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“I’m not from Earth; I’m from Missouri.” – Peter Quill
I am making a digital return to Star-Lord’s dwelling state through a bottle of bourbon from the Holladay Distillery in Weston, MO. My first expertise with Holladay bourbon confirmed plenty of promise; please learn that overview should you’re within the distillery’s historical past and particulars of the manufacturing course of.
It’s price recapping right here that Holladay is actually making a template for doing craft distilling proper, in my estimation. Their model is predicated on a resurrected namesake with a direct connection to their distillery. The key uncooked supplies (corn and barrels) come from the place the place the whiskey is produced. The mash invoice is a legacy one, and manufacturing is tailor-made to honor the flavour profile of days gone bye. They’ve embraced the Bottled-in-Bond designation, with all of the strictures round age, proof, and disclosure of particulars that entails.
Talking of particulars: this bottle retains with its predecessor within the quantity of knowledge offered to us on the label. It may well’t be stated sufficient: that is an apparent greatest apply in craft whiskey and must be adopted by each producer price their salt. Distilled in Spring 2017 and bottled in March 2023 at an age of six years, the breakdown of barrels within the batch is as follows:
Rickhouse C
52% Ground 4
18% Ground 1
16% Ground 6
14% Ground 2
Wanting again on my notes from the prior bottle, I seen that the composition of that was 79% Ground 5 and 21% from Ground 1. Whereas this received’t be an apples-to-apples comparability (given the totally different mash payments), it’ll not less than supply the prospect to style some several types of flavors from inside Holladay’s palette of barrels.
This has a mash invoice of 73% corn, 15% wheat, and 15% barley, which corresponds to Holladay’s normal rye bourbon mash invoice, with the twist that the rye is changed right here with wheat. The promotional flyer accompanying this bottle signifies that this provides a “sweeter and softer” taste profile, which is in step with the broad characterization of wheaters typically.
Being a Bottled-in-Bond bourbon, that is 100 proof (50% ABV), as required by regulation. As with the rye bourbon, SRP right here is $60. This bottle was despatched to me freed from cost by Holladay. Per Malt’s editorial coverage, this is not going to have an effect on my notes or rating, however is being famous right here within the spirit of full transparency.
Holladay Tender Pink Wheat Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon – Evaluate
Coloration: Medium-pale golden brown.
On the nostril: Tender, candy, and really floral initially, this has a spring bouquet-like aroma with some accents of confectioners sugar and a contact of mint leaf. Allowed to take a seat a couple of moments, this evolves a really intriguing set of deeper and richer notes. I get butterscotch, candle wax, a savory, meaty notice, and a few natural accents of cloves and menthol. Revisiting a brand new glass a couple of days later, this has modified once more, and for the higher. There are considerable orchard fruits with hints of cinnamon, reminiscent in some methods of apple cider. There’s additionally a salutary nip of recent ginger.
Within the mouth: A spicy and woody kick begins issues off as this enters the mouth. Initially I discovered this wooden notice is extracted to the purpose of being almost bitter, although this abated shortly. This wasn’t a problem in any respect on my second attempt, with that second within the development being characterised by extra nuttiness. A faintly soapy texture with a few of these floral notes strikes this towards the center of the mouth. These orchard fruits from the nostril have a mild reprise, earlier than we’re again to that floral soapiness, which coats the mouth and lingers into and thru the end, taking part in towards a spicy woodiness that additionally sticks round. There’s additionally a residual warmth on the mouth that feels increased than 50% ABV, and continues tingling the tongue and lips lengthy after the bourbon is swallowed.
Conclusions:
That is the equal of the rye Bottled-in-Bond bourbon, displaying some good taste improvement. If something, wanting again on my notes from that prior bottle, this has truly gone up a notch when it comes to what it has to supply, each on the nostril and within the mouth. It nonetheless tacks towards a lighter type of bourbon, however that’s to not say that it’s skinny or weak. I like that this has heft in a couple of locations, whereas permitting softer flavors to tiptoe to the fore in quieter moments.
Extra importantly: it’s received its personal character. It’s not attempting to be a Maker’s Mark or Larceny knock-off. Two datapoints aren’t a lot, however I’m sensing a home type rising, comprised of numerous notes of mint, fruit, nut, and spice. None of those are novel in isolation, however in Holladay bourbons they’re mixed uniquely, contrasting, however with good stability.
It’s not low cost within the grand scheme of bourbon, but it surely’s value aggressive with different craft bourbons, particularly in gentle of the truth that it affords a strong age assertion and respectable ABV. All in, I’m scoring it some extent above its predecessor, comparable to “Excellent” on our price-sensitive scoring bands.
Rating: 7/10
Fascinated by the panorama of craft bourbon distilling broadly, I really feel like there are a couple of classes that make sense. Kentucky is its personal place, and the perfect in breed there are Inexperienced River, New Riff, Peerless, and Wilderness Path, not essentially in that order. Then you’ve gotten the “state champions;” I’d put Holladay on this group, alongside names like Driftless Glen, Starlight, Chattanooga, and Woodinville, amongst a couple of others. Then, there’s a really lengthy tail of quasi-incompetent distillers making whiskey that curious drinkers will file below “F” for “Idiot me as soon as, disgrace on you…”
These seeking to broaden their horizons past the established heavyweight distilleries of Kentucky and Tennessee would do properly to smell round within the “state champions” class, being assured (at least) of one thing novel and of above-average high quality. For the explorers on the market, I can advise you to place Holladay in your listing of liquid locations.
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