Tasting notes

nose

honeyed sweet corn and caramel malt over toasted oak

palate

charred oak up front, then a clean grain core with a medium-heavy body that coats the tongue

finish

long; honey and malt give way to sweet grass, then toasted oak settles in as it fades

Mash bill

68% corn, 20% rye, 10% malted barley, 2% caramel malt. The grain is grown in collaboration with several Northern Michigan farms and mashed with glacial water from the Torch Lake aquifer. The malt share runs about twice that of most bourbons, which Mammoth uses to put the work of its local farmers and maltsters forward, and the caramel malt shows plainly on the nose.

Why it's craft

Woolly Bourbon is Mammoth's own spirit from start to finish: grain from Northern Michigan farms, mashed and fermented on site, run through a 650-liter custom pot still and aged in a rick house on the shore of Torch Lake. The mash carries a double share of malt, including a little caramel malt, and the whiskey ages in a mix of 15-, 30- and 53-gallon barrels. Chad Munger founded the independent company in Central Lake in 2013.