Hazelnut | Rye spice | Brown sugar | Butterscotch | Mint

Cocoa powder | Raisin | Walnut | Hazelnut | Oak

Dark brown sugar | Chestnut | Seasoned oak | Sweetness turns dry

Echo Spirits Distilling Co. is a craft distillery in Columbus, Ohio’s Grandview neighborhood. The company states that its goal is to be “an echo of a time when we knew the people making our local products.” For now, though, their whiskeys are sourced, and “Trail Mix” is from Bardstown Bourbon Company. Echo took their blended bourbon a step further and double-oaked one component of the blend for an additional 1 year and 1 month in a low-char, heavy toast new American oak barrel from the Speyside cooperage.

Echo Spirits aren’t new to naming their batches, and we have already reviewed “The Woodsman” and “Porch Cigars.” For their latest batch, “Trail Mix” certainly conjures up expectations of a sweet and savory snack familiar to most, and to a degree, it successfully conveys these flavors.

The bourbon opens with a rich hazelnut scent compounded by rye spice, brown sugar, butterscotch, and mint. The palate continues on a similar path, with cocoa powder, raisin, walnut, and hazelnut, which begins to fall into the trail mix flavor profile. Brown sugar returns a shade darker for the finish, with chestnut and seasoned oak dominating. Overall, it’s a relatively sweet and nutty-tasting bourbon that turns dry by the end. It’s not quite as fruity as I expected it to be based on its name, but overall, it gets it close. Though this comprises only two barrels, I like the blending and secondary finishing here. The release consists of only 357 bottles, available at the distillery for $53 and nationwide online for $60. Given its decent price point, the few who find one have a solid option to add to their whiskey shopping list.