Tastes

Visited the distillery and tried their bourbon flight at the attractive little bar they've put in place (you can get cocktails etc. made with their products as well, yay!) Flight currently includes this Four Grain as the "baseline" offering, a Single Barrel version of the 4 Grain, and a Port Finished expression clocking in at 110.8 proof and $100 a bottle. Regular 4 Grain very admirable for a youngster, similar to some of Reservoir Distillery's selections in Richmond VA but gone maverick with the additional grains - a previous review mentioned "hot electronics" as a taste and I am in agreement. Very fun. Single Barrel is a step up, with only a hint of that back-throat tip-of-tongue moonshine fire and more woody smoothness (at least regarding the present batch, #200.) Port Finish I'm not sure I would shell out $100 for, but it's far from a failed attempt; adding a decent dose of water opens it up nicely, giving access to the chocolate cherry notes touted by the bartender, and in that it's my pick of the litter. Also the pours are generous and they give you pretzels to munch... not bad for $14 if you can get out here.

As one might expect from a grain they use to make a molasses-type sweetener, this spirit is sweet sweet SWEET. I barely got a nose, just a light wash of sugar across the palate like sunlight through Spanish moss. Not sure about drinking this neat for any reason other than a change of pace, but it would make an incredible Manhattan.