Age: 7-years
Mash Bill: 73/15/12 Corn/Rye/Malted Barley
Distilled Fall 2016; Distilled November 2023
Source: Holladay Distillery; Weston, MO
Proof: 100 proof
Tasting notes:
Nose - Thick caramel, subtle dry baking spices and lighter leather and barrel char. Medicinal cherry and raspberry, buttery toffee, and a growing chocolate with soft slightly herbal earthy sweetness.
Palate - More spice to the palate than on the nose. Cola-like sweetness with some cherry and raspberry red fruits, walnut, semi-sweet chocolate and slightly dry oak.
About the product: Bourbon is by definition American-made. The spirit can only be made in the United States and it can be made in any state, but the finest bourbon results from an ideal combination of climate and geology that is rare outside of Kentucky but is found in the rolling hills of Weston, Missouri.
The Holladay Distillery was founded in 1856, making it both the oldest distillery in the state of Missouri and the oldest distillery west of the Mississippi still operating on its original site. The property sits on active limestone springs that were first charted by Lewis and Clark in 1804, more than fifty years before Ben Holladay purchased the land that would later become his legacy.
Ben Holladay Bourbon is classified as a Real Missouri Bourbon under a 2019 law requiring that any whiskey labeled as Missouri bourbon must not only meet the federal standards for bourbon, but also be mashed, fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled in the state; aged in oak barrels manufactured in the state; and—beginning January 1, 2020—made with corn exclusively grown in the state. It is also Bottled-in-Bond, a rare and prestigious designation in the distilled spirits industry, signaling that the product is distilled, aged, and bottled in the same location and assuring a mark of authenticity.