Review #178: Peerless Single Barrel Bourbon “Cherry Soda”

MASH BILL: Undisclosed

PROOF: 110.8

AGE: NAS

COST: $140 for 750mL bottle (I’m reviewing a sample.)

Every soft drink is made better when cherry is added to it. A Cherry Coke is my immediate go to any time I’m buying a soda at gas station or on the go, but Boylan’s Black Cherry Soda, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Cheerwine, Cherry Dr. Pepper, etc. they’re all great! So, it’s no surprise that a cherry note in my whiskey is the probably the single most influential note for me liking it. Naturally, my expectation is pretty high with this one since “Cherry Soda” is right there in the name! Let’s do it!

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

APPEARANCE: A tawny color (1.4); thick, slow legs, syrupy looking.

NOSE: Brighter than I expected. Caramel, expressed orange peel, a generous amount of fresh mint, and earthy white pepper. There is a cherry note that I find provides more of a backdrop to everything else and leans more dry and tart than it does bold and sweet.

PALATE: A medium, velvety mouthfeel, but also a bit of proof heat on the palate. I definitely get that cherry cola vibe, but it’s not the dark, sweet, fruit cherry note that I was hoping I would find. There’s a decent amount of mint and pepperiness that makes me think this must be from the high rye bourbon mash bill that Peerless uses. Barrel char, burnt brown sugar, rye spice, and a tart cherry fruit note show up at mid palate. A slight milk chocolate note starts to form before going into the finish as well. (With the last 0.5oz of my sample, I added a few drops of water and this helped cut the proof heat quite a bit and made the cherry notes come across much more fruity and almost candy like.)

FINISH: Considering the proof heat that I consistently picked up on the palate, the finish was relatively mild with no noticeable proof heat or hug. A medium length, sweet finish overall. White chocolate covered cherries, caramel, fresh mint and orange peel muddled into tonic water,  and light tannic oak. The sweeter notes come through quite well early on, but the tannic oak and mint notes last the longest. A good chew to aerate the palate can bring the cherry note back to the top for a good 30 seconds after the swallow.

RATING: 6.1/10

OVERALL: I may have had unreasonable expectations. While the name is clearly “Cherry Cola,” I had thoughts of decadent cherry pastry notes going into it. There’s definite cherry, but more tart and bright than rich and fruity. I found that the spice notes were way more amped up than I was expecting as well, but in hindsight, that is also consistent with my previous experiences with Peerless bourbon. It wasn’t very complex or layered, but it was a decent sipper that could use just a splash of water to cut some of the proof heat and help unlock more fruity, cherry notes.

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, Hillrock Estate Sauternes CS

5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated

6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Eagle Rare

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, BBCo Origin High Wheat, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, Maker's Mark Wood Finishing releases, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Woodford Reserve Batch Proof 121.2, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08, RR15