The Hillsboro Society is the fan club for Leiper’s Fork Distillery in Tennessee and I highly recommend that if you live in Tennessee or a nearby state, that you join the Hillsboro Society. They offer some special bottles of whiskey and hold great events at the distillery. Lee Kennedy, the distiller and owner of Leiper’s Fork Distillery makes great whiskey. This bottle is their wheat recipe Bourbon, bottled at cask strength as a single barrel. It has a mash bill of 70% corn, 15% wheat and 15% malted barley and has a barrel entry proof of 110. It is an excellent whiskey. They sent me a bottle some months ago, but due to the sheer number of whiskeys we have to review, Matt and I have only now sat down to taste it. Here are our tasting notes.
Hillsboro Society Wheat Recipe Single Barrel Bourbon
Proof: 121.7
Age: Seven Years, Ten Months
Nose:
- Mike: Caramel, vanilla, apples, pepper and oak wood.
- Matt: Caramel, peanut butter, charred oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Caramel, vanilla, ripe apples, dates, pepper spice and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the dates come forward and ginger spice joins the party. Tasted with a pecan and a nice chocolate note comes out in the taste.
- Matt: Caramel, peanut butter, black cherry cola and oak wood. The dried cranberry added nutmeg and black pepper spice. The pecan enhanced the caramel and the black pepper.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak wood, pepper and lingering sweet, ripe apple. The dried cranberry made the finish longer with oak wood and ginger spice. The pecan made the finish very long with oak wood, pepper and lingering chocolate.
- Matt: Medium long with oak wood, caramel and peanut butter. The dried cranberry made the finish long with oak wood and nutmeg. The pecan made the finish very long with oak wood and pepper.
I would pair this fine Bourbon with a My Father The Judge cigar. The vanilla and chocolate notes in the smoke bring out the chocolate in the Bourbon.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller