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Wheeling, Illinois
Bourbon whiskey finished in French oak and Oloroso sherry casks
Three woods. One continuous conversation.
A five-part grain bill aged solera-style across American oak, French oak and Oloroso sherry casks that are never emptied.
Solera begins with corn, malted rye, chocolate malted rye, Special B and two-row barley. Chocolate rye and Special B are specialty malts, kilned dark, more often found in a brewhouse than a distillery. They give the spirit a malty, cocoa-tinged foundation before it ever sees a cask.
Solera is a fractional aging system borrowed from the sherry bodegas of southern Spain. Casks are never fully emptied. A portion is drawn, younger spirit is added, and what remains carries forward into the next batch.
Our version runs across three woods: American oak, French oak and Oloroso sherry casks. The French oak and Oloroso casks are never emptied, so every bottle holds a little of every batch that came before it. The result is continuity, and a complexity that grows over time.
Whisky Advocate scored Solera 90 points and found the sherry cask from the first pour: ripe and overripe fruit, milk chocolate, pipe tobacco and vanilla on the nose; raisins, coffee and more chocolate on the palate, with cinnamon and butterscotch developing; and a nutty, hot-chocolate finish.
How it's made
Corn, malted rye, chocolate malted rye, Special B, two-row barley
The bourbon backbone
Never emptied: structure and continuity
Never emptied: dried fruit and depth
In the glass
Ripe fruit, milk chocolate, vanilla and a hint of tobacco.
Raisin, coffee and chocolate, then cinnamon and butterscotch.
Nutty, with a long hot-chocolate warmth.
Pour it neat and give it time; the sherry and chocolate keep changing in the glass. It also anchors the Pipeman and the Typesetter.
90Points
Whisky Advocate
Whisky Advocate review
“raisins and caramel latte”
The sherry-cask influence is evident from first pour, with overripe fruits and a hint of rancio resting atop aromas of milk chocolate, pipe tobacco, and vanilla milkshake. The palate adds raisins and caramel latte, with more sweet chocolate and overripe fruits. As the sip evolves a bit of cinnamon spice emerges alongside butterscotch candies. The whiskey finishes with a kick of nuttiness and hot chocolate.
Made with Solera
