Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select Bourbon Review — Score & Tasting Notes

Woodford Reserve enjoys the kind of brand positioning that marketing executives dream about. It's the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby, a fixture behind every upscale bar in America, and the bottle that hotel minibars deploy when they want to signal sophistication. The distillery in Versailles is gorgeous, the packaging is elegant, and the name carries weight. The only question is whether the bourbon inside matches the image outside.

The answer is: it's complicated. Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select is a competent, well-made bourbon that does several things quite well. The nose is moderately sweet—honey, nuts, vanilla buttercream, and charred wood create a pleasant, if predictable, opening. There's dried corn and a hint of orange sponge cake that adds character, though the overall impression is of restraint rather than revelation.

On the palate, things get interesting in unexpected ways. Light honey arrives with mint and a peppery sharpness that gives the bourbon more edge than its smooth reputation suggests. Caramel apple adds sweetness, but the overall intensity is surprisingly low for a 90.4-proof bourbon. It drinks thin—there's no getting around this—and the flavor profile, while pleasant, lacks the depth that similarly priced competitors deliver.

The finish is where opinions diverge most sharply. Lightly sweet honey and vanilla give way to lingering wood dryness, green pepper, and aged oak. There's leather and tobacco in the fade. Some find this dry, complex finish sophisticated; others find it abrupt and unsatisfying.

At $35, Woodford Reserve faces stiff competition from Wild Turkey 101, Knob Creek 9 Year, and Elijah Craig Small Batch—all of which deliver more flavor and better value. This is a bourbon that works better as a component (the Mint Julep at Churchill Downs uses it for good reason) than as a solo performer.

But here's where the story gets interesting: Woodford Reserve Double Oaked transforms the formula into something genuinely compelling. The additional maturation in heavily toasted barrels adds the depth, sweetness, and richness that the standard release lacks. If you're considering Woodford, skip straight to the Double Oaked. Your palate will thank you.

I've served Woodford Reserve in blind tastings more than any other bourbon, because it reliably generates the most interesting debates. Some tasters score it in the low 80s, praising its approachability; others drop it into the low 70s, criticizing a perceived one-dimensionality. My own scores have ranged from 76 to 80 depending on the session, which tells me Woodford is doing exactly what Brown-Forman designed it to do: be pleasant enough that nobody sends it back, interesting enough that nobody forgets it, and safe enough to pour at every Kentucky Derby party in America.

Woodford's best role is as a reference point. Taste it alongside Four Roses Single Barrel to understand what rye-forward complexity sounds like. Pour it next to Wild Turkey 101 to hear what 11 extra proof points contribute. Set it beside Buffalo Trace to compare two mainstream bourbons philosophies—one polished and precise (Woodford), the other slightly wild and fruit-forward (BT). For the elevated Brown-Forman experience, Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style takes the family's distilling DNA to a genuinely exciting place.