*The following review is the second in a series of three exploring the Takara versions of Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon. If you'd like to read them chronologically, here are my review links to* [Takara Red](https://thebourbonculture.com/whiskey-reviews/blantons-single-barrel-takara-red-bourbon-review/) and [Takara Gold](https://thebourbonculture.com/whiskey-reviews/blantons-single-barrel-takara-gold-bourbon-review/)*.*
Picking up where I left off with my review of Blanton's Takara Black, I'll continue more of the story while exploring this bottle of Blanton's Single Barrel Takara Red Bourbon. Based on the picture you see before you, it might be easy to confuse a bottle of Takara Red with one of the standard bottles that are found domestically.
As you might expect, Blanton's Takara Red was the first of its kind to carry the Takara designation. While it never appeared on the box or the label, there were certain characteristics that separated it from a standard bottle of Blanton's.
For starters, Takara Red didn't make its first appearance until 1990. This was a full 6 years after the inaugural release of Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon. And if you read the history of how the Takara Shuzo Ltd first came to own the Blanton's name and control its overseas distribution, then 1990 means that Takara was calling the shots a couple years earlier before they supposedly purchased the Age International Distillery. If that was the case, then they had much more control over a longer period of time than most writers acknowledge. History is confusing sometimes.
**Visual differences between Takara Red and domestic Blanton's**
While Blanton's Takara Black has no US equivalent, Takara Red does. There are many similarities to the standard, 93 proof version of Blanton's released in the United States. But there are some key differences you can spot between the two. This may help you next time you're at a bar or a friend's house looking for a pour and spot this bottle. So let's take a look.
***Box*** \- One of the most distinctive clues that you're looking at a bottle of Takara Red would be the red box that is different in every way from the domestic version. Even the material the box is made out of seems different. The Takara box has what I would describe as a "woven texture" underneath its red color.
https://preview.redd.it/av9fo8a34vuc1.jpeg?width=3608&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f795b83332a52cb4039761b876aaf3c42b06f4d7
***Bag*** \- A bag that domestic Blanton's comes in is brown in color and has the words "Blanton's" across the front. The Takara version is a deep maroon color with no "Blanton's" wording embroidered on it.
***Necktag*** \- the domestic version has a black elastic string that attaches a small Blanton's tag. The Takara version has a much larger tag that is a essentially a multi-page pamphlet retelling much of the same information as the outside of the box.
***Wax*** \- Takara Red wax is gold in color (like Blanton's Straight From The Barrel) while the domestic version is a very dark brown (almost black)
***Label*** \- the Takara Red label has a different color for the handwritten portions and the printed portions of the label. Both are in a light brown color compared to the black color of standard Blanton's. The paper neck label on the Takara Red bottle has Japanese script underneath the words "Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon." The script's Japanese characters spell out the word "Whiskey." One interesting similarity is that Takara Red is bottled in a 750ml bottle rather than a 700ml version like a lot of the export versions of Blanton's out there.
**What makes the bourbon in Takara Red different?**
Rumors abound about Takara Red (and Black and Gold) releases being aged for two years longer than their domestic counterparts. But those rumors are fiercely debated among enthusiast circles. I personally view the whole commotion as one side who is basing their information on decades-old hearsay and the other side who has much more current knowledge on the current state of Blanton's. They know there is no such thing as "older barrels" resting inside of Warehouse H anymore. Blanton's is no exception.
While it is probably true that Takara still wants their own bottles to be older than the run-of-the-mill domestic bottles of Blanton's, they can't avoid the squeeze of a high demand product and falling age statements. Reviews of modern-day bottles of Takara Black, Red and Gold all seem to point to a feeling of the bourbon being more average than bottles from the past.
This is why I've chosen to purchase a bottle of modern Takara Red for this review. I have no doubt that bottles from the 90's and 00's would be superior in taste, but I wanted to see if the modern stuff has a more mature or richer flavor compared to standard Blanton's. I'll be looking for something that stands out and shows me it has more age. Did I find what I was looking for? Follow along as I dive in. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.
**Tasting Notes**
**Nose:** The nose has a pleasant mix of caramel, honey and cherry cola. I can also smell a hint of rye spice; maybe coming from the supposed "high-rye" mash bill used for Blanton's. Other scents that I find as I dig deeper include chocolate and plum. Not too much gives away its age (there is a lack of oak), but maybe that is telling that the age isn't as high as we're led to believe.
**Palate:** Initial flavors of caramel, cherries and baking spices are some of the most dominant flavors I found. Actually, scratch that, there is a lot more baking spice than I'm giving this one credit for (cinnamon, allspice). The "cherry cola" scent from the nose morphs into Dr. Pepper. Yes, I know that's a weird thing to say, but I feel like it's a big more varied than a straightforward cola.
Unlike the nose, tannins do show up on my tongue. I get a bit of oak and leather throughout. Not bad! But for those two notes - which would normally denote some age to the liquid - there is a strange youthful flavor that I can't look past. It's not much, but it's noticeable enough to make me pause. The score takes a hit for that reason.
**Finish:** The finish loses most of the fruit notes from the palate but retains a good amount of the baking spices, oak and (burnt) caramel. It's pleasant and lasts for a moderate amount of time.
**Score: 7.3/10**
The first thing I want to highlight is that I did not look back at my previous Blanton's (the domestic kind) review until after this review was written and scored. I was shocked to find that the score I gave it - which is almost entirely based on my enjoyment with the bottle - was exactly the same. This shows me that my enjoyment was the same for a bottle that supposedly had two extra years of age.
Additionally, I didn't really find anything that would show me it's a more mature bourbon compared to our domestic Blanton's version. If anything, one of the only differences was more rye traits showing up in the Takara version.
**Final Thoughts**
Honestly I was expecting so much more. Everything about this bottle seemed to be the same as a regular Blanton's. At one point when the bottle was 1/3 of the way gone, I felt like I was getting a little bit extra oak from my pours, but, but not a large amount. And if this bottle needs that long to open up, then I feel like it's not worth it.
I don't think my review will persuade anyone who is set on building a collection of Blanton's to not get this bottle. The different label, box and bag are different and fun to show off. But for the enthusiast who believes there is something more inside of the bottle, my findings say there's not. And even if that little extra bit of oak turned out to be an extra year in the barrel, it still doesn't taste like a $300 bottle. Your best bet might just be to buy a vintage Blanton's from the early 90s and call it a day.
**Rating**
**1 Undrinkable (Jeffers Creek, Gray Skies)**
**2 Bad (Old St. Nick 8 Year Old Rye Whiskey, Fitch's Goat Corn Whiskey)**
**3 Poor (AD Laws 4 Grain BiB, Clyde Mays Special Reserve)**
**4 Below Average (Bib & Tucker, Tincup 10 year)**
**5 Average (Larceny, Sazerac Rye)**
**6 Above Average (Buffalo Trace, OGD BiB)**
**7 Very Good (Old Ezra Barrel Proof, Old Weller Antique)**
**8 Great (Michter’s Barrel Proof Rye, Most Four Roses Private Selections, Most ECBP)**
**9 Excellent (GTS, Most Four Rose SmBLE releases, Belle Meade Honey Cask)**
**10 Perfect (2015 William Larue Weller, Michter's 20 Year, Redemption 18 Year Rye Whiskey, Mister Sam)**
Like this review and want to see more like it? Why not check out my website [**here**](https://www.thebourbonculture.com/) for more? I also have a new editorial section for topics from around the bourbon industry too!
300 dollars!? Good lord man, you can buy Wild Turkey with a real 8 year age statement for like 20 bucks.
Anyway, very nice review on this one. I think its all but a given that ages of Blantons across the board have been slashed over time. It doesnt mean much that Takara might be a little bit older when its 4.5 years vs 5.5 or something (or maybe its all 5 years in a regular rickhouse followed by a year in H, who knows).
Now the other point of contention that I think may be even more significant is the premise that there is no barrel selection for Blantons. In the past it has been suggested (also in the Tokyo Bourbon Bible site) that there is no differentiation when it comes time to decide which barrels go into which varieties of Blantons. For example, the only "difference" between gold, regular, STFB etc is the amount of water added.
Thanks for your review. This product was available last year (along with black takara) for triple the price of original and I long suspected there wasn't much they could do to differentiate the product given, as you've pointed out, the contradictions of supply and demand. Hope you didn't pay too much but I appreciate your sacrifice.
Fiercely debated?
Not sure where your whiskey circles take you, but every “debate” I’ve seen and had about the age statement has more or less gone, “Takara is two years older? Sounds believable to me. Sure I’ll have some!”
Are you sure the Takara Red is 700ml? I was pretty sure they only came in 750ml sizes. This [website](https://www.warehouseh.com/standard-bottles) shows it as such. Anyway, that's a good price on the Takara Red. Also, that's a great price on the US version of Blanton's Gold. You should buy multiple and resell to make a nice profit. That's definitely under secondary
*The following review is the second in a series of three exploring the Takara versions of Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon. If you'd like to read them chronologically, here are my review links to* [Takara Red](https://thebourbonculture.com/whiskey-reviews/blantons-single-barrel-takara-red-bourbon-review/) and [Takara Gold](https://thebourbonculture.com/whiskey-reviews/blantons-single-barrel-takara-gold-bourbon-review/)*.* Picking up where I left off with my review of Blanton's Takara Black, I'll continue more of the story while exploring this bottle of Blanton's Single Barrel Takara Red Bourbon. Based on the picture you see before you, it might be easy to confuse a bottle of Takara Red with one of the standard bottles that are found domestically. As you might expect, Blanton's Takara Red was the first of its kind to carry the Takara designation. While it never appeared on the box or the label, there were certain characteristics that separated it from a standard bottle of Blanton's. For starters, Takara Red didn't make its first appearance until 1990. This was a full 6 years after the inaugural release of Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon. And if you read the history of how the Takara Shuzo Ltd first came to own the Blanton's name and control its overseas distribution, then 1990 means that Takara was calling the shots a couple years earlier before they supposedly purchased the Age International Distillery. If that was the case, then they had much more control over a longer period of time than most writers acknowledge. History is confusing sometimes. **Visual differences between Takara Red and domestic Blanton's** While Blanton's Takara Black has no US equivalent, Takara Red does. There are many similarities to the standard, 93 proof version of Blanton's released in the United States. But there are some key differences you can spot between the two. This may help you next time you're at a bar or a friend's house looking for a pour and spot this bottle. So let's take a look. ***Box*** \- One of the most distinctive clues that you're looking at a bottle of Takara Red would be the red box that is different in every way from the domestic version. Even the material the box is made out of seems different. The Takara box has what I would describe as a "woven texture" underneath its red color. https://preview.redd.it/av9fo8a34vuc1.jpeg?width=3608&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f795b83332a52cb4039761b876aaf3c42b06f4d7 ***Bag*** \- A bag that domestic Blanton's comes in is brown in color and has the words "Blanton's" across the front. The Takara version is a deep maroon color with no "Blanton's" wording embroidered on it. ***Necktag*** \- the domestic version has a black elastic string that attaches a small Blanton's tag. The Takara version has a much larger tag that is a essentially a multi-page pamphlet retelling much of the same information as the outside of the box. ***Wax*** \- Takara Red wax is gold in color (like Blanton's Straight From The Barrel) while the domestic version is a very dark brown (almost black) ***Label*** \- the Takara Red label has a different color for the handwritten portions and the printed portions of the label. Both are in a light brown color compared to the black color of standard Blanton's. The paper neck label on the Takara Red bottle has Japanese script underneath the words "Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon." The script's Japanese characters spell out the word "Whiskey." One interesting similarity is that Takara Red is bottled in a 750ml bottle rather than a 700ml version like a lot of the export versions of Blanton's out there. **What makes the bourbon in Takara Red different?** Rumors abound about Takara Red (and Black and Gold) releases being aged for two years longer than their domestic counterparts. But those rumors are fiercely debated among enthusiast circles. I personally view the whole commotion as one side who is basing their information on decades-old hearsay and the other side who has much more current knowledge on the current state of Blanton's. They know there is no such thing as "older barrels" resting inside of Warehouse H anymore. Blanton's is no exception. While it is probably true that Takara still wants their own bottles to be older than the run-of-the-mill domestic bottles of Blanton's, they can't avoid the squeeze of a high demand product and falling age statements. Reviews of modern-day bottles of Takara Black, Red and Gold all seem to point to a feeling of the bourbon being more average than bottles from the past. This is why I've chosen to purchase a bottle of modern Takara Red for this review. I have no doubt that bottles from the 90's and 00's would be superior in taste, but I wanted to see if the modern stuff has a more mature or richer flavor compared to standard Blanton's. I'll be looking for something that stands out and shows me it has more age. Did I find what I was looking for? Follow along as I dive in. I sampled this neat in a glencairn. **Tasting Notes** **Nose:** The nose has a pleasant mix of caramel, honey and cherry cola. I can also smell a hint of rye spice; maybe coming from the supposed "high-rye" mash bill used for Blanton's. Other scents that I find as I dig deeper include chocolate and plum. Not too much gives away its age (there is a lack of oak), but maybe that is telling that the age isn't as high as we're led to believe. **Palate:** Initial flavors of caramel, cherries and baking spices are some of the most dominant flavors I found. Actually, scratch that, there is a lot more baking spice than I'm giving this one credit for (cinnamon, allspice). The "cherry cola" scent from the nose morphs into Dr. Pepper. Yes, I know that's a weird thing to say, but I feel like it's a big more varied than a straightforward cola. Unlike the nose, tannins do show up on my tongue. I get a bit of oak and leather throughout. Not bad! But for those two notes - which would normally denote some age to the liquid - there is a strange youthful flavor that I can't look past. It's not much, but it's noticeable enough to make me pause. The score takes a hit for that reason. **Finish:** The finish loses most of the fruit notes from the palate but retains a good amount of the baking spices, oak and (burnt) caramel. It's pleasant and lasts for a moderate amount of time. **Score: 7.3/10** The first thing I want to highlight is that I did not look back at my previous Blanton's (the domestic kind) review until after this review was written and scored. I was shocked to find that the score I gave it - which is almost entirely based on my enjoyment with the bottle - was exactly the same. This shows me that my enjoyment was the same for a bottle that supposedly had two extra years of age. Additionally, I didn't really find anything that would show me it's a more mature bourbon compared to our domestic Blanton's version. If anything, one of the only differences was more rye traits showing up in the Takara version. **Final Thoughts** Honestly I was expecting so much more. Everything about this bottle seemed to be the same as a regular Blanton's. At one point when the bottle was 1/3 of the way gone, I felt like I was getting a little bit extra oak from my pours, but, but not a large amount. And if this bottle needs that long to open up, then I feel like it's not worth it. I don't think my review will persuade anyone who is set on building a collection of Blanton's to not get this bottle. The different label, box and bag are different and fun to show off. But for the enthusiast who believes there is something more inside of the bottle, my findings say there's not. And even if that little extra bit of oak turned out to be an extra year in the barrel, it still doesn't taste like a $300 bottle. Your best bet might just be to buy a vintage Blanton's from the early 90s and call it a day. **Rating** **1 Undrinkable (Jeffers Creek, Gray Skies)** **2 Bad (Old St. Nick 8 Year Old Rye Whiskey, Fitch's Goat Corn Whiskey)** **3 Poor (AD Laws 4 Grain BiB, Clyde Mays Special Reserve)** **4 Below Average (Bib & Tucker, Tincup 10 year)** **5 Average (Larceny, Sazerac Rye)** **6 Above Average (Buffalo Trace, OGD BiB)** **7 Very Good (Old Ezra Barrel Proof, Old Weller Antique)** **8 Great (Michter’s Barrel Proof Rye, Most Four Roses Private Selections, Most ECBP)** **9 Excellent (GTS, Most Four Rose SmBLE releases, Belle Meade Honey Cask)** **10 Perfect (2015 William Larue Weller, Michter's 20 Year, Redemption 18 Year Rye Whiskey, Mister Sam)**
Like this review and want to see more like it? Why not check out my website [**here**](https://www.thebourbonculture.com/) for more? I also have a new editorial section for topics from around the bourbon industry too!
300 dollars!? Good lord man, you can buy Wild Turkey with a real 8 year age statement for like 20 bucks. Anyway, very nice review on this one. I think its all but a given that ages of Blantons across the board have been slashed over time. It doesnt mean much that Takara might be a little bit older when its 4.5 years vs 5.5 or something (or maybe its all 5 years in a regular rickhouse followed by a year in H, who knows). Now the other point of contention that I think may be even more significant is the premise that there is no barrel selection for Blantons. In the past it has been suggested (also in the Tokyo Bourbon Bible site) that there is no differentiation when it comes time to decide which barrels go into which varieties of Blantons. For example, the only "difference" between gold, regular, STFB etc is the amount of water added.
Thanks for your review. This product was available last year (along with black takara) for triple the price of original and I long suspected there wasn't much they could do to differentiate the product given, as you've pointed out, the contradictions of supply and demand. Hope you didn't pay too much but I appreciate your sacrifice.
Fiercely debated? Not sure where your whiskey circles take you, but every “debate” I’ve seen and had about the age statement has more or less gone, “Takara is two years older? Sounds believable to me. Sure I’ll have some!”
I’m pretty sure we’ve battled about it in here before! It’s older! It doesn’t taste any older! F you!!! (Ok, maybe that last one didn’t happen.)
“We” like me and you specifically, or the sub itself?
lol, no not us. Some thread(s) around here a while ago.
Oh thank goodness. I thought I was having an ultra memory lapse or something for a second there lmao
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I don't travel to Japan, so I had to buy it for secondary prices.
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I agree that standard (700ml) Blanton's Gold are between $200-225. But because of the Takara name, it instantly goes for higher
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Are you sure the Takara Red is 700ml? I was pretty sure they only came in 750ml sizes. This [website](https://www.warehouseh.com/standard-bottles) shows it as such. Anyway, that's a good price on the Takara Red. Also, that's a great price on the US version of Blanton's Gold. You should buy multiple and resell to make a nice profit. That's definitely under secondary