The Penelope Estate Collection was introduced in October 2024. For its inaugural release, it featured three bottles: Founders Reserve, Private Select, and Single Barrel.

‍‍This review is of the Single Barrel release, which was aged at least 10 years and non-chill filtered. Single barrels were selected from two different mashbills in MGP’s stocks: 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley (bottled at 105 proof) as well as 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley (bottled at 98 proof).

‍‍The bottle in review features the 60% corn stock. The specific barrel in review was filled on 12/21/2013 and was aged on the 5th floor of Warehouse J.

Familiar scents of vanilla, caramel, and rye spice introduce the aroma. Inhaling deeper brings a touch of barrel char, graham cracker, light cocoa, and a fleeting tobacco note. Landing perfectly on the 105 proof point, it strikes the right balance between fullness of scents and proof, without becoming overwhelmed by heat. It’s a traditional, immediately likable aroma, but not particularly noteworthy due to its straightforward nature.

Caramel and graham cracker mingle against a wave of rye spice. There’s a touch of vanilla custard, slight aged oak, echoes of chocolate, and fleeting fruit notes - apricot and dark fruits - though they are hard to pinpoint. The bourbon has a nice richness to it, striking a delicate balance between flavor intensity and proof. It’s a traditional mix of bourbon flavors through and through, and very satisfying as a result.

Spice continues to ramp up through the midpoint and into the end of the sip, where it takes hold and maintains presence throughout the long finish. Trailing flavors of caramel, vanilla custard, and graham cracker remain intact against the spice. Hints of tobacco and chocolate emerge on the backend. Keeping in form with the rest of the sip, it’s an enjoyable cap to a traditionally-inspired bourbon.

With some bourbons, the goal is finding new territory - breaking flavor barriers in an attempt to curate something totally different. Penelope succeeds at this (and then some) with finished releases such as Rio and Havana. Estate Collection: Single Barrel falls on the opposite side of the spectrum. Everything from its mashbill to its age and ultimate delivery of flavors is very much quintessential bourbon territory akin to what you see from the Kentucky majors, even if it doesn’t technically originate from the state of Kentucky (MGP is only 10 miles from the Kentucky state border, after all).

Penelope Estate Collection: Single Barrel is a bourbon that is meant to be a straightforward, true-to-its-roots bottle. This makes for a wide audience and sets the baseline for the majority of the company’s other products, which strive to deviate from this baseline to varying degrees.

But a lot of brands source and bottle MGP sourced bourbons, and many bottle them as single barrels. Nulu, Redline, Pinhook Vertical Series, Copper & Cask, and Nashville Barrel Company are just a few of the more popular brands you have probably heard of. Many of them are hand-selected, and many are great single barrels. However, being acquired by MGP gave Penelope an edge, with access to higher aged bourbons and whatever barrels were available. Because MGP has struggled to get momentum for many of their brands, marrying the momentum Penelope has built with the stock of MGP makes for an intriguing combination.

Ten year old single barrel bourbons run a wide gamut of price, quality, and availability. Featuring more traditional bourbon mashbills of corn, rye, and malted barley, Russell’s Reserve 10 Year is a solid readily-available option for around $40, but clocks in at a full 15 proof points lower than Penelope at 90. Michter’s 10 Year Single Barrel Bourbon comes in a bit higher proof at 94.4, but has a suggested price of $185, though it is typically offered for substantially more. Henry McKenna 10 Year Single Barrel Bottled in Bond Bourbon amps up the proof to 100, but as I noted in my review, the quality varies substantially from barrel to barrel.

It’s unclear where the quality range lies with Penelope Estate Collection: Single Barrel due to the fact that two different types of single barrels were bottled with different mashbills. It is important to note the two different mashbills used for this release were bottled at 98 and 105 proof, respectively. We selected our own single barrel of the other 75% corn mashbill, which clocked in at 100.8 proof and while it was more delicate and fruit-forward than the barrel in review with less spice.

Further taking into account that the Penelope brand was acquired by MGP and they are now one and the same, and knowing Daniel Polise, Penelope co-founder and now VP of Product, focuses heavily on details - and the team had full access to MGP’s stock for this release. This means the barrels selected are likely some of the best MGP has to offer. It’s a premium price at $90 for sure, but based on my experience so far, the barrels deliver an equally premium product.

Penelope Bourbon was founded in 2018, grew extremely quickly, and then was acquired by MGP in 2023. Founders Mike Paladini and Danny Polise were always transparent about sourcing from MGP, and from the beginning, they always attempted to do new and creative things with their products. Instead of a traditional single barrel program, the duo wanted to do something different, pioneering a private blending program instead. They experimented with a rose cask finish, an Amburana and honey cask finish, and a maple and rum cask finish, to name a few. Even their standard product is a blend of multiple mashbills, which includes a total of four grains.

Penelope Estate Collection: Single Barrel deviates from Penelope Bourbon’s inclination to push boundaries, but it’s an obvious addition to the brand’s portfolio. Having the ability to pull from the entirety of MGP’s available stock opened the door to a range of single barrels the brand did not have access to in the same way just a few years prior. They will vary from barrel to barrel, but it’s likely they all hit the quintessential bourbon flavor profile. This first release likely provides a baseline for more of what’s to come, with the possibility of higher age statements and varied mashbills over time. It’s not groundbreaking by any means, but it’s a decidedly solid straightforward 10 year old single barrel bourbon, through and through.