Faultline Bourbon

Faultline Straight Bourbon Whiskey
50% ABV
$39.99
Website
Faultline
What the Bottler Says:
We’ve been doing gin and single malt for years, and now rum, so why not throw our hat in the Bourbon pool? One of the obstacles that kept us from making a Faultline Bourbon earlier was availability: the current demand has made the extra barrel a thing of the past. One of the only distilleries that would sell us a cask for a private label was the old LDI distillery in Indiana, but with the already overcrowded LDI market (Bulleit Rye, Templeton Rye, High West, etc) we didn’t think our product would be different enough, or of the quality we desired, for the Faultline name. That’s when John Little from Smooth Ambler stepped in and said he’d be happy to help us do something special. If we were going to work with LDI casks, then we needed the capability to blend something special to taste – the specs wouldn’t sell this baby. John had some incredible 10 year old low rye formula that we used in conjunction with some 7 year high rye. We kept tasting and tasting until we found the sweet spot at 100 proof. It’s FAR better than I ever thought it would be. I hoped we could provide something fun and different, but the final whiskey is phenomenal. It’s rich, with sweet fruit right on the entry, a full-bodied mid-palate, and a long, rich, spicy finish. It tastes like it came from Four Roses or somewhere fancy and at 50% it pops in all the right places. I hope we can make another batch like this because this Bourbon is the new king of K&L. Taste it if you don’t believe me. (David Driscoll)

What Richard Says:
Nose: Big Red chewing gum and danish butter cookies at first. As the nose gets time to open it turns into rum cake with vanilla cream sauce.
Palate: Seriously rye forward with a heavy dose of butter toffee, peach cobbler, white pepper, and fresh mint.
Finish: Black pepper, mint, and a nice woodiness.
Comments: Wow this is impressive. I must say I’m less than impressed generally with the LDI stuff hitting the market lately. It’s fine bourbon and rye but the market is over saturated with the stuff and every Tom, Dick, and Harry is pretending like they made it. I wasn’t even too impressed with the first bottle of Smooth Ambler Old Scout that John Little sent me a while back. It was his first release and from what I’ve tried from friends his newer releases keep getting better and better. [put me back on that sample list John!] This may be the best thing I’ve had from LDI and Smooth Ambler to date. Kudos to all involved with its development. The only bad thing about this is that it’s a K&L Wine Merchant only bourbon so you’ve got to get your butt to California if you want some. And if you go then let me know. I could use another bottle. 😉
Rating: Must Try

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