Category - Food & Drink
I've Tried Hundreds of Whiskeys. These Bottled-In-Bond Expressions Prove That Small Distillers Deserve Attention
For years, bottled-in-bond was a whiskey category that was off limits to most craft distilleries. The reason for this? Most of them didn’t have any whiskey that met its strict definition: exactly 100 proof, the product of one distillery and one distillation season, and aged in a federally bonded warehouse for at least four years.
That last part was the real sticking point; most small distilleries released their whiskey much younger than four years old, often only after maturing for a year or two.
While age doesn’t necessarily equal quality when it comes to whiskey, a couple of years old is pretty young and usually just not as good as a bourbon or rye aged for at least twice that amount of time. The reason for releasing such young whiskey really comes down to money. If you’re a small craft operation, every day you don’t have your whiskey on shelves is a day you’re not making a profit, so why not release it younger if you can?
These distilleries often used smaller, cheaper barrels to age their whiskey. Small barrels accelerated the maturation process because of increased surface area in contact with the liquid. The combination of youth and small casks can yield some really weird results, like green, immature whiskey that's still somehow full of tannic wood notes.
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Nowadays, there are many craft distilleries with liquid old enough to meet the bottled-in-bond designation, such as Tattersall Distilling which is located in River Falls, WI.
The Bottled in Bond Act was passed in 1897 to ensure the quality of whiskey at a time when unsavory—and sometimes dangerous—ingredients were added by unscrupulous producers. Still, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the category is that it’s sort of an indicator of vintage, given that the whiskey is the product of one distillation season as opposed to a blend of liquid barreled in different years.
Tattersall has been around for a decade. It has whiskey mature enough for well-aged new releases, including a seven-year-old bottled-in-bond rye and a six-year-old bottled-in-bond wheated bourbon.
The rye was made from a mash bill of 85 percent rye and 15 percent malted rye, while the bourbon’s recipe was 51 percent corn, 35 percent winter wheat, and 14 percent malted barley. Both were aged in full-sized 53-gallon barrels and bottled at 100 proof.

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Both are good whiskeys. I tried them neat and in cocktails to see how they'd fare. The rye has spice and fruit notes, with layers of oaky vanilla and stone fruit on the palate. I used this to make a Manhattan, and the whiskey held up well against the sweetness of the vermouth and tang of the bitters.
The bourbon has a nice sweetness to it, thanks to the use of wheat in the mash bill instead of rye, along with notes of honey, molasses, and brown sugar. I tried this in an old fashioned, and this whiskey worked well here too.
These two releases are the fourth and fifth bottled-in-bond whiskeys from Tattersall, which previously released versions of these as well as a high-rye bourbon. They're available in limited numbers now for $60 per bottle from the distillery’s website, and you can find other expressions in the portfolio from specialty liquor retailers.
Related: George Dickel's New, Award-Winning Whisky Is Surprisingly Affordable and Incredibly Tasty