New Tennessee Whiskey Has Finishing Time In California Port Barrels

There are often interesting regional whiskey experiments going on across the US you hear little about unless you live in that particular state where you can pick up a bottle from some obscure distillery or brand. Such is the case in Tennessee, where an outfit going by the name of Cumberland Cask recently unveiled a port wine barrel finished expression.

Known as Cumberland Cask Ruby Cut this release, according to Nashville Scene, will not be available outside of the middle of that state, so we are talking a very localized group of people who will be able to experience this fascinating bottling. The whiskey is described by those behind it as being “the first and only port wine finished Tennessee Whiskey to ever be produced.” It went through a rather interesting aging process as outlined below:

• Six year old whiskey put into four ruby port wine barrels from California
• aged six months during winter, giving it “a deep amber color and some sweetness of the port,” and put into tanks
• New batch of six year old whiskey put into same port barrels
• aged six months during summer, giving it “the vanilla and wood characteristics of the barrel,” and put into tanks
• Blended together to create the final product

What’s resulted is a 90 proof whiskey that has a dark amber hue. It should price for around $60 and is limited to a little over 2000 bottles.