Distillery: Starlight Distillery
Proof: 100
Age: 4.5 Years
Mashbill: Undisclosed
BACKGROUND: 20 minutes outside of Louisville, Kentucky Starlight, Indiana is the home to the family owned Starlight Distillery. Running back 8 generations, currently run by father Ted & his two sons who have been making quite the name for themselves over the past few years. Known for their “sweet mash” technique, with barrels dry aged for a minimum of 2 years, up to 4. Each small batch is made with roughly 20 barrels of bourbon. Starlight Distillery’s small-batch bottled-in-bond bourbon is a unique, limited-release product. Beginning with sweet mash and distilled in our copper pot stills, this straight bourbon whiskey is aged for a minimum of 4 years in Huber’s Old Rickhouse (on the grounds of the 7th generation Huber estate, established in 1843). We then bottle at 100 proof under the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897.
NOSE: Rich scents of maplewood, stone fruit like cherries and plums, cinnamon, and toasted brown sugar waft up from the glass with a maturity, smoothness, and sweetness that was fantastic! (22/25)
PALATE: Like the nose, the palate is rich and mature with notes of cherry cola, mature charred oak, clove, and caramel with dark notes of tobacco and slightly bitter cacao supporting in the background. The whiskey has a fullness and chewiness to it that adds an element to the mouthfeel (35/40)
FINISH: The finish is quite long and is highlighted with notes of charred oak, baked rye spice, and tobacco leaves almost like a cigar. The earthy finish is very enjoyable and provides the whiskey with a much older profile (21/25)
VALUE: With a $60 SRP this is an absolute must buy! (8/10)
Overall: 86/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Starlight Bottled in Bond Indiana Straight Bourbon Whiskey is an absolutely delicious bourbon whiskey with a mature and flavorful profile at an extremely fair price. We STRONGLY recommend grabbing yourself a bottle!
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Russell's Reserve Single Barrel
Similar & Equal Whiskey: King's Family Tennessee Bourbon
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: 1792 Bottled in Bond
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