Old Soul Blended Straight Bourbon Whiskey Review

BOTTLE DETAILS

• DISTILLER: Cathead Distillery

   A blend of bourbons from Cathead Distillery and MGP

   Specifically a blend of three (3) bourbons:

    55% MGP sourced bourbon aged 4 years 8 months

    35% MGP sourced bourbon aged 4 years 3 months

    10% Cathead Distillery Bourbon aged 2 years 1 month

• MASH BILL: 75% Corn | 21% Rye | 4% Malted Barley
• AGE: 2 Years 1 month
• YEAR: 2019
• PROOF: 90 Proof (45% ABV)
• MSRP: $44.99
• BUY ONLINE: Wine-searcher.com

LEE'S NOTES

NOSE: Young Corn  | Cherry Pie |  Hint of Cookie Dough

TASTE: Vanilla Bean |  Hint of cherries  |  Pepper Spice

FINISH: Starts with vanilla cream followed by a rush of spice at the end. A nice chest warming as the sipping continues.

SHARE WITH: I would share this with friends or craft bourbon aficionados. Also those who like MGP releases and want to try something in this age range.

WORTH THE PRICE: It’s in the range of most craft bourbon offerings these days.

BOTTLE, BAR OR BUST: I always suggest try at a bar if possible or the tasting room.

OVERALL: I found Old Soul Bourbon to be an interesting addition to the craft market. A nice mix of creaminess and spice with just a hint of that young dough taste you get with a young craft bourbon. The taste is also helped by a little air in the bottle over a couple weeks. Also the blends from MGP over 4 years old help as well. I found over a period of time I found myself enjoying this more and more. Adding a cube to the whiskey took away some of the creaminess and increased the spice.

Old Soul Bourbon is the third bourbon I have reviewed in the past year that includes sourced MGP distillate of varying ages. One a blend of bourbons aged, 6-24 months; one aged for 3 years and this bourbon from Cathead Distillery with MGP bourbon aged for over 4 years and including 10% from Cathead Distillery. It has been extremely interesting to see how the MGP components, as they increased with age, increased the enjoyment of the bourbon.

Cathead Distillery, located in Jackson bills themselves as the first and oldest distillery in Mississippi. It was started by Co-Founders Richard Patrick and Austin Evans in 2010… yes 2010.  While prohibition ended in 1933, prohibition in Mississippi didn’t end until 1966.  The distillery sells a number of products with Old Soul being its first bourbon.

BRAND NOTES

Old Soul is a precise blend of whiskey, each bottle with an identical high rye mash bill. Each barrel is reviewed by nose and palate – the old-fashioned way – and expertly blended from whiskeys distilled in Mississippi and Indiana. It’s handmade and hand-selected, making Old Soul the perfect metaphor for the bourbon—one that is thoughtfully crated with a nod to both tradition and the future.

Old Soul is aged in traditional 53-gallon, American white oak barrels in Cathead’s barrel room in Jackson, MS. Terroir is a big factor in this bourbon’s aging process, and the strong Southern heat and humidity offer an ideal environment for maturation – and producing older flavor notes within shorter times. Since it’s rarely cold in Mississippi, the liquid is, for most of the year, expanding into the oak, pulling complex tannin flavors of dried fruits and notes of vanilla to the distillate. The team has found that the heat and humidity of the Jackson climate strongly advances flavors that are found in older bourbons aged in Kentucky and Indiana.

TASTING NOTES

Nose: Sweet notes of vanilla, reminiscent of bakery goods and sugar cookies, with a hint of fresh leather

Taste: A elegant and balanced mouthfeel with notes of rose and dried cherry, followed by toffee and baking spices. Rye spice and herbaceous notes appear mid-palate

Finish: Rich and earthy

ABOUT OLD SOUL BOURBON

Cathead Distillery, Mississippi’s first legal distillery and the creator of seven authentic, small batch spirits, announces the launch of its newest product: Old Soul Bourbon, available nationwide on September 5.  Developed by Co-Founders Richard Patrick and Austin Evans, along with Master Distiller Philip Ladner, Old Soul is a blended straight bourbon with a mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley

The ‘Old Soul’ Process: Old Soul is a precise blend of whiskey, each bottle with an identical high rye mash bill. Each barrel is reviewed by nose and palate – the old-fashioned way – and expertly blended from whiskeys distilled in Mississippi and Indiana. It’s handmade and hand-selected, making Old Soul the perfect metaphor for the bourbon—one that is thoughtfully crated with a nod to both tradition and the future.

Old Soul is aged in traditional 53-gallon, American white oak barrels in Cathead’s barrel room in Jackson, MS. Terroir is a big factor in this bourbon’s aging process, and the strong Southern heat and humidity offer an ideal environment for maturation – and producing older flavor notes within shorter times. Since it’s rarely cold in Mississippi, the liquid is, for most of the year, expanding into the oak, pulling complex tannin flavors of dried fruits and notes of vanilla to the distillate. The team has found that the heat and humidity of the Jackson climate strongly advances flavors that are found in older bourbons aged in Kentucky and Indiana.

Behind The Name: In other words, like an ‘Old Soul’, this bourbon shows maturity of a much older, longer-aged statement bourbon. Also reflected in the name is Cathead’s goal to preserve the past of bourbon and distilling, while innovating the art of bourbon whiskey — with the bottle’s label boasting the phrase, “A nod to tradition and to the future.”

Where To Find: The bourbon will be distributed with a regional concentration on Cathead’s immediate footprint in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina markets. It will soon be available nationwide via Cellar.com.