REDWOOD EMPIRE HAYSTACK NEEDLE
Cabernet Cask Finished SiB #10266C selected by K&L (2022)MASH BILL – 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% malted barley
PROOF – 110
AGE – 14 years (plus 3 months finishing in a used Cabernet cask: 60-gallon French oak, medium toasted with toasted head)
DISTILLERY – Redwood Empire (sourcing from MGP)
PRICE – $164
WORTH BUYING? – Oh yes!
Uncorked and tasted in The Year of No Buying (The what? 🔗 here.)
Last year around this time I was visited by my good friend Kenny Toll—actor, short story writer, baker of bread, carpenter of bread boards, formidable chess opponent, probably several other talents as well, and natural wine sommelier extraordinaire. He’s also a whiskey fan.
Given Kenny’s wine expertise, I thought a palate comparison with a wine cask finished whiskey would be fun. Kenny and I don’t have the chance to see one another in person that much anymore, so I also wanted it to be something special. I chose Redwood Empire’s Haystack Needle Chardonnay Cask Finished Bourbon, bottled as a single barrel and aged two months shy of 14 years, despite the 12 year age statement on the label.
It was fantastic, and interesting to taste with Kenny. His sense for wine pulled out different notes than my more whiskey oriented palate. I also learned a few things about natural wines.
That bottle was very much worth the purchase price. So when K&L came out with this cabernet cask finished SiB, I bought it without hesitation. Kenny’s not here to try it with me. But I’ll toast him from afar.
And so here we are, four weeks after uncorking and four pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using both a traditional Glencairn and antique tumbler.
COLOR – smoldering, medium-dark oranges
NOSE – thick and layered, with rich and refined oak spice, dark caramel, baked raspberries, bright baked cherry, buttery dark chocolate icing
TASTE – brighter than the nose, with an immediate crashing wave of brandied red fruit notes, followed closely by sparkling baking spices, oak spice, dark vanilla bean, and thick sweet caramel
FINISH – bright red fruit and baking spices commingle with oak and bitter dark chocolate shavings
OVERALL – refined decadence, fun and without pretension
In two very different glasses, this bourbon presents itself very consistently. The notes above apply equally, tinting perhaps just a touch brighter overall in the antique tumbler.
That tumbler, by the way, is a Waterford from 1953, a wedding present to my late aunt and uncle that was handed down to me this past Christmas. Their daughter, my cousin, kept the family house when my aunt eventually passed, and the living room there remains a virtual museum exhibition of a midcentury American upper-middle class entertaining space. There’s the bar encased in a teakwood cupboard. The wide, low, rectangular couches and chairs. The fireplace outlined in thin moderne tiling. Lots of low wide rectangular shapes, mirrored by the house itself, echoing Frank Lloyd Wright’s lingering pervasive influence. This old cocktail glass served guests for decades in that room. And this bourbon fits perfectly in it, conjuring a time when the 1940s were still reverberating into the early 1950s—old school and new school commingling in a lingering post-war stupor turned cold-war stupor, bejeweled with smiles and crystal tumblers.
The glass and its connotations aside, the bourbon itself brims over with old-school bourbonness. Even sipping it in the more scientific Glencairn, I’m reminded of Remus Repeal Batch V, certain older Wild Turkey offerings like Master’s Keep Decades or Revival, or a 2017 Old Scout 12 Year Single Barrel. Well-aged bourbons that send me time-traveling to places I’ve only visited in faded photographs.
But this is a 21st Century bourbon. And if I didn’t know it had spent time in a cabernet cask, I wouldn’t guess it. The effect is subtle. I must assume it is the cabernet influence that’s bringing out the red fruit notes. Perhaps it’s also punching up the spiciness. But the finishing cask is so well-integrated with the original bourbon’s own caramel and oak spices, it achieves a singular whole.
Like the chardonnay cask finished MGP that Redwood Empire put out in 2021, this cabernet finished outing is an uncommonly refined effort. Redwood Empire seems to be done with their sourcing era. Their own whiskeys have already established themselves as significant players in the American craft whiskey scene. So I’m afraid we may not have many future chances, if any, to enjoy their keen knack for finishing well-aged MGP. That’s too bad. Because I’d gladly break my No Bunkering rule to have a bottle of any Haystack Needle release always on my shelf.
Cheers!
The Right Spirit 