Let’s propose a toast to Basil Hayden’s newest permanent expression: Basil Hayden Toast.
Toast is named for its toasted barrel finish – a trendy finish technique these days already pioneered by brands like Woodford Reserve, Elijah Craig, and Michter’s. As the name suggests, bourbons with this finish age first in a charred oak barrel and then finish growing up in a second, lightly toasted barrel. These barrels are heated gently, rather than charred to smithereens, so produce a slightly softer, sweeter flavor.
But rather than just go along with the trend, Basil Hayden added a little twist on their offering. Basil Hayden Toast takes the traditional BH mashbill (63% corn, 27% rye, and 10% malted barley) and swaps out rye for brown rice for a bourbon that’s supposed to create a light, approachable, sweet final product.
And well, sure, it is, but is that enough? Toast is in fact very sweet, with heavy brown sugar, vanilla, and butterscotch flavors and a slight smoke, oak smell up front. But for us, it’s almost too sweet. By removing the rye in a mashbill, you do lose a lot of the spicy notes that tend to round out bourbon. That lack of balance can be slightly remedied with a high or decently high proof, but with Toast coming in at only 80 proof, it’s in some trouble.
Part of the problem may just be in the blending. To create Toast, Basil Hayden is apparently combining OG Basil Hayden with the new, brown rice blend before the toasted barrel finish. Basil Hayden itself has always been a bit too thin, mild, and low-proof for our preference, so diluting it down isn’t exactly helping. In fact, Toast doesn’t taste all that much different from the original recipe to begin with.
At the end of the day, Basil Hayden Toast is simply fine. There is certainly something to be said about taking a risk with a unique mashbill grain, but it feels like Basil Hayden is relying a bit too much on the gimmick to sell this bottle. While it is sweet, approachable, and pretty inoffensive, the $50 price tag makes us think twice about buying this one again.
STATS: Basil Hayden Toast
- Price for us: $50 for 750 mL
- Proof: 80
- Aged: NAS
- Distillery: Basil Hayden
- Recommendation: Neat
