One last round with Henry McKenna 10 Year Single Barrel Bottled in Bond – from 2016

HENRY McKENNA
Single Barrel #3536 barreled on August 16, 2006

MASH BILL – 78% corn, 10% rye, 12% malted barley

PROOF – 100

AGE – 10 years

DISTILLERY – Heaven Hill

PRICE – $34 (bought in 2017; currently ~$60)

WORTH BUYING? – At the 2017 price, for sure. Those were the days…!

When the Henry McKenna brand won some dang award in early 2019, and leapt from bottom-shelf staple to hunted unicorn overnight, I already had this 2016 release on hand. I quickly picked up another handful of 2018 releases from a local grocery store that hadn’t yet heard the award news, and still had their bottles priced at $30.

Since 2019, I’ve not bought any new bottles of McKenna, and I don’t plan to going forward. I’ve slowly made my way through those handful of 2018 bottles, until, maybe in 2024 or so, I only had this 2016 remaining. It had been signed by former Heaven Hill master distiller, Denny Potter, and so the collector in me held off from cracking it.

Then late one recent night I clocked it in the corner of my bunker, still gathering dust. The collector in me had long since vacated the premises, and I was in a mood for old-school bourbon goodness. I’d already opened a 2003 bottle of Jim Beam 8 Year that evening—which was excellent, a great dive bar in a glass. I cracked the 2016 McKenna.

Right out of the gate, it was classic nutty, chocolatey, minty McKenna. Whew! I was relieved to be ending my McKenna run on a good note. This single barrel brand is famously inconsistent—a reputation that made that 2019 price jump especially eyebrow arching. While some barrels hit the bullseye, others fall astray of anything pleasing, landing in a desert of tannic bitterness. But not this 2016.

So here we are, the day after uncorking and on the second pour of the bottle. These brief notes were taken using both a simple brandy glass and traditional Glencairn.

COLOR – medium russet and rusty oranges

NOSE – cinnamon, brown sugar, nice oak, sweet vanilla, thick dry-cut caramel, chocolate cake, walnut, roasted mixed nuts, a fizzy spiciness like in a root beer, faint mint

TASTE – the vanilla and caramel pair up with a fruitiness like stewed peaches and apricots, then also the oak, oak tannins, chocolate cake, the spices and roasted mixed nuts

FINISH – the candy and fruit notes linger within the root beer, baking spiciness, oak and oak tannins, with subtle mint like a garnish

OVERALL – a complex, old-school Kentucky bourbon

Indeed. This is good. Not amazing. Not run out and buy a case right now. Just good. No bourbon should offer less than this. The range of classic notes. The balance. The complexity. The easygoing feeling to it overall. As content to be a background sipper as it is a contemplator pour.

Last night when I cracked this, I sipped it from an antique tumbler. It tasted right at home there. Similarly, the simple brandy glass shows it off a bit better than the Glencairn. I’ve found that to be true for a number of legacy bourbon brands—e.g. Wild Turkey, Jim Beam, Heaven Hill. I can’t explain the science of this. And it’s for sure at least in part aesthetics. Different glassware convey different feelings and sensibilities. Maybe because these historic bourbons established their flavor profiles long before the advent of the contemporary, aroma-pushing Glencairn, they’re more attuned to older glassware designs.

Who knows. What I can’t question is whether or not this Henry McKenna is good.

Though I’m sure there are also good contemporary releases of Henry McKenna to be found, word on the street is it’s still an inconsistent brand. At the current price, I’d rather gamble on something either new to me or with a more steady rep for quality.

So I will enjoy this, the last leg of my long journey with Henry McKenna. It was among the first bourbons I tried with my consciousness leaning toward whiskey appreciation, back in 2016, when my whiskey journey commenced. It’s been a touchstone along the way, helping me to articulate both what is good about bourbon as well as the shortfalls of single barrels versus small or mass batches, marketing versus reality, etcetera.

It’s been a good run, Henry. Cheers!