St. Augustine Double Cask Bourbon

My wife and I visited St. Augustine Distillery over MLK weekend, so I had a chance to try the distillery's two whiskies, their standard Double Cask Bourbon and a limited edition Port Finished Bourbon. Look, this is a classic craft spirit:  honestly made, and surprisingly high in quality for its youth, but with a lot of rough edges remaining.  I'm not sure what the future holds for St. Augustine, and I'd certainly expect this bourbon will prove to be a viable competitor for other high-quality wheated bourbons with time.  Interestingly, it sounds like a small percentage of the blend is also aged in port, to lend it some additional sweetness, which speaks to the fact that the bourbon standing alone probably is a little too bitter.  The dominant notes that I get from this are young spirit notes, along with a mellow corn sweetness and a lot of raw grain notes.  It is surprisingly smooth, and holds up very well in an Old Fashioned due to its lower level of sweetness. I've seen some reviewers describe a pine-like taste to this bourbon, which is dead on.  In a way, some of the flavors here remind me of the distillery's gin, which is a legitimate heavy hitter.

One of the worst whiskey calamities in my life involved this bottle. I picked up on our epic roadtrip from Wisconsin to Florida to Texas (and back...4,400 miles, 14 states, 3 weeks, and a 7 month old in the back seat)...and sadly, this bottle spilled all over the trunk of my wife's car somewhere between Mobile, Alabama and Freeport, Texas. On the plus side, the trunk now smells like bourbon (could be worse), and I did manage a couple of drams before it all got sucked up as a libation to the roadtrip gods. The even better news is that, if I had to pick a bottle in the trunk to have spilled...it would've been this one. The basic character is good - sweet and spicy - but this really needs more time to mellow and age. Yeah, yeah, yeah - hot climate equals faster maturation, but this bourbon just tasted young and hot. A good initial offering from a good distillery (their gin is killer); I have high hopes for future releases.

This Florida bourbon has the appearance of amber honey, with a nose of oats, corn, and hay followed by peppery oak and vanilla nuttiness (walnuts, pecans), and plum at the very back. The taste is smooth, light, and silky; rich in vanilla sweetness early with oak, cinnamon, and nuttiness finishing out with subtle hints of grain. A smooth and sipable bourbon even without considering its youth - which makes this truly amazing. I can't wait to see what St. Augustine releases after 5, 10, or so years!

Definitely young, but year-round 90 degree temperatures during aging make it seem older than it is in terms of oak, etc. This one grew on me after a while. I think this will be a pretty good product once they've been around for a few more years.

Nose: Orange peel, cinnamon, maple brown sugar, ginger Palate: Sweet vanilla/orange up front, with Oak, cinnamon, clove, black pepper mid-palate Finish: Medium-Long

A decent bourbon for a first run. You definitely taste the youngness, but it's still pleasant. I look forward to trying one with age to it. Killed the bottle 4/16/17