Chattanooga Whiskey Barrel Finishing Series: Tawny Port Cask Finish

This is fine, but I hoped for more. I live in Chattanooga, and really want to like their stuff more, but it all just tastes young & unrefined to me.

Very niiiiicceee

Get the tannin taste of the port wine on the finish. Enjoying that a lot. Not overpowering. Very well might become a weekly sipper.

So I ran into someone pushing the Chattanooga brand at Total Wine, turns out it was none other than Tim Piersant, co-founder of the Distillery. My first question was about the obvious change in labeling, to which he explained the old 1816 label represented the MGP sourced product and the new label is the start of their sourcing. After a short convo about age statements and their relevance (they are doing a line of Solera now) I decided to go ahead and pick up the limited Port finish bourbon since it was already looking to be in short supply. He claims there are a total of 6 different mash bills combined (they are number ID'ed on the bottles) and dropped a hint that the Port barrels were significantly "wet" so there would be no doubt about the finish traits. Noting that ALL of their in house mash features a larger malt component and that is what they seem to be banking the brand on now. He did mention some wheated expressions that would be dropping in the next year. So off the top, it has the true sweet purple grape juice notes on the nose you might expect, yep, there's Port in this here whiskey. The nose carry's the full value of the tawny sweetness and hints of some darker malted undertones. Really pleasant. The first thing I get is malt and tawny sugars, it's a very sweet though still somewhat complex dram, the corn sugars and barrel tanins are tucked in with the dark malt and wine. Toward the finish the dark chocolaty malt takes over but the welches grapes hold on for the ride. It's quite an interesting and off the beaten trail expression, a heavily dark malted bourbon with tawny port sugars just isn't something you see daily. I will give CW full credit for deriving a really dark chocolaty tone of malt, if you like that with some sweet grape juiciness, you are going to like this. My sample bottle is opened for a week now and right at the shoulders. The poop: Mash Bill: B0001, B0005, SB055, BL8025, BL8016 BL7113 Cooperage: 55 gal, Toasted and Charred Oak Filteration: Non-chill Finish: Tawny Port 6+ months Age: 3+ years Batch Size: 6-7 barrels So they don't really tell you what the exact mash bill is which is something I don't like, but they give a large amount of the other extraneous data which I do like and complemented Tim on. My impression is that you're gong to enjoy this largely based on your enthusiasm for those dark malted notes and combined Port sugars. I'm finding it a really enjoyable profile even though it's little like the typical bourbons I usually enjoy. If it sounds like your thing, then the 50ish price isn't going to be that hard to swallow for such an offbeat specialty limited edition. Cheers!

Neat. Neck pour. Really enjoying what Chattanooga has done in such a short time. Had a sample of this a few weeks and was impressed enough to grab a bottle. The port on the nose is quite vibrant and brings this nice sweet jam on top of everything. And I dig Chattanooga’s base. Toasted barrels blended with charred barrels and high malt. Very peppery and savory, almost like a grill rub that’s a blend of salt, pepper, and various spices. So many layers of fruits on this - beyond the port, I am getting apples and orange. Even a charred pineapple. It’s a strange nose as I think about it and break it down. More characteristics I associate with a a scotch than a bourbon in many ways. Only 95 proof but it has this nice creamy mouth feel. Pepper, cinnamon, clove with brown sugar initially. Those fruits come in mid palate and that port influence takes more center stage. Finish is short. Peppery again, a bit of that charred pineapple. This is just a solid, finished daily sipper. Not too many of those out there. In terms of port finished, I’d drink this over Angel’s Envy or Bowman.

Color: dark maple brown Nose: sweet chocolate- smells similar to a chocolate peppermint Taste Initially I get a tartiness like a red wine but the taste evolves to Smokey chocolate. Lots of floral in the aftertaste. The finish was a strong burn but has a hint of chocolate again