Tasting notes

nose

prune and grape bubblegum, then milk chocolate and pipe tobacco, with cherry and plum

palate

thick and syrupy; maple syrup and dried cherry, then nutmeg, creamy milk chocolate, dates and plum

finish

cherry syrup and ginger, milk chocolate coming back, then a quick bite of black pepper that dries the sweetness

Mash bill

68% non-GMO corn, 16% Ohio soft red winter wheat, 11% dark pumpernickel rye, 5% malted barley. The corn is an open-pollinated yellow variety, and the rye is dark pumpernickel, which Middle West uses for a softer spice. Wheat and rye are rarely paired in one bourbon because they are hard to balance; here the pumpernickel rye is meant to sit under the wheat's baking spice.

Awards

• Platinum — Beverage Testing Institute 2022
• Century Award — Pr%f Awards 2022
• Platinum — American Spirits Council of Tasters 2023

Why it's craft

Middle West ages its own four-grain bourbon for at least five years in toasted, charred oak, then gives it up to two more years in Spanish solera sherry casks, so it is six years old when bottled. The recipe pairs Ohio wheat with dark pumpernickel rye, and the whiskey is distilled on a Vendome column still and doubler at the Columbus distillery the company founded in 2008.