Willett 10 Year Bourbon El Moro Review [In Depth]
Willett 10 Year Bourbon El Moro
by: ALEX WANG
Founder, writer
Founder, writer
Willett 10 Year Bourbon El Moro Details
Distillery: Willett
Type & Region: Bourbon, Kentucky, USA
Alcohol: 65.4%
Composition: Not disclosed
Aged: 10 years
Color: 1.5/2.0 on the color scale (auburn, polished mahogany)
Price: $400 (or some stupid amount)
From the company website:
Willett 10 Year Bourbon El Moro overview
This is the second Willett Purple Top that I’ve ever had or reviewed, so it’s an interesting experience to learn about them as I go. This is Willett 10 Year El Moro Bourbon, barrel 3025. And just like all other Purple Tops, it’s a single barrel bourbon, so any experience you have with other barrels is likely going to be different than the one with El Moro.
While you may know Willett Purple Tops bourbons as the super-rare and expensive ones (fair and true), Willett does have a whole range of affordable and accessible bourbons, including Pure Kentucky, Kentucky Vintage, Johnny Drum, Pot Still Reserve, Old Bardstown, Rowan’s Creek, and Noah’s Mill. So if a Purple Top is out of reach, as it is for most because they are psychotically expensive, Willett as a whole is not.
I’ve always been confused by the name of each single barrel, and “El Moro” is no different. I’m sure that the names are selected with a purpose, but I can never make any sense of it. Looking up the meaning of “El Moro”, it could have something to do with the Moor people, something to do with Churros, or something to do with the outdoors. I have no idea either way…but…PURPLE TOP!!!!!
The distilled / not distilled by Willett is an important fact because their old home-distilled and sourced whiskeys from decades back are legendary. No joke, some of it sells for thousands / tens of thousands of dollars now, such as the Purple Tops composed of 15+ year old bourbon bottled prior to around 2010, if not earlier. It’s a bit rich for me, but clearly some people have the money for it. Unfortunately, Willett stopped distilling their own whiskey for years, and didn’t restart until somewhere around 2012.
And so there really are 3 categories of Willett Purple tops: the old stuff (sourced or homemade and distilled let’s say distilled before around 2000, modern sourced, and modern distilled (from when they restarted distillation around 2012). The reason why I believe that El Moro is homemade is because the back label has “Distilled, aged, and bottled by Willett” written on it. I think that’s pretty clear.
I want to say that at least as of 2023-2024, 10 year old bourbon distilled by Willett is on the higher end of what they produce. Since they restarted distillation some time in 2012 and this bottle was released in late 2023, the oldest homemade bourbon is probably around 11 years old. Hopefully it’s unforgettable bourbon from a legacy brand.
Let’s find out what Willett has cooking in this Willett 10 Year El Moro 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.
Willett 10 Year Bourbon El Moro smell
The scents have deep and dark honey, cherry, roasted coffee, licorice, toasted oak, cinnamon, darker candied pineapple, red grapes, fennel, lime, and a hint of earthy caraway seed. Willett 10 Year El Moro has an overarching darkness and herbal brightness at the same time, plus a lot of cherry and red grape in what feels like a pinot noir wine finish.
Other Willett bourbons I’ve had have borderline smelled like rye whiskey, but this isn’t quite there. It’s still quite herbal and floral like a rye whiskey, but there’s still the more dark and sweet bourbon-y notes. This smells great and I can tell that there’s great richness, body, and some complexity, but at the same thing nothing quite pops for me. The heat is very tame for 65% ABV.
After swirling, I will confirm that Willett 10 Year El Moro really does smell fantastic. There’s honey, dense cherry, red grapes, fennel, fragrant roasted oak, clove, cinnamon, candied pineapple, toffee, ginger, and caraway seed that hits a fragrant range of sweet, fruity, earthy, and herbal that keep the heat under control.
There’s nice richness and roundness too, although there’s still no pop or particularly outstanding quality to it. It’s a bit of an unfortunate juxtaposition – on one hand El Moro overall smells wonderful and the red fruit-forward scents are awesome, but on the other hand, I don’t feel moved.
It’s tough to explain, because I’ve had other bourbons that moved me in a way. Maybe I’m expecting a lot more of something, low end heft, some sparkle, leap out of the glass pop, or that something special that completely wins me over. I don’t know, even the $80 Still Austin High Rye Bourbon and the $65-70 Wyoming Whiskey Double Cask Bourbon had that X-factor that really got my attention.
Willett 10 Year Bourbon El Moro taste and aftertaste
The flavors have dense honey, earthy caraway seed, baked red apple, dried cherry, more roasted oak, roasted coffee, licorice, orange peel, ginger (but not the sweet kind), and some mustiness in the back. For a burly 65% ABV bourbon, there’s some heat but it’s still reserved for what it is. Surprisingly, Willett 10 Year El Moro tastes very different than it smells.
While the scents are more fruity, wine-y, herbal, and all around really unique and special, the flavors here are actually quite woody and earthy, and a little musty too. The earthiness and woodiness hammer away in the flavors, while the dry cherry and red grapes that are more prominent in the scents are pushed to the back. Unfortunately, it loses a lot of nuance, fruitiness, and uniqueness from the scents.
If anything, this learns hard into earthy rye whiskey territory. That doesn’t surprise me, as I’ve found that most Willet bourbons come off strongly as rye whiskey in some way, usually so herbal the point that I’m surprised that it’s actually bourbon.
With “chewing” I taste honey, cherry, caraway seed, fennel, roasted oak, cinnamon, vanilla, pumpernickel, candied pineapple, red grapes, fresh ginger, and a little bit of a savory dried mushroom. I can feel the oiliness coat my mouth. Willett 10 Year El Moro still has a lot of earthiness and woodiness, but a bit more fruitiness and herbalness come out so the earthiness and woodiness are not quite as forward this time.
The finish leaves honey, dry oak, caraway seed, cinnamon, clove, and some raw ginger. There’s a lot of oak tannins and dryness with some herbal sweetness and lingering alcohol bite.
But as bold and flavorful as Willett 10 Year El Moro is, the earthiness doesn’t do it any favors. There’s good sweetness, fruitiness, and herbalness, but it often feels limited at times because of the earthiness. All the woodiness and earthiness show its 10 year age, but it doesn’t always feel mature or developed. This just doesn’t have the complexity, layers, nuance, depth, or delicateness of a truly amazing bourbon, old or not.
That’s the thing, I can tell that this is “Top Shelf” bourbon…but barely.
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.
Willett 10 Year Bourbon El Moro Rating
Holy moly is this really $400…at MSRP? I’m dumbfounded to say the least…and a little displeased too. “But Alex, how can you be displeased with a ‘Top Shelf’ bourbon? You got a Purple Top…omg!!!!!!!!”. Let me repeat myself, this is a $400 bottle and I paid that out of my own wallet! Sure, I’m privileged in the fact that I could buy it…but what is Willett doing?
Don’t get me wrong, Willett 10 Year El Moro is really good, but I absolutely don’t get the hype around Willett. Sure, their older stuff is legendary, but a lot of what they have now is homemade. They are not that different from the less hyped (but still respected) Still Austin, Frey Ranch, Wilderness Trail, Wyoming Whiskey, and Woodinville’s of the world.
In fact, I would argue that those aforementioned craft distilleries are producing better bourbon right now, and you can actually buy and drink it. There’s little to no pretense, and I have mad respect for craft distilleries that put in the work to create such amazing whiskey for under $100. The hype, ego, and markups around Willett are ridiculous.
The whiskey that Willett produces now AS A CRAFT DISTILLERY in those same purple-capped bottles is not even close to the same stuff of old. That in and of itself is understandable…because Wild Turkey can’t even make bourbon at the same level as they did before the 2010’s. This is probably an overly broad statement, but today’s Willett-distilled Purple Tops are not remotely worthy of the praise and hype anymore.
Modern Purple Tops are now 0 for 2 with impressing me (the first being a 2022 6 year Purple Top selected by Shinanoya in Japan), but oh mama my one experience with dusty-ish Willett was such a special experience. The 2006 Pure Kentucky, a 10 year old probably pre-fire Heaven Hill Bourbon that I found in Japan, was beautifully date / sultana and dark fruit-forward, and just wonderfully dark, woody, refined, and mature.
Nothing I’ve had from Willett since then has come close. In fact, most bourbon I’ve had since then hasn’t come close. That old sourced 10 year old bourbon steamrolls Willet’s homemade 10 year old bourbon.
I’m at a point where I think I’ve realized that I should stay away from Willett-distilled Purple Tops for a while because they empty the wallet but don’t do enough to satiate my senses in return. Even $150 is honestly really generous already considering the competition. At least right now, I have the 8 year wheated bourbon Purple Top waiting to be opened and reviewed…so oh boy. I’ll have an open mind with it because I want it to be amazing…plus I bought it with my own money
I don’t get why Willett gets to play by completely different rules. They have a legacy that was built on amazing whiskey they distilled / sourced during a time when incredible bourbon was abundant, but their homemade bourbon is not that special. Plain and simple, they are a craft distillery, and one that is outpaced by others in the industry.
If I poured one of the limited edition Still Austin Bourbons into a Willett bottle and re-sealed the purple top, I am confident that most people couldn’t tell the difference and would be easily tricked into thinking it’s still amazing and worth the price. That bottle, that label, that purple wrap around the top, and the Willett name are the wow factor.
I’ll end my rant with this – Willett’s legacy can remain and we can all hold on to that beautiful thought, but let’s be real with ourselves – that Willet of old is mostly dead and gone, and it’s not coming back anytime soon. We have to evaluate today’s Willett by today’s standards and what they sell today. And if you do that, I think one of your thoughts would be “Willett, what the fuck”.
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.
There are no sponsors, no media companies, and no nonsense. Support The Whiskey Shelf by Buying Me A Shot.
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)
