Deep rich caramel | Stewed apples | Sweet corn | Barrel char | Light marshmallow on the tail end

Sweet oak | Brown sugar | Wheat grain | Mild maltiness | Light body

Baked bread | Light peppercorn spice | Lingering oak & caramel

Founded in 2010, Rock Town Distillery is located in Little Rock, Arkansas and says they are the first legal distillery of any kind in Arkansas since Prohibition. The mashbill for the company’s Column Still Collection is derived from grains that are grown within 125 miles of the distillery and distilled at Bardstown Bourbon Company in Kentucky, before being moved to Arkansas to be aged and bottled.

The sip opens with an appealing deep and rich caramel scent before transitioning to stewed apples. From here the whiskey’s high corn content begins to come through and the sweet corn scent takes over. The palate is straightforward, with a strong front of sweet oak and brown sugar. It’s at this point the whiskey’s secondary grains pop up, with a mild maltiness combined with a gentle wheat grain note. It struggles to fully blossom over the sweetness of the corn and the caramel and oak notes from the barrel. It has an overall light body that doesn’t allow the flavors to fully stick. This is most noticeable during the finish that quickly falls off, though oak and caramel continue to linger. I enjoy the flair of using local Arkansas grain in creating this bourbon at Bardstown Bourbon Company. So it seems like the lack of proper aging time is the main culprit here preventing this bourbon from fully blooming.