Our favorite barrel at the distillery is Barrel Number 6. Why? Because it produced a bourbon that, in just over a year, had matured into a handsome spirit with more taste, sophistication, and elegance than we had ever hoped to achieve. So good that we bottled the bourbon the very day we sampled it, and decided that it would become our signature profile. Every barrel we sample from must be as good as or better than this profile bourbon before it goes into a small batch.

Of course, we'd carefully monitored how this particular bourbon was made, so we knew how to replicate the recipe. Indeed, every barrel we produced for the remainder of 2008 and 2009 was made just like Barrel Number 6. This Signature 2008 Vintage has a rich velvety nose of caramel, butterscotch, vanilla, nutmeg, and coconut. But the real character is revealed in the finish-long, smooth, and buttery, like warm caramelized sugar crackling and melting across your tongue.

This is the smoothest bourbon whiskey we've ever tasted. It should be savored slowly, at bottle proof, perhaps with a little water or soda, but never with cola or lemon-lime soda. If you're mixing it with something like that, you really shouldn't be buying our bourbon.

We are planning a limited statewide release of the Signature 2008 Vintage in the fall of 2010. It will be bottled at 91 proof and will be sold in a custom-made 750 ml size bottle.