One other thing on mash: as long as it's at least 51% corn, it's on its way to being bourbon. That's all that matters. Unlike age statements, you can say a mash is composed of anything and you don't need to tell the truth as long as it's 51% corn. Also, as long as all the base distillates you're blending meet that standard (51%) and are at least 4 years old (to call yourself a straight bourbon without an age statement), you can put anything together to make those big volumes of bottles. Wheat bourbons, rye bourbons, corn whiskies aged long enough to be called bourbon... it all goes in giant vats that are sampled until the graph shows the peaks and valleys they want. Sure, that's tested by the master distiller, but face it: if it's the same bourbon generation after generation and batch to batch, it's an industrial product. These guys that bash bottlers that source their goods still think tight pants and stupid mustaches are cool. They want to admiration, and they get it by parroting everything they read on bourbon forums instead of forming an opinion of their own and defending it with solid feelings. They're poseurs. Hats off to everything NGP provides the raw materials for: it gets me laid just the same.

I've found that the texture has more to do with the mashbill than it does the aging. There's plenty of bad over-oaked bourbon out there in the 10-12 year range that still has a thin mouthfeel. The bigger guys tend to use more wheat and corn in their mash because they're cheap, add a syrupy mouthfeel with minimal aging, and are boring (inoffensive... depending on your opinion of rye). As long as it's at least 51% corn they're making bourbon, so they're going to make it as cheaply as possible. There are plenty of bourbons that have a young age and big texture, and overall your review is spot on. I'm liking what I'm seeing from Traverse City... and let's face it... what ISN'T a sourced product. Angel's Envy? Sourced. Bulliet? Sourced. Knob Creek? Sourced. There's nothing wrong with it, and at the scale that Woodford and Beam put out their bourbons, they're essentially sourced (volume needs commercial distilling to be efficient), so that's not a detriment to someone that appreciates the spirit more than they want the appreciation of others for the labels on their shelf. Drink what you like, and don't knock people for sourcing things... afterall, there hasn't been a real bottle of Pappy since 1994 because in 1995 it all burned down and Sazerac came along with a small check to buy the recipe and name... so... that's just really good Heaven Hill... which makes it sourced. Think about that next time you consider a $400 bottle on the secondary market. *sad trombone*

@Generously_Paul thanks for the tip! I will keep an eye out for Grand Traverse!

@Generously_Paul thanks for the tip! I will keep an eye out for Great Traverse!

If it’s 4 years old, it’s sourced distillate. My wife and I visited the distillery in the summer of 2016 and it was clear that their still had never been used as it was still a pristine new penny copper color. They said that they were “getting ready” to distill their own mash but I’m not sure when that was going to start. I found that the Grand Traverse Distillery (their area competitor) makes a better product. I went on their tour as well and they have a great operation going. They make vodka (both from wheat and rye) , gin, rye whisky, bourbon and cherry whisky