When I last visited the distillery in February, I got to sample Sugarfield Spirits Bourbon Batch 6 as a work in progress. This batch is made up of ten barrels of MGP bourbon, some low rye and some high rye. The Saltau brothers had pretty much made up their mind to bottle this batch at 100 proof when I visited, and this comes in at 100.3 proof. It has been available at the distillery since March 26 and has now found its way to Hokus Pokus in Alexandria. Presumably, distribution by Sugarfield through Republic is now in full swing, so you should hopefully be able to find this in a Louisiana liquor store near you if you aren’t near a Hokus Pokus. This bottle was $45, which is a nice price for quality 100 proof bourbon.

Color is a nice honey colored amber. On the swirl is a nice thick film and legs. On the nose is sweet corn, brown sugar, baked apples and baking spice. On the palate, wow, amazing mouthfeel, with notes of candied cherries, cinnamon toast, a hint of maple syrup (not the imitation kind but the real deal) with an oak backbone that really ties all of the flavors together. The flavors on this are such that I really like holding this whiskey on my palate and chewing it over and over again. Really delicious. On the finish the candied cherries ramp back up with making spice followed by oak tannin. Finish is really long.

I have tried a lot of MGP bourbon bottled by various producers over the last few years. At this proof, the most comparable bottlings to batch 6 would probably be Widow Jane and Smooth Ambler Old Scout at roughly the same price point. I would rate this better than Old Scout and Widow Jane – batch 6 has better flavor and a richer mouthfeel. This is also definitely much better than some cask strength MGP releases that are under four years old that go for way more money than this release – this has no craft bitterness and just great flavors.

This is a really stellar bourbon, and marks the upward trajectory of Sugarfield Spirits over the last year and a half and despite the pandemic. While their special releases and store pics have been amazing showing that the Saltau brothers know how to pick and in some cases finish amazing barrels of whiskey, this larger scale small batch release at this price point shows off their skill at blending barrels to come up with a cohesive delicious small batch bourbon at a very nice proof that really is better than what other NDP’s are putting out from MGP.