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Lost Lantern United States of Bourbon Cask Strength Review

Can a single bottle capture bourbon from all 50 states? Lost Lantern spent five years crafting the widest-ranging American whiskey ever made. We taste it.

OVERALL RATING

8
$99.99
  • Charles Steele is an attorney and whiskey enthusiast with a penchant for the peculiar.
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Tasting Notes

About:

Award-winning independent bottler Lost Lantern has announced the launch of the United States of Bourbon, which it calls the first-ever blend of bourbon from all 50 states and the widest-ranging American whiskey ever created. The inaugural release, debuting on June 15, includes three expressions: a 100 Proof bottling, a Cask Strength bottling, and a limited 1776 Edition created for America’s 250th anniversary. The project has been in development for more than five years. Co-founders Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski traveled extensively across the country, visiting distilleries and tasting whiskey to identify a bourbon worthy of representing each state.

Every cask in the blend was hand-selected from distilleries personally visited and vetted by the founders. The Cask Strength version is bottled at 122.9 proof, with 3,300 bottles produced from the same age range. The blend includes bourbons aged in coastal climates influenced by salty sea air, estate whiskey from family-run grain-to-glass distilleries, bourbon from states with generations of moonshining traditions, and whiskey from some of the country’s newest producers.
Appearance:
Dark and rich clear mohogany in color with thick sticky legs. Tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.
Nose:
Burst of cherries, burned sugars, bubble gum, and keylime pie. Contiues to open into dark earth tones of chocolate fudge, cigar wrapper, and teas.
Palate:
Sweet smooth and full-bodied profile. COmplex earth notes of oak, wood, cinnamon bark, and nuts. Caramels are hidden behind the aged oak, dark chocolates, and hazelnuts.
Finish:
Oily mouthfeel that coats the mouth with notes of nuts, chocolate. The finish good without going too long and provides a nice tingly peppery profile and heat.
Comments:
The nose on this almost leaps out of the glass and is enrapturing! Considering everything that had to go into this whiskey it is remarkable and worthy of a spot on the shelf. According to Lost Lantern this will be a recurrent release which I think is really quite impressive. Sourcing 50 whiskies from every state worthy of a blend is no small task. Kudos to Lost Lantern.

Ultimately this is a fun whiskey with a lot going on. As you can imagine the profiles evolve and go all over. So be prepared to sit with this one for awhile to really find all the pieces.

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.

Charles Steele

Charles Steele, a Portland-based attorney, is a native of the Pacific Northwest. His legal background provides him with an analytical approach to understanding whiskey and other aged spirits. Primarily a legal writer, freelancing for The Whiskey Wash offers Charles a unique opportunity to showcase his versatility as a writer. Although his preference lies with whiskey and whiskey-based cocktails, he has a profound appreciation for all unique and unconventional liquors, from Malört to Ojen - if it's peculiar, he's intrigued.

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