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Evan Williams Extra Aged

woody
3.7
(2)€24United States, Kentucky, Bourbon

Flavours

Whisky character

Fresh
Warm
Mild
Full
Smooth
Spicy

Taste mentions

Facts

In 1783, a man named Evan Williams opened the first commercial distillery in Kentucky. The bourbon that carries his name is still made in Bardstown, close to where he started. This is the everyday bottling, the one poured without ceremony. Maple syrup and brown sugar lead the nose. Vanilla fills the middle, then a peppery dryness closes it out. There is a dry oak edge running underneath that keeps the sweetness in check. Drink it neat and you get a clear picture of plain Kentucky bourbon. Few bottles at this price are this honest.

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About the distillery

Distillery

Evan Williams

In 1783, a Welsh immigrant opened what is remembered as Kentucky's first commercial distillery, on the banks of the Ohio River in Louisville. His name was Evan Williams, and he was a busy figure in the young town. He served as an early city trustee and as Louisville's wharf master. The bourbon that carries his name today is a different story. Heaven Hill launched the brand in 1957 and now distills it in Bardstown, Kentucky, just blocks from where Williams once worked. It has grown into one of the best selling Kentucky straight bourbons in the world. In 2013, Heaven Hill brought whisky making back to Louisville's Whisky Row. The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience opened on West Main Street with a working pot still and a five story bottle on its facade. It became the first stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail inside the city itself.

3.4Average rating

12Whiskies on Distilld

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About the Evan Williams Extra Aged

Evan Williams Extra Aged is a Kentucky straight bourbon from Heaven Hill in Bardstown. It is the export name for the label American drinkers know as Black Label. The mash leans hard on corn, with rye and malted barley behind it. Bottled at 43% ABV, it sits in the everyday end of the bourbon shelf. No colouring is added. The whisky has been the brand's backbone for decades. The name belongs to a real person. Evan Williams opened Kentucky's first commercial distillery in 1783. Heaven Hill still makes the bourbon near that original site, in Bardstown. Two centuries later, the address matters more than the marketing. The barrels get a medium char before filling, which shapes the sweetness that follows. Wood does most of the flavour work in bourbon. Time in a hot Kentucky warehouse does the rest. Sweetness leads, and it is the syrupy kind. Maple syrup and brown sugar arrive before anything else. A dry oaky edge keeps them from turning cloying. Warm spice sits underneath, closer to pepper than cinnamon. Vanilla takes over once it is in the mouth, broad and creamy. Sweet corn holds the middle together. The close is short and drying, with a peppery kick and a woody rasp that fades fast. Evan Williams Extra Aged once carried a seven year age statement. Heaven Hill dropped it as bourbon stocks tightened across the industry. The liquid still comes from the same mash and the same warehouses. The change sits on the label, not in the glass. Against the older and pricier bottlings in the range, this is the plain everyday pour. It is built for volume and consistency rather than for collectors. That honesty is worth something.