Review #: 510
Description: Lonerider Sherry Cask Finish
Spirit: Bourbon
Background: 30 for 30 Day 4: Getting into a cask finish, Lonerider is (was?) based out of Durham, NC. First a brewery, they opened a microdistillery but started using MGP to launch a product. Utilizing Mystic Distillery also in Durham to do the sherry finishing and bottling, I actually helped bottled this very one. Mystic would do volunteer Saturdays for people to help run their bottling line. I did it a few times and had fun meeting people and getting some hands-on experience in a distillery (you also got free lunch and a free bottle at the end of the day). So I guess for full transparency, this bottle was free. I didn’t ask tons of questions, so I’m not sure how long the sherry cask finish lasted, what kind of sherry, or any idea of age.
Distillery – MGP
Bottler – Lonerider
Brand – Lonerider
Selection – N/A
ABV – 45%
Age – NAS
Nose – Wet grass, Tums fruit flavor, jolly rancher, corn sweetness, vanilla cream
Taste – More candy fruit flavor like cherry or raspberry jolly rancher, tiny bit of toasted oak
Finish – Fruit dries out a little but still dominates, maybe a little corn and oak bitterness, some heat but can’t even give it like a pepper characteristic
Score: 4
Would I buy a bottle? No
Thoughts: On the nose I really didn’t think that the sherry was all that dominant but on taste, it’s just so fruity. I don’t think it tastes bad, but ultimately it isn’t very interesting and doesn’t have a ton of substance to it. Fine to drink it if someone poured it for me, but I’m not going to be replacing it when it’s gone.