Tasting notes

nose

cocoa, toffee and brown sugar, with toasted almond and fresh-baked bread

palate

espresso bean and cocoa over caramel, then hazelnut, black cherry and cinnamon, with clove and cardamom at the edges

finish

long; dark chocolate lingers with tobacco and leather, drying to oak

Mash bill

70% corn, 13% rye, 10% malted rye, 4% chocolate-malted wheat, 3% chocolate-malted barley. The two chocolate malts make up only 7% of the recipe, but Rabbit Hole built the bourbon around them for a cocoa-forward character. Three of the five grains are malted, part of what the distillery calls a culinary approach to choosing specialty grains.

Why it's craft

Raceking is built on a five-grain recipe that includes chocolate-malted wheat and chocolate-malted barley, and this 2026 edition rested six years in the barrel, longer than the original 2020 release. Its barrels come from Kelvin Cooperage, toasted and then charred over a wood fire. Rabbit Hole was founded by Kaveh Zamanian, who left a career as a clinical psychologist to make whiskey, and it distills on copper Vendome column stills at the Louisville distillery it opened in 2018. Pernod Ricard has held a majority stake since 2019.