Tasting notes

nose

Cocoa nibs, cinnamon and charred mesquite over damp earth

palate

Soft vanilla up front, opening into billows of mesquite smoke and white pepper, with dried stone fruit, honey and butterscotch as it opens

finish

Tapers gently; soft cinnamon and candied toffee settle under fading mesquite smoke

Mash bill

100% malted barley, smoked over mesquite rather than peat. Whiskey Del Bac has not published how much of this batch is mesquite-smoked malt; earlier Ode releases married fully mesquited malt with part-smoked and unsmoked malt whiskeys. The mesquite idea came from Elaine Paul in 2006, over a backyard mesquite fire and a glass of smoky Scotch: why not dry malt with mesquite instead of peat?

Why it's craft

Ode is Whiskey Del Bac's heavily smoked single malt, its tribute to the smoky Scotch the Paul family was drinking when the idea for mesquited malt came up in 2006. The smoke comes from mesquite, not peat, and this 2025 batch adds rye-barrel spice and a share of Pineau des Charentes casks. Whiskey Del Bac makes its single malts from mash to bottle in Tucson; the brand, founded by Stephen and Amanda Paul in 2011, was acquired by No Sleep Beverage in 2026.