Distillery: Crittenden Distillery in Kiln, MS
Proof: 90
Age: 4 Years
Mashbill: 74% Corn, 10% Barley, 16% Wheat
BACKGROUND: Landry Stakes Distilling is a brand new craft whiskey company based out of Austin, TX. Landry Distillery is the first whiskey brand created by and for the world of quarter-horse racing. The distillery launched with two flagship whiskies: Landry Stakes Bourbon and Landry Oaks Rye which will are available in Texas and New Mexico only. Austinite, serial entrepreneur, and racing-class quarter horse owner, Zach Landry, launched this branch as a spirit good enough to drink and share with friends. He spent much of 2021 working with a family-owner distillery in southern Mississippi to create the small batch rye and bourbon that would hold its own against any whiskey on the market. Landry blends and bottles the whiskey in Austin from cask-strength whiskey before proofing it down with "deep-well water".
NOSE: A warm and soft nose perfect for the holidays with scents of hot caramel, vanilla bean, freshly baked apple pie, and brown sugar with hints of soft barrel char. (22/25)
PALATE: An earthy flavor profile with notes of cracked pepper, gingerbread, cardamom, dark chocolate, and charred oak. Overall, this is a softer drinking whiskey with some earthy and bitter notes reminiscent of a Tennessee bourbon with wheat softness. (33/40)
FINISH: The finish is bitter but medium in length with strong notes of oak, barrel char, pepper, and some light vanilla. It is relatively short but the earthly char lingers for a while (20/25)
VALUE: With a $60 SRP this is a very fair value and a great holiday gift (7/10)
Overall: 82/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Landry Stakes Bourbon Whiskey is a delicious winter treat with a softer, earthy flavor profile highlighting the chocolate, oak, and darker notes of whiskey with a smoothness and easiness to drink.
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Horse Soldier Straight Bourbon
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Blue Note Juke Joint
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Chattanooga Straight Bourbon
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