Name: Chattanooga Whiskey 1816 Cask
Distillery: Chattanooga Whiskey Co.
Location: Chattanooga, TN
MSRP: $45
Sometimes your best bourbon/whiskey experiences happen by chance. That’s exactly what happened to me when one day I walked into a Nashville liquor store and had the pleasure of meeting Grant McCracken and some of the crew Chattanooga Whiskey Co.
I’m glad I did because I got to hear of the hard work they did to lobby legislators to allow them to be the first distillery in over 100 years to distill that sweet juice in the city of Chattanooga.
Although that means they had to source to get up and running (honestly don’t care that they did, just telling their story) I am happy to say that their hard work paid off and in a few years we’ll see the fruits of their labor.
Grant convinced me (and thank you again) to pick up their 1816 Cask offering. At 113.6 proof, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the punch this one packs. Although it’s not stated, I believe it was aged for 8 years…
Your first part of your taste journey takes you completely off guard. You think “this may be the smoothest cask strength I’ve ever had in my life!” but you would just have to wait for it… Your mouth is coated in toffee and butterscotch. I like to think of this whiskey like a bomb, the toffee and butterscotch are the whiskey flying through the air as the bomb sails through the wind.
Once the juice hits your stomach, the burn explodes! Like the reverse of what you’d expect, the burn hits your stomach and then evolves just like a cloud after and explosion and travels up your throat! What an experience!
Although you can enjoy this one neat, you may also want to try this with a splash of water to unlock the vanilla and fruit that’s hiding in there. This is definitely a complex whiskey worth enjoying!
Overall Verdict: Buy it. I may not like it more than some others, but this one has a hell of a taste that you’ll be talking about for days.
-John