Whiskey Advent Calendar Tasting: Smooth Ambler Contradiction Bourbon

This is part of my series on tasting notes from the 2021 Drinks By The Dram Bourbon Advent Calendar.

Whiskey for December 24th, 2021: Smooth Ambler Contradiction Bourbon

The distillery

I've talked about Smooth Ambler before

The whiskey

I think I'll just let Smooth Ambler cover this one:

Contradiction Bourbon, bottled at 92 proof, is a blend of straight bourbon whiskies. It is a marriage of a wheated bourbon we make in West Virginia, and two different rye bourbons we procure from Tennessee and Indiana, respectively. Contradiction is non-chill filtered and is full-bodied, the end-result tasting like a four-grain bourbon.

I really liked the Old Scout American Whiskey I had back on the 4th, so I'm hopefully this will be similarly tasty. Smooth Ambler also provides some good tasting notes:

Full of oak, dried cherries, vanilla, and cinnamon creating a signature mature bourbon nose. Sweet from the wheat and spice from the rye and a bit of leather round out the palate. Its viscosity creates a smooth and pleasant finish.

This sounds like my jam, looking forward to it.

Look

The whiskey tonight is amber with golden highlights. It's clear and bright and swirls well into thick, moderate speed legs.

Nose

The nose starts with bright citrus and dried fruit. Hiding in the back is some caramel and vanilla. And just sort of lurking everywhere in the background is some nice cinnamon. I do get some oak at the tail end of the nose.

Taste

This whiskey starts with sweet caramel and vanilla up front and, at a leisurely pace, brings on some surprisingly spicy cinnamon. It's probably somewhere around the Legent, maybe a little spicier, but not up to where the Uncle Nearest was. The finish is long and spicy with vanilla sweetness hanging out in the background. There's mostly a hint that there's rye in this, just a whiff of minty grass in the finish and a little of that rye black pepper intensifying the cinnamon.

After water

After a little water, the fruits come out to play more in the nose. I get cherries specifically now and the citrus slants to orange. The cinnamon perks up a little and plays with the fruit, while the vanilla and caramel become harder to place.

The taste changes quite radically. The front of the taste becomes almost tart and the cinnamon doesn't come on nearly as strong. I get a lot more oak in the palate and that tartness, or maybe it's dryness, hangs out into the finish, bringing hints of leather and tobacco. A shocking transformation.

Summary

What an interesting whiskey to end this adventure on. I like it a lot in it's non-diluted setup, but it's very interesting and complex after dilution. I think this would surprise someone that tastes the undiluted product and then mixes it into a sweeter cocktail. This is totally worth a try and certainly a bourbon lover's bourbon for the drastic changes between the two states.