Tasting notes

nose

toffee-coated popcorn and caramel apple, with candied orange, fruit candies, vanilla buttercream and a dusting of peppery oak underneath

palate

creamy and mouth-coating; buttered popcorn, corn pudding and vanilla, then clove, allspice and charred oak, with a touch of green apple skin

finish

long and warming; caramel and baking spice hold first before wood spice and oak char take over, as late honey and a hint of blackberry fade into lingering spice

Mash bill

75% blue popcorn, 15% soft red winter wheat, 10% malted barley. The blue popcorn is grown by the Walter family on the DeKalb farm around the distillery, and the label reads "Estate Grown". Wheat rather than rye is the secondary grain, as in the distillery's other bourbons. The grain solids stay in the wash through fermentation and distillation, which keeps the corn character in the spirit.

Why it's craft

Three-quarters of this mash is blue popcorn grown on the distillery's own land, part of an Artisan Series that turns specialty corn varieties from the farm into single-variety bourbons. Fifth-generation farmers Jim and Jamie Walter started Whiskey Acres in 2014 with partner Nick Nagele as Illinois' first estate distillery, and they grow, mill, mash, distill and age everything on the DeKalb farm. The barrels rest in a metal Quonset hut, so Illinois summers and winters set the pace of aging.