Ezra Brooks 7 years

About the Ezra Brooks 7 years

Ezra Brooks 7 years is a Kentucky straight bourbon whisky, bottled at barrel strength. Luxco owns the Ezra Brooks name, and its Lux Row Distillers site stands in Bardstown, Kentucky. Seven years in new charred oak barrels sit behind that age statement. At 58.5 percent alcohol, nothing is cut back before it reaches the bottle. Released in October 2018, it gave the range a proper high proof entry. The mash bill runs 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley and 10 percent rye. Corn leads by a wide margin, with malted barley taking more space than rye. Luxco has kept the source distillery for this bourbon undisclosed. What is public is Lux Row itself, completed in Bardstown in 2018. The site holds six barrel warehouses and a 43-foot custom copper still. Seven years in Kentucky heat drive the spirit deep into the wood. Pour it and the nose opens with vanilla and sweet corn. Oak sits behind them, dry and a little dusty. The palate is thicker than the aroma suggests. Vanilla and corn sweetness arrive first, then wood and a wave of spice. Nutmeg shows up in the middle and stays there. The finish is long and warm, caramel and honey folding into more spice as it fades. What sets Ezra Brooks 7 years apart is the refusal to cut the proof. The barrel decides the strength, and here that means 58.5 percent. Age matters as well, since the seven year statement is a floor rather than an average. Every drop in the bottle has spent at least that long in charred oak. For anyone who finds standard bourbon too polite, this is the direct route.