George Dickel 15 Year Old Single Barrel Tennessee Whiskey

George Dickel 15 Year Old Single Barrel Tennessee Whiskey is one cask from Cascade Hollow in Tullahoma, aged at least fifteen years in new charred American oak. The mash is 84 percent corn, 8 percent rye, and 8 percent malted barley, and the whisky is chilled before sugar-maple charcoal mellowing — Dickel’s version of the Lincoln County Process. Each barrel is bottled with little water, so strength changes from cask to cask. Fifteen years in new oak usually dries a whisky out; here the extra time turns the house sweetness into leather, toffee, and fruit instead of a wall of tannin. A strong pick for sipping with friends.

Vanilla, toffee, and caramel lead, with stewed apple, cherry, and a hint of lavender sitting over cinnamon and custard. Leather, saddle oil, and barrel char come through on the oak, and the finish is long, mellow, and a little dry without turning bitter. It drinks like a single cask should: the same Dickel grain and charcoal, one warehouse story at a time.