Latest Bhakta Spirits Offering A Rye Whiskey, Calvados, Armagnac Blend

by Nino Kilgore-Marchetti
October 20, 2023

Bhakta Spirits has announced the national debut of its new flagship spirit, Bhakta 1928 (SRP $69). A blend of straight rye whiskey, XO Calvados, and ultra-aged Armagnac, it is named “in honor of the most ancient vintage contained in each bottle.”

Building from a base of 2018 vintage American straight rye whiskey (60%), the blend is then enriched with XO Calvados (30%) and Armagnac from Bhkata’s 1928, 1941, 1962, 1973, and 1996 vintages (10%).

Upon composition by French Master Blender Bernard Domecq, Bhakta 1928 undergoes a double cask finish in virgin French oak. While the spirit’s total average age registers at 15 years, 30% of its blend is over 30 years old, 5% is over 50 years old, and its oldest vintage clocks in at nearly 100 years old.

As noted by Bhakta Spirits, “it comes as no surprise that rye whiskey, the calling card of Bhakta Spirits Founder Raj Peter Bhakta, forms the core of the brand’s new flagship spirit.” Bhakta, as one of the original driving forces behind WhistlePig Whiskey, was among those early on who helped instigate “a national rye renaissance.”

“Have you ever tasted a nearly 100-year-old spirit?” said Bhakta Spirits Cofounder Leo Gibson in a prepared statement. “The ultimate distillation of the Roaring Twenties, Bhakta 1928 channels the unbridled optimism, unstoppable boom, and ‘extraordinary gift for hope’ — as F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote of fictional tycoon Jay Gatsby — that defined America’s most iconic era yet.

“Bhakata 1928 offers consumers the chance to enjoy a spirit of astounding age for a genuinely jaw-dropping price, directly from the visionary creator of the modern rye category himself.”

“Since long before I founded WhistlePig, my quest to perfect whiskey has been the absolute focus of my career,’” added Bhakta. “Beginning with a base rye superior to almost any I’ve created before, Bhakata 1928 finally achieves the dream of whiskey, perfected — through the transubstantiation granted by a magic touch of 1928 Armagnac. Isn’t it time we brought back the spirit of the Roaring Twenties? Let the new boom times begin.”

Official tasting notes for this spirit are as follows.