Oppidan Solera Aged Bourbon A New After Dinner Whiskey

When we last looked in on Oppidan Spirits, a young Illinois whiskey distillery, they had unveiled a rare bird of a whiskey style in their Malted Rye expression. Now, keeping true to their inclination to stray away from the mainstream, comes a Solera Aged Bourbon.

The new Oppidan Solera Aged Bourbon, just now beginning to appear at retail in Illinois, is relatively unique in the bourbon world given the solera approach of drawing from casks which are never really emptied. Only two other bourbons we are aware of, Hillrock Solera Aged Bourbon in New York and Colorado’s Steward’s Solera Bourbon, draw upon a similar technique for their bottlings.

Oppidan bourbon is distilled from a rather unique five-grain mash bill consisting of corn, malted rye, chocolate malted rye, special B crystal malt, and 2 row barley. From there, it is aged for an undisclosed length time, according to the distillery, “across 3 different wood types: American oak, French oak, & Oloroso sherry casks. The French oak & Oloroso casks are never emptied, creating continuity & increased complexity over time.”

Tasting notes from Oppidan for this release indicate “chocolate, coffee, shortbread, caramel, vanilla and fig.” This definitely sounds like an after dinner whiskey. As for pricing, expect to pay around $45 or more should you come across a bottle of it.