Whiskey Review: The Reverend Sour Mash Whiskey

Editor’s Note: The party behind this whiskey gave us a review sample. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review. 

Whiskey history has a funny way of being intertwined between families and names with shared distilling legacies. The now widely documented and complicated relationship between Tennessee’s Jasper “Jack” Newton Daniel and Nathan “Nearest” Green, for example, is one that apparently had a third wheel as well – The Reverend Daniel Houston Call, whose descendants today run Call Family Distillers near “Hell’s Half Acre,” North Carolina.

Call Family Distillers, in recognition of their whiskey-distilling reverend ancestor, recently released The Reverend Sour Mash Whiskey to honor him. This whiskey, which is what is being reviewed today, reflects upon a once young man who worked alongside Daniel and Green “at his family distillery in the hills above Lynchburg, Tennessee.”

As the story goes, Call eventually became a 19th-century preacher, farmer, grocer, and distiller. He ultimately made the decision to leave the spirits business as a result of the growing Temperance movement, but not before he co-founded Daniel & Call Distillery No. 7, District #4.

In line with this Tennessee legacy, this whiskey, which is said to consist of spirits from three states, was aged over four years in new, charred oak and first-fill bourbon casks. It then underwent the maple charcoal filtration process, which was first developed in Lincoln County, Tennessee.

“The recipe for The Reverend is a nod to its place in American whiskey history,” said Nick Scarff, Master Blender of The Reverend, at the time of its release. “Reverend Daniel Call was making whiskey before bourbon was a recognized category, so our spirit is a blend of high quality sour mashes that drink like a robust, full-flavored bourbon. The maple-charcoal filtration — also known as the Lincoln County Process — changed the way whiskey was made in Tennessee, starting in the 19th-century.”

The Reverend Sour Mash Whiskey, bottled at 90 proof, is priced at $35.99. It heralds from a mash bill of 76% corn, 19% rye, and 5% malted barley and was ultimately assembled at Call Family Distillers.