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Vermont’s Mad River Distillers Maple Wood Smokes a New Bourbon

The new Mad River Distillers Burnt Rock Bourbon contains grain that was smoked over maple wood.
  • Nino Kilgore-Marchetti, founder of The Whiskey Wash, is an award-winning whiskey journalist, expert, and judge
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Distilleries like Mad River out of Vermont that have been around for a number of years tend to look for unique things to do with their whiskies as they branch out beyond your basic bourbons and ryes. These offshoots can take many forms, such as using different woods to smoke some part of the mash bill. Such is the case with the new Burnt Rock Bourbon.
Mad River Distillers Burnt Rock Bourbon, according to those behind it, is somewhat different from its flagship four-grain, wheated bourbon (corn, wheat, oats, and barley). It instead is a 12- to 18-month old whiskey made from a mash bill that consists of corn, rye, and maple wood-smoked barley. It is bottled at 92 proof.

“We hand-built our smoker from a used steel drum and smoke the malted barley over maple wood from our property at Cold Spring Farm,” said Alex Hilton, general manager and distiller at Mad River Distillers, in a prepared statement. “The corn we used was grown organically in Vermont, and the rye adds a nice spice element to complement the smoke. As they say, ‘Smoke it if you got it.'”

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Plans call for a limited release of Burnt Rock in Massachusetts and Vermont in 750 ml (around $53) and 375 ml (around $40) bottles, respectively. You’ll find limited official tasting notes below from the distillery for your consideration.

Sweet maple smoke and cedar with orange spice on the nose and tastes of citrus, caramel, rye, tobacco, and bright herbal notes. The finish is long and chewy – reminiscent of a fine single malt.

Nino Kilgore-Marchetti

Nino Kilgore-Marchetti is the founder of The Whiskey Wash, an award-winning whiskey lifestyle website dedicated to informing and entertaining consumers about whisk(e)y globally. As a whisk(e)y journalist, expert, and judge, he has written extensively about the subject, been interviewed in various media outlets, and provided tasting input on many whiskeys at competitions.

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