Spirits

Paradox

Baby Barrel Not-Bourbon

46% ABV | 50cl

£11.50 – £43.00

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Description

Disclaimer – this is NOT bourbon whiskey. It is most of the joy and less of the wait. Using small, or ‘baby’, casks is the key. High corn and American in style, its caramel and woody with a hint of sweetness.

An old soul.

Size

Clear

Paradox

Disclaimer - this is NOT bourbon whisky. It is most of the joy and less of the wait.

Paradox

An old soul

This is not-Bourbon for a couple of key reasons...

First – Bourbon is a geographical indicator; a bit like how Champagne has to come from a particular region of France, Bourbon has to come from America.

Second – its not old enough. For Bourbon, its 2 years in cask minimum.

So we fall short on a couple of counts, but why should a few technicalities stop us?

There are a lot of spirits that are only made a particular way in a particular place. Spirit making is so bound by tradition it curtails creativity in our opinion. Why not make something akin to Bourbon but across the pond? We’re not saying it will be exactly the same, but that’s part of the fun. This is our own take on this lovely liquor. High corn and American in style while being UK made.

Hence Paradox - its not-Bourbon while still kinda…

To get an ‘older’ flavour profile with less time we use smaller barrels. The baby bit refers to the size of the barrels this product is aged in.

So, to clear up any potential confusion – this is not for babies.

TASTING NOTES

Caramel & woody with a hint of sweetness

Appearance

A deep golden tan

Aroma

Wood, slightly sharp, caramel undertone.

Taste

Sweet. Nutty. Oaky.

Aftertaste

Lingering woody sweetness.

Conclusion

Damn near Bourbon without actually being Bourbon

KEY INGREDIENTS & METHOD

We do some key things to help us achieve bourboniness…

75% corn, 12% rye,
11% barley, 2% wheat

A high corn grain bill aids the natural sweetness

Fermented on-grain; this allows as much flavour as possible to pass over into our booze. This takes around 2 weeks.

Distilled off-grain, i.e. we separate the grains from our fermented wash before it reaches our still. We distil twice – the first time we take it up to 40% ABV and the second up to exactly 79.9% ABV.

It’s in the water – We emulate the water profile of Kentucky by adding various minerals to give it the same PH, hardness and mineral content of water found in Tennessee.

Heart of hearts – we take a heads, a hearts and a tails cut. Only around half of the batch makes the cut as our hearts and ends up in the bottle; the rest goes back into the pot alongside our next batch which helps us achieve a consistent flavour profile.

Sour mash

We use a Sour Mash process which is similar to nurturing a sourdough culture. We use the naturally acidic enzymes in the barley to ferment then we add some pot ale/backset/dunder – call it what you will, the stuff that’s left in the still after previous distillations; this allows our own cultivated blend of bacteria and yeast to ferment the batch.

AGING DISGRACEFULLY?

The baby method …

We rest for a relatively short time, just a few months, which is a flash in the pan compared to the 3 years required to legally be a whisky. However the barrels we use are a tenth of the size of normal so there is far greater contact between the wood and the booze, thus imparting a deeper colour and of woody flavour in less time.

So we age for a shorter time than industry standard using smaller (baby) barrels to expedite the ageing process. We add no colouring or flavourings; this is, in fact, entirely derived from wood. No caramel additives here.

Variety for complexity

We use new oak barrels, some French, some American, all charred to different levels. This gives us a complexity of flavour in our final product; a balance of the grassy, farmhouse, ester-heavy funk that comes from a young, sourmash product alongside the sweet vanilla, candied sugar and oak from our casks.

Every drop has spend time maturing

If you cask age at 63.5% then let down to drinking strength with fresh water, you’re literally watering down the flavour. The water you’re bringing the booze down to drinking strength with is providing nothing flavour-wise. So we ensure that 100% of the product in the bottle has spent time in barrel.

So, while it is not Bourbon...

…it pretty much is.