Barrel#: 3086, 3141

Age: 5-Years

Source: Distilled & aged in Frankfort, KY (Castle & Key EH Taylor Stone Warehouse)

Proof: 120.2

Count: 192 bottles

Tasting Notes: A contrast if I've ever seen one - rich brown sugar, maple, heavy oak, baking spice and fig rocks the nose of this brooding pair of barrels. The palate is rich and heavy, black pepper and tobacco with orange peel, brown sugar, rich cocoa and pleasant oak. Long finish, dark and delicious, blackberry, toffee, cola and black pepper mingle. 

Tasting Notes: Beautiful, bright and fruit driven there's honey, apples and pears, peaches, vanilla cream and rich, caramel, toffee and butterscotch on the nose. Bright palate with pleasant oak, honey and butter cream, pepper and freshly baked pastries. Long finish that brings peach cobbler, brown sugar, a hint of tobacco, cream and toffee together once more. 

About: So, I was truly long overdue when Sean Josephs from Pinhook announced that I was overdue, and we'd be doing our fourth annual custom blend in New Orleans. We like to pick a city each year as we meet to catch up, do the annual r/Bourbon x Pinhook custom blend, and get up to some shenanigans. Typically Blake from Seelbach's, Sean from Pinhook and myself all have a seat at the table. Unfortunately, some last minute scheduling took Blake out of the experience so this one was all on Sean and my shoulders.

Our first blend was done in Lexington, Kentucky, the second and third in Jacksonville, Florida, and now our fourth in New Orleans. 

So I decided to go in June. Not my best choice, but it's when the calendar was free, and if you're going to go to New Orleans, may as well take it full on. I landed early on a Thursday and we got to it! My uber told me I'd made a grave mistake. I thought he was being dramatic. Holy crap is it hot in June in New Orleans. Anyways. 

Sean Josephs is one of my favorite folks in Bourbon. With his background as a sommelier and his time at New York's Per Se, he sees the world of flavor just a little bit differently than most and in a way I find insightful, intriguing and above all else: helpful. He's also lived in New Orleans for a good, long, time and that meant a man with his background knew all the best places to grab a bite.

Around our blending exercise, we stopped into more than a dozen bars, restaurants, delis and more to experience the breadth and the staggering competence and excellence of New Orlean's food and bar scene. Through the course of the trip, I realized that the food and hospitality scene in New Orleans is practically second to none. Food and spirits are woven together there in a way that is unmistakably symbiotic and that led to us blending not one, but two exclusive batches for the 4th Edition as a collaboration with two phenomenal establishments in New Orleans: The Chloe and Sylvain. Each blend is a micro-blend of two barrels.