This Bourbon was picked by The Bourbon Society from the barrels offered at the Starlight Distillery in Southern Indiana. It was bottled at cask strength and unfiltered. The Bourbon Society picks some very good barrels and this is no exception. It is from the four grain mash bill that Ted Huber uses for some of his Bourbon. He adjusts his mash bill based upon the grain as he tastes the grain as it is being milled. The result is that this barely legal Bourbon is from 51-53% corn, depending upon the sweetness of the corn used in the mash. It is 20% rye, 20% barley malt and 7-9% wheat. Other than the malt all of the grain is grown on the Huber family farm. The barrel entry proof also varies with his Bourbons ranging from 114-118. Starlight does not have a rick system but instead uses two barrel metal racks that can be moved with a fork lift. Ted Huber has said that they rarely have a barrel increase in strength during aging and they usually drop in proof. All of this makes for some very unique single barrel picks.

Starlight Single Barrel Bourbon

Proof: 111

Age: 3 years old

Nose: Corn, vanilla and a hint of honeysuckle blossoms and baking spice.

Taste: Sweet corn and apricots with vanilla, ginger and cinnamon spice. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the cinnamon is reduced and a very nice vanilla crème soda sweetness is added. Tasted with a pecan and the apricot becomes more of a citrus fruit.

Finish: Dry and spicy with oak and cinnamon red-hots candy. The cranberry reduces the cinnamon and increases the oak. The pecan took the spice out of the finish and enhanced the oak.

I am enjoying this Bourbon with a Rocky Patel Decade 10th Anniversary cigar. On its own the smoke is a little grassy with some cedar notes. With the Bourbon the smoke takes on some baking spice notes and the cedar becomes a little more oaky. The smoke brings out the vanilla and corn sweetness in the Bourbon. A very good pairing.

Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller