Altschuler 20-Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon👀

If you've been reading these emails for a while, you know we've released several A. Altschuler & Co. barrels since the beginning of 2024. Each one tends to hit right in my personal flavor pocket. Today's release kicks the age statement up considerably, but if you like ultra-aged Kentucky bourbons, this is the release for you.

Five years ago, The WoodWork Collective discovered a tiny parcel of exceptional 15-year-old Kentucky bourbon. The whiskey was so compelling—and the quantity so limited—that the company established its DSP largely for the opportunity to acquire it.

Distilled in 2005 from a 78% corn mash bill, the whiskey is believed to have originated as contract distillate intended for a prominent Kentucky distillery. It became the bourbon upon which The WoodWork Collective was founded.

The mature whiskey was transferred into Barrel 22-W, a new, never-before-used giant French oak cask, and left to age for another five years. This prolonged secondary maturation brought the bourbon to a full 20 years of age.

This release is the Third Pull of that same maturation. Rather than dumping the entire cask, small draws have been made over time, showcasing the whiskey’s evolution over time.

Because of the cask’s enormous scale, the relationship between whiskey, wood and time differs markedly from that of a conventional barrel. By the third draw, the bourbon has developed into an especially deep, composed and beautifully integrated expression of mature Kentucky whiskey and giant-cask French oak.

Only 150 bottles were drawn for this release.

With a flavor profile that I think can rival that of the allocated releases from the Big Boys so far this year, this is easily (in my opinion) one of the best bottles we've offered all year long.

A little bit of that torched molasses and espresso meets cherry cordial ice cream. There’s a little fruit and a little cream, but mainly deep, dense, heavily concentrated mature bourbon character. The longer it opens, the more intensely caramelly it grows, while still maintaining a beautiful, sweet, nutty, oak-forward profile.

If you had barrel-aged Luxardo cherry syrup and Bardstown Bourbon Company did an experimental release finished in it... it would be this.

There’s plenty of rich oak, but equally as much deep, toasted chocolatiness and overcooked cherry pie. It’s heavy, with thick, gripping tannins that never come across as too old, and it continues with plenty of nutty, mature oak.