Country: USA - Virginia - Lovingston
Distillery: Virginia Distillery Co
Type: Single Malt
Age: 4
Cask: Ex-Bourbon
ABV: 46%
Proof: 92
Price: $85
Nose: Floral start hits the nose very quick. Lemon tart, vanilla, green apples, toasted bread
Palate: Texture is very dense and creamy. Maltiness with young apricots, black peppers, light ginger and dusty grain.
Finish: Finish is long with candied ginger, toasted oak, butterscotch and a touch of smoke.
Before reading about Courage & Conviction Bourbon Cask, one should read the review I wrote about Courage & Conviction American Single Malt first.
After tasting their above-mentioned single malt whisky, I was on the wait for the cask trio to appear, and they luckily came just on my last day in the Bay Area. However, I had to patiently wait for almost 3 weeks to settle and taste them properly. The Courage & Conviction Cask Trio is consisting of three different cask types. A total of 28 casks were used for this batch, which is named after Nancy Fraley, one of Virginia Distillery Co.’s key mentors. You can find more about her from this post.
14 casks that were used for this batch were formerly used 53 gallon Bourbon casks from Kentucky. According to their very transparent product information on batch.info, the distillate produced between March and April of 2016 was put into Bourbon cask
This 4 year old single malt from Virginia offers some of the quintessential flavors that an ex-bourbon cask offers. The nose has a floral kick which is quickly followed by lemon tart, vanilla, green apples and toasted bread. As it opens up, buttery tones also appear.
The palate offers a dense texture. Creamy and thick. Malty sweetness, with young and bitter apricots, black peppers, light ginger and dusty grain creates a vibrant mouthfeel.
The finish is long with toasted oak, candied ginger, a touch of smoke, caramel and butterscotch.
Courage & Conviction Bourbon Cask is plainly showing some notes that I found in their American Single Malt before, and frankly, this is the best part of deconstructing a whisky into different cask styles.
This bottle is a good showcase of how ex-bourbon barrels can impact the single malt from Virginia. Also, I can clearly observe that another year in the barrel helped to trim the sharp edges and makes me way too excited of what comes next!
