This is a whiskey that provokes controversy. Firstly, it usually retails at around £40 for a 37.5cl bottle, which I know has probably put off a section of our readership pretty much instantly. Secondly, it is made with 100% New York Corn, which in our book makes it a corn whisky and not a bourbon. Lastly and by no means least in some people’s eyes, this baby is only aged for three months in three gallon casks.
Apparently, Tuthtilltown even mature their whisky using sonic maturation!?! instead of racking and moving their whiskey about.
If you are still reading, then thanks. We picked up this dram when it was on offer and split it three ways with two trusting bourbon loving friends. To be fair it was more the outrage that this dram seems to cause rather than any great review that made us pick it up.
Price: £30 – 40 for a 37.5cl bottle.
ABV: 46%
Appearance: Rich, dark reddish brown, like the soil in the New Mexico Desert.
Aroma: Caramelised brown sugar, aged leather, sharp citrus, sweet vanillins and oak spice.
Taste: This dram feels like lighting a fire, not in flavour, but in experience.
Warming, sweet and almost inauspicious to start with, there is an inherently hopeful expectation.
As the dram continues, so the flavour builds. There is a dark wooden spice, which is matched by a vanilla sweetness and a warmth of black pepper.
As the dram develops and reaches its peak, there is a herbal, grassy note that appears from the spice. This is most closely like oregano. This appears like the embers appearing after the main part of the fire.
Then like a fire, the wooden spice and smoke stays with you and whirls around the mouth.
Mouthfeel: Different. Bourbon like, but different.
Overall: There is no getting over the price factor for a whisky this young, but if you can climb that steep hill and are still thinking about trying/buying this dram then we would urge you to do so. It’s flavour profile is so different and so much better than we expected it to be, that we would still say its worth a try. Why not split a bottle with friends, after all whisky drunk alone is whisky wasted anyways.
Real Dram Factor: 7.0
Source: Bottle split with friends.
More Information: www.tuthtilltown.com
Buy Online: Amazon: Hudson Baby Bourbon 37.5cl – £30