Chattanooga Whiskey Barrel Finishing Series: Silver Oak Cabernet Cask Finished

This is one of two bottles my wife brought back from Nashville when she worked a GSK conference there two months ago. I was at home taking care of the kids so the bottles were a gift because my wife is awesome. The other bottle was Dickel Bottled-in-Bond (Fall 2008; 13 Year), which was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that together we finished it in about a month, and when I say together, I’m talking a 75/25 split me to her. Okay, maybe it was 80/20. Um, all right, I’ll cop to it, it was more likely 90/10. Anyway, I love the Dickel BiB, and spotted a bottle in the Circle Liquors in Sommers Point, Jersey and bought it a second time. And now that I’m no longer in Sommers Point, I’m regretting I didn’t clear the shelf. We’re going back for my wife’s birthday in August, and I might do just that (the restaurant she wants to go to is right next to Circle Liquors). As for Chattanooga, it’s what I ask for whenever my wife is in the South or Midwest. I don’t know if the brand has reached New England anywhere, but I don’t see it around me. And I don’t travel much, which means I don’t get to the South or the Midwest. My wife, on the other hand, had to go down to Georgia last year to help her aunt with some things, and while she was there, she picked up the Chattanooga Founder’s 10th Anniversary and the Chattanooga Islay-finished (the Islay was my request, the Founder’s was the clerk saying, hey, I have something good in the back your husband might like). The Islay finished Chattanooga is awesome, so when I saw this was the new finished release, this was what I wanted (should also note that because of my love of Islay, she brought back 2 bottles, the second of which I’m saving for a special occasion). I gave the Chattanooga Islay a 4.5. Some of you whom I follow here have had it, and it seems you like it as well. It’s amazingly evolved from what went into it. It tastes neither like a bourbon (or “other” whiskey, as it’s defined here, I suppose the mash bill doesn’t quite qualify it as a bourbon, though it’s described as “made from a combination of unique bourbon mash bills, all containing over 25% specialty malt” whatever that means) nor an Islay scotch but it becomes its own beast in that bottle and it’s a beast I really enjoyed. This one differs from that in that it’s “made from a blend of 5 single malt mash bills, each one containing a range of toasted, roasted, and caramel malted barley. The whiskey is aged for over four years including the 18 months in the Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon casks.” And let me tell you, this is wildly different from that Islay-finished dram, but just as good. And I’m talking neck-pour staggeringly good. Now, of course, there’s a .75 star review rating below, and with only 6 ratings so far and mine being a 7th, I’m going to grade on the curve here to try to rectify that. My real rating is 4.25 (I gave the Islay-finished a 4.5, and that edges this out but only because of my predilections). My actual rating in the end will be the same 4.5, and over time, it might show itself to deserve that. Honestly, the folks at Chattanooga know what they’re doing, and I only wish we could get more of their product where I am so I could buy it all the time. This is the wine-iest whisky I’ve ever tasted. The nose is all berries, mostly strawberry and raspberry. On the palate it almost becomes a wine if not for the slightest undercurrent of oak and vanilla that remind you that this is an American-made whisky which for all its single malt credentials still reminds you of that. It’s creamy too, and almost reminds me of Green Spot’s Chateau Montelena in that there’s a sort of jammie fruitiness that makes you feel like the fruits aren’t fresh so much as concentrated and caramelized. The fact that this only has 6 reviews here suggests its either not too widely available or people aren’t rushing out to buy this. Maybe you’re on the fence because it has at 3.42 as I write, but trust me, for $60, this is well worth it, and I think I’m about to get up and pour myself another dram. My only regret is that I didn’t ask my wife to bring back two bottles of this one the way I did for the Chattanooga Islay-finished whisky. I might have, but she wasn’t sure how much room there was in her luggage that trip. Honestly, there’s a part of me that wants to rent an RV and head down to Tennessee and Kentucky and load up. I’m starting to edge to that point where I’m wondering if I’m stockpiling too much and if I should just stop buying considering what I’ve stored should keep me going through an apocalypse and then I taste something like this and think, no, I can’t stop now. There are too many unique expressions out there. I have to keep roaming. Can’t stop, won’t stop. Bad boy for life. As long as it’s this good, let’s keep the whisky flowing.

Just as advertised.... berry forward with that char smokey oak finish.

This was not what i expected. We tried two similar finishes and like them, so i picked up this bottle. Three of us tried it and 2 poured it out.