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Writer's pictureBarrel Brothers

Micro Monday Review #73 Traverse City Barrel Proof Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Updated: Mar 11, 2021

Distillery: Traverse City Whiskey Co.

Proof: 114.6

Age: 4 Years

Mashbill: 71% corn, 25% rye, & 4% barley


BACKGROUND: Traverse City Whiskey Company is a distillery located in Traverse City, Michigan named aptly after their city. They were founded by Traverse City locals locals Chris Fredrickson and his partners, Jared Rapp and Moti Goldring after finding out Chris's great-grandfather had some whiskey distilling patents from the 1920s. They are very passionate about distilling and producing delicious whiskey while maintaining integrity to their history throughout the process. Their whiskey portfolio includes a straight bourbon whiskey, a barrel proof bourbon, an American cherry infused whiskey, this north coast rye, and a port wine finished bourbon whiskey.


NOSE: The nose starts off with warm hints of oatmeal and caramel. Upon second whiff you can pull sweet hints that could only be compared to fudge with slight backend ethanol. (21/25)


PALATE: The fudge flavor coats your entire mouth turning into flavors of rye spice and charred oak that combine to taste what can only be described as dark chocolate. (34/40)


FINISH: The finish was very long and delicious with flavors of lemon zest, tobacco spice, and general heat right to the chest. (22/25)


VALUE: This is our personal favorite from the traverse city collection, for $75 this is a great bottle to pick up, full of flavor and warmth. (8/10)


Overall: 85/100


FINAL THOUGHTS: A wonderful full bodied whiskey that gives a unique flavor pallet that can only be compared to chocolate malted whiskeys. West Coast has always had its own style of whiskey and this is definitely par for course. For a young whiskey this is one of the best barrel proof picks we've seen with an age statement like that. This definitely takes the crown so far out of the Traverse collection!


Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Still Austin's The Monster Mash

Similar & Equal Whiskey: 1792 Full Proof

Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Belle Meade Reserve


Tell us what you think and give us some feedback!


Scoring Legend:

96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods

90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey

85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this

80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there

75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf

70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this

60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers

50-59: Not my cup of tea

Below 50: Give away


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