Tonight I'm reviewing Angel's Envy Kentucky straight Bourbon whiskey finished in Port barrels. What a mouthful. It's made by Angel's Envy distillery in Louisville, KY and is their flagship product. They also regularly make a Rye whiskey finished in Rum barrels and a cask strength version of the Port Bourbon, and that's it except a few extremely limited releases. The bottle shape and artwork are very distinctive, sporting some cool looking angel wings.
What makes this whiskey special? The Port finish to be sure. Finishing a Bourbon, or any American whiskey, is pretty unusual. To 'finish' a whiskey means it's taken from the typical maturation barrels (always charred oak for Bourbon) and put into something different for a short time, generally just a few months. This is considerably more common in Scotch where you see a larger variety of barrels used in maturation. Sherry, another dessert wine, is most common with Port, Rum and others seeing use as well. The process changes and ideally enhances the whiskey, taking on characteristics of the new wood and adding flavors to the original spirit.
Angel's Envy uses barrels that previously contained ruby Port, a fortified dessert wine that's dark red in color and fruity sweet. This is probably the most readily available Port finished Bourbon out there and it's reasonably affordable as well. Offhand, I only know a few other examples of Port matured whiskies of any kind, including High West Midwinter's Night Dram (American Rye) and Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban (Scotch). There certainly are others.
Alright, that's all I have on this whiskey's provenance and we haven't visited the distillery, so let's get on with it. I basically bought this on a whim and it turned out to be pretty interesting. This surprised me because the last Port whiskey I'd tried left me disappointed, though it was years ago.
ABV - 43.3% (86.6 proof)
Maturation - charred oak, then finished in old ruby Port barrels
Age - 'typically aged for up to 6 years' before 3-6 months in Port barrels
(First statement means little, though as 'straight Bourbon whiskey' it's at least 2 years)
Location - Produced in Louisville, KY, USA
Price - ~$50
Tasting Notes:
Smell - Smells like Bourbon, vanilla and caramelly sugar, booze stings the nostrils
Color - Fairly dark amber
Taste - Mostly tastes like Bourbon, vanilla and sugar, plus there's something dark, chocolate?
Finish - Here the Port is evident, very slight burn, sweet tingle, bit of wine on the tongue
Final thoughts:
Considering the finish I expected a somewhat 'Scotch-y Bourbon' even if the spirit comes from (mostly) corn instead of malt. And that's more or less what it is, kind of a go-between. It's lower ABV than most Bourbons and a little more refined. The Port finish makes it super easy to drink and adds something to the flavor. Weirdly, the winey aspect has gotten noticeably stronger (too much actually) as I work on this dram. Overall I like but don't love it and next time I'll get something else in this range. Still, it was a quality and unique bottle to try and may be worth a recommendation in some cases.
What I've really gotten from this is a desire to try their finished Rye, and may need to pony up at a bar.
Or ask your local bourbon guy for a sample!