The liquid, in fact, is a blend of 73% sourced bourbon from Bardstown (aka Kentucky Bourbon Distillers / KBD aka Willett), 17% Old Potrero 18th Century Style Rye Whiskey (which is 100% malted rye), and 10% Old Potrero Port Finish Rye Whiskey. Old Potrero is one of Anchor’s whiskey brands, distilled and aged in San Francisco, California. The reported ages of the components…
So here we are, a day late and about ninety dollars short to talk about a bottle you can’t buy anymore. Batch 017 was released in early 2019 and is intended to be an homage to “classic” bourbon — the kind that is suddenly hard to find on shelves. It’s a blend of straight bourbon whiskies from Tennessee, Indiana, and Kentucky. The three component whiskies were all rye-flavored bourbons (mash bill corn, rye, and malted barley) aged 10 years and 4 months, 14 years, and 15 years so this bottle is “officially” 10 years and 4 months old. It’s up to you if you want to mentally count the extra age…
Woodinville Straight Bourbon is a Washington State straight bourbon that is pot distilled by Woodinville Whiskey Company in Woodinville, Washington state. The distillery, established in 2010, was acquired in 2017 by Moët Hennessy (LVMH), which might explain why it’s now popping up on store shelves. All of the grain for distillation comes locally, from…
The distillery uses local New York grains milled using their on-site hammer mill. The mash for the Wheated Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon – 70% local corn, 20% red winter wheat, 10% malted barley – is double-distilled using a Vendome continuous still and copper thumper (basically a secondary spirit still), although the company also has a…
In fact, Henry McKenna is made from the same mashbill (75% corn, 13% rye, 12% barley) as Elijah Craig and Evan Williams. Bottles can be found for $15 or less, and even 1-liter bottles are available in some markets for about the same. That’s some inexpensive whiskey, even though it’s definitely younger and lower ABV (40%) than its cousin brands.
Like Elijah Craig and Henry McKenna, Evan Williams has a mash bill of 75% Corn, 13% Rye, and 12% Barley. It’s also Kentucky straight bourbon, but because it’s labeled “bottled in bond” it’s aged for at least 4 years and bottled at 50% ABV (100 proof). It can be found in bottle sizes of 750ml, 1 liter, and 1.75 liter, all for very reasonable prices.
The label on this squat bottle of bourbon looks like it was created before anyone in the market started caring about the contents of their bottles. It informs me that the liquid is from a single barrel, without giving a bottle number, barrel identifier, date, year, or even batch number. It also reveals that it is bottled at the very random 44.45% ABV and that it was distilled by Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. Aaaaaand… that’s it.
Old Forester’s Signature 100 Proof is indeed bottled at 50% ABV, but notably is NOT bottled in bond. Like the rest of the Old Forester bourbon lineup, it is Kentucky Straight Bourbon from Brown-Forman, made from a mash bill of 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley (for enzymes) and aged for an undisclosed amount of time in new charred American oak barrels.
The Texas Pot Still Bourbon uses a unique mash bill of four grains: roasted blue corn, Texas wheat, Texas rye and malted barley. The flavor makes me think they’re using a darker malt on the barley than is standard for most malt whiskies, but I can’t find any verification online.
Rowan’s Creek, despite listing “Rowan’s Creek Distillery” as the bottler on the label, is a brand owned by Willett (formerly Kentucky Bourbon Distillers or KBD) and sourced from somewhere else. It is straight Kentucky bourbon, bottled at the obnoxious ABV of 50.05%, presumably so they can say it’s 100.1 proof.
