> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bourbonbanter.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Blade and Bow Solera Reserve 12-year Bourbon Is The Brand's Best-Ever Release - URL: https://www.bourbonbanter.com/blade-and-bow-solera-reserve-12-year-bourbon-is-the-brands-best-ever-release/ - Published: 2026-09-07T09:00:39.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-07T09:00:38.000Z - Description: I'd consider this release a shot over the bow to any of Blade & Bow's competitors. Twelve year whiskey at $65, for Pete's sake! Drinkers want more of this! - Author: Steve Coomes - Tags: Bourbon Whiskey Reviews, Bottle, Blade and Bow Solera Reserve 12-year Bourbon Bottle Details - **DISTILLER:** Not disclosed, but it was blended using whiskies stored at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery site. - **TYPE:** Bourbon - **MASH BILL:** At least 51% Corn and some combination of Rye and Malted Barley - **AGE:** 12 years - **YEAR:** 2026 - **PROOF:** 104 (52% ABV) - **AVAILABILITY:** Available in select markets, including GA, IL, KY, NC, OH, SC and TX. - **MSRP:** $64.99 - **BUY ONLINE:** Not offered at the distillery's bottle shop, but widely available online. TASTING NOTES **NOSE:** This starts as an explosion of spring flowers that morphs into bubble gum and ripe tropical fruit before easing into well-tended old bourbon–that beautiful, slightly medicinal cherry aroma. **PALATE:** Every aroma transfers to the palate, even floral characters. The sweet notes shift to hard cherry candy, some nougat (think Milky Way bar instead of Three Musketeers), grilled peach and pineapple and then leather and smoldering oak. Fabulous in every respect. **FINISH:** Warm, gentle and long with lingering, tannin-free chocolate and leather notes. Reviewer's Verdict **RATING:** Bottle, and two of them if you can find them. **WORTH THE PRICE:** Really? You have to ask? Without a doubt. **WHO IT'S FOR:** All American whiskey drinkers and Scotch fans who need a fruity nudge to try yankee booze. **REVIEWER'S VERDICT:** This is a 12-year-old bottle of excellent bourbon. So how is it being offered at such an affordable price when bottles half that age are priced above $80 ... when Blade and Bow's flagship bottle is just $10-$15 less? I'd consider this a shot over the bow to any of Blade & Bow's competitors. Twelve year whiskey at $65, for Pete's sake! Drinkers want more of this! If any of you is thinking, "Blade and Bow I've had in the past was not worth the price," then you're like me. I've always thought too soft and unassertive; nothing memorable about it. And now B and B comes out with this flavor bomb? And charges $65 for it? Why did ya wait so long, Diageo? Here's what makes this bottle so unique. According to the news release, the bourbon experienced a multi‑vat solera finishing and blending process using ex-Cognac, ex-Bordeaux, ex-Moscatel and Port vats to push and pull this bourbon toward a nigh-magical flavor profile. Properly so, the release credits Nicole Austin, director of American whiskey liquid development and capabilities at Diageo, with this masterpiece. This lady is a boss from whom more great pours like this are surely to come more frequently. FWIW, the whiskey press corps likes her a lot. She's talented, frank, funny, friendly and no nonsense about great whiskey. And she's onto something truly great in this solera release. Make more like it and price it just as affordably, please! Disclaimer --- This bottle found its way to us compliments of the brand. What ends up on the page is ours alone — and they knew that going in. Around here, honesty isn't a policy. It's the whole damn point. About Our Rating System --- Bourbon & Banter uses a three-tier rating system created over a decade ago: **Bottle**, **Bar**, or **Bust**. - 🍾 **Bottle** — Buy it. This one deserves a place in your cabinet. *(Approximate equivalent: 85 and above on a 100-point scale)* - 🥃 **Bar** — Worth trying, but not necessarily worth owning. Find it at a bar before committing to a bottle. *(Approximate equivalent: 70–84)* - 💀 **Bust** — Skip it. Life is too short and your shelf space too valuable. *(Approximate equivalent: below 70)* Numeric scores imply a precision that doesn't exist — and most publications never score below 80, making half the scale meaningless. We'd rather answer the question that actually matters: buy it, try it at a bar before you buy, or skip it. The approximate equivalents above are for reference only.