Ranking the Best of February: The New 100-Point Rubric in Action

The Hunt for the 2026 Whiskey of the Year Begins! 🥃 Welcome to the official February Whiskey of the Month blind tasting! This isn’t just a review; it’s the debut of our brand-new, standardized 100-point scoring rubric. Wayne and Rebecca are putting four heavy-hitters from BourbonCon to the ultimate test to see which bottles have the "viscosity, complexity, and soul" to land a spot on our live leaderboard. In this episode, we tackle a diverse lineup featuring a double-barreled powerhouse, a full-proof Kentucky classic, a four-grain artisan blend, and—for the first time in YBJ history—a finished Kentucky Rye! 🥃 OUR SCORING PROCESS: We’ve revamped our scoring to be more transparent than ever. No more "Redundancy"—just pure, data-driven blind competitions. Read the full breakdown of our new rubric and the "Sweet Sixteen" bracket process on our website: 👉 https://yourbourbonjourney.com/2026/02/27/decoding-the-pour-the-new-your-bourbon-journey-scoring-woty-process/ THE CONTENDERS: * Burnt Tavern: 7-Year, 105 Proof, Double-Barreled Bourbon. * Jackson Purchase Batch No. 1: 4-Year, 117.8 Proof, Full Proof Bourbon. * Peter E. Hart Rye: 100 Proof, Finished in Smoked Bourbon Barrels. * Trackside Bourbon: 5-Year, 107 Proof, Unique Four-Grain Mash Bill. ### **Connect With Us & Support The Journey!** 🥃 **Become a Patron & Get Exclusive Content:** https://www.patreon.com/cw/YourBourbonJourney 🌐 **Visit Our Website:** https://yourbourbonjourney.com/ 🔔 **SUBSCRIBE HERE:** https://www.youtube.com/@YourBourbonJourney?sub_confirmation=1 📸 **Instagram:** https://www.instagram.com/yourbourbonjourney/ 👍 **Facebook:** https://www.facebook.com/YourBourbonJourney 🎥 CHAPTERS 0:00 - Introduction 0:22 - The Road to the Sweet Sixteen & New Scoring Explained 2:29 - Meet the Four Contenders (Alphabetical Snippets) 4:05 - Sample A: Nose, Taste, and Finish Evaluation 9:12 - Sample B: Confectionary Sugars & Bakery Notes 12:52 - Sample C: Floral Aromas & The "Perfect" Finish? 17:46 - Sample D: Vanilla Custard & The Kentucky Hug 23:35 - The Wild Card Round: Assigning the "X-Factor" Points 23:50 - The Reveal: What just happened? 26:53 - Final Leaderboard Impact & Wrap Up ❌YOUR BOURBON JOURNEY DOES NOT SELL ALCOHOL❌ ✴️ Burnt Tavern Classification: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Company: William Berkele Distillery (Lead Founder: Royce Blevins) Distilled By: Undisclosed Kentucky Distillery (Sourced) Mash Bill: Undisclosed (thought to be high-rye style) Age: 7 Years Proof: 105 Other: Double-barreled and finished in slow-toasted American oak. Original Review: https://youtu.be/A9sDoYrN6EU ✴️ Jackson Purchase Batch No. 1 Full Proof Classification: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Company & Distillery: Jackson Purchase Distillery (Hickman, KY) Mash Bill: 70% Corn, 20% Rye, 10% Malted Barley Age: 4 Proof: 117.8 Original Review: https://youtu.be/OTmwUKmoKjs ✴️ PETER E HART RYE WHISKEY Classification: Kentucky Rye Whiskey Company: Peter E Hart Distillery: Sourced from Wilderness Trail Distillery (Danville, KY) Mash Bill: 56% Rye, 33% Corn, 11% Malted Barley Age: 3 Years (ave blend is reported closer to 4.5 years) Proof: 100 Other: Finished in Smoked Bourbon Barrels Original Review: https://youtu.be/KEP6nNunzj0 ✴️ Trackside Bourbon (Founder Release High Proof) Classification: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Company: Trackside Distilling Company (Co-Founders Jade Peterson and Jeremy Dever) Distillery: Sourced and blended barrels from Kentucky Artisan Distillery (Crestwood, KY) Mash Bill: A unique four-grain mash bill: Yellow Corn, Rye, Distiller’s Malt, and Chocolate Malted Barley. Age: 5 Proof: 107 Original Review: https://youtu.be/Publ0iyT_KE 📊 SEE THE LIVE LEADERBOARD: Want to see where this bottle ranks against the rest of the field? Check out our real-time leaderboard here: 👉 https://yourbourbonjourney.com/2026/02/27/the-live-leaderboard-road-to-the-sweet-sixteen/ 🚨REMEMBER TO ALWAYS DRINK RESPONSIBLY🚨 ❓Questions❓ YourBourbonJourney@gmail.com NOTE: The spirits in this review were purchased by us.We were not compensated by the spirit producers for this review. This is simply our opinion based on what we tasted on this day. Please drink responsibly. #YourBourbonJourney #WhiskeyOfTheMonth #BlindTasting #BourbonReview #SweetSixteen #WhiskeyScoring #JacksonPurchase #BurntTavern #TracksideBourbon #PeterEHart #KentuckyBourbon #RyeWhiskey #BourbonCon #WhiskeyCommunity #WOTY2026