Review #: 424
Description: Chattanooga Port Cask
Spirit: Bourbon
Background: This is from Chattanooga’s Barrel Finishing Series. It takes 3 year old bourbon, using a blend of a few different mashbills, aged in charred and toasted oak barrels and then finished in tawny port barrels for 6 months. Chatt has been having some good success with their young distillate, likely in part due to the high malt that they use. So let’s see how the port affects it. This is batch 21C25R2 and says it is made up of 6-7 barrels.
Distillery – Chattanooga
Bottler – Chattanooga
Brand – Chattanooga
Selection – N/A
ABV – 47.5%
Age – 3 Years
Nose – Tons of sweet apple and cherry, sweet bread, roasted corn, caramel, brown sugar, almost a fruity bbq sauce aspect to it as some savory notes linger behind
Taste – So much cherry popsicle. Seriously. Like those freezy pops you buy by the hundred, this tastes like the red ones. Touch of vanilla, barley sugar. Pops with the fruit but overall fairly light.
Finish – Shows some of the youth as it drinks a bit hotter than 95 proof, a bit of malt in there, fruit stays behind the heat but is still there. Not super harsh though
Score: 5
Would I buy a bottle? It’s not revolutionary, but I am a sucker for that popsicle note which I haven’t gotten before and quite like it. Under $50 it’s a fun bottle to have.
Thoughts: Chatt is doing some interesting things and this is certainly one of them. I think the port is fairly balanced and yet still shows that not all young bourbons should be avoided. It’s certainly not perfect, but this is fun and light and one of my favorites to share to show what this distillery is doing.