Milk Chocolate | Cream soda | Cocoa powder | Caramel corn | Burnt caramel | Barrel char | Light charcoal

Brown sugar | Cinnamon apple | Honey | Cherry | Oak | Coriander | Cream soda | Sweet

Black peppercorn | Burnt sugar | Graham cracker | Toasted cinnamon | Vanilla | Nutmeg | Pinch of star anise | Savory

Sazerac is expanding into Tennessee whiskey. That’s the headline that makes this release of AJ Bond Tennessee Whiskey more noteworthy than it might have been otherwise.

Sazerac acquired the Popcorn Sutton distillery in 2016 with plans to release a Tennessee whiskey as part of its brand portfolio. With the purchase, they retained the production team led by Allisa Henley and the late John Lunn (who passed in 2023). Both were former employees of George Dickel Distillery, with Lunn serving as master distiller from roughly 2005 until March 2015, when he left to become master distiller at Avery's Trail Distillery (home of Popcorn Sutton at the time). Henley joined George Dickel around 2005, only a few months after Lunn, and worked in several positions, including creating and managing the visitor experience program. She eventually became a distiller when Lunn left in 2015, and departed Dickel in July 2016 to join Popcorn Sutton as master blender.

After Sazerac's purchase of Popcorn Sutton, the company relocated the distillery to its current home in La Vergne, Tennessee. According to Sazerac, “the inaugural release reflects a shared vision to evolve Tennessee whiskey higher through a balance of tradition and innovation,” and like other Tennessee whiskeys, it utilizes the Lincoln County Process of charcoal mellowing before barreling. Though not unique to AJ Bond Distillery, the whiskey is made from a blend of pot still and column still distillates, which are aged separately before blending occurs.

The whiskey opens with aromas of milk chocolate, cream soda, and cocoa powder. It then deviates, offering notes of caramel corn, burnt caramel, barrel char, and a hint of charcoal. The palate keeps things in a similar vein, shedding its chocolate notes in favor of brown sugar, cinnamon, apple, cherry, and coriander. The finish opens with a hit of black peppercorn spice, before burnt sugar, graham cracker, toasted cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, and a touch of star anise round it out.

The sip features a wonderful mix of sweet and savory flavors, which is what makes it most memorable. This flavor profile has more in common with the Indiana-made Hard Truth Bourbon or Kentucky-made Green River Bourbon than what you get with Tennessee staples of George Dickel or Jack Daniel’s. Flavors are well-developed and distinct. It’s definitely striving for a very brown sugar, cinnamon apple, cream soda, and vanilla-flavored sip, and for the most part, it works quite well in this regard. It's a little light on mouthfeel, and its flavors could use a bit more maturity and depth, but overall it's an easy sipper and worth the price. The label design also feels decidedly un-Sazerac-like, which suggests they are hands-off at the moment and letting Henley take the distillery where her passion is leading her.