Chicken Cock 10-Year-Old Double Barrel Bourbon Review

BOTTLES DETAILS

• DISTILLER: Distilled by MGP Ingredients and produced by Chicken Cock Distilleries
• MASH BILL: 70% Corn | 21% Rye | 9% Malted Barley
• AGE: 10 years
• YEAR: 2018
• PROOF: 104 (52% ABV)
• MSRP: $250
• BUY ONLINE: Passion Spirits
  

STEVE'S NOTES

NOSE: Cooked cherries | dried orange peel, pleasant acetone | dried banana, vanilla

TASTE: honey, lemon peel, oak | mouth-coating milk chocolate | lingering rye, cinnamon candy

FINISH: Long, warm, clean | scant tannin | grassy rye on exhale

SHARE WITH: Any bourbon or rye fan

WORTH THE PRICE: $250 is not only a budget buster for most, it’s likely beyond a splurge. It takes chutzpah to offer a 10-year-old whiskey for $250 when the MSRP for Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 23-year-old—arguably the most coveted bourbon in the world—is $269.99. But as the saying goes, seek what the market will bear, especially in a bull market.

BOTTLE, BAR OR BUST: Bar for me due to the price.

OVERALL: This is a flat-out delicious bourbon, no arguing it. At 104 proof, its balance of potency and nuance is ideal, and I never considered adding water to it. I can’t imagine a neat bourbon drinker not loving everything about it. To avoid being skewed by tasting notes in a press release, the only details I read before tasting anything are age and proof. And even though Double Barrel is in its name, I didn’t even consider that as I sipped this release. Here’s why: At no time did it bring the depth or complexity of a second barreling like many Woodford Reserve twice-barreled products or that of their sister brand, Old Forester 1910 Old Fine Whisky, which I reviewed here recently. The layer of added flavor born of time in a second cask found in those Brown-Forman products is pronounced and discernible, chocolatey and oaky. But to my palate, at least, such characteristics were absent in the Chicken Cock. (According to its website details, barrel char levels were a robust #4.) That’s not a criticism at all; the unified whole tastes terrific. But will fans of twice-cask treatments be disappointed? It remains to be seen.

BRAND NOTES

Grain & Barrel Spirits (“G&B”), an innovation-driven craft spirits company, brought Chicken Cock Whiskey back to its rightful place as a heritage-driven American Whiskey in 2012, when CEO Matti Anttila discovered the “Famous Old Brand.” Since that time, G&B has fully returned the brand to its ancestral home in Kentucky and continues its quest to resurrect the historic pre-prohibition favorite with the introduction of a limited-edition release of 10-Year-Old Double Barrel Bourbon. For our 10 Year Old Double Barrel Bourbon our Master Distiller selected twelve barrels of spectacular 10-year-old bourbon, marrying two barrels at a time to create a perfectly balanced, extremely smooth, small batch bourbon. Through countless samplings, we determined the “perfect proof” at 104-proof, with just a slight amount of pure water to open up the amazing flavors, and non-chill filtered to retain the rich amber colors and exquisite taste profile.

NOSE: robust sweetness, distinctive caramel and vanilla aromas, nicely complemented with the perfect amount of oak lactones.

TASTE: simply stated: "AWESOME", full bodied bourbon at the perfect 104 proof that highlights a beautiful balance of sweet caramel, vanilla and toasted oak, with a hint of dark chocolate.

FINISH: wonderful, long rich and flavorful finish with a lingering of sweetness

GRAIN & BARREL SPIRITS REVIVES 162-YEAR-OLD PRE-PROHIBITION FAVORITE CHICKEN COCK WHISKEY

Historic, Award-Winning Brand Returns Home to Kentucky; Releases 330 Cases of 10 -Year-Old Double Barrel Bourbon

Charleston, SC(October 2018) –Grain & Barrel Spirits (“G&B”), an innovation-driven craft spirits company, brought Chicken Cock Whiskey back to its rightful place as a heritage-driven American Whiskey in 2012, when CEO Matti Anttila discovered the “Famous Old Brand.” Since that time, G&B has fully returned the brand to its ancestral home in Kentucky and continues its quest to resurrect the historic pre-prohibition favorite with the introduction of a limited-edition release of 10-Year-Old Double Barrel Bourbon.

Originally established in 1856, in Paris, Kentucky, (ten years before Jack Daniels), Chicken Cock rose to fame as the house whiskey at the Cotton Club, one of the most legendary speakeasies, during Prohibition. Known as “The Famous Old Brand”and “The Whiskey in a Tin Can,” Chicken Cock was smuggled in sealed tin cans and ceremoniously opened tableside. After prohibition ended, the brand enjoyed a resurgent couple of decades before a distillery fire put it out of business for more than 40 years.

The brand’s latest limited-edition release arrives just in time for the holiday season. Chicken Cock 10-Year-Old Double Barrel Bourbon is the brand's most unique and special limited release yet. Master Distiller and 40+ year veteran Gregg Snyder selected twelve barrels of 10-year-old bourbon, marrying two barrels at a time to create a perfectly balanced, extremely smooth, small batch bourbon (only 1,980 bottles were produced). Through countless samplings, he determined the “perfect proof” at 104-proof, with a slight amount of pure water to open up the flavors, and non-chill filtered to retain the rich amber colors and exquisite taste profile. Featuring the Pre-prohibition Era Style Bottle with sipping glass cap and a Mash Bill of 70% corn, 21% rye and 9% malted barley, the coveted expression was distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and aged and bottled in Owensboro, Kentucky.

Chicken Cock Whiskey is now being produced at the Bardstown Bourbon Company (BBCo) in the bourbon capital of the world. Through BBCo’s collaborative distilling program, G&B’s Gregg Snyder will collaborate with Bourbon Hall of Fame Master Distiller Steve Nally and BBCo’s first-class distilling team, to produce its high-quality, small-batch whiskey, bourbon, and rye for many years to come. BBCo and G&B concluded their first distillation of 616 barrels at the end of August.

“From the day I discovered Chicken Cock Whiskey, my goal was to eventually return the brand to its ancestral home,” said Matti Anttila, CEO of Grain & Barrel Spirits. ”The historic brand is now officially 100% back home in Kentucky, a mere 80 miles from Paris, where its story began 162 years ago. The legend of Chicken Cock never died. In fact, we believe that the brand’s best years are still ahead of it.”

Only 330 cases of the 10-Year-Old Double Barrel Bourbon limited-edition release will be available beginning this month in select markets including CO, GA, FL, KY, NY, SC and TN, and online. The suggested retail price for a 750ml bottle is $250, which may vary by market.

Disclaimer: Chicken Cock Distilleries provided Bourbon & Banter with a sample of their product for this review. We appreciate their willingness to allow us to review their products with no strings attached. Thank you.