"Chai Life"

Released October, 2022

Age: ~5 years
Type: Straight bourbon
Proof: 113
Mash bill: Corn/Wheat/Rye/Malted Barley
Finish: ~2 months in heavy toasted barrel
Distillery: MGP
Bottler: Penelope
Tasting notes:

Nose: Smells like a spice cabinet, with the warm cinnamon and cardamom coming forward first and a bouquet of more delicate coriander, oregano and sage. On the other side of the kitchen is a pecan pie because it smells like that too.

Palate: One is immediately welcomed to the warm, comforting bosom of all the reasons we came to single barrel bourbon in the first place. There's brown sugar, caramel, cola, sassafras (if you haven't had it, think good root beer) and dark chocolate. To the synesthete, those brown, navy and dark purple flavors stay dark through the middle and back of the palate. They're joined by just a touch of that wheat-ey sweetness we know and love from J&B's Dramba single barrel pick and the less-impressive yet more distributed Weller line.

Finish: Best described as sticky, it echoes the palate well and hangs there, with sustained mouth feel and nearly no reminder that ethanol once traversed those halls.

Overall: Who's this for? Your friend who always wants to put ice in their neat whiskey. This one will change their mind. It's also for more experienced palates who are looking for a pour that is consonant throughout and is a departure from their other favorite single barrels. This is neither classic MGP nor does to move towards the other side of the palate spectrum with our friends at Beam and Heaven Hill. Instead it goes somewhere else and that place is nice.