Tasting Date: 2021-05-16
Region: American Whiskey
Type: Bourbon
Age Statement: Write-up on bottle says 43 months, Website says 3.5-4.5 years
Size: 750ml
ABV: 57.9% ABV
Cask Type: New American oak barrels (4 Staves, #2 Heads)
Distiller: Sourced from MGP (Midwest Grain Products of Indiana is a distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, producing spirits for private label sale)
Location: Lawrenceburg, Indiana, USA
Bottler: Castle & Key for Penelope Bourbon Bottling Company
Purchase Location: Wine and Beyond Emerald Hills 300, 7000 Emerald Drive Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada
Purchase Date: May 7th 2021
Cost: $104.99 including GST & Deposit
Tasting Notes From The Penelope Website:
AROMA: Robust caramel and char, slight roasted nuts, nice maple syrup / candied sweetness
FORWARD NOTES: Robust caramel syrup, brown sugar, barrel char, and hints of crème brûlée
BODY: Brown sugar transitions to notes of black cherry, barrel char, cinnamon, slight maple
FINISH: Spicy cinnamon finish with amazing lingering spice and heat.
Colour: Bronze (Non Chill-filtered)
TransparentSmoke Review: This review starts a little personal, in that I have to tell you, I’m not much into weed, I like my whiskies more. Though for this story it is important that you know that I may have inhaled once or twice. So when I quit smoking a few years back, I had to quit smoking everything. That included cigars and marijuana. That took me to explore edibles and oils and that was how I found sweet, sweet Penelope. You see, to me Penelope is a strain of marijuana. Tweed, a marijuana manufacturer, makes a product that is called Tweed Penelope Oil and it is the prefect blend of THC and CBD. The company has kept it’s linage secret, all that is know for sure is one of it’s parents was a Sativa plant and the other an Indica plant.
So when I saw Penelope Bourbon on the shelf I didn’t buy it because I knew anything about it. I bought it just because it was named Penelope. I actually bought both bottles, The Penelope Bourbon at 40% ABV and the Penelope Barrel Strength Bourbon at 57.9% ABV. I gifted the regular Penelope Bourbon to a sick friend who needs it to help him recover faster. I am sure I’ll get to try a wee dram sometime soon. Kept the barrel strength for myself!
Reading up on Penelope Barrel Strength Bourbon I felt like I was reading the same story as the Tweed oil. A little bit of this and little bit of that, mixed in secret, with love, to create a perfectly balanced product called Penelope. What little I can find on Penelope’s website about this bourbon’s blending process is important to Penelope’s story.
- Blend of 3 bourbon mash bills sourced from MGP
- Blend of 3 bourbon mash bills comprised of four grains (Corn, Wheat, Rye, and Malted Barley)
- Total blended mash bill: 74% Corn, 16% Wheat, 7% Rye, 3% Malted Barley
- Castle & Key blends and bottles Penelope Bourbon under the direction of Mike Paladini and Danny Polise.
It is important because Mike and Danny and their wives, have done something so few companies can do. They have created a truly magnificent bottle of bourbon.
The nose is amazing, the aromas are strong and complex and make me feel like I’ve already tasted the bourbon, but all I have done is nose it. The 57.9% ABV carries almost no ethanol on the nose, but instead strong vanilla and sarsaparilla. Younger people would probably understand sarsaparilla better as root beer notes. The palate opens up with brown sugar and black cherry that reminds me of Dr. Pepper from when I was a kid. Mixed into the palate is hints of the crème brûlée. The finish is all classic Bourbon with a hint of rye spice and a wonderful six to eight second flush of warmth across my chest with no burn whats so ever.
Search out this bottle of bourbon. Penelope Barrel Strength Bourbon (Batch 06) is a truly incredible dram.
Our Score: 96/100
Bottles on Hand: 
