Talking Bourbon has long been a big fan of wheated Bourbons. But then again, we are big fans of traditional Bourbons, high rye Bourbons, ryes, well, you get the point. Today, we are tasting a Bourbon new to both of us, Castle & Key Small Batch Wheated Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. As we have stated in the past, a wheated Bourbon still qualifies as a Bourbon; it has just replaced the rye with wheat for the secondary ingredient. From Their website, “Each batch of our Small Batch Wheated Bourbon Whiskey is blended using a series of pods. Each pod is created by grouping barrels to create a sensory profile.” Sounds good even though we don’t know what they are talking about regarding pods.
Castle & Key sells for around $55 and is not widely available but can be found with a little searching. It is aged 5 years, is 102 proof, and comes in a nice-looking corked bottle with a castle on the label. The mash bill is 73% white corn, 17% malted barley, and 10% wheat. This is an odd mash bill in two ways. First, that is an unusually high amount of barley. It is normally under 10%, sometimes even just 5%. Second, the malted barley is almost always the third ingredient. This seems to be a low amount of wheat for a “wheated” Bourbon. We are not sure if white corn has any advantages or disadvantages over yellow corn.
We stated above that Castle & Key Bourbon is new to both of us, but Castle & Key is not. They make a few gins (which we are also big fans of), one of which is called Roots of Ruin, which we really like. They also make vodka along with various whiskeys. There are exceptions, but as a general rule, we like our distillers to stay in their lane and concentrate on making a single type of juice, i.e., whiskies, gins, etc. Well, we like their gin, so here is hoping for another exception to the rule, and this turns out to be good stuff.
NOSE
Todd: A light and airy nose that brims with sweetness. Vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, milk chocolate, and toffee are all there. Also picking up a strong corn scent. Beyond that is toasted almonds, bread, yeast, and every now and then a very slight smell of coffee. A good nose.
Matt: A fresh, woody smell of oak, along with corn, vanilla, and toffee. Also getting a bit of a nutty scent.
TASTE
Todd: I can taste all the sweet things that I got on the nose: caramel, vanilla, butterscotch, and toffee. Not getting a lot more neat. Ice makes it better and brings out more depth, adding wood, nuts, and a bit of leather.
Matt: Not what I expected from a wheated Bourbon, but I like it. Toasted oak and honey lead the way with some black pepper, tobacco, and leather. Ice takes the heat down a bit but doesn’t change much else.
FINISH
Todd: Medium, a little hot with some more sweetness.
Matt: Medium with a bit of sweetness.
OVERALL
Todd: A different type of Bourbon that is not bad for the price.
Matt: I enjoyed it. It has a unique taste that doesn’t quite match the nose.
Nose 4 out of 5
Taste 7.5 out of 10
Finish 3.5 out of 5
Total score 15 out of 20 barrels.
Castle & Key Wheated Bourbon is somewhat of an enigma. It is a Wheat Bourbon with only 10% wheat and neither of us got much in the taste nor the nose that reminded us of a wheated Bourbon. The nose was not an indicator of what was coming with the taste. And it has a unique but somewhat hard-to-describe taste. Having said that, the nose was good, and the taste was decent. Probably slightly overpriced for the depth and complexity you are getting, but not by a lot.
Our recommendation, at $55, it will not break the bank to buy a bottle yourself and come up with your own opinion. We probably won’t go out of our way to buy another bottle, of their wheated Bourbon that is, their gin, well that is a different story.