Assessment: Garrison Brothers HoneyDew Bourbon (2023)

Previously, a point out of honey and whiskey on a bottle label sometimes meant you had found a liqueur (whether or not that label mentioned so or not). However in recent times, some distilleries have endeavored to infuse their whiskeys with honey differently, usually by utilizing a honey-filled ending cask — a barrel that beforehand had honey in it. It’s a course of that sounds fairly messy to say the least and has absolutely restricted the achievable quantity of such a product. Garrison Brothers, nevertheless, might have cracked that code. To make their HoneyDew, the distillery cuts down on the mess by forgoing the barrel therapy and as an alternative creates cubes out of their used bourbon barrels which might be soaked with an area, natural wildflower honey (Burleson’s, to be actual). These cubes then steep for seven months in a stainless-steel tank crammed with Garrison Brothers Small Batch. Let’s see if that course of makes for a buzz-worthy bourbon. (Sorry, I needed to sneak a bee pun in there someplace.)

Garrison Brothers whiskeys sometimes have a burly aroma with fairly a little bit of mesquite wooden, barrel char, and chocolate, and that’s current right here as properly, however with a noticeably silkier edge. It’s not honey, per se, however it’s honeyed, slightly extra syrupy and maybe a contact sweeter than the usual Garrison Bros. providing. Notes of orange peel and refined florals provide much more complexity. On the palate, issues mirror extra carefully the usual Small Batch with closely caramelized sugars, barrel char, black tea, and brown butter. Because the end arrives, nevertheless, the profile brightens with notes of cream soda, orange zest, and old style butterscotch candies. The place the honey appears to actually affect issues is the mouthfeel, which is noticeably lush and spherical, with a extra beneficiant end in comparison with the Small Batch. Successful. With presumably lots much less sticky mess.

80 proof.

A- / $60 / garrisonbros.com [BUY IT NOW FROM TOTAL WINE]

Garrison Brothers HoneyDew Bourbon (2023)

$60

About Put up Writer

Drew Beard

Drew Beard is Assistant Editor and Social Media Supervisor for Drinkhacker. He has studied and written about beer, whisk(e)y, and different spirits since he first began consuming them, incomes a number of booze-related benefit badges alongside the way in which, together with Licensed Specialist in Spirits and Government Bourbon Steward. A recovering Federal authorities worker, he’s glad to have lastly discovered a profession the place it’s acceptable to drink on the job.