My wife and I visited St. Augustine Distillery over MLK weekend, so I had a chance to try the distillery's two whiskies, their standard Double Cask Bourbon and a limited edition Port Finished Bourbon.
Look, this is a classic craft spirit: honestly made, and surprisingly high in quality for its youth, but with a lot of rough edges remaining. I'm not sure what the future holds for St. Augustine, and I'd certainly expect this bourbon will prove to be a viable competitor for other high-quality wheated bourbons with time. Interestingly, it sounds like a small percentage of the blend is also aged in port, to lend it some additional sweetness, which speaks to the fact that the bourbon standing alone probably is a little too bitter. The dominant notes that I get from this are young spirit notes, along with a mellow corn sweetness and a lot of raw grain notes. It is surprisingly smooth, and holds up very well in an Old Fashioned due to its lower level of sweetness. I've seen some reviewers describe a pine-like taste to this bourbon, which is dead on. In a way, some of the flavors here remind me of the distillery's gin, which is a legitimate heavy hitter.