Knob Creek Smoked Maple
45% ABV - Kentucky, USA
Nose: Wafting from the glass is sweet maple caramel, and it has the backbone of well… maple marshmallows, but beneath the sweetness… past all of that sweetness... some leathery maple.
Taste: If you didn’t expect smoked maple, it’s smoked maple that you’re getting. This duo is balanced quite well! The sweetness from the nose isn’t overpowering. There is a darn good bourbon underneath here—one of my favourites—and its house flavours are not completely masked, only diluted slightly. Leather, chocolate cherry, hard maple candy, and vanillas.
Finish: A refreshing dark maple syrup with some woody undertones.
This here is a whisky with a descriptive name. Transparent marketing. You know what you are getting… okay, it’s a little more complex than the name. Knob Creek Smoked Maple: one of your new best friends for camping, hiking, or anywhere else that you might crave the hug of a Kentucky bourbon and the sweet, sweet taste of maple to accent the scenery around you...
The bottle of Knob Creek Smoked Maple before me is the older label (c.2019) and I must say that I really like the updated labels of today. I think the newer labels add a higher degree of sophistication to Knob Creek whiskey—purely on the visual side of things because as far as I know the whiskey inside is the exact same.
I remember panic buying this one because it was after the new labels were introduced and that the 9-Year age statement would be coming back to the Small Batch. However, missing from those announcements was the Smoked Maple. I came to the silly conclusion that it was going to be discontinued. Maple—er, maybe—they ran out of maple barrels, I thought! It’s not like I stocked up… only the one bottle, and we are still slowly working our way through it two years later!
Tasting Notes (Official): Taste: Full-bodied, inviting maple notes that lift to smoke and are complemented with rich vanilla and caramel. Aroma: Smoked hickory and maple wood, with hints of earthy grains. Finish: Smokey, smooth, and slightly sweet.
Tasted 13 October 2021. (Posted 24 October 2021.)
