Mike And Matt Taste J Frederick Small Batch Wheat Whiskey Finished with 200 Year Old Oak and Cherry Woods

This is another bottle from the Big Bat Whiskey people. It is a wheat whiskey finished in 200 year old oak and cherry woods. By finished, I mean they use staves in a similar manner as Maker’s Mark does for their Maker’s 46. The staves do change the flavor of the whiskey in subtle ways. It is an interesting process of aging. The consumer can go into Big Bat (located on Main Street, Louisville in the Slugger baseball bat museum and factory) and select different woods to create their own flavor profile and purchase a bottle of that profile. This bottle is a flavor profile that Big Bat has bottled for their gift shop. Matt and I sat down and tasted it the other day and here are our tasting notes.

J Frederick Small Batch Wheat Whiskey Finished with 200 Year Old Oak and Cherry Woods

Proof: 100.6

Age: No Age Statement

Nose:

Mike: Caramel, apples, cherry, baking spices and oak wood.
Matt: Vanilla, green apple, cardamom and oak wood.

Taste:

Mike: Caramel, apples, cherry, allspice and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and cinnamon comes forward. Tasted with a pecan and the caramel becomes a rich caramel with a hint of milk chocolate.
Matt: Vanilla, apple, black cherries, cardamom and oak wood. The dried cranberry enhanced the cherry note. The pecan made the vanilla more caramel with a milk chocolate note.

Finish:

Mike: Medium long with oak wood and allspice. The dried cranberry added cinnamon and lingering apple. The pecan made the finish long with oak wood and caramel.
Matt: Medium long with oak wood and lingering cherry. The dried cranberry made the finish longer. The pecan made the finish long with oak wood and chocolate.

I would pair this whiskey with an Oliva Serie V cigar. I think the vanilla and rich tobacco of the smoke would pair well with the caramel in the whiskey.