Woodinville 8 Year Bourbon

WOODINVILLE 8 YEAR BOURBON
Limited Edition (2024)

MASH BILL – 55% corn, 35% rye, 10% malted barley

PROOF – 100

AGE – 8 years

DISTILLERY – Woodinville Whiskey Co.

PRICE – $136

WORTH BUYING? – Hardcore Woodinville fan? Then yes, for sure. Otherwise, no ru$h.

I’m a longtime Woodinville fan. Their extended outdoor barrel seasoning and forested terroir tend to yield bourbons with lovely layers of weathered oak notes. These create a foundation for their mash bill and yeast’s characteristic stone fruit and citrus zest notes. Perhaps because their open fermenting vats are situated in an area surrounded by wineries, their bourbons also take very well to a variety of cask finishings. Their Moscatel and Port Cask finished bourbons are two personal faves.

The journey of this 8 Year release was a long and careful one. When Woodinville revved up in 2010, founders Brett Carlile and Orlin Sorensen put a lot of time, attention, and expense into exploring the best barreling options for their new distillates. Working with Independent Stave Company, they tried eight different options ranging in toast and char level, kiln vs open-air seasoning length, and stave type. The full range included:

• #1 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
• #2 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
• #3 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
• #4 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
• #3 Char 18-Month Open-Air Seasoned
• #5 Char 18-Month Open-Air Seasoned
• Heavy Toast/Light Char 24-Month Open-Air Seasoned
• Thin-Stave Barrel

For their standard barrel, Carlile and Sorensen eventually settled on a pre-toasted, deeply charred barrel seasoned in open air for 18 months. But among their various initial experiments, they found the heavily toasted, lightly charred barrel made from 24-month open-air seasoned staves had significantly higher amounts of what were their favorite core notes. However, tasting the whiskey from this barrel up to the four-year mark, they also noticed it had a graininess to it that didn’t yet taste quite right. They decided to let it age a bit longer in hopes the grainy quality would soften. Four more years went by and it had transformed into something they felt was very special.

Another unique factor is the mash bill. At 55% corn, 35% rye, 10% malted barley, the recipe here uses substantially less corn and more rye than what became their standard mash bill—72% corn, 22% rye, and 6% malted barley. And the usual bottling proof of 90 was upped to an even 100. All of these adjustments to Woodinville’s standard dials speak to their commitment to research and experimentation.

But of course not all experiments work out. That’s the nature of experimenting. How did this one go?

Let’s give it a sip. It’s now two weeks since uncorking and three pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.

COLOR – vibrant yet soft red-oranges with highlights like smoldering embers

NOSE – syrupy, with tangy and juicy apricot preserves, raspberry jam, weathered oak, wood and rye spice, sweet gooey caramel, day-old chocolate cake, marzipan

TASTE – very like the nose, and likewise syrupy, with the oak and wood spices turned up a notch, the fruit notes now more submerged into the caramel

FINISH – a plume of wood and rye spice, then oak and oak tannin, faint sweet caramel, faint apricot

OVERALL – a dense, spicy and sweet bourbon

At uncorking this bourbon had a varnishy note to it that risked off-putting. But that’s now dissipated. Today the fruit notes dominate the nose, which is wonderfully rustic and syrupy. The taste and finish then emphasize spice.

The significantly different barrel and mash bill from Woodinville’s standard don’t create an alternate Woodinville universe here. This bourbon sits very much in the distillery’s characteristic terroir, with that rustic combination of apricot and weathered oak. The emphasis on spice seems to be this bottling’s key signature. It literally bursts across the palate. And on the finish, oak and rye spice settle in to linger at length.

I’d say the cost to experience ratio is not quite balanced for me. This is a good bourbon, to be sure. But I wouldn’t say it’s a three-digit bourbon price-wise. Though old by Woodinville standards, in the grand scheme of whiskey, an 8 year age statement is not unusually impressive. I certainly appreciate how much care and attention went into it. And I will enjoy it on these chilly winter nights when a glass of warming spicy sweetness is most welcomed. But I’d much prefer the experience at $70 or so.

So if you missed this limited release, I wouldn’t sweat it. If Woodinville’s brand of rustic is your jam, pick up any of their cheaper wine cask finished releases and you’ll have a different but similarly satisfying experience.

Cheers!