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Bourbon Review: Savage & Cooke Howling Mob Bourbon

We review Savage & Cooke Howling Mob Bourbon, distilled from an ancient heirloom corn grown on a plot of California farmland 35 miles from the distillery.

OVERALL RATING

10
$99
  • Nino Kilgore-Marchetti, founder of The Whiskey Wash, is an award-winning whiskey journalist, expert, and judge
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Savage & Cooke Howling Mob Bourbon review

Tasting Notes

About:

It is bottled in bond bourbon, distilled from ancient heirloom corn grown on a plot of California farmland 35 miles from the distillery. It is bottled at 100 proof and priced at $99.
Appearance:
The color is quite stunning. It’s a vibrant variant of amber brown in glass with thick viscosity and moderate legs.
Nose:
This high-malt bourbon, lacking wheat or rye as the secondary grain, is a rarity on the nose, with a distinct malted vanilla note. The sweetness is very subtle, joined by notes of sugar plums, oak, a bit of toasted almond, and some caramel.
Palate:
This is slightly akin to drinking candy corn in that there’s a distinct vanilla sweetness, but it has more of a confection-type sweetness to the palate. It is joined with some oak, a bit of malted bread, some toasted almonds, a bit of smoke, and a backbone of hot cinnamon.
Finish:
The finish on this is warm, carrying a bit of smoked sweetness into the home stretch as it lingers for a moderate time.
Comments:
The combination of super rare heirloom corn, a secondary grain (and the only other one) that’s malted barley, a higher-end cooperage’s barrels, and hitting the bottled-in-bond mark make for a unique expression here. This is a bourbon to approach with careful thought and consideration, and for a four-year craft bourbon, it is one of the best at this age I’ve ever had. Well done.

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

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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