Today, we are tasting another one of Indiana’s own that is not a MGP product. From Starlight Distillery in Borden, Indiana, comes Carl T. Huber’s Cigar Batch Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Brazilian Amburana Barrels. That is a mouthful with some new terms thrown in there. We had never heard of Amburana, in fact, the spell checker flagged it as a misspelling. Seems it is a soft-wooded tree that grows in South America. And while we have seen the term “Cigar Batch” on a few bottles, we have never tasted one. The term conveys that the Bourbon is supposed to go good with a cigar. Starlight uses some grain from its own land for some of the mash bill, which is kind of cool. From their website, “Our commitment to uncompromised sustainability is woven into every step of the process, from holistic field and crop management to innovative packaging solutions.”
Carl’s Cigar Batch sells for $79. Our bottle was 111.9 proof, aged for 5 years, is not the easiest bottle to find, and comes in a fairly plain-looking bottle. So much for the innovative packaging. They blend two mash bills, one is 60% corn, 20% rye, and 20% malted barley, the other is 51% corn, 20%rye, 20% malted barley, and 9% wheat. We could not determine if it is a 50/50 blend. The 5 years of aging is around 66 months in new charred white oak barrels and around 6 months in the Brazilian wood barrels.
We are excited to try this juice. We have never had anything from Starlight, even though they are right here in Indiana. We are intrigued by the 2nd mash bill, usually don’t see 4 grains. Plus, we have never had one of the “Cigar Batch” or “Cigar Blend” whiskeys, even though two of us love cigars. Is it legit or another gimmick?
NOSE
TB: Very good and complex nose of toasted baking spices, maple syrup, wood, vanilla, and caramel. Secondary aromas are bread, nuts, corn, rye, and oranges. Ice brings out a bit of cereal grain, leather, and sweetness. We hope this good nose is a sign of things to come.
TASTE
TB: A little hot neat with some toasty sweetness along with caramel, brown sugar, and wood. Coming in behind that were cinnamon, maple, fruit, and leather. A little bit of ice brought it all out even more and made this a very good pour.
FINISH
Long with some sweet and spicy thing going on.
OVERALL
TB: We all really liked it and would definitely drink again.
Nose 4.75 out of 5
Taste 8.5 out of 10
Finish 4.5 out of 5
Final score 17.75 out of 20 barrels.
Who cares what they call it or what wood it is finished in? We all really liked Carl T Huber’s Cigar Batch Bourbon. We don’t know if it is the odd mash bill or the odd wood that it is finished in, but Carl T is a very unique drink with some combinations of aromas and tastes that we don’t find very often. The one who brought the bottle couldn’t remember where he got it, which got the other two to ask, “Where can I get a bottle?” That we are not sure of.
We know $79 is not a cheap buy, but we believe it is worth it. Now we need to try the other Cigar Blend Bourbons to see if they are also this good. Our work is never done.