Distillery: Old Elk Distillery sourced from MGP
Proof: 92
Age: 5 Years
Mashbill: 51% Corn, 45% Wheat, 4% Malted Barley
BACKGROUND: Old Elk is a distillery that was launched in 2013 in Fort Collins, CO. They were founded by serial entrepreneur Kurt Richardson who also founded Otterbox. When Old Elk was first launched, Curt knew he would source his whiskey. When he went to MGP however, he had a unique ask of then master distiller Greg Metze. Curt did not want a distillate from an existing mashbill, rather he wanted Greg to form his own. The result was Old Elk's flagship whiskey, their Straight Bourbon. In 2016 Metze left MGP after 15 years and joined the Old Elk team full time so that he could experiment with the whiskey during the blending and aging process through a process he calls a slow-proofing process" where he reduces the whiskey from barrel proof to bottle proof by adding water over two - two and a half weeks which is also known as slow-water reduction which helps protect congeners which is the substance outside of the whiskey such as tannins. Since they launched Old Elk has expanded their portfolio to include a straight bourbon, wheated bourbon, rye whiskey, and wheat whiskey.
NOSE: Rich and well developed notes of fresh butterscotch, cornbread, vanilla extract, brown sugar, and dried apricot. All of the notes are rich, very smooth, and sweet. They are well balanced and work together to form a balanced and pronounced nose. (22/25)
PALATE: As soon as the whiskey touches your tongue your mouth is coated with a rich and sweet creaminess. It is followed by smooth caramelized pecans, apricot, toasted oak, and some sweet vanilla. Smooth is an understatement, this whiskey is like a sweet sounding Kenny G sax solo. In all seriousness, this whiskey is smooth, rich, sweet, and well balanced. (34/40)
FINISH: The finish is slow building and long with notes of toasted oak, chewy leather, light tannins and some cinnamon. It is very long and smooth like the nose and palate without any burn or bitterness. (23/25)
VALUE: Old Elk Wheated has a SRP of $70 which even though it is on the pricier end, it is a great price as tasty, rich wheaters are hard to come by. (7/10)
Overall: 86/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Old Elk Wheated Bourbon is an incredibly smooth and delicious wheated bourbon whiskey with a rich flavor profile. It has the perfect balance of sweetness and mellowness. We strongly recommend this to anyone and everyone and would take this over both Weller Special Reserve and Weller Single Barrel which are highly sought after and often must more expensive. If you want to get yourself a bottle you could get one at there website here.
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Old Weller Antique 107
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Oceanside Cask Strength Sipping Bourbon
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Weller Single Barrel
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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