Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond 9 Year Review

Rising from the ashes of Prohibition and into the midst of the Great Depression in Bardstown, KY, Sky Loma Distillery has grown to exist the largest independent family-owned and operated producers of distilled spirits products in the U.s., and the second-largest holder of bourbon whiskey inventory in the earth. The distillery was fix up in 1935 afterward a minor group approached the Shapira family seeking majuscule investment to fix a distillery using their technical expertise. Following personal financial difficulties among the other members of the founding group, their interests in the "Old Heavenhill Springs" distillery was bought out by the Shapira family making the distillery a fully family-owned enterprise. With renewed purpose the family kept on 1 of the original investors, James L. Beam as Principal Distiller, and hired the best bourbon producing talent they could find in their local Bardstown. Iv years subsequently in 1939 they released their commencement product, a 4 year old Bottled in Bond bourbon under the Erstwhile Heaven Hill brand. The brand quickly became one of the top selling bourbons in the Country and cemented the distillery'south position equally one of the acme bourbon producers in Kentucky at the fourth dimension. The name of the distillery originates from the family name of William Heavenhill who was an early pioneer farmer and owned the original belongings on which the distillery saturday. When originally registering the company a clerical error resulted in the name becoming Sky Hill as opposed to Heavenhill.

On November 7th 1996 a fire that started in one of the barrel ageing warehouses spread past strong winds, destroying almost the entire distillery and numerous ageing warehouses. Overall 90,000 barrels of whisky were lost and for the next iii years the company was dependent on production capacity in neighbouring distilleries. In 1999 Heaven Hill completed the purchase of the Former Bernheim Distillery from Diageo in Louisville and one time the distillery was adapted, the production and distillation end moved to Louisville whilst ageing, bottling, and aircraft all the same occur on the original Bardstown site.

Today the modern iteration of the company, Sky Hill Brands, has become a diversified supplier of whiskeys, liqueurs, vodkas, rums and other spirits. They ain 57 rickhouses in Central KY and distribute over 48 brands including 17 bourbon labels such every bit Henry McKenna, Elijah Craig, Evan William, Larceny, Erstwhile Fitzgerald, and Rittenhouse rye to name a few. The distillery besides has the largest number of Bottled in Bond whiskies on the market and is the merely heritage distiller that features every major category of American whiskey in their 5 distinct mashbills producing traditional bourbon, wheated bourbon, rye whiskey, corn whiskey, and wheat whiskey. Nether 7th Master Distiller (and young man countryman) Conor O'Driscoll the distillery was on course to fill up almost 400,000 barrels concluding twelvemonth and with continued investment production capacity is growing every twelvemonth to run into rising need.

First released in spring of 2018, the Erstwhile Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond series pays homage to the vibrant history of the Old Fitzgerald make and John E. Fitzgerald with a bi-almanac release of bourbon from Heaven Hill'south wheated mash bill. The detail Fitzgerald in question is believed to have been either a distiller of repute or a treasury man well-known for pilfering honey barrels – depending on which story y'all chose to believe. Bottled in an ornate decanter that was inspired by the Old Fitzgerald Diamond decanter from the '50s, there accept been multiple releases to date with 2020's Spring edition marking the fifth release.

Historically, the Old Fitzgerald brand is well-known for the distilling full-blooded behind it. Kickoff registered in 1884 by S.C. Herbst, it was one of the few American whiskies of its time to exist distilled using the pot yet method and standing to do so until around 1913. With the inflow of Prohibition the brand was one of a select few which were allowed to distil under government supervision for the national medicinal trade and was later sold to famous distiller Julian P. "Pappy" Van Winkle. Van Winkle famously introduced wheat to the mashbill instead of rye and once Repeal was enacted, moved product of Old Fitzgerald to his Stitzel-Weller Distillery. There information technology became the first keen wheated bourbon earlier the Distillery shut its doors in 1992. In 1999 and then-owners Diageo sold the make and the Erstwhile Bernheim Distillery in Louisville to Sky Hill where it has connected to be produced under the watchful eye of the company widely proclaimed equally the industry leader in the Bottled-in-Bail category.

Equally with by editions, the 2020 Leap Edition carries a greenish label and carries a revenue enhancement strip stating the year and flavor the whiskey was distilled and bottled. A taxation strip, in terms of traditional Bottled-in-Bail whiskies, was a signature of transparency which disclosed when the liquid was produced and bottled. Equally a Bottled-in-Bond bourbon this whiskey besides meets all the strict requirements of the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, i.e. it'south the product of a unmarried distillery from a unmarried distilling season, anile a minimum of 4 years, and bottled at 100 proof or 50% alcohol past volume.

Today I'll be taking a expect at the 2020 Spring Edition of this whiskey. Released towards the end of July this whiskey has taken fans by tempest. Having only ever tried the previous Autumn 2019 release I'm looking forward to tasting a younger release of this whiskey.

Vital Stats:

Name: Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bail
Age: 9 y.o.
Proof: 100 proof (fifty% abv)
Blazon: Bonded Kentucky straight bourbon
Mashbill: 68% corn, 20% wheat, 12% malted barley
Producer: Heaven Hill Distillery, Louisville, KY
Website: https://heavenhilldistillery.com/old-fitzgerald.php
Glassware: Glencairn

Review

Nose: The nose opens with deep brown carbohydrate that's mixed with bawdy barrel spices and is reminiscent of a toasted barrel, these are followed by a touch of clove, faint dried cherry fruit, a dash of cinnamon, toasted coconut shavings dusted in cacao and some charred oak bitterness.

Palate: The palate is semi-mucilaginous, opening with dry out cacao pulverisation that turns into deep caramel bordering on butterscotch, charred oak, earthy burn-roasted nuts, stale ruddy fruit, dark chocolate, a touch on of citrus oil, and a kick of peppery spice that builds on the mid-palate. As you continue to chew information technology leans more towards the butt-driven notes with notes of cloves, barrel spice, and tannins emerging alongside dark chocolate.

Terminate: The finish opens with lingering peppery spice from the palate before earthy baking spices, a impact of maple syrup sugariness, and tannic charred oak all emerge and leave an aftertaste of charred oak tannins, biting cacao pulverisation and faint maple syrup.

Overall

This bourbon is a tricky ane. Initially, it'southward bitter and barrel-driven with a lot of spice, dark chocolate, and charred oak tannins near drowning out everything else from nose to end. However, once you get to your 2nd dram information technology changes completely and becomes an absolutely deliciously robust bourbon with season complexities that could stand up against any well-aged bourbon. Yes, once it has opened at that place is still a strong barrel influence, nonetheless, this is rounded out by delicious near-butterscotch flavours and stale red fruit notes that not but requite a neat wheated bourbon feel but as well drives flavour subtleties that the first few sips lack. I tasted this whiskey on 4 separate occasions and on the 4^th I drank this side by side with the Heaven Hill seven y.o. Bottled-in-Bail simply to see how information technology stands confronting a 7 year sometime high-rye bourbon that's anile in the same barrels and is only 2 years younger. The results were very surprising with this bourbon beingness much spicier (despite being made with a wheated mashbill) merely also carrying a lot more complexity and flavour depth than the 7. In fact, drinking these side past side really helped to frame all the subtleties of this bourbon and give a point of reference for simply how influential the wheat is in the background of this bourbon in giving you that wheated bourbon drinking experience that you lot know you're having but find hard to pinpoint exactly why!

1 thing that surprised me was the prickling spice on the palate that would be uncharacteristic for a wheated bourbon. However, further research into the topic yielded that this spice comes from the oak and the breakup of cellulosic compounds in the butt over time. In a typical wheated bourbon y'all wouldn't get as many of these as they are typically just present in high concentrations in rye and quondam oak, meaning that wheated bourbon released at around 6 – 8 years quondam would be softer with very piffling spice. In this bourbon, nonetheless, you've clearly reached the bespeak where the peppery oak spice and the mild wheated bourbon have met in the middle to requite a wheat flavour profile with a solid backbone of oak.

As a bi-annual release these whiskies requite bourbon drinkers both a unique opportunity to taste some of Heaven Colina'south best wheated bourbon stocks aswell as a great looking decanter for future use. Having tasted two releases now it'south clear that the idea behind this release is both to honour the Onetime Fitzgerald legacy and give bourbon drinkers a circuitous wheated bourbon feel that they won't find elsewhere.

Endeavour or Purchase?

The MSRP for this whiskey is $90 ($10 a year). At that cost you are getting a really interesting limited-release bourbon that many whiskies twice the cost can't deliver. That's all I tin say!

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Source: https://bourbonpaddy.com/2020/08/10/old-fitzgerald-bottled-in-bond-9-y-o-2020-spring-edition-review/#:~:text=faint%20maple%20syrup.-,Overall,else%20from%20nose%20to%20finish.

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