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Please read and drink responsibly.
Classification: Straight Bourbon
Company: McCormick Distilling Company
Distillery: Holladay Distillery
Release Date: Ongoing
Proof: 121.5
Age: 6 Years
Mashbill: 73% Corn, 15% Wheat, 12% Malted Barley
Color: Dark Amber
MSRP: $75 / 750mL (2025)
Caramel | Cranberry | Apple | Barrel char | Herbal graininess
Prune | Stewed cherries | Molasses | Leather | Hibiscus | Barrel char
Baking spices | Black pepper | Dry seasoned oak | Oak tannins | Lingering dark red fruit
A bold wheated bourbon flushed with robust stone fruit notes against equally strong oak flavors.
Ben Holliaday Distillery has quickly made a name for themselves since launching their first bourbon in 2022. A lot of that love stems specifically from the ongoing release of Holladay Soft Red Wheat Rickhouse Proof Bourbon. This Missouri bourbon - though not a legal classification - is distilled using corn grown in Missouri and is also mashed, fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled in the state.
Where their Ben Holladay Bottled in Bond Bourbon is made with 15% rye, making it a spicy affair, the company changed out the rye grain for the exact same amount of wheat for their Holladay Soft Red Wheat releases. You’d expect then that Ben Holladay Soft Red Wheat Bourbon would be softer and sweeter given the name, but the inclusion of wheat pulls out a lot of the bold stone fruits notes synonymous with other barrel proof wheaters.
This batch of Holladay Soft Red Wheat Rickhouse Proof Bourbon was bottled in October 2024, and barrels came from rickhouses B and C. The company goes into excruciating detail for each of their releases, including the exact location in their rickhouses a barrel was pulled from, which is great to see.
Holladay Soft Red Wheat Rickhouse Proof Bourbon takes a lot of what is enjoyable about their Bottled in Bond version and dramatically ramps it up. The stone fruits notes are amplified, and more molasses and leather come out, along with baking spices. This also ramps up the bourbon’s oak notes, which were already potent in the 100 proof version. For the Rickhouse Proof version, the bourbon is noticeably more dry and bitter, thanks to enhanced seasoned oak notes. It could be too much for those sensitive to these kinds of flavors, but against the robust stone fruits notes, it strikes a decent balance. While the extra intensity in flavor is to be expected, given the increased proof, it also better displays what Holladay Distillery is crafting.
The bottle in review comes from the October 2024 batch.
