Tasting notes

nose

Heavy cinnamon and cedar, then hazelnut, vanilla and a floral edge

palate

Spice first, cinnamon and clove, balanced by brown sugar and hazelnut

finish

Long; chocolate and caramel hang on, drying into oak

Mash bill

70% corn, 22% malted rye, 8% malted barley in the Texas and Kentucky components; the Tennessee component's recipe is not published. This is the same three-state batch as the 94-proof Triple Cask, made to the recipe and proprietary yeast Milam & Greene uses on its Blanco pot still and in Bardstown. Here the batch goes into the bottle straight from the barrel with no water added.

Why it's craft

This is Milam & Greene's everyday three-state blend with nothing taken out: no water, bottled as it came from the barrel, and sold only in the Blanco tasting room. The house distills in Texas on a 300-gallon pot still and in Kentucky with its own team, buys older Tennessee bourbon for structure, and finishes every barrel in the Hill Country climate. Master distiller Marlene Holmes leads the distilling in both states.