Caramel | Butterscotch | Vanilla | Honey | Maple butter | Toasted oak | Orange marmalade

Caramelized sugar | Sweet oak | Table syrup | Vanilla sugar

Cinnamon | Charred oak | Orange marmalade | White peppercorn | Light oak tannins

Bushwood Spirits is a golf-centric spirits company created by Brad Carpenter. An injury 13 years ago prevented him from playing golf, and the idea for Bushwood Spirits sprang while he was recovering. The company was formed in 2016 and sold its first bottle in October 2021. Bushwood Spirits bottles are adorned with a heavy metal golf ball topper and other golf-related iconography on their labels. The company’s bourbon releases often carry the name “Long Ball” or “Back 9,” while their ryes fall under the “Stillwater” moniker. For the company’s first-ever wheated bourbon release, the company was more straightforward, naming it just “Wheated Bourbon.”

Bushwood Spirits expanded their brand line this year to include wheated bourbons that include a 5 year old, 94 proof small batch and this 7 year old, bottled in bond single barrel bourbon. The younger release features a bit more uniqueness to its sip compared to the 7 year bourbon, but its overall straightforwardness holds it back against its surprisingly rich counterpoint.  

Caramel and butterscotch completely dominate the bourbon’s aroma, and it’s a good indicator of what's to come. The palate is incredibly sweet, with caramelized sugar, sweet oak, table syrup, and vanilla sugar layering sweet on top of sweet. The finish pulls this back a touch by introducing light cinnamon, charred oak, and white peppercorn.

Though the sip is straightforward, its thick mouthfeel coats your tongue with its sweet flavors. With just enough contrast provided in its finish to contrast its overall sweetness, this bourbon is definitely one of the sweeter wheated bourbons currently on the market. Where many wheated bourbons can become astringent, there is so much caramel and other sugary flavors present that if there was any astringency, it gets completely drowned out. For fans of full-flavored, bottled in bond bourbon who also prefer their bourbon on the sweet side, Bushwood Longball Gold Label Single Barrel Wheated Bourbon is definitely for you.

The bourbon in review is bottle number 031 of 1181 from barrel 5016.