Old Ezra Barrel Strength is a 7 year old, barrel proof release by Luxco under their Old Ezra label. For a long time Old Ezra was sourced from Heaven Hill Distillery, although I was recently informed by former Director of Trade Relations, Larry Kass, that this is no longer the case. In 2018, Luxco opened their own facility, Lux Row Distillers, and began distilling and aging in-house. Regardless, this release being 7 years old was almost certainly sourced from Heaven Hill, making it an interesting competitor to their 7 year Bottled-In-Bond offering.
Old Ezra 7 Year Barrel Strength, 58.5%
Nose: Cherries and cherry syrup, sweet corn, oak, vanilla, peanuts and pecans
Palate: Thick and oily mouthfeel, sweet at first followed by dry oak, cinnamon, more cherries, vanilla
Finish: Surprisingly long and not as dry as the palate would make you think, mellows out with some sweetness, finishes with more cherry. Overall it’s quite tame given the proof
Rating: 71/100 – Great | Well above average
This is a real cherry bomb. I have a bottle of Stagg Jr. Batch 12 that I’ve described similarly and really do need to do a side by side comparison.
It’s not overly complex, but for the $40 I paid, Old Ezra Barrel Strength is a great value bourbon and seems to be very available right now. I will most likely be grabbing a second bottle if it begins to disappear off the shelves.