Tasting notes

nose

dried apricot, orange peel and cinnamon applesauce over toasted cracker, sugared cornflakes and vanilla

palate

baked apple, caramel apple and poached pear, with sweet corn and soft baking spice

finish

vanilla custard and oak come forward, with orchard fruit and plum lingering

Mash bill

Malted barley, corn and rye, from equal parts single malt and bourbon. Half the whiskey is Virginia Distillery Co.'s own American single malt, made from 100% malted barley and aged five years in first-fill bourbon barrels. The other half is a four-year-old straight Kentucky bourbon from Bardstown Bourbon Company with a mash of 75% corn, 15% rye and 10% malted barley, chosen to add bourbon's sweetness and oak to the malt.

Why it's craft

Half of this whiskey was distilled elsewhere: the bourbon was made and aged by Bardstown Bourbon Company in Kentucky, while the single malt was distilled and aged by Virginia Distillery Co. in Lovingston. Lead blender Amanda Beckwith chose an equal split so both whiskeys stay recognizable, and picked a four-year-old bourbon over older stock because it sat better with the malt. Equal-parts blends of bourbon and American single malt are rare, and this is the first of a series built around single malt as a blending component.