Tasting notes

nose

sweet puffed corn cereal and warm bread rolls dusted with baking spice, with cracked pepper and a faint thread of tobacco

palate

lightly glazed pastry, vanilla and sugar on a dry, delicate body, warmed by pepper and gentle rye spice, with a cereal note running all the way through

finish

warm and lingering; pepper holds longest while a little vanilla rises underneath, then toasted bread comes in and the spice dries slowly as it fades

Mash bill

70% Michigan yellow corn, 16% Michigan winter wheat, 9% Michigan malted barley, 5% Hazlet rye. The Hazlet rye is grown on the Iron Fish farm itself, and the corn, wheat and barley come from other Michigan farms, so the whole recipe is Michigan grain. Wheat rather than rye fills the second slot, which keeps the spice light and gives the whiskey a soft, bready side.

Awards

• Double Platinum — ASCOT Awards 2024

Why it's craft

This is the bourbon Iron Fish makes itself, from Michigan corn, wheat and barley plus rye from its own fields, unlike the bought-in bourbons it finishes in maple or rum casks. Founded in 2016 on a 120-acre farm that had sat idle for two decades, Iron Fish was Michigan's first farm distillery, and it mills, mashes, ferments, distills and ages this whiskey on site. The label reads "Farm Distilled."