Editor’s Note: This whiskey was 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.
The Mattingly family has been tied to Kentucky distilling for more than two centuries. They have a hand in the development of at least nine separate distilleries and are connected to some of the most noted names in the distilling industry, including George Garvin Brown, the Willetts, and the Samuels.
It is said to have all started in 1845, with John Graves Mattingly’s first distillery, Registered Distillery #2, in Marion County, Kentucky. Some believe his distillery was the first registered distillery in Kentucky.
In 2010, Jeff Mattingly took up the family’s legacy and started his craft bourbon business. Today, his son Cameron has joined the team, continuing the legacy into the latest generation for J. Mattingly Distillery 1845 in Frankfort, Kentucky. Together, the father and son offer their proprietary double staving process, which imparts “more wood contact than can be coaxed from just aging in the barrel itself.”
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What this amounts to more practically is that several “specially charred staves [are] added to a barrel,” a process developed after experimenting with charring barrel staves with various finishes and char levels to impart additional flavors into bourbon barrels.
What’s in the bottle
The whiskey being reviewed here, J. Mattingly 1845 Small Batch Classic Bourbon, is the first flagship bourbon released under the J. Mattingly 1845 whiskeys, subject to the in-house double-staved profile. It is designed in part to offer fans a consistent taste profile they will be able to find year-round, given that, to date, all of the previous releases under this label have been custom blends created for specific retailers, guests at the distillery, or by the blending team to honor a particular cause or event.
This six-and-a-half-year blend is bottled at 119 proof. The double-staving process, it is said, allows the whiskey inside the barrels additional surface exposure to charred barrel staves to impart more flavor and color.
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J. Mattingly 1845 Small Batch Classic Bourbon is priced at $110 per 750 ml bottle.
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