In December 2019, I reviewed the Linkumpinch two year old Bourbon that I had purchased at the Frazier History Museum. I liked it. It was still young but had many good flavors making me wish I could taste an older version of the Bourbon. I was hoping that since their first release was at 100 proof, they would release a bonded version at 100 proof. That desire fell flat, but the Dueling Grounds Distillery has released an older version of the Bourbon – four years old, but not bonded. This bottle is at cask strength and is a single barrel. It is much more mature than the two year old and once again, I like it.
Linkumpinch Single Barrel, Cask Strength Bourbon
Proof: 123.5
Age: Four Years
Nose: Caramel popcorn, peaches, allspice and oak. Very well balanced, yet complex.
Taste: Peaches in a caramel sauce with some allspice and cinnamon red hot candy. A little oak towards the end of the initial taste. When tasted with a dried cranberry, the peaches fade into the background and the spices move forward. When tasted with a pecan, there is less caramel sweetness and more peach and a little orange zest fruit flavors added to the flavor.
Finish: Very long with lots of the spices cinnamon red hot candy lingers for quite a while, with some sweet oak wood and maybe a hint of tobacco. The dried cranberry makes the finish less spicy and adds a little of the sweet peach flavor to the oak wood. The pecan makes the finish less intense and slightly shorter with oak wood and citrus being the dominant flavors and the spices moving into the background.
I would pair this Bourbon with a cigar that is light in flavor – mostly vanilla sweetness and a hint of spice like a Nat Sherman Metropolitan. I think that smoke would enhance the flavors of the Bourbon without overpowering them.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller
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