The Burning Chair Bourbon

Rich full Body heat at the beginning smooth finish

Martin wine & spirits barrel # 18

The latest venture of the mastermind behind Orin Swift Dave Phinney. As you’d expect, this sourced bourbon is wine cask-aged. I’m curious to see how a wine savant can apply his knowledge to improve bourbon. I’ve had some pretty good ones in this genre before; let’s see how the product of a true wine craftsmen stacks up. Nose: Dusty corn, newspaper, and saw dust (I’m finding this a lot in wine cask-aged bourbons.) Lots of of spice. Cinnamon, thyme, clove, nutmeg, and allspice. Brown sugar, caramel, and red grape. Apricot and pecan pie. A puff of cigar smoke. Mahogany/oak. So far so good. Palate: Red grape, pecan pie, apple, and apricot. More dusty corn and some walnut and almond. Traditional bourbon caramel and vanilla notes. Dried caramel and Twizzler. Cola and jam. Good balance between spirit and cask. Finish: Newspaper and grape. Cranberry and plum. Chestnut and almond. Clove, nutmeg, sawdust, and oak. Cinnamon, black pepper, and oak. Dusty corn note on the way down. Moderate length finish. Surprisingly long at 44% ABV. A lot to like here. The quality of the casks makes up for the youth of the spirit. I would love to try an older rendition with the same casks (I think this a 4-year.) Solid from start to finish. This may benefit from a slight kick in ABV. It’s tough to call, since the delicacy of the wine cask influence may be diminished by simply turning up the proof without a second thought. I actually think it performs well at this proof, but I wouldn’t mind getting seeing some higher proof offerings down the road. If you’re a traditional bourbon drinker looking to shake things up, I would recommend this. If you’re a Scotch/Irish drinker looking to for an introduction to American whiskey, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start. If you like Legent, I’d highly recommend this. It doesn’t quite stack up to Jefferson’s Groth Cask or Wyoming Double Cask, but it’s still a pretty damn good bourbon. 4/5.