Arizona Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Most people probably never heard of Elgin Distillery but it is putting out some serious spirits and winning plenty of awards. Just like many craft distillers, there's a big focus on sourcing local ingredients and transparency in their process. Their Arizona Straight Bourbon Whiskey is distilled from 100% Arizona grown grain. Mash bill is 70% corn, 20% rye, and 10% barley. Outside of growing the grain, every step of production is handled in-house: malting, milling, mashing, fermenting, distilling, aging, and bottling. I don't believe it's common for a craft distillery to malt their own grain, Elgin Distillery malts not only the barley but the corn and rye as well. They also use their own well water (fondly referred to as their Magic Water) in distilling and proofing as those details do matter in the final product. This bourbon is aged 6 years in their single story rickhouse situated at 5,000 foot elevation in Elgin, AZ where temperatures can experience a 60 degree variation daily. Full size, 53 gallon barrels are used with #4 char and medium plus toast. Only 50 barrels were produced in 2019 with the intent of setting aside 12 for advanced aging. They are talking 20+ year old whiskey being released down the line! On the nose there's wood, baking spices, brown sugar, charred oak, leather, and baked apples. The palate starts out with honey sweetness, cinnamon, black pepper and raw wood. Finish is nice and lengthy with dry oak, slight black pepper spice and caramel sweetness and flavor throughout. No alcohol burn at all, instead it is a pleasant warming sensation. Absolutely love the fact that there is now decently aged and excellent bourbon using traditional mash bill coming out of Arizona.