Fresh cut grass | Mushroom | Forest floor | Snap pea | Extremely vegetative

Oak | Grain | Stale wine | Mint pea | Rye spice

Rye spice | Stale oak | Mushroom | Snap pea | Lingering stale oak & fresh cut grass

Long Island Spirits was founded in 2007 in Baiting Hollow, New York. The company was the first distillery to be located on Long Island since the 1800s. It’s a farm-to-bottle distillery producing a range of spirits, including vodka, liqueurs, and various types of whiskey.

Inspired by Teddy Roosevelt’s nickname “Happy Warrior,” Long Island Spirits produced this bourbon by first aging their high rye bourbon mashbill for four years. Following that, the company blends this bourbon with their older stock bourbon. This new blend is finished for 3-6 months in used French oak chardonnay casks that have been rinsed with high proof brandy that the company distilled.

The whiskey starts off with such an extremely vegetative note, it will have you double checking the bottle to make sure this is a bourbon, let alone one aged for 4 years before being finished. An off-putting aroma filled with huge doses of fresh cut grass, mushroom, forest floor, and snap pea rushes at you. This transitions into a midpoint that’s equal parts oak, grain, and rye spice, which push against stale wine and mint pea. These flavors lead into a finish that plays right along, producing notes of rye spice, stale oak, mushroom, and snap pea. Ending on lingering notes of stale oak and fresh cut grass, the sip will leave you questioning what you just drank.

Rough Ryder The Happy Warrior Bourbon is an extremely unusual pour. It’s hard to tell if it’s the base distillate that causes the bad flavor profile, the brandy-washed French chardonnay finishing casks, or something else. In the end, the whiskey will make you hesitate between sips as you debate what exactly you just drank.

The bourbon in review is from Batch 35.