Sunday Evening Review

This week we venture to French Lick, Indiana to take a taste of The Mattie Gladden from The Spirits of French Lick Distillery. There are some really interesting aspects to this bourbon but let’s find out if those aspects make it a good tasting bourbon.

Make sure you put in the comments any bottles that you would like me to review.

NAME – The Mattie Gladden Straight Bourbon Whiskey

PROOF – 103

AGE – 4 years

COLOR – toasted corn bread (1.3 russet muscat on the Whiskey Magazine Color Chart)

NOSE – The nose is of a well-crafted fruit salad with whiffs of peach, cherry, blackberry, and apple. It is difficult to nose anything of fruit but a little of cinnamon and toasted oak but this is a fruit bomb on the nose.

TASTE – Unlike the nose the rye spice comes front and center along with anise, and herbal notes. The fruit doesn’t disappear with notes of dried apricot and Red Delicious apple.

FINISH – I would call this a long finish. In a twist of the norm, the sweetness of caramel comes at the finish along with the rye spice hanging on. I also get some cinnamon and roasted coffee.

REVIEW – Really interesting pour with that fruit basket bomb on the nose that screams summer. The palate gives you something else where the rye comes forward and adds interest and leaving just enough fruit. The real twist is the caramel sweetness coming at the finish which is almost always a first taste on any bourbon. Really complex and interesting bourbon especially for 4 years in the barrel.

FINAL COMMENTS – I really think Spirits of French Lick is an under the radar powerhouse distillery. Really doing some interesting stuff with different grains. I don’t know how they are going to continue to be a secret for very much longer as they continue to put very quality spirits.

A little confession as this is a store pick from Papa Joe’s in Richmond, Indiana. The normal Mattie Gladden is a bottled-in-bond 100 proofer that was I have seen gets just as good of reviews. Hate doing a store pick but wanted to get this out for everyone to know about.

Mashbill on this is interesting with 55% corn, 35% rye and 10% Victory malt. The also use 2 separate yeast strains. One is their “house yeast” and then a brandy yeast which no doubt explains the fruity notes on the nose. They go into the barrel at 105 proof and use a lighter the normal char of a number 2 char.

The naming of Mattie Gladden is to pay homage to a famous 19^th century madam of a house of ill repute. Her popular bordello on Salem, Indiana’s  Main Street, catered to lots of travelling businessmen, men of the town and even included the showman P. T. Barnum which is rumored that Mattie Gladden was Barnum’s mistress.

To find out more check it out here – Spirits of French Lick

You can look at all the past Sunday Evenings Reviews and I would still love to hear what your personal reviews are from each of the whiskies reviewed