Ironroot Promethean (16 Months)

Ironroot Promethean 2017 103 proof Nose: what immediately comes to mind is a fresh pecan twirl pastry. One that is topped with toasted pecans and drizzled with a maple-vanilla sugar frosting and served warm. As you begin to explore, the nose is dense and sweet and layered with an undercurrent of earthiness that you get in a good Bordeaux or Rioja. Waves of thick vanilla and maple syrup give way to red fruits like a raspberry purée, strawberries sprinkled with sugar. Smokey oak char and cedar unfurl gently within the sugary sweet notes. Nutty pastry and cinnamon. Palate: salted caramel, bitter dark chocolate, red currants, tart raspberries, classic Texas oak tinged vanilla kicks in mid palate and then it turns umami and soy like. Finish: salted leather with a cooling mint. An amazing paradox of flavors and so intriguing. There’s as much “brine” as a good Islay whisky yet it works marvelously with the tart sweet fruit and vanilla oak. A testament to the distillers in keeping all the varying notes in balance and layered nicely. A whiskey that has deep earthiness yet feels youthful and bright. I am reminded of some of the best Bordeaux or Rioja I have had in the balance of fruit and earth.

Edit: The version I own is a 16 month, and it’s that one that I gave a 4.25. I’m having a 26 month now and it’s more rich, more dense in mouthfeel, and the chocolate, coffee and berries come together better. The only way to say it is it’s more mature and put together. More well-rounded. And the finish is longer too. It’s all-around better, so I’ll move up this taste to 4.5 and I’ll anticipate the BIB being a 5+ when it gets here if it can build on this. Rich, dense, dark berries and dark chocolate. Full flavor and lingering finish. Would have got a bottle at the distillery if they didn’t have two others that were absolutely out-of-this-world.

I tried this at the distilllery and really enjoyed it. There’s so much complexity in this whiskey. You get some ripe fruit notes like stone fruits with dark berries like cherries. It’s balanced with some darker notes like chocolate/cocoa, wood, and smoke char. This is definitely an exploration whiskey and stands out in a lineup. It’s at a respectable proof that allows the flavors to be dense without being floored by the alcohol burn of a casks strength. Highly recommended entry point for whiskey fans who are curious about Ironroot.

Ironroot continues to impress me. Lots of mouth feel, but quite a different profile from their other offerings. Black tea, licorice, vanilla, cinnamon, and leather. As with all of my scoring I give a little bump to the craft producers that actually make their whiskey and are transparent about age, etc.

Nose: strong ethanol, oak spice. Candy store sweetness. Taste: right off the bat the taste is strong corn whiskey, not too sweet, some hot cinnamon. Finishes with a little tannin dryness. But gives me a saccharine aftertaste. Pretty different from the usual bourbon.

So complex and interesting. Nose has a traditional caramel bourbon note with some dark fruit. Palate is smooth and syrupy with dark fruit and chocolate. Almost tastes finished. Thoroughly impressed.