Distillery: Bluegrass Distillers
Proof: 100
Age: 4.5 Years
Mashbill: 75% Yellow Corn, 21% Wheat, 4% Malted Barley
BACKGROUND: Bluegrass Distillers is a craft spirit distillery based out of the historu Bread Box building on W 6th St in Lexington, KY. Bluegrass Distillers are community-focused, and gives back through their Philanthropic Barrel Program. They are also currently undergoing a major expansion at the Historic Elkwood Farm in Midway, KY where they will relocate with an expanded distillery, barrel warehouses, tasting room, visitor center, and event spaces in late 2021. Bluegrass Distillers started by hand mashing their grain and distilling it in their copper pot still by hand. Their whiskey is hand-made from grain to glass as they also label, proof, and package their whiskey in their small distillery. Bluegrass Distillers has 3 flagship whiskeys, a high rye bourbon, wheated bourbon, and blue corn bourbon which are offered in small batches or as from single barrels and bottled at cask strength. Bluegrass Distillers also offers some limited release finished bourbons and bottled-in-bond bourbons. This is their newest release, offered at the distiller only on April 9th. This is their wheated bourbon but is bottled-in-bond. Bottled-in-Bond is a federal designation that mandates a bourbon must be made by one distillery in one season, aged at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse, and bottled at 100 proof in order to highlight the skill of the distiller. This Small Batch Wheated Bourbon release is a blend of 4 barrels aged 4.5 years. Being a small batch and a limited release, there are 920 bottles available. This is the first major release using Bluegrass Distiller’s recently redesigned labels which feature an updated logo and jockey silk inspired patterns for each mash bill. The label also highlights Elkwood Farm, the future home of Bluegrass Distillers, located in Midway, KY.
NOSE: The first scents I pulled were fresh dates and raisins with some creamy vanilla and butterscotch. The nose is balanced and smooth with a creaminess and richness to it. The wheated mash-bill really makes a difference as the soft and delicate wheat notes characterize the nose. (21/25)
PALATE: Much like the nose, the whiskey is delicate and soft thanks to the wheat in the mash bill. More pitted fruit notes like dates, apricot, and and fig. Along with those delicious and chewy pitted fruit notes are flavors of oak, toasted brown sugar, butterscotch, and vanilla. The mouthfeel is chewy yet delicate but packing loads of fruit while going down like water. (34/40)
FINISH: The finish is medium in length with tons of charred oak, dried dates, and butterscotch. It leaves a nice chewy mouthfeel and goes down with an incredible ease. (21/25)
VALUE: With a $50 SRP, Bluegrass Wheated Bourbon Bottled-In-Bon is an absolute steal with incredible value! Buy, buy, buy! (9/10)
Overall: 85/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Bluegrass Wheated Bottled-in-Bond is a home run for the team over at Bluegrass Distillers. They crafted a fantastic, unique, and flavorful bourbon whiskey at a great price point. We're super excited to see where they go from here and we're sure it's only up. We strongly recommend this whiskey to anyone who likes wheated bourbon, extremely smooth whiskey, pitted fruits, or just looking for a great whiskey.
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Jefferson's Ocean Wheated
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Old Elk Wheated Bourbon
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Weller Special Reserve
Tell us what you think and give us some feedback!
Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
Below 50: Give away