DISTRICT MADE BiB BOURBON
Batch 3 (2023)MASH BILL – 58% corn, 25% Abruzzi rye, 17% malted rye
PROOF – 100
AGE – 7 years
DISTILLERY – District Made Spirits (formerly One Eight Distilling)
PRICE – $87
WORTH BUYING? – Yes
Uncorked and tasted in The Year of No Buying (The what? 🔗 here.)
This is an interesting bottle for certain. Here’s the short story:
This whiskey from District Made Spirits in Washington D.C. began with heirloom grains grown in Maryland and Virginia, harvested in 2014. They were blended into a mash and distilled in April 2015, and seven barrels were filled. In October 2022, three of those barrels were selected to be blended into this very small batch release—a bourbon with an unusual mash bill omitting malted barley in favor of malted rye, and aged for 7 years rather than the minimum 4 required by law for Bottled in Bond status.
How could I pass that up?
The price might be a reason. It’s hefty. But for me it was worth the gamble considering the sum total specs—including this distillery being new to me (I like getting to know new operations), their product-wide emphasis on rye (I love me that rambunctious rye grain), and that they prioritize experimenting with unusual combinations of locally grown heirloom grains.
Let’s dive right into a glass and see what’s what. It’s been nearly three weeks since uncorking and I’m a handful of pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – a rich range of oranges, from pumpkin to smoldering hot coals
NOSE – dry rye grasses and spices, malt, cinnamon, baked black cherry, dark chocolate, graham cracker, rye bread crusts
TASTE – syrupy and thick, with chocolate, rye spices and bread, a multi-grain porridge, and rustic caramel
FINISH – warm and soft, with rye, chocolate, and dark graham cracker
OVERALL – decadent and rustic, both syrupy and dry, and much more of a rye experience than a bourbon
The quality at work here is evident from start to finish. Color doesn’t guarantee much, of course. But the richness of this bourbon’s dramatic orange spectrum is inviting and promising. The dry nose then announces the whiskey as a malted rye. Tasted blind, I’d never guess it was a bourbon. The grain-forward aromas take my sense memory to other smaller craft distilleries like Spirits of French Lick and Home Base, and the malted rye aspect takes me straight to Old Potrero.
The syrupy quality can be seen up front in the thick drips running down the inside of the glass. This translates exceptionally well on the taste, where the dry flavors are kept smooth and supple by the virtually oozing mouthfeel. That cherry note from the nose doesn’t show itself here as I’d hoped it would. This whiskey would benefit from some fruity sweetness. But accepting the experience on its own terms, the spicy, homebaked bready emphasis is given balance by the syrupy delivery and those relaxed chocolate and caramel notes.
Then on the finish, an initial burst of cinnamon punctuates the end of things like a sepia-gold firework, leaving that complex dark graham cracker note to slowly fade…
I have a great many of these drier, grain-forward craft whiskeys on my shelf. As much as I genuinely appreciate and enjoy them, they’re not what I reach for when I either just want to drink, or when tasting but in a less formal manner. In those moments, lighter and brighter grain-forward offerings like those from Redwood Empire or Long Island Spirits are much more immediately pleasant. Darker, denser variations like this District Made Bottled in Bond Bourbon, or the similarly complex Leopold Three Chamber Rye, demand more attention and thought.
This same District Made bourbon with its fleeting cherry note amped up? That would be phenomenal. But that’s not what’s on offer here. Again, taken for what it is, not what I might wish it to be, District Made has bottled an excellent addition to the small category of carefully considered, high quality, grain-forward, complex craft whiskeys that lean heavily on early American rye traditions. These may not be broad crowd pleasers. But they make very worthy stops on the journey.
Cheers!
The Right Spirit 