Winter Solstice Solera Cask Whiskey. 2020.

For our Winter Solstice Solera Whiskey, we combined three casks into one single, very large cask that previously held sherry for 40 years. Those three casks were all new American oak barrels that had been maturing for just over two years. This whiskey started out with the distillation of a rich stout, imparting incredible chocolate and coffee flavor, while the new American oak contributed caramel and vanilla notes, and the sherry cask gives intense dark fruit and a beautiful ruddy tone. That is the short of it.

This is certainly our most balanced whiskey to date - all of the stuff contributing to the flavor profile have come together and blended beautifully. Single Malt Whiskey fans will be reminded of Sherry Cask heavy hitters like Aberlour A'bunadh, incredibly sweet, a touch of alcohol heat, and a nose that is straight up luxurious. Non-Single Malt Whiskey fans will be like "A'bu-huh???" - but, if you like bourbon, there will be really familiar notes of caramel and oak and vanilla there with this added layer of all the good parts of raisins, but none of the icky parts (if you are impartial to raisins like me, but they do smell really good). And, if you aren't a whiskey person, well, the bottle will look really pretty on your shelf. Or make a great gift for a whiskey person. Or, tempt you into opening it, trying it, and becoming a whiskey person.

Now. How to drink this whiskey? We recommend, as always, neat. Add a touch of water if you want or need. But, this is a hang out and sip slowly type of whiskey. Also, I swear, we just seem to have a thing for making whiskies that make incredible Manhattans. We can't recommend them enough. But, this round, we also highly recommend an old fashioned as well. Heck, this is whiskey even holds up well in a boulevardier because it has so much character. But - we still recommend enjoying it neat.