Brandy soaked cherries | Prune | Stewed apples | Smoke | Toasted marshmallow

Walnut | Baking spice | Molasses | Baked apples

Nutty | Walnut | Leather | Black peppercorn | Touch of smoke | Lingering dry oak

Starlight Distillery is located on the grounds of the Huber estate. Housing Huber’s Orchard & Winery, the family began farming back in 1843 when their ancestors settled in Starlight, Indiana from Baden-Baden, Germany. Now in its 8th generation with operations handled by Ted Huber and his sons Christian and Blake, Huber estate produces a variety of crops that are grown alongside the onsite distillery that produces an assortment of brandies and whiskeys. They began distilling whiskey in 2013, and all of their products are distilled onsite.

Some may find this bourbon’s age statement of 4 years old to be a turn off. While the distillery is working on upping the age on all of their whiskeys, this particular whiskey, perhaps more than others from Starlight, pulls on the strength of its young age statement. You might be taken aback by your first sip at how dark and robust this whiskey is. With a strong walnut current running throughout it, it's complemented by baking spices, molasses, baked apples, leather, and black peppercorn. It’s not often this collection of flavors is found in a young whiskey and I do wonder if aging this whiskey more would overdo it. This is where its current age statement benefits its sip. As robust and walnut filled its sip is, its relative youthfulness helps temper it and allows moments of reprieve. Not many distilleries are able to pull this light/dark switch and some amount of acclaim must be directed at their operation. Estate distilleries typically have a calling card when it comes to how their whiskeys taste. I feel Starlight is still developing theirs, but this barrel strength bourbon is their closest expression yet to zeroing in on it.