Smoke Wagon Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey
50% ABV
$45-60
Website
What the Producer Says
Our high rye content bourbon is aged in the heart of a century-old brick warehouse. To ensure a unique and consistent flavor, barrels are hand selected to create a perfect blend that is smooth and at the same time bold and intense.
Released in 2016, our goal was to create a unique great tasting high rye content bourbon. The problem is that rye ages much faster than corn. So while our younger vintages had a big rye spice flavor (which we love) the mouth feel was too thin and it lacked the sweet, delicate complexity of a well aged spirit. Our older vintages had the smoothness and sweet notes that can only be achieved by moving in and out of #4 char and caramelized oak for many, many years, but the nice rye spice had been aged out!
So what to do? Find the perfect blend.
We combined the two. The younger vintages maintain the bold spiciness of the rye, cut down on the tannins and keep it fruit forward. The older vintage brings in a creamy mouth feel with sweet aromas and taste notes that only appear over time from aging in a barrel. We hope you enjoy drinking it as much as we enjoy making it.
Nose: Balanced oak nose with hints of fruit and dried apricots.
Taste: Initial sweet notes on the front of the tongue. Well balanced mouth feel with spicy notes including white pepper on the middle and back of the tongue from the younger vintage and high rye mash bill. Good balance of sweet and oak flavors including hints of caramel (from the #4 charred barrels, caramelized wood sugar), fruit flavor and rye spice. Finishes smooth with no alcohol burn even at 100 proof.
What Gary Says
Nose: Vanilla, oak, salted caramel, musty, cocoa, brown sugar and baked glazed cinnamon buns.
Palate: Vanilla, caramel cream candies, cinnamon, oak, rye spice, pepper and subtle clove.
Finish: Short to moderate in length, drying with caramel, pepper and oak.
Comments: Spicy – not objectionable, but for $45 (or more) there are plenty of options for a spicy rye bourbon at nearly half the price that I like as well. Bit of water thickens it up a bit, and tamps the oak edges slightly.