Old Fourth Distillery Bottled in Bond Straight Bourbon

I enjoy it. A little thin on the mouthfeel, I personally prefer a higher proof but I am partial being an Atlanta resident. Easy drinking, not over or under whelming.

BACKGROUND: Atlanta’s Old Fourth Distillery is named after the “Old Fourth Ward,” a former political district and current trendy neighborhood that encompasses many of the city’s most historic sites. Among the landmarks located within the Old Fourth Ward are Martin Luther King’s Boyhood Home, the Ebenezer Baptist Church where King and his father pastored, the King Center and burial site, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, and the Edgewood Avenue nightlife district. Founded via a Kickstarter campaign by two brothers, Old Fourth Distillery initially produced gin and a lemon-flavored sugar cane vodka onsite. They later expanded into bourbon. Old Fourth Distillery is very opaque and misleading, however, about the fact that its bourbon is sourced. The front of the bottle reads that the bourbon is “Produced by Old Fourth Distillery” - not “Distilled by” or “Bottled by” - but the back has an artist’s etching of a barn that carries a distillery licensing number above the door. If traced, you find that the number belongs to MGP of Indiana, and it offers the only clue on the bottle that the bourbon is sourced. The company apparently purchased 75 barrels of “new-make” bourbon from MGP in 2015, transported it to Georgia, and aged it for four years in a federally-bonded warehouse in order to meet the bottled in bond requirements. Another 120 barrels will be released at some point in 2020. Before reviewing the bourbon inside, it is important to note that the bottle is one of the most beautiful and well-designed that I have ever seen. The front includes a gorgeous, art-deco metal inlay of the distillery along with a metal neck ring and metal topper. The print on the front and the trolley barn depicted on the back are etched directly into the bottle. A small, handwritten label denotes the bottle and barrel numbers. Altogether, the bottle design screams style and elegance. Made from a mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley, the bottle I purchased retailed for just under $45. NOSE: The nose is dominated by fresh, hot, buttered cornbread and smoky oak that allows you to smell the actual char, which likely results from the fact that the bourbon is unfiltered but does flow through a single cotton screen that removes solid pieces of barrel and char before bottling. Sweet fruit lingers in the background. It is a thoroughly delightful and appealing nose, and it was difficult to quit sniffing the bourbon long enough to taste it. An apt, one-word description of the nose would be “fantastic.” PALATE: The palate offers a combination of creamed corn sweetness, caramel cream pie, and smokiness. While those flavors, upon reading the description at first glance, would not seem to mingle well, they combine into a decadently rich, sweet, and satisfying palate. FINISH: The long finish consists almost entirely of smoky oak char and some bitter, though not unpleasant, lemon peel that lingers. There is the touch of an alcohol hug on the back end. FINAL ASSESSMENT: The bourbon boom has produced a number of hastily thrown together storefronts that claim to be “craft” distilleries, and they, more often than not, care more about chasing a dollar than producing a good product. Those overnight storefront setups often rush to bottle bourbon that is much too young and tastes like you are chewing on a mouthful of newly-mown grass. Old Fourth Distillery is the exception to that unsavory trend. Their Bottled In Bond Straight Bourbon would be an outstanding product even for a large-scale, already-established distillery, much less a small craft house based in Georgia. It comes as no surprise that this bourbon won a a double gold medal at the 2019 World Spirits Competition in San Francisco. I plan to purchase a few more bottles on my next trip through the Peach State.