Noah's Mill Bourbon Review [In Depth]
Noah's Mill Bourbon
by: ALEX WANG
Founder, writer
Founder, writer
Noah's Mill Bourbon Details
Distillery: Willett
Type & Region: Bourbon, Kentucky, USA
Alcohol: 57.15%
Composition: Unknown
Aged: At least 4 years
Color: 1.3/2.0 on the color scale (russet, muscat)
Price: $50-60
From the company website:
Noah’s Mill is a bourbon of extraordinary character and smoothness not found among younger whiskies. It’s superior taste and flavor characteristics are made possible only from using the very finest quality ingredients at the outset along with the long years and patience necessary for nature to mellow everything to perfection. We bottle this bourbon at a strength that best accommodates its age, and we’re sure you’ll enjoy it like no other bourbon.
Noah's Mill Bourbon overview
Here’s a fun fact that you might not know – Noah’s Mill is actually a pretty old brand from Willett. Noah’s Mill was first released in the mid 90s as a 15 year old bourbon, which sounds insane to think about now. It was not crazy back then when bourbon wasn’t that popular and Willett must have had a lot of older bourbon ready to bottle. There was Pure Kentucky, which was 12 years old at one point, and all sorts of other age-stated stuff.
This bottle has over 30 years of history to it.
Noah’s Mill Bourbon is the high-ABV and accessible Willett-made bourbon. If you take out the accessible part, then you get the crazy expensive and limited Purple Top Bourbons, which are easily $400-800, while Noah’s Mill is $50-60.
To that point, Noah’s Mill was sourced for decades, but changed over to Willet-made bourbon in 2020 (per Whisky Auctioneer). On that note, the bottle in this review comes from batch 22-64, probably meaning the 64th batch from 2022. Switching to homemade bourbon makes sense as Willett restarted distilling in 2012 after a decades long hiatus. The older sourced whiskey was never going to last forever, so distilling was their best option for long term success.
I’ve never had Noah’s Mill before so I can’t comment about the older releases, but if they are anything like the other older Willett’s I’ve had, then I bet that they were spectacular.
Here’s another fun fact, the bottle design more or less hasn’t changed since the 90’s. If you look at an old bottle, the design is the same (of a log cabin with a waterwheel and trees) but the older version appears to have bolder colors and thicker black lines on the label. It’s all minor details, but I pay attention because I’m a dusty bourbon nerd.
The back does have one major difference – the old one states “Distilled in Kentucky, bottled by Noah’s Mill Distilling Company”, while the modern one has “Distilled, Aged and Bottled by Willett Distillery”. Again, the newer releases are entirely distilled and aged by Willett.
Let’s find out what Willett’s accessible high-proof option has to offer in this Noah’s Mill Bourbon review.
As an FYI, I bought and use these Glencairn glasses for everything (they’re the best): Glencairn Crystal Whiskey Glass Set of 6, Set of 4, Set of 2, or just one. Full transparency, this is an affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.
Noah's Mill Bourbon smell
The scents have some brown sugar, roasted oak, dried orange peel, vanilla, cinnamon, apricot, and more all-encompassing roastiness, and then some herbal fennel and slightly tart cranberry. Noah’s Mill has some sweetness and fruitiness, but there’s a lot more forward oakiness and roastiness.
Overall there really isn’t much character, richness, expressiveness, although thankfully it’s not hot or harsh at 57.15% ABV. That would be a recipe for utter disaster.
Noah’s Mill has clearly opened up some after swirling and rest. Now I smell honey with better vibrance, green grapes, dried fennel, roasted oak, clove, vanilla, something akin to bubblegum and vanilla, and dried red apple.
This is a near 180 change. It’s more sweet and fruity, and not nearly as intensely oaky this time. It’s still not an expressive sweetness or fruitiness, but it at least smells better and is what I would consider to be balanced.
Noah’s Mill is still closed-off, but what I do smell is pleasant. This could actually be very good if it opened up and made it easier to smell.
This is a near 180 change. It’s more sweet and fruity, and not nearly as intensely oaky this time. It’s still not an expressive sweetness or fruitiness, but it at least smells better and is what I would consider to be balanced.
Noah’s Mill is still closed-off, but what I do smell is pleasant. This could actually be very good if it opened up and made it easier to smell.
Noah's Mill Bourbon taste and aftertaste
I initially taste honey, red apple, roasted oak, cinnamon, slightly tart cranberry, dried apricot, dried red apple peel, vanilla, green grape skins, lemon peel, and some wood varnish and earthy caraway seed.
Do not take my notes to mean that this is a fruity bourbon, because it’s not. My notes are that way because I taste various dried fruit / fruit peel flavors sprinkled in with the denser sweetness, oakiness, and roastiness.
Like the scents, the flavors are more woody and dry. Noah’s Mill Bourbon is thankfully more flavorful than it is fragrant, so while the scents seem to want to stay in the glass, the flavors are far easier to pick out.
That said, I still have the same problem where it’s really not that layered, rich, or interesting. It has the oak and tannins of a 17 year old Jacob’s Well Hardin’s Creek, but without the sweetness or complexity. At least it’s not harsh or hot.
With “chewing” I taste honey and honeycomb, green grapes, vanilla, roasted oak, clove, cranberry, dried red apple and lemon peel, licorice, and caramel nougat. Noah’s Mill is better balanced with more sweetness, fruitiness, and herbalness than before, but it’s still very oaky and not that expressive or layered.
It does taste better with every sip, bringing out a little more fruit and less oak each time, which is a marked improvement. The higher ABV also provides some richness and body so it’s far from thin or bland. The drawback is that it’s still not that interesting.
The finish leaves roasted oak, brown sugar, and dried red apple peel, then leaving lingering oakiness, cinnamon, clove, and red grape skins that bring a hint of sweetness to prevent it from being crazy oaky and dry.
It feels like I ate a bunch of red grapes (minus the grape flavor), so the skins leave a lot of drying tannins.
After “chewing” it leaves honey and caramel nougat, green grape, licorice, vanilla, roasted oak, clove, and oak / grape skin tannins. The finish is fine, it works for me and isn’t an issue.
Noah’s Mill Bourbon is an above average-tasting bourbon with some good moments, but it still leaves me wanting a lot more. For better or worse, there are a lot of high proof bourbons that are similar in price and a lot more interesting.
I’ve unfortunately lost some Glencairn’s while in transit, and that made me very sad. So, I wised up and bought this Glencairn Travel Case that comes also comes with 2 glasses so I don’t need to worry so much about them breaking. I think it’s great, and I think you’ll love it too.
Seriously, if you already have glasses, protect them.
Noah's Mill Bourbon Rating
Noah’s Mill doesn’t do it for me, although the scents and flavors do just enough after swirling and chewing respectively to redeem it into “Mid Shelf+” territory. It annoys me that I don’t enjoy this more because I really want to.
While Noah’s Mill Bourbon squeaks by to be a “Mid Shelf+” bourbon because it has just enough richness and character, it’s still forgettable. Nothing stands out, nothing feels remarkable, and nothing feels unique. It brings just enough to the glass to avoid being bad or just mediocre, but I want more than that. I know I’m being very negative, but I can’t help it when I drink this.
I swear that I don’t have a vendetta against Willett. I just know that Willett can do so much better than this…if they can put aside their ego and stop listening to the hype. Because most of what Willett sells today is homemade and they restarted distilling in 2012, today’s Willett is more of a craft distillery with a legacy name, than a legacy brand and producer. They are more like Green River and less like Heaven Hill.
That said, craft distilleries across the US are outdoing Willett. I just wish that more people would see it too.
The list of better options to try first (in my opinion) include Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Still Austin Cask Strength, Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue, Pursuit United Bourbon, and Wyoming Whiskey Double Cask among many others. And seemingly every day there’s another craft distillery releasing their homemade 4-5 year old bourbon.
Noah’s Mill Bourbon is solid, and for brief moments really good. But if you’re going to spend $50-60, you can do a lot better. Try it at a bar first and decide if you want to take the plunge into a whole bottle.
Meet the Author: Alex
I have far too much fun writing about whiskey and singlehandedly running The Whiskey Shelf to bring you independent, honest, and useful reviews, comparisons, and more. I’m proudly Asian American and can speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and some Japanese.
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Shattered glass really sucks, so if you’re on the move, this Glencairn-like stainless steel snifter glass should survive your travels. Full transparency, this is an Amazon affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.
BrüMate NOS’R, Double-Wall Stainless Steel Whiskey Nosing Glass – 7oz (Matte Black)
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