WOODINVILLE MOSCATEL FINISHED BOURBON
2022 Limited ReleaseMASH BILL – 72% corn, 22% rye, 6% barley
PROOF – 100
AGE – NAS (5 years in the original oak barrels, plus 1 more year and some months in Moscatel de Setúbal casks)
DISTILLERY – Woodinville Whiskey Co.
PRICE – $114
WORTH BUYING? – Yes
Tasted in The Year of No Buying (The what? 🔗 here.)
In autumn 2021, Woodinville released their annual distillery-only Harvest Release, which always highlights one cask finishing experiment or another. This time it was a 5-year bourbon aged for an additional handful of months in used Moscatel de Setúbal casks. Moscatel de Setúbal is a rich, sweet dessert wine made with muscat grapes grown on the Setúbal peninsula in Southern Portugal. Used casks of this particular wine are not plentiful, so Woodinville senior distiller, Mike Steine, was very excited to have them.
That 2021 release was among my favorite whiskeys that year, and one of my favorite bourbons period. So imagine my excitement when I learned Woodinville had held some barrels back, to allow them another year of finishing time in the Moscatel casks. These stocks were eventually bottled in 2022 and quietly released in limited quantities to a few select national regions.
The price of this second release was higher than the 2021 by about $30. But I was glad to pay it. Would Woodinville’s oaky, rustic bourbon soaking up that sweet Moscatel wine for another year result in something better, lesser, or unique in its own way?
Here we are, two weeks after uncorking and five pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – dark and smoldering russet red-oranges
NOSE – syrupy, oaky, dark crystalizing honey, a sweet lacquer on wood, cherry syrup, olive oil, a bundle of dried long-stemmed grasses
TASTE – very like the nose, with a thick and syrupy texture, layers of oak and oak tannins, the lacquer and cherry notes melding into a single oily layer, a dash of toasted baking spices
FINISH – warm with a bright prickly heat, oak, lacquer, brandied black cherry, baked apricot, caramel
OVERALL – an antique oak box filled with overripe black cherries and dried long-stemmed grasses
This is very different from its predecessor. Whereas the 2021 release was a rich mélange of herbs, spices, teas and fruits, this older 2022 release is a rich celebration of oak and syrup.
It’s very recognizably Woodinville—those weathered wood notes and baked stone fruits. The layers of oak notes here are incredible, ranging from rustic and rough to finely sanded and lacquered for longevity.
That lacquer aspect is counter-intuitive. At uncorking it really threw me, actually. Lacquer is a synthetic note, edgy with a chemical alcohol. Yet here it comes across like a fine antique that’s had many years to air out. There is a surprising sweetness to it that bridges well with the cherry and subtle caramel aspects. Likewise, it adds to the blend of syrupy qualities—from color to texture to taste—that help give the bourbon its antique quality.
I broke my no bunkering rule when this release came out, and bought two bottles right away. I’d have loved a second bottle of the 2021. I don’t need a second bottle of this 2022. Still I am happy to have it. This is an exceptional bourbon. (After my “Year of No Buying” I might find myself glad to have it on hand to revisit.) But those same lacquered qualities I’m admiring also nudge this whiskey near to off-putting. I’m not a fan of synthetic notes. However, like my recent experience with Rieger’s BiB Rye, which had a creosote note that gave that whiskey an unexpectedly pleasing industrial edge in complement to its more obviously enjoyable decadent aspects, so too does this Woodinville Moscatel Finished Bourbon benefit from its counter-intuitive qualities.
For oak fans, this might be a must. Its balance of the natural and the synthetic is precarious. But I find it worth the risk. Those rich, layered, decadent syrupy qualities are so luxurious. And on those sips when the cherry notes come flooding forward, it nears perfection. When they ebb away it’s not quite as sumptuous, yet still fascinating for its dense layers of oak held together by those oozing syrups. I dig it.
Cheers!
The Right Spirit 