Rabbit Hole Single Barrel Cask Strength Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Rabbit Hole Single Barrel Cask Strength Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a one-cask bottling of Heigold from the Louisville distillery: 70% corn, 25% malted German rye, and 5% malted barley, aged in Kelvin Cooperage barrels that are wood-fired toasted before a #3 char. That slow toast pulls sugars from deep in the staves, so the whiskey drinks as butterscotch and caramel, while the malted rye shows as citrus and pepper. Distillate goes into barrel at 110 proof and is bottled at cask strength, generally 100 to 125 proof depending on the cask, after four-plus years. Pour it over a large cube.

Toasted malt and butterscotch lead, then orange peel, caramel, and cherry fill a full sip with cinnamon and a thread of dark chocolate. The finish runs long and spiced, with clove, cola, and pepper. It drinks sweeter and cooler than the proof suggests, with the rye keeping the caramel from going slack.