Tiramisu | Baking chocolate | Cocoa | Light rye spice | Baking spices | Stone fruit

Chocolate mousse | Tiramisu | Allspice | Stone fruit | Dessert-like

Tapering chocolate notes | Tiramisu | Light spice | Delicate

Located in Nashville, Indiana, Hard Truth Distilling Co. offers a broad range of spirits from rum to high-aged sourced bourbon to in-house distilled whiskeys. Sweet Mash Rye Chocolate Malt is one of three whiskeys released as part of their annual limited edition series.

This first batch is a small blend of only eight barrels. It has a strong dessert-focused taste with Tiramisu flavors throughout. The whiskey isn’t not shy about its chocolate highlights, which is surprising considering chocolate malt is only 11% of the mashbill. Also surprising, at over 109 proof, Chocolate Malt is a relatively easy-drinking affair. This is in no way a downfall of the whiskey, but instead gets me hooked and has me wanting more flavor intensity than it offers. The flavors are unique and delicious, but it lacks a certain amount of depth that I feel could really let this whiskey shine. It’s above average as it is, which at only 2 years old, an impressive feat to accomplish for Hard Truth Distilling Co. It’s a very well done overall at such a young age, and a hint of amazing whiskey to come.