Sunday Evening Review

Back at the Central Ohio Whiskey Society meeting we had Town Branch as our guest distillery who brought a tasting that was not yet in Ohio but said it was on the way. Well, it has arrived so I wanted to explore this again and also make you aware of the new offering to Ohio. The bottle is Towne Branch True Cask. Let’s find out if my opinion has changed since the March meeting on this bottle.

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

NAME – Towne Branch True Cask – Batch #002

PROOF – 109.3

AGE – non age stated but is labeled as a Kentucky Straight Bourbon with no age statement means it is at least 4 years

COLOR – dried peat moss (1.4 tawny on the Whiskey Magazine Color Chart)

NOSE – Vanilla, rolled oats, stewed peaches sprinkled with cinnamon, chocolate malt, and some earthy tones

TASTE – Sweet amber honey at the start then transitions to chocolate malt, cinnamon and vanilla.

FINISH – I would call this a medium. In the finish the stewed peaches reappear from the nose along with a new note of cigar tobacco along side cinnamon.

REVIEW – I know this surprised many at the meeting and it continues to do so. This is a very good pour that isn’t overly complex but doesn’t mean it is not very enjoyable. This is another good summer bourbon with a bit of a proof punch. Would go great drinking it at a BBQ or around a firepit with friends.

FINAL COMMENTS – This bottle from Town Branch is rumored to have blended mash bill of a 50/50 blend: Higher-malt bourbon mash (72% corn, 15% malted barley, 13% rye) and an undisclosed proprietary bourbon mash. There is no doubt that high malt shows itself in the bourbon.

Another tidbit is that these barrels are being aged at the famous Castle & Key Distillery formerly the Old Taylor Distillery. The risk house very humid that actually drops the proof of the whiskey in the barrel instead the most common situation of raising the alcohol content. The barrel entry proof is 125 so it means it drops over 15 proof points in the barrel.

The links that they go to make sure no water is added is impressive. They even dry the blending tanks and other equipment before blending to ensure the whiskey is completely uncut.

Their blending team keeps blending until “they love it.” What this means is each batch will have some very different characteristics. The Batch #002 is the one that is hitting the shelves right now in Ohio.

To find out more check it out here – Town Branch True Cask

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.