The Story

Tennessee Whisky? Or Bourbon? Or both?

It’s always fun to have the discussion about what makes a bourbon, a bourbon and what makes Tennessee Whiskey what it is. Sometimes the discussion can get a bit passionate! Heck, we even wrote about this in our Whiskey 101 article. But whatever the outcome is, we know one thing: Tennessee Whiskey is damn good.

And why wouldn’t it be? It’s sweet and oaky and wonderfully aromatic with a distinct stamp of the Lincoln County Process. That’s why we get just as excited when we get our hands on some Tennessee bottles.

Recently, we got our hands on George Dickel’s Bottled-In-Bond Whisky. This version was released in the fall of 2021 and was distilled in the spring of 2007 by Cascade Hollow Distilling Company in Tullahoma, TN. Being that we are fans of Tennesse Whisky in general, we were pretty excited to pop and review it. 

This bottle marks the 3rd release in George Dickel’s BiB series since 2019. The first release was also a 13 year and the 2nd (2020) release was an 11 year. Nicole Austin, Head Distiller of Cascade Hollow, didn’t have a set age of this release in mind when picking the barrels. She starts by blind tasting batches of barrels in a certain age range. In this case 10-14 year barrels. When the winning barrels are selected, she ensures there are enough for a future release to meet the volume demands.

This recipe is Dickel’s standard bourbon mash bill with 84% Corn, 8% Rye, 8% Malted Barley. The whisky is aged for 13 years and its Bottled-In-Bond designation requires it be 100 proof.

Nose

At first, the nose is reminiscent of ballpark peanuts. There’s oak, light tobacco, caramel, and burnt sugar. It has a sweet and oaky profile.

Palate

On the palate there’s a slight alcohol burn at the tip of the tongue, very sweet, light mouthfeel, the oak is there as well as a honey roasted peanut flavor with raw pecans.

Finish

There’s a medium-in-length finish that maintains those sweet notes but brings in a bit of baking spice near the tail end of the finish.

Verdict

This Bottled-in-Bond bourbon is very enjoyable and we think it is a steal for its age and price point at $45, so this is an easy buy for us. We purchased this bottle for $60, which is above MSRP, but in our opinion is well worth it. A fair price range for this bourbon would fall into the $45-$70 range.

Overall We are giving this George Dickel 13 year Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon Whisky a 7.9 out of 10 rating. We feel this is an awesome bottle to add to your home bar that won’t break the bank and probably won’t last long on the shelf. So do yourself a favor and buy a couple when you find it. 

Do you own this bottle? Then surely you’ll want to add it to your inventory using our web app! It’s free to use. Sign up here to get a handle on that unruly home bar.

Cheers friends!