Caramel | Toasted oak | Malt | Strawberry | Touch of orange | Burnt butter

Honey | Toasted oak | Pear | Butter | Touch of floral flavors

Seared toffee | Black currants | Oak | Toasted walnuts

Trying their hand at a wheat whiskey, Kings County Distillery is upfront calling this an experimental offering. Aged only 16 months in five gallon barrels, it still tastes distinctly Kings County without a hint of youth. For fans of the distillery’s unique taste, it continues in that tradition, but is noticeably softer and lighter than their bourbon and rye. That’s to be expected based on the high percentage of wheat used in its mashbill. But comparing it to other similarly aged whiskeys, it's surpringling how potent its flavor profile is, and how heavy-handed the finish turns out to be.

This could be seen as a drawback. This Wheat Whiskey isn’t far outside the range of the company’s bourbon. It’s said most whiskey drinkers wouldn’t be able to tell a rye bourbon from a wheated bourbon when tasting them blind, and that hypothesis could likely be extended to wheat whiskeys as well. However, I think most would be able to with Kings County’s offerings, but that is largely due to the relative softness of their wheat whiskey in comparison to their bourbon. Perhaps more age or different barrels would draw out even more differences between them. This experimental Kings County Distillery Wheat Whiskey turned out to be more of the same from the company, but for fans of the company’s now trademark style of whiskey, they will find a lot to enjoy here.