Distillery: Maplewood Brewing Company
Proof: 90
Age: Over 2 Years
Mashbill: Undisclosed Blend of Pale Malt, Dark Crystal, Dark Munich, Chocolate Malt, and Roasted Malt
BACKGROUND: Maplewood Brewing Company and Distillery were launched in 2014 based out of Chicago, IL. Maplewood opened with the mission to push liquid boundaries in an unassuming building nestled in Chicago’s historic Logan Square neighborhood. Three years after moving into their production facility, Maplewood opened the Lounge, a neighborhood bar doubling as a taproom and cocktail parlor. Beginning with distribution throughout Illinois, Maplewood has since expanded their footprint to Missouri, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Kansas. Maplewood Distillery produces some very unique whiskey and spirits in different chars, barrel size, proofs, and styles to include bourbon, american malt, rye whiskey, and gin. This specific whiskey is their Fat Pug American Malt Whiskey which was inspired by the grain bill of our Fat Pug Oatmeal Milk Stout, this unique American malt whiskey is full bodied with rich notes of cocoa powder aged in a New American White Oak, Light Char.
NOSE: Citrus and floral notes waft up from the glass with strong malt undertones. The nose is relatively light, simple and straight forward. (19/25)
PALATE: A unique blend of flavors make up this whiskey with notes of bitter cacao, roasted malt, smoke, and dry roasted nuts. There is a subtle ethanol rawness to this one as well. An overall dry flavor profile with darker and smokey notes make this a very unique whiskey. (31/40)
FINISH: The finish is quite short with notes of pinewood, cacao, cracked pepper, and fresh campfire smoke. (20/25)
VALUE: A $45 SRP on this one is fair for this craft whiskey with unique grains. (6/10)
Overall: 76/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Maplewood Fat Pug is a good craft whiskey with a unique flavor profile. With a few more years in the barrel we think this could be a very tasty whiskey! Maplewood has some really cool projects going on so we're looking forward to see what they will be brining to market in the coming years. If you are looking for something new check out Maplewood's spirits.
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Tomintoul Speyside Glenlivet Peaty Tang
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Mischief Canal Street Bourbon
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Woodford Reserve Chocolate Malted Rye
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
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