Spirit.Ed: Tequila Finish Woodinville Flagship Bourbon [Review]

Woodinville Whiskey continues to deliver excellent whiskey at a great clip and proves that the great northwest can also produce fine bourbon and rye whiskey. The Washington state brand’s latest limited edition drop is its new tequila finish, and we had the pleasure of trying out the whiskey ourselves.

I make no bones about how much I enjoy Woodinville Whiskey, as you can see in this piece here. Since discovering the brand, there will always be a bottle of their core bourbon on my bar cart, and I’ve managed to convert some friends to take the plunge and try whiskey that wasn’t made in Kentucky or somewhere else familiar.

Finishing whiskey (or whisky) in former barrels that held tequila isn’t a new concept, but certainly is a new venture for Woodinville. The brand’s co-founder and head distiller, Brett Carlile, approached this project carefully despite its uniqueness.

“It’s something I always wanted to try but was afraid to take a stab at. Eventually, curiosity got the best of me. So, I went for it and was blown away by how well Tequila and Bourbon play together,” says Carlile in a statement.

Under Carlile’s watchful eye, the Tequila Finish Woodinville Flagship Bourbon release landed at the top of the month with just under 2,000 bottles going into production, making this a fairly limited release. The bourbon inside the bottle all begins with grains hailing from the Omlin Family Farm in Quincy. Those grains then make their way to Woodinville through the beautiful Cascade Mountains, where, during the distillation process, the distillate is exposed to the various airborne wild yeasts from the breweries and wineries nearby.

That distillate is then transferred to new American Oak barrels exposed to the weather elements, which are mandated for the whiskey to be qualified as bourbon. That juice sits for 18 to 24 months. After testing the quality and aging for close to six years, Carlile entered Woodinville’s experimental warehouse stacked with sourced Extra Anejo Tequila barrels and filled them with the aged whiskey for a period of seasonal temperature changes throughout several months, testing it along the way, and now it’s here for the masses.

I’ve got some experience with Woodinville’s limited-edition offerings, including their delicious Sauternes that I’m sadly just about all out of. So, how does the Tequila Finish Woodinville Flagship Bourbon hold up? Let’s find out.

On the nose, you can detect that Extra Anejo Tequila aroma, warm and sugary, and almost opening up to a touch of flame-singed citrus peel. The aged agave, itself aged in oak barrels, shows slight grassy undertones, but they thankfully remain faint. The first sip woke up my palate with noticeable sweet root and dried fruit flavors, along with the tequila barrel going to war with the notes pulled from the original bourbon barrel. The finish is longer than one would think at 100 proof, which is a solid point to have this whiskey. Any higher, and I believe you would lose the nuanced dance happening.

Subsequent sips allowed me to chase the tequila notes, again, not terribly dominant in the taste but certainly noticeable in my Glencarin. Having a 1.5 oz pour over a huge rock didn’t dim the boldness of the bourbon, and I do wonder how a cocktail would work with the tequila finish. Over the ice, I noticed a bit more smoke and heat on the end for some reason, although it could just be my still-developing palette.

If you’re already a fan of Woodinville Whiskey’s core lineup, I can see this being a welcome addition to your bar cart. With an SRP of just $69.99, you could spend far more on whiskies that won’t have the flavor, depth, and ingenuity that you’ll taste here. Again, it’s all subjective, but count me as a fan of this release, and I hope more brands take a shot at adding their juice to previously used tequila barrels just to see how they would stack up.

I want to thank Carlile and Orlin Sorensen, the minds behind Woodinville Whiskey, for taking a risk and delivering another winner.

To learn more, check out Woodinville Whiskey here.

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Photo: Woodinville Whiskey