People generally love Woodford Reserve because the bourbon is stronger than the average at 90.4 proof, but still totally drinkable and—dare I say it—smooth (cue the groans). Well, get ready to set fire to your tongue in a lake of bourbon with the latest installment in Woodford’s Distillery Series, an extension of a past release that is the highest-proof whiskey ever from this Kentucky distillery.
Chocolate Whisper Redux is thusly named because it’s actually a sequel to a previous release from 2021 called Chocolate Malt Whisper. That bourbon, also part of the Distillery Series, was supposedly the result of a happy accident, although it’s always wise to be a little suspicious of such claims given how tightly controlled the whiskey-making process usually is at distilleries. In 2019, Woodford distilled a whiskey called Chocolate Malted Rye as part of its Master’s Collection, which had about 15 percent chocolate malted rye in its recipe (referring to the way the grain was roasted to bring out flavors). According to master distiller Elizabeth McCall, there was some residual distillate left in the receiving tanks of the pot still. “Since the chocolate malted rye recipe was a bourbon recipe, there was not a class and type concern if the distillate mingled with the standard bourbon recipe distillate,” she told Robb Report. “We had not considered the minimal amount of residual distillate from the chocolate malted rye run having a significant sensory impact on the bourbon distillate produced immediately after it. It wasn’t until this standard bourbon distillate produced immediately following the chocolate malted rye had been tested in sensory for quality that the ‘whisper’ was discovered.” And that whisper affected several subsequent batches.
The original Chocolate Malt Whisper was bottled at regular Woodford proof of 90.4, but this beast of bourbon approaches hazmat levels at a hefty 139.4 proof—just .6 degrees short of not being allowed onboard an airplane. This new version spent the last four years inside barrels picking up flavor and, apparently, skyrocketing in proof (although I don’t know what the barrel proof of the original was). According to the distillery, this 12-year-old bourbon is its highest ABV whiskey to date. We were not able to sample the new bourbon, but the official tasting notes describe chocolate (naturally), toasted oak, and nutmeg on the nose, followed by cacao nib (obviously), dark roasted coffee, dried cherry and cranberry, and charred oak on the palate. That is assuming, of course, you can get past the alcohol burn that likely plays a big part in the whiskey’s flavor profile.
Chocolate Whisper Redux is available for $100 per 375-ml bottle starting today at the distillery and from its website (shipping is available to select states), as well as some specialty retailers in Kentucky. You can also find other members of the Woodford lineup, including the recent Double Double Oaked release and the aforementioned Chocolate Malted Rye, available to purchase from ReserveBar.
Authors
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Jonah Flicker