Cake batter | Strawberry cream | Crème brûlée | Peach | Warm sugar cookie | Toasted oak

Buttercream frosting | Honeycomb | Butterscotch pudding | Maple sugar candy | Apricot

Cinnamon frosting | Mellow aged oak | Browned butter | Hazelnut latte | Aged toasted oak

Though it feels like light whiskey is everywhere, it is actually still a very small segment of the American whiskey market. Penelope is driving the style as they are the main source of aged light whiskey stock (they were acquired by MGP in 2023), resulting in annual releases that continually increase in age. Onyx & Amber purchased a number of Seagram light whiskey barrels from Ross & Squibb Distillery and continued to age them in Colorado.

Onyx & Amber’s light whiskey release isn’t dramatically different tasting than some other company’s slightly younger light whiskey releases, but the extra aging time is proving that more time in the barrel continually improves the light whiskey. Some of the slight harshness found on the backend of (slightly) younger stock of Penelope’s light whiskey release is absent with Onyx & Amber 20 Year Light Whiskey. Though still hot, clocking in at 142.1 proof, the common flavors that a lot of light whiskeys feature are deepened at 20 years old, and the aged oak nicely balances the whiskey’s sweet flavors.

The whiskey opens with a strong cake batter scent that is agreeably paired with strawberry cream, crème brûlée, peach, and warm sugar cookie. Likewise, the palate starts with buttercream frosting, adding in honeycomb, butterscotch pudding, maple sugar candy, and apricot. The finish continues with the frosting theme, adding in cinnamon frosting, along with mellow aged oak, browned butter, and hazelnut latte.

If you like sweet whiskeys, it doesn’t get much sweeter than this. Onyx & Amber 20 Year Light Whiskey isn’t trying to reinvent what it means to be a light whiskey. If you’ve had high aged light whiskey over the past few years, this will taste very familiar. But with the extra age, the deepening of flavors, and the injection of manageable amounts of an aged toasted oak flavor, this combination helps make high aged light whiskey get better and better. At only a slight cost premium over Penelope’s light whiskey releases, and every bit as good, it's a hard release to pass up.