The title could also be slightly complicated, however the brand new Bulleit Bourbon Mesquite Smoked Malt will not be a single malt like Bulleit’s current entree to the ASM class. Fairly, it’s a bourbon, made with the addition of smoked malt within the mashbill. Particularly: 65% corn, 30% mesquite smoked malted barley, and 5% (unsmoked) malted barley. That’s proper: No rye or wheat. This can be a two-grain launch (and a restricted version one at that).
The smoked barley is made, because the title suggests, by drying it over mesquite wooden. No synthetic flavors or different components are used within the manufacturing of the whiskey. (In different phrases, it’s not a flavored whiskey.) No formal age assertion is obtainable, however the whiskey was distilled in November 2018 and aged for at least six years at Bulleit Distilling Co. earlier than being pulled from the barrel in 2025. It’s the primary launch in Bulleit’s experimental new-make challenge, “a part of a broader and ongoing give attention to exploring distinctive grains, experiences, and growing older methods whereas preserving a dedication to high quality.”
We sampled this each at an Austin launch occasion for the brand new bourbon and later at Drinkhacker HQ, the place this overview was formally written. Ideas comply with.
Bulleit Bourbon Mesquite Smoked Malt Assessment
The mesquite is quickly obvious on the nostril, and it’s not only a generalized smoke however fairly than candy smokiness that you simply solely get with mesquite. It’s sufficient to mood any of the extra conventional whiskey notes within the fragrant profile, although some citrus peel and toasted marshmallow notes come out and in of focus as you nostril the glass. Word: The smoke is much extra impactful from a Glencairn. In a pitcher, the mesquite registers at a a lot decrease quantity.
Candy and smoke meld on the palate, the steadiness wavering between the 2 and the place they find yourself is dependent upon how lengthy you let the whiskey sit within the glass. The mix — as is commonly the case in smoky Scotch — is participating and enigmatic, a mixture of brown sugar and frontier mud, extra of that marshmallow with flakes of hearth creosote including an ashy component. Within the last evaluation, although, it’s the smoke that wins the day, concluding on a punch of smudged sage or torched rosemary, extinguished in a shot of crimson eye.
Finally, the mesquite is a bit dominant by itself, however I felt this whiskey actually shined the brightest in cocktails, providing you with a shortcut to that smoked quaint that you must pay additional for at your favourite bar.
93 proof.
B+ / $50 [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]
Bulleit Bourbon Mesquite Smoked Malt
USD50
