Week 45 – Augusta Buckner’s 13 Year Single Barrel Barrel Proof T8KE Hazmat Release 141 Proof r/Bourbon Private Selection

• Distilled: Kentucky 
• Aged In: Kentucky
• Bottled In: Kentucky (Augusta Distillery)
• Age: 13 Years
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• ABV: 70.5% ABV 
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: It’s cherries on fire baby! Cherry cola, vanilla ice cream, sundaes and black pepper roll through with bold, rich, syrupy palate texture and no shortage of char, jammy fruits and lovely spice. The finish is long and composed, fatty and syrupy with tons more crackle of cream soda and luxardo cherries. 

Week 45 – Augusta Buckner’s 13 Year Single Barrel Barrel Proof T8KE Hazmat Release 141.4 Proof r/Bourbon Private Selection

• Distilled: Kentucky 
• Aged In: Kentucky
• Bottled In: Kentucky (Augusta Distillery)
• Age: 13 Years
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• ABV: 70.5% ABV 
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: The shortie, it’s a heartbreaker that dials up the cola notes even further. Tons of blackberry, blackpepper, cola, cherry coke and vanilla bean pair wildly together in a cherries taffy delight. Long finish, heavy oak and spice, toffee and buttercream. 

Week 45 – Larceny Barrel Proof Single Barrel Barrel Proof r/Bourbon Private Selection

• Distilled: Kentucky (Heaven Hill)
• Aged In: Kentucky (Heaven Hill)
• Bottled In: Kentucky (Heaven Hill)
• Age: 7 Years
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• ABV: 61.6% ABV 
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: A quintessentially lovely wheated bourbon, this cask kicks with tons of cinnamon, red fruits, tobacco and sweet toffee and caramels.The palate is rich and lovely, full of toffee and maple syrup, sweet cinnamon spice and a prickle of oak, it’s balanced and dessert driven. Long finish, heavy on the dessert character with a crackle of oak and some cinnamon candies, black pepper and lovely apple butter finish. 

Week 45 – Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel r/Bourbon Private Selection

• Distilled: Kentucky (Wild Turkey)
• Aged In: Kentucky (Wild Turkey)
• Bottled In: Kentucky (Wild Turkey)
• Age: 8 Years 6 Months (Distilled 1/25/2027, Dumped 9/8/2025, Bottled 9/11/2025)
• Warehouse: CNA
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives
• ABV: 55% ABV 
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: Russells it’s so good to have you back. CNA is such a lovely, balanced, Turkey that reminds me why Wild Turkey captured my whiskey attention 10 years ago. Rich oak and sweet maple meet candied orange slices, a hint of strawberry and apples, big pepper and lovely candied ginger. Palate is gorgeous and bright, oaky but full of life and fruits. Long finish, heavy on caramels and ginger, candied orange slices and a hint of pepper. Gobble gobble! 

Week 45 – Penelope Special Barrel “Project X” Maple Brulee Single Barrel Barrel Strength r/Bourbon Private Selection

• Distilled: Indiana
• Aged In: Indiana
• Bottled In: Indiana (Penelope)
• Age: NAS
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• ABV: 54% ABV 
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: A bright and rich release, warm pancakes, sweet tobacco and toffee meets a hint of pepper, lovely cake batter, waffe cone and rich oak. The oak here is really nicely developed, blends against the sweetness of the maple really nicely, with more spice and structure. The palate is medium, less oaky but also less ethanol, with a pleasant texture, nice structure, maple and waffle cone weighs against the oak. Long finish, the star of the show with maple. sweet oak, big spice and some generous cinnamon entering the picture. Perfect for a Fall old fashioned. 

Week 45 – Penelope x T8KE: NOBLE Sauternes Collaboration

This project has been in development for the better part of a year, capping an idea that Daniel Polise (Penelope Master Blender) and I have been talking about for several years prior. He and I have become great friends in our years of working together, and we took a narrow window of opportunity to make something happen and ask questions second. 

This is the first collaboration label that Penelope has done and our conversations and musings over the years were the genesis. I’ve been purchasing and blending with the Penelope team since back in 2020 during the pandemic and through those years Danny and I have always come back to our shared love of Sauternes wine and how it can integrate beautifully with the right bourbons. I’ve done other projects with Sauternes myself and they’ve cemented my love of the wine and they’ve cemented Danny’s desire to create a Penelope release integrating it as well. 

The catch: Sauternes is an expensive wine. It’s hard to make and it relies on natural processes to even begin. Grapes have to be grown in warm and humid environments and subjected to a complex and beneficial form of rot to develop the sugars and the opulent taste profile of Sauternes. It’s rot, and it is responsible for some of the most revered wines in the world. Noble Rot, some would say and many would call it. And thus, project NOBLE was off to the races. He and I spent hours and hours blending through lots of MGP cellar stores before we ever touched the wine casks. 

Another catch: Sauternes wine casks are expensive and also hard to get. Many have to be rejected, few make it to the US and their construction is gorgeous but the cost is eye watering. We didn’t let it stop us but we noted somewhere along the way an accountant may kabosh it. We powered on, quietly and irreverent. We developed a blend of 74% Corn, 15% Wheat, 8% Rye and 3% Malted Barley that sung and sung and sung. We composed this blend and entered it into Sauternes casks last winter, to come back later and hand select the barrels from that lot to become this blend. 

We ran into another opportunity: there was no label in the system for this sort of thing. So, teams came together and I presented a portfolio ideas and the Penelope art team presented a portfolio of ideas and we honed in on something I am so unbelievably impressed by.

An irreverent but elegant new label that features the nobility of our Sauternes Noble Rot and the partnership that Penelope and I have built through thoughtful collaboration and a chase in reckless abandon of amazing whiskeys no matter how we have to make them come to market. I’ve spent so many years working with Sauternes finishes and this is no doubt the best yet by far. 

We also wanted folks to have access to a Limited Edition that’s loaded with value. So, despite all of the work, the custom labels and the fine touches, I’m ultra proud of the price point this is hitting, mirroring it’s peers like Rio, Havana and Valencia in the finish series at these prices. 

• Distilled: Indiana
• Aged In: Indiana
• Bottled In: Indiana (Penelope)
• Age: NAS (5-7 Year Blend + Sauternes Wine Cask Aging)
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• ABV: 54% ABV
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: Gorgeous, opulent, bold, rich. The goal of this blend was to show off bourbon AND sauternes, weaving a complex base bourbon that could integrate further with the tricky and concentrated flavors of Sauternes. The nose is bright, it’s full, it’s exploding: sweet oak, rich pepper, gorgeous butter cream and caramel pops with undertones of apple and brioche, lemon butter and candied pears, decadent sweetness and honeycomb. The palate dials up the oak and spice, full of body and a rich, pillowy, viscous blend of great oak structure, honey comb, apple butter, white grape, a hint of tropical fruit, butterscotch, and building spice. Pepper, ginger, a hint of clove, the oak brings this to balance. Long finish, a wild exit that’s expressive and in-line: brioche meets sweet candied pears, apples, cinnamon, lovely white grape reduction and baking spice, honey comb, butterscotch and an exit full of oak and maple.

Week 44 – Jack Daniels’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof Tennessee Whiskey “T8KE x ENDALZ”
 

• Distilled: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Aged In: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Bottled In: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Age: 6 Years
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• Warehouse 2-06, Barrel 25-25132
• ABV: 65.80% ABV 
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: A fat, rich, caramel bomb, this barrel oozes brown sugar and butterscotch, rich graham cracker, a touch of espresso and blackberry with a raisin bread spine and a pleasant amount of oak. At 65% alcohol it’s syrupy and dense. Long finish, oak, espresso, cocoa, butterscotch and graham cracker powers on. 

Week 44 – Jack Daniels’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye Whiskey “T8KE x ENDALZ”

• Distilled: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Aged In: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Bottled In: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Age:  9 Years 6 Months
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• Warehouse Coy Hill 1-13, Barrel 25-25607
• ABV: 67.90% ABV 
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: A Coy Hill rye and a shortie at that, this barrel is a beat down of rich barrel character, light fruits and gorgeous rye spices. Black pepper, allspice and a hint of ginger pop with fat, fudgy richness on the palate. Molasses, baked apples, a crackle of rye spice and gobs of oak hang on as a hint of banana, black pepper and oak hang for the finish. 

Week 44 – Jack Daniels’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof Tennessee Whiskey “T8KE” Single Barrel Selection

• Distilled: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Aged In: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Bottled In: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Age:  6 Years
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• Warehouse: 2-30, Barrel 25-25133
• ABV: 63.90% ABV 
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: This barrel was an off profile beauty and sparked the idea that we couldn’t just leave with two. Usually I get these “nuclear nanner” notes from Jack Daniels – hot, fiery, banana and this barrel instead reminded me of a big, oaky, painkiller cocktail instead. Tropical fruits, orange peel, mango, pineapple, a touch of pineapple, rich oak, a hint of baking spice like cinnamon and allspice, and gorgeous, bright, caramels over and over and over. At 63.9% it’s the lowest proof of the batch, a hilarious concept at all for being called low proof. Vibrant, lovely, full of vanillas and more graham cracker and cinnamon spice on the finish makes this one of the best JD I’ve ever had. 

Week 44 – Jack Daniels’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye Whiskey “T8KE” Single Barrel Selection

• Distilled: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Aged In: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Bottled In: Tennessee (Jack Daniels) 
• Age:  8 Years 7 Months
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• Warehouse: 2-02, Barrel 25-25608
• ABV: 66.3% ABV 
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: A more balanced rye compared to the might of the Coy Hill from this week as well, this rye is loaded with cracked pepper, candied ginger, and then it turns wildly into big caramels, nougat, cream, rye spice and hints of date fruit, raisin bread, a touch of banana, spiced apples and no herbal, grassiness whatsoever. It’s a fat, rich, rye but shows balance from the oak, the rye spice, the high proof and the layers and layers and layers of desserty rye character. 

Week 44 – Brook Hill 11 Year Single Barrel Barrel Strength Bourbon “ENDALZ”

• Distilled: Kentucky
• Aged In: Kentucky
• Bottled In: Kentucky
• Age:  11 Years
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• ABV: 66.22% ABV | 132.44 Proof
• Designation: “ENDALZ”
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: The nose is full of chocolate covered cherries, barrel char, cola, toffee and brulee. Cinnamon spice, brown sugar, maple, it’s opulent, rich, bold. It’s punchy – each of these notes is loud, no whisper quiet muted character here. Palate is bold, rich. Full of black cherries, luxardo cherries, all of these dark manhattan notes, black walnut, baking spice and tons of cola, graham cracker and a hint of cocoa. The finish is long and sticky, hanging with toffee, brown butter, cherry cola and heavy, fat, opulent, oak, caramel and cinnamon spice. 

Week 44 – Lost Lantern Leiper’s Fork T8KE Single Barrel Selection

• Distilled: Tennessee (Leiper’s Fork)
• Aged In: Tennessee (Leiper’s Fork)
• Bottled In: Vermont USA (Lost Lantern)
• Age: 7  Years
• More Info: Single Barrel, No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
• Mashbill: 75% Corn, 15% Rye, 15% Barley
• ABV: 56.3% ABV 
• T8ke’s Tasting Notes: Lovely nose: sweet cream, butterscotch, vanilla bean ice cream and a drizzle of caramels meets pralines, toffee, baking spice and a touch of pepper. The palate is viscous, it’s lovely and layered. It’s well balanced, nicely composed here at 112.6 proof with just enough oak, just enough spice, just enough body from the ethanol and this gorgeous vanilla ice cream sundae character: vanilla, caramels, a hint of waffle cone and a little pop of strawberry, crushed peanuts and some root beer.