Leopold Brothers Bottled in Bond 5yr Straight Bourbon

Todd & Scott Leopold, the brothers behind this eponymous label, set out a vision in 1999 when they founded their distillery, that had the potential to make them one of the most important new spirit makers in a century in America. That reality is firmly taking hold with the first release of their Bonded Bourbon. Making things in a style closer to how they would have been in the original late 19th Century golden era of American Whiskey, wild indigenous yeasts help ferment in open top vats of sour mashed corn (64%), floor malted barley (21%) and rye (15%). The spirit enters barrel at a lower entry proof making for an entirely different kind of complexity when bottled both aromatically and on the palate. This is special whiskey. On a recent tasting we were reminded of notes of apples cooked in butter, cinnamon bread, whole cloves, toasted pecans, floral hops and smoked cedar.