Crooked Water Kings Point Port Finished Bourbon

While shopping online at Ace Spirits, out of Minnesota, I stumbled across another port barrel finished bourbon that caught my attention. Crooked Water Spirits, in Minneapolis, has taken contract distilled bourbon made at Yahara Bay Distillers (Fitchburg, WI) and placed it into port wine casks. As a relatively new craft distillery they are following a pattern of augmenting contracted whiskey through short term “finishes” while they wait for their own spirit to mature enough for bottling. Gotta pay those bills, kid. This particular release, called King’s Point, is an award winning whiskey that is bottled at 90 proof. It a reddish, caramel in color and produces some skinny, long legs when you give it a twirl in your tasting glass. There’s no indication on the bottle or their website about the duration of the finishing casks, but if the nose is any indication, it wasn’t very long. I would guess 6-9 months. The nose is softly sweet with a nice bit of green apple and vanilla, along with some ripened vine fruits like grapes and dark berries. There’s not much hint of wood or any heat from the spirit itself. The palate is traditional bourbon with a nice, initial blast of charred oak and vanilla. The port finish is well hidden and takes some time and effort to extract it, but it’s there. It just takes time. The finish is long, warm and oaky with a final blast of heat just before it fades away with a sweet, smooth aftertaste. It’s a pretty solid bourbon even though you can tell it’s very youthful. Overall, it’s a nice entry and beginner bourbon that is well crafted and presented. The website and label talks about the distillery being women owned and operated, so I’m assuming that means it’s almost an entire facility staffed by female employees and managers, and it just goes to show that with the right passion and energy anyone can make a quality whiskey for the masses. It will be interesting to see what these ladies can do once their own stuff is available to be tinkered with and sold. I will definitely keep an eye out for more from them, especially when I’m shopping online at Ace Spirits. 3.5-3.75 stars. Cheers, my friends.

Today's review is of the Crooked Water King's Point Bourbon Whisky, finished in a port cask. It's bottled at 45% ABV. This spirit is distilled and bottled by Yahara Bay Distillers in Madison WI on behalf of Crooked Water Spirits in Minneapolis MN. I picked up this 50ml sample from Ace Spirits for $1 and think I would pay for a pour in a bar to have it again. The bottle notes "Distilled from Grain", but I'm not really sure why. From what I can find, this is aged for 2 years in typical bourbon fashion and then finished between 6 and 18 months in port casks. Before sipping, I rested this dram in the Glencairn for 5 minutes. Thoughts and rating below: ⠀ Nose: Gentle port sweetness, corn, heat, a little oaky spice ⠀ Taste: A bright, sweet, and zesty berry fruit sweetness comes up first. There is some tannic zest that joins it as well, clearly from the port cask. A mild orangey astringency starts after the initial note and persists throughout the entire experience to the finish. The bourbon doesn't have much spice or rye character, but more of a gentle sweet corn and sugar note to accompany the fruitier notes. The texture is slightly oily and helps the flavors last for a surprisingly long time. ⠀ As a fan of sweet bourbons, I think this is a solid offering. I'll repeat myself that it lacks the rye and spice character that many love in a bourbon, but it's a great sweet sipper. I have had mixed thoughts on port cask finishes for other bourbon and scotch in the past, but I think this provides a balanced level and is a decent inteoduction to the port-finished style. Being from a low volume craft distillery, I appreciate the quality here and think this drinks very well for it's age. I can't find any unpleasant notes. I would prefer a little more complexity. ⠀ 81/100

I had a pour of this, courtesy of @LeeEvolved . I love trying these new American craft distilleries; they have to use creativity, finishing sourced products, and adherence to quality just to compete and stay relevant. And even if they do all of these things really well, it’s still no guarantee of turning a profit, as we saw most recently with Copper River out of NJ shutting its doors. Their best hope is going the route of High West and selling to a major spirits company. Anyway, these gals here have placed out a pretty good sourced product with a spin on their own finishing. Reddish mahogany color, followed by sweet plums and vanilla on the nose. Taste is typical sweet bourbon, but with a twist of red berries (from the finishing ). I don’t think they’re anywhere as close to High West in their finishing, but it’ll be interesting to see if their own product will be as good as Stranahan’s, Westland, or the other established craft distillers. Thanks @LeeEvolved , i’ll be keeping an eye out for these as they start evolving.

Nose: sweet fruity and hint of sherry Palate: vanilla, dark cherry, baking and rye spice Finish: medium dry finish with late heat 45 ABV, 50 as listed. Good sipper even though it leaves mouth slightly dry. I’m happy to have bottle in my collection.

My wife says it’s 4.5 / 5. But she has only tasted whiskey twice in her life. So take that as you will.

Extremely smooth for the proof. Caramel and vanilla notes, good nose. Drinkable neat actually.