Tasting notes

nose

toasted, nutty wheat with orange marmalade, ripe apricot and lemon over leather, brioche and crème caramel

palate

lively, with baking spice, toffee and butterscotch, lemon oil, charred oak and warm pastry, growing darker and creamier in the middle

finish

lingering, with buttery caramel and soft oak, a little spice and pastry notes that fade slowly

Mash bill

53% corn, 39% wheat, 8% malted barley. Bardstown Bourbon Co. calls it the first 39% wheated mash bill on the market, about twice the wheat share of its own Wheated Bottled-in-Bond. The recipe has no rye at all, with wheat as the only flavoring grain beside the corn and malted barley.

Awards

• Gold — San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2025

Why it's craft

High Wheat is distilled, aged and bottled at Bardstown Bourbon Co.'s own distillery, from a recipe with nearly two parts wheat to every three of corn. The barrels were filled at 108 proof, a low entry proof that the distillery's director of distillation, Nick Smith, says pulls more wood sugar from the oak over six years. The company was founded in 2016, has been owned by Pritzker Private Capital since 2022 and now operates as part of Lofted Spirits, which also makes whiskey under contract for other brands.