Belle Meade Bourbon (a.k.a Belle Meade Classic) is the signature release from the Nashville Distillery. They are indeed distilling their own whiskey, but this stuff is sourced and they’re not afraid to mention it. Why? Because for Belle Meade, it’s not just the barrel selection, but also the art of blending.

Nelson’s Green Brier takes the term Small Batch very serious, each batch of the Belle Meade Classic is made from just four barrels aged 6-8 years. These barrels include two different MGP high rye bourbons whose combined mash comes out to 64% Corn, 30% Rye and 6% Malted Barley. It’s like what Sagamore does with the MGP Rye Whiskey mash bills, but on a smaller scale.

And on that subject, before we jump down to the bourbon review here are the 2 high-rye recipes they get from MGP.

• #1 60% Corn, 36% Rye, 4% Malted Barley
• #2 70% Corn, 21% Rye, 9% Malted Barley

Belle Meade Bourbon Review: Details and Tasting Notes

In Nelson’s Green Brier’s Words:

In keeping with the history of the brand and to assure that only the finest quality Bourbon is labeled Belle Meade Bourbon, we painstakingly select barrels sourced from the nation’s finest distillers. To ensure that no other Bourbon in the world tastes like Belle Meade Bourbon, we created a proprietary blend using different high-rye content mash bills and complementary yeast strains. Each batch of our well-aged proprietary blend creates the signature flavor profile that makes Belle Meade Bourbon the award-winning Bourbon of choice for the discerning whiskey drinker.

Details (price, mash bill, cask type, ABV, etc.)

Region: Indiana, USA

Distiller: MGP
Bottler: Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery
Mash Bill: 64% Corn, 30% Rye and 6% Malted Barley
Cask: New Charred Oak
Age: NAS (6 years)
ABV: 45.2%

Price: $40

Tasting Notes

EYE
Light caramel

NOSE
Dark sweets (caramel/toffee/butterscotch/brittle), butter, spice, corn, oak and a light biscuity profile.

PALATE
Dark sweets, spice, oak, vanilla and a touch biscuity.

FINISH
Medium -> Corn, vanilla, dark sweets and spice.

BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Good sense of balance, medium body and a soft easy feel.

Belle Meade Bourbon Review: Overall and Score

This is a decent bourbon. The Aroma has some nice buttery dark sweets with some balancing spice and oak; Palate follows in the “standard bourbon” footsteps of the Aroma and comes through pleasantly; Finish is a soft easy fade that picks up some extra corn.

The classic Belle Meade Bourbon is what you’d expect from well-picked barrels of MGP high-rye bourbon. It’s a good whiskey that’s tasty on its own and works incredibly well in cocktails; it’s slowly becoming one of my favorite bourbons to experiment with. If it weren’t nearly 2x the price, it might give my beloved Wild Turkey 101 a run for its money as my go-to cocktail whiskey.

SCORE: 83

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