Field of Dreams 2024 Player Series Bourbon
Field of Dreams 2024 Player Series Bourbon
COST: $85 for 750mL bottle through Seelbach’s 
AGE: NAS
MASH BILL: 73% corn, 22% wheat, 5% malted barley
PROOF: 93
As a big baseball fan, I didn’t hesitate to pick up this bottle when I first found out about its availability. This bourbon uses corn grown in the Iowa field that backdrops the one and only Field of Dreams. As I watch game 1 of the World Series between, arguably, the two most beloved teams in all of USA major league sports, and simultaneously, the two most hated teams in MLB, it seemed appropriate to finally give this one a proper review. Does the authentic Field of Dreams corn do anything special? Let’s see if it’s a home run or a strike out!
APPEARANCE: Bright copper (1.1) in color, fast, fat legs with a decent ring of tear drop legs to follow.
NOSE: Caramel, roasted sweet corn, bubble gum, and faint note of demerara sugar and baking spice in the background. There’s not a lot going on here, but it’s pleasant.
PALATE: This has an oilier mouthfeel than I expected it to for 93 proof, but it’s still on the thinner side. Notes of simple syrup, light notes of toasted vanilla and spicy oak, and a hint of expressed orange peel. Again, not a lot going on, but nothing offensive by any means.
FINISH: The finish is short to medium, only lasting for 20-25 seconds before I lose all experience except for a dry palate. I’m getting notes of brown sugar simple syrup, tannic oak, and a little baking spice. This is a rather dry finish, and leaves me longing for some of the sweetness back from the nose and palate.
RATING: 5.1/10
VALUE: 6.7/10 (this value is based on a ratio of the $/mL to the rating above compared to this same ratio for all other r/Bourbon reviews I’ve made and normalized to 10)
OVERALL: It’s not bad, but there’s nothing memorable about it except for the bottle and what it represents. As far as the juice goes, it’s extremely average and has a non-existent amount of barrel character. To be fair, considering I was expecting more of a strike out, I’ll take the single (maybe more like a walk, honestly). The value of this bottle lies with what it’s about, what it represents, the story behind it, etc., not in the juice.
BEHIND THE BOTTLE
This second batch of Field of Dreams Player Series (2024) contains only 23,114 bottles. As of the end of the 2023 MLB regular season there were 23,114 players that have played in the big leagues. Every bottle of Field of Dreams Player Series 2024 represents a single player in MLB’s history. I have bottle 13,077. The 13,077 player to ever don an a big league jersey was Earl Williams. He debuted in 1970 and played 889 games over 8 seasons for the Atlanta Braves (5), Baltimore Orioles (2), Montreal Expos (1), and Oakland Athletics (1). He earned the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1971 with a .260 batting average, .815 OPS, and 33 home runs.
So, enough about baseball, what about the whiskey? Right! Well…there’s really not a whole lot more to say. Getting into the details about Field of Dreams Whiskey is a bit…umm…boring, honestly. Field of Dreams Whiskey is owned by a collective of current and former MLB players. They found an opportunity to use the corn grown at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa to make something rather unique and exclusive. Their goal was to tell an authentic story about baseball through whiskey. Did they accomplish that? I would say so. But overall, this goal makes me think the focus is less on the liquid in the bottle and more on the story behind the bottle. And that’s probably the most accurate way to describe this bottle.
That said, I’m still looking forward to future releases. I probably won’t buy another one for the price I paid for this one unless they raise the proof or age statement, but this is a really fun concept for baseball fans.
(I did notice that recently they offered a new expression that contains a different mash bill, at 99 proof, and is significantly cheaper even though it’s only 3000 bottles. I will likely buy a bottle of it if I get the chance because, again, there was nothing hateful about what I had, it could just use a bit more umph or character.)
With that…as an Astros fan…I’m going to sip another glass or two of this while I hope that some how we see the first WS ever where both teams lose…
1 | Disgusting | ...I've not subjected myself to this level
2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage
3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28
4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select
5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated
6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Eagle Rare
7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, PiggyBack SiB, 1792 BiB
8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, JD SiB BiB, High West MWND Act 11
9 | Incredible | Barrel Bourbon Batch T8ke, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ
10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08
So, enough about baseball, what about the whiskey? Right! Well…there’s really not a whole lot more to say. Getting into the details about Field of Dreams Whiskey is a bit…umm…boring, honestly. Field of Dreams Whiskey is owned by a collective of current and former MLB players. They found an opportunity to use the corn grown at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa to make something rather unique and exclusive. Their goal was to tell an authentic story about baseball through whiskey. Did they accomplish that? I would say so. But overall, this goal makes me think the focus is less on the liquid in the bottle and more on the story behind the bottle. And that’s probably the most accurate way to describe this bottle.
That said, I’m still looking forward to future releases. I probably won’t buy another one for the price I paid for this one unless they raise the proof or age statement, but this is a really fun concept for baseball fans.
(I did notice that recently they offered a new expression that contains a different mash bill, at 99 proof, and is significantly cheaper even though it’s only 3000 bottles. I will likely buy a bottle of it if I get the chance because, again, there was nothing hateful about what I had, it could just use a bit more umph or character.)
With that…as an Astros fan…I’m going to sip another glass or two of this while I hope that some how we see the first WS ever where both teams lose…
1 | Disgusting | ...I've not subjected myself to this level
2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage
3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28
4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select
5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated
6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Eagle Rare
7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, PiggyBack SiB, 1792 BiB
8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, JD SiB BiB, High West MWND Act 11
9 | Incredible | Barrel Bourbon Batch T8ke, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ
10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08
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