Tasting notes

nose

candied red fruit and cherry, bubblegum, cinnamon candy, caramel and a sprig of mint

palate

cocktail cherry and fresh-ground cinnamon, then black pepper, clove and graham cracker over a creamy caramel-sauce body

finish

long; mint, pine needle and rye spice lead, cherry candy and butterscotch follow, and oak dries it out at the end

Mash bill

72% corn, 13% rye, 15% malted barley. This is the Willett family's original bourbon recipe, the lower-rye of the distillery's two bourbon mash bills. Willett mashes and ferments the grain in Bardstown and runs the spirit through a column still and then a Vendome copper pot still.

Why it's craft

This was the first bourbon to come from the rebuilt Willett distillery's own stills, replacing the bought-in whiskey that had filled Old Bardstown before. The Bottled-in-Bond label means one distilling season at one distillery, at least four years in a bonded warehouse, and bottling at exactly 100 proof. Willett sells this bottling only in Kentucky.