Honey | Fig | Date | Grape | Malt

Plum | Raisin | Light black cherry | Touch nutty

Oak | Prune | Toast | Light char & smoke

Old Elk’s Port Cask Finish Bourbon is the newest addition to Old Elk’s Cask Finish Series, joining existing Rum, Cognac, and Cognac Wheated finished releases. Notably, Old Elk's Finish Series is blended by the company's Master Blender, Melinda Maddox.

There has been a run on port finished whiskeys as of late and one common trait I find with them is that they are often over-finished. Perhaps I’m more sensitive to port finishes than other wine-finished whiskeys, but when they cross the over finished boundary, it's often detrimental to the resulting whiskey. Port wine is designed to be sweet, yet many port finished whiskeys are far from being called overly sweet whiskeys. Instead, many of them feature a bad grape taste.

Old Elk finishes this bourbon for an additional 10 months, which flirts with being over done, yet doesn’t cross that line. There is a degree of increased sweetness to its sip, but more prevalent are its dark fruit notes. Plum, raisin, and black cherry all come in droves during the bourbon’s palate. The finish in turn features a more pronounced oak note with a welcomed barrel char and light smoke element to it.

Overall, Old Elk Port Cask Finish Bourbon is yet another showcase of Maddox’s skill at blending and finishing. Combined with Master Distiller Greg Metze’s years of distilling prowess, the Old Elk Cask Finish Series is really coming into its own. Despite a high price tag, prices vary wildly online, and to find it well below its MSRP is a great value buy. Though it doesn't reach the heights of their Cognac Finish Bourbon, it isn’t far behind.