How Amburana Wooden Took Over Whiskey, Plus the Ones to Attempt

In 2022, Atlanta’s ASW Distillery bottled its Fiddler Amburana, a high-wheat bourbon completed in amburana casks. “The result’s what many have described as a ‘cinnamon roll in a glass,’” says Chad Ralston, chief advertising and marketing officer. It was the model’s second fastest-selling launch of all time. 

ASW just isn’t alone in exploring the potential of amburana as a ending cask for whiskey. The South American hardwood, which grows within the jungles of Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay, is mostly used for maturing cachaça. However after making waves within the craft beer scene in recent times, amburana casks, with the wooden’s mouthwatering Cinnabon aromas, have caught on amongst whiskey distillers and drinkers alike, making a frenzy of collectors in search of to safe a bottle of the coveted end. 

“We’ve cherished the beers completed in amburana wooden that we’ve tried,” explains Ralston. “The cinnamon, floral and tropical notes actually shine, so we thought it’d make a pleasant complement to our flagship bourbon.”

Certainly, amburana wooden’s intense aromas have proved to be a preferred complement to aged whiskey. Very similar to Japan’s lauded mizunara oak-aged whiskies, which fetch eye-watering costs, amburana whiskey offers a novel level of distinction for producers and a brand new expertise for shoppers. 

“Amburana wooden provides off numerous baking spice notes,” says WhistlePig’s Chief Blender Meghan Eire, who was the primary to introduce an amburana-aged whiskey to the American market, in 2018. “Most prominently it has nice notes of each vanilla and cinnamon, which stability with the spice notes of rye rather well,” she says. WhistlePig followers have lapped it up, a lot in order that the model has included this specific cask kind in its Boss Hog VII launch, a part of its coveted Boss Hog sequence. 

The development caught on rapidly, with amburana releases from Indiana’s Starlight, Atlanta’s Fiddler and Chicago’s Koval distilleries (in addition to variations by Pink Line, Penelope and Nulu) all hitting cabinets inside the previous three years, together with a profusion of personal barrel picks for retailers round the US. One such choice, from Kentucky retailer Completely happy Hour Liquor & Bar, captures the zeitgeist with its Zoolander-inspired label, which reads: “Amburana: so scorching proper now.”

Pablo Moix, co-founder of impartial bottler Uncommon Character, was one other early adopter of the Brazilian hardwood, lately releasing an amburana-finished single-cask whiskey as a part of the model’s Native Wooden sequence. For Moix, whose enterprise associate Pete Nevenglosky is a founding father of Avuá Cachaça, using Brazilian casks was a pure subsequent step. “We’re large followers of all wines and distilled spirits from everywhere in the world, so the flexibility to combine them into American whiskey is thrilling,” says Moix. 

And it’s not simply American whiskey that’s experimenting with amburana. Teeling, the undisputed hero of the Irish whiskey revival, has leaned into the dearth of restrictive laws within the nation’s manufacturing guidelines by experimenting with nontraditional casks. “Irish whiskey, not like Scotch, might be matured in any kind of wooden,” explains Teeling Grasp Distiller Alex Chasko, who lately launched a 12-year-old whiskey completed in amburana. “The power to discover different hardwoods and take one of the best from what the remainder of the world has to supply is a key benefit,” he says. 

As manufacturers and shoppers alike proceed to gravitate towards amburana, sustainability could also be a sticking level. In accordance with the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature, amburana is categorized as endangered, making it a restricted useful resource. “I imagine [amburana casks] will stay a little bit of an oddity because it has grow to be considerably of a rarity to seek out sustainably harvested ones,” explains Eire, WhistlePig’s blender. In fact, within the spirits world, shortage has a manner of breeding demand. And the moment demand for these restricted releases solely reinforces their rising unicorn standing. 

Although amburana may stay exhausting to seek out, because the whisk(e)y class continues to develop throughout the globe, using unique woods is turning into frequent follow. Native purple gum is getting used to mature whiskeys in Australia, for example, whereas chestnut is being explored as a method to age Irish whiskey, including to the rising record of left-field barrel sorts filling warehouses from Oregon to Osaka. Even the famously staunch Scotch Whisky Affiliation lately modified the foundations to permit maturation in “nontraditional” casks equivalent to mezcal or Calvados. 

Regardless of how rapidly the bottles are flying off the cabinets, the query of whether or not amburana represents a passing fad or a real frontier stays an open one. “Whiskey drinkers appear to essentially prefer it,” says David Othenin-Girard, spirits purchaser for Okay&L Wine Retailers in California. “However is it a bit gimmicky? We will see. The proof is the pudding.”

Amburana cask whiskeys are nonetheless largely present in American craft whiskey manufacturing, although, maybe unsurprisingly, the follow has proven up in South America, too, at Bolivia’s Andean Tradition Distillery and Brazil’s Lamas Destilaria, to call a couple of. Although they are often exhausting to seek out, listed below are the main gamers price in search of out.

WhistlePig Outdated World Cask End 100% Amburana Rye

Beginning out as 12-plus-year-old whiskey from MGP, this rye is made utilizing a mash invoice of 95 % rye and 5 % malted barley. Matured in new 200-liter American oak barrels with a medium to lengthy toast and a degree 3 char, WhistlePig places a spin on it by re-racking into new amburana casks sourced from the Kentucky outpost of Speyside Cooperage. This expression is launched as non-public barrel choices for choose retail shops like The Whisky Trade. WhistlePig has additionally included some amburana cask–matured whiskey in its Boss Hog VII launch.

Teeling Explorers Sequence 12 12 months Amburana End Irish Whiskey

Typically discovered solely in duty-free shops, this 12-year-old blended Irish whiskey from Teeling is first matured in ex-bourbon casks earlier than being completed in new, toasted amburana casks, touting itself as “the one commercially accessible amburana cask–completed Irish whiskey.” Beforehand, Teeling additionally bottled a 14-year-old amburana-finished single malt as a part of the Wonders of Wooden sequence, and a 15-year-old single-cask single malt for impartial Dutch bottler The Duchess.

Uncommon Character Straight Rye Whiskey Amburana Cask

Revered American whiskey bottler Uncommon Character has launched a number of straight rye whiskeys completed in amburana wooden for varied retailers (in addition to choose bars and eating places) in recent times. Bottled as single-cask choices at full cask energy, these whiskeys are usually at the very least 5 years of age and have been well-received by these fortunate sufficient to pay money for them. Search for extra sooner or later, together with the potential for different Brazilian wooden sorts, as a part of Uncommon Character’s Native Wooden Sequence. 

Koval Amburana Barrel Completed Rye

Chicago distillery Koval makes its rye with a 100% natural rye mash invoice, which has gained the distillery a world popularity for high quality. The distillery’s single-cask, 100-proof amburana-finished rye was launched final 12 months and is already exhausting to return by, though a fast search of the online reveals a handful of bottles nonetheless floating round. Restricted releases of Koval Amburana End shall be accessible in choose markets within the U.S. later this 12 months, so a bottle of this coveted whiskey could also be only a Google alert and a fast set off finger away.