, popcorn elements of the dram make it fun and interesting to taste through, the bitterness present from front to back on the palate detract from the overall experience. The relatively thin body also seems strange in comparison to the buttery flavors of the whiskey. The flavors on the palate need some excavation to be discovered, with the power of the nose really being the show-stopper. Altogether, Rock Town remains pretty approachable for how funky it is. FINAL SCORE: 89/100
Finish:
Comments:

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Savannah Weinstock

Savannah Weinstock is a graduate of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where her Environmental Studies thesis delved into the intersection of Scotch Whisky, sustainability, and the commodification of nature and culture. During her thesis research, she spent time living and studying in Glasgow, Scotland, visiting and interviewing distilleries across the country, with a particular focus on the Hebridean Isles. Savannah is currently immersed in the industry, gaining firsthand experience with whiskey, spirits, and cocktails on a daily basis.

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