Wilderness Trail Small Batch Bourbon Bottled in Bond

Wilderness Trail High Rye Bourbon (Bottled in Bond)

The next review for Bottle Kill Week will be for Wilderness Trail Small Batch Straight Bourbon Bottled in Bond.  I wrote quite a bit about the distillery last time I did a Wilderness Trail review, so I will spare you with the extensive preamble (well, at least about the distillery), but this particular bottle came from Batch 16D01.  As a Bottled in Bond release, it is 100 proof (50% ABV).  

However, I will reiterate how much I appreciate the Wilderness Trail transparency on their labels.  In addition to the Batch #, the label tells us that the mash bill is 64% Corn, 24% Rye, 12% Malted Barley…and that this batch was distilled from a single fermented batch and barreled at 110 proof.  So this is their “high rye” Small Batch Bourbon (black label) which is not to be confused with their other Small Batch Bourbon (yellow label) which has the same mash bill, except replaces the rye with wheat, making it a high wheat bourbon.  Unfortunately, (fortunately for me) I already burned through that bottle so I’ll have to grab another in order to do a proper review in the future.

In addition to the information on the label, the website goes into greater depth about each of their whiskeys and how they are produced.  Check it out here to read for yourselves, but I will synopsize as well….so first, let’s examine the “Small Batch” portion of the release name.  What does this mean exactly?  The definition of “Small Batch” will vary from distillery to distillery, but in this case, Wilderness Trail is “batching” up to 12 barrels of its High Rye Bourbon which was all distilled from one fermented batch.  Why does this matter?  To me, you’re almost getting something akin to a single barrel, except maybe one more step removed.  Distillers like to have consistency in their brands, they want one bottle of X today in Massachusetts (where I live) to taste like one bottle of X in Texas two years from now.  With single barrels, as you all know, you are going to get variance in the taste profile from barrel to barrel.  Anyone who drinks Blanton’s or frequently purchases store picks knows this well.  I once had two store picks of Larceny and did a taste comparison between them.  One was very sweet and more consistent to what you would expect from a typical Larceny.  The other was a cinnamon bomb!  I ended up getting a few more of those as they were great over the fall & winter to make seasonal bourbon cocktails that were a bit more on the spicy/heartier side.  In this case, Wilderness Trail seems to be taking away the variability of the barrel to barrel differences, but providing some fluidity within their releases as the entire batch comes from one single fermentation run.  Given that yeast is a living organism, you will get some variability between fermentations as changes within the environment that they are made in will affect what’s going on in the fermentation tank.  I have not been to Wilderness Trail yet so I’m not sure how they ferment, but having seen a number of distilleries in Kentucky, including Willett and Woodford, who both do open tank fermentations, I can see how this process can add some subtle differences batch to batch.  One way they are limiting variability, though, is by using batches of 12 barrels, so you should have less variability directly resulting from the oak.

Speaking of the barrels, they are toasted and charred to the #4 level (heavily charred) so they should impart a lot of oak influence.  The spirit itself comes off the still at 137 proof (68.5% ABV) and is watered down to 110 proof (55% ABV) before being put into the barrels.  Given the 100 proof (50% ABV) of the bottle, this is then watered down further as Kentucky aging tends to increase proof/ABV as it spends time in the barrel.

Ok….enough nerd stuff, on to the review.

ABV: 50%

How it smells…surprisingly boozy (ethanol) given the 50% ABV, but also a little floral with some vanilla (little) and oak (more) and candied grapefruits if that is really a thing?

How it tastes…soft at the start with caramel and cola flavors towards the middle.  The end has some oak (but not too much) and the finish is light with a little bit of cinnamon and clove, some sweetness on the linger and a touch of mint.

Price..$48 - $50

Rating...🥃🥃🥃

Final thoughts…This was a solid sipper.  I enjoyed the taste more than the smell, not that the smell was bad per se, but it didn’t give me much to go on.  Luckily we drink whiskey and don’t just sniff it.  Overall, it is a very nicely balanced bourbon with all the flavors working well in concert….but I was a bit surprised that this is the High Rye Bourbon as I didn’t get a ton of traditional rye influence.  Given that it is a Bottled in Bond release, we know it is a minimum of 4 years of aging.  Curiously though, the website doesn’t give any age information for this particular release, where the other three releases all say minimum 4 years but then “5-6 years” or “6-8 years” for the others that are “minimum of 4 years” (except for the 6 Year Old Bourbon, which is 6 years of course).  Perhaps this is just a marketing oversight or perhaps it is a gentle way of indicating that this is the youngest of their releases.  Either way, it was very enjoyable and will serve you well straight, on the rocks, or in a cocktail.  That said, I wasn’t blown away by it so a 3x 🥃 seems appropriate.  Good price, good quality, entirely serviceable.  

Gifts for Wayne at the liquor store