Bhakta's New Bourbon Is Rare, Delicious, and Has a Unique Mashbill

Bhakta Spirits, the company created by ex-WhistlePig founder Raj Bhakta, just released Bhakta Bourbon 2014, a new whiskey finished in armagnac barrels.  The brand has gone all in on the concept of vintages with a series of recent armagnac-finished releases, like Bhakta 1928 Rye Whiskey and Bhakta Bourbon 2013. But the 2014 bourbon features a few key differences.

Bhakta 2014 Bourbon was distilled at MGP Ingredients in Lawrenceburg, IN, in 2014 from a mashbill of 99 percent corn and one percent malted barley, which is fairly unusual, given that bourbon usually has about 10 to 20 percent rye in the recipe. It was aged for nine years and then finished for 125 days in 1973 vintage armagnac casks before being bottled at 105.4 proof. Bhakta sourced the barrels directly from the eponymous region of France, where they were originally used to make $400 bottles of armagnac, so the wood used for the whiskey's secondary maturation is well-seasoned to say the least.

The new bourbon is the perfect mix of fruity, spicy, and earthy. With that amount of corn in the mashbill, you might expect this to be a sweet sipper, but the secondary maturation, as well as nearly a decade in new charred oak barrels, has tempered that and imbued the whiskey with notes of fig, dried cranberry, grape jelly, a range of baking spices from cinnamon to nutmeg, and a touch of grass notes on the finish. At $150 per bottle, this might be something most people would want to save for sipping instead of mixing. But if you’re feeling decadent, try this in a Manhattan—slightly reducing the amount of vermouth—and you’re in store for a fantastic cocktail.

While Bhakta touts the spirit as "vintage," using the word to describe a product is not exactly new in the whiskey world, where it essentially refers to the year that the spirit was distilled. Nicole Austin, general manager and distiller for Tennessee whiskey brand George Dickel, introduced a series of bottled-in-bond vintage expressions a few years back that have been superb, and over in Scotland, Bruichladdich releases vintage single malts each year that are distilled from barley varietals grown in specific regions or even on single farms.

Last year’s inaugural Bhakta 2013 Bourbon release sold out, and based on the flavor of this new whiskey there’s reason to believe that might be the case this year as well. The whiskey is currently available from the Bhakta Spirits website, so head on over to buy a bottle and try this excellent new sipping bourbon for yourself.

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