Ezra Brooks 99 Proof Bourbon (49.5%)
Ezra Brooks 99 Proof Bourbon (49.5%)
Although it was launched in Canada in 2016, Ezra Brooks Black Label Bourbon first appeared on my personal bourbon radar in 2022 when I recognized it as one of the best value bourbons on the market, only to be replaced a year later by Ezra 99 Proof. The bad news is that it is, as should be expected, more expensive than was the $30.70 (in Ontario) Black Label. The good news is that it remains both a very good bourbon and a pretty fine value.
Although not a particularly old brand, Ezra Brooks is quite a storied one, with numerous owners and several sources for its whisky. The brand was developed in 1959 – the name is entirely fictional, a product of the marketing department at ‘21’ Brands, Inc. – and was reputedly devised to take advantage of a shortage of Jack Daniels Tennessee Whisky at the time. (Jack Daniels sued and, in 1961, lost.)
Ezra bounced around a bit over the decades until it was at last acquired by the Sherman Corporation, which eventually became Luxco, who had the bourbon produced at Heaven Hill. In 2016, beginning to feel the bourbon shortage brought on by increased demand, Luxco built the Lux Row distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, the capital of Bourbon Country, and began distilling its own spirits two years later. In 2021, Luxco was acquired by MGP Ingredients, Inc., famous, or even notorious, provider of bulk alcohol for any number of distillery-less spirits brands, and there it resides today.
For a whiskey of its strength, Ezra 99 has a rather surprisingly soft nose, with baked apple, vanilla, caramel, a hint of banana, and perhaps a bit of nuttiness joined by notes of charred wood in an aroma profile some might say is too gentle, but I think introduces the spirit’s flavours quite well. There is certainly more assertiveness on the palate, but nothing I would describe as overpowering, with smoky caramel and vanilla up front, a mix of charred oak and brown spice, with a hint of pecan, in the mid-palate, and light black pepper emerging towards the finish. Add a few drops of water and it mellows out to a more fruity, appley caramel; add ice and the Jack Daniel’s-esque banana grows more notable. The finish is alcoholic and warming, as is to be expected of a spirit of this strength, but still somehow mellow in character.
All told, this Ezra remains a definite value in an increasingly pricey bourbon market, and while I still bemoan the loss of its less potent brother brand, I am happy to find a bourbon that may be equally enjoyably sipped straight, diluted with ice or water, or mixed into a bracing end-of-the-day Old Fashioned or Manhattan.
91 ($45)
