Sunday, July 9, 2017

Rabbit Hole PX Sherry Finished Bourbon Review

Rabbit Hole is an upstart craft distillery that is currently contract distilling at New Riff Distillery in Newport KY. Eventually they plan to move to their own distillery in Louisville which is currently in the early stages of construction. Earlier this year a few products from them hit stores - a two year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon, a two year old Kentucky Straight Rye, and finally a wheated bourbon that was finished in PX Sherry casks. Two year old craft whiskey is always a hard pass but I like wheated bourbon and I like PX sherry finishes so I figured I would give it a shot. For those interested here is the fact sheet including the mash bills and ages that was sent to my local store when they received this. Interesting to note that while both two year old products say Kentucky and I assume their contract distillate, the wheated finished product does not. According to what I've read, the wheated bourbon was sourced from Wyoming Whiskey.
bottle
No Age Statement (though marketing materials say 5+ years); 46.5% ABV; Batch 02, Bottle 1207; $68
Nose: Cereal grains and fruity grape jam. The high proponent of malted wheat and malt barley is making this smell more like a sherry finished Scotch than a sherry finished wheated bourbon.
Taste: A lot like the nose with the cereal grain and fruity sherry notes dominating. There is a decent amount of oak influence with some wood sweets but there is an underlying weird craft funk to it. I get the same kind of grassy, earthy, dirty corn vibe that I get in Garrison Brothers which I loathe. The finish has some cinnamon spice which I think is finally the wheated element coming through but also still some rough unfinished new make ethanol. Tasting blind I would have guessed a young craft sherry finished malt whiskey, maybe something like Westland.
Thoughts: When I first opened this the rough craft funk was overwhelming - it was like grassy grains and grapes. Those notes have tapered back and now I can actually taste other things but this is still headed in the wrong direction. It tastes more like a young craft malt whiskey and has barely any semblance of an aged wheated bourbon. Considering the price, this is a total flop.
Rating: D
Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating. 

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