I popped into Hokus Pokus yesterday looking for a bottle to bring to a bourbon tasting at a friends house incident to the LSU-Arkansas game. They had recently served two bottles from Dark Arts Whiskey House at a tasting, so I got to sample the Special Release Seven Year Old Indiana Bourbon finished in Oloroso Sherry Casks and the 7 Year Old Rye which was finished with Amburana Staves. I thought the bourbon drank a little hot for its 117.36 proof and was a bit too sherry forward, but I was really impressed with the Rye so I bought it and took it to the tasting. This is MGP dstilled Indiana Rye Whiskey, finished and bottled in by Dark Arts in Lexington, Kentucky, and is 108 proof. I am a big fan of using Amburana staves in whiskey – it imparts a wonderful churro type flavor into the whiskey. In Brazil, where Amburana is a native tree, the wood is often made into smaller barrels and used to age their local rum, cuchaca, which is made with sugar can juice rather than molasses, similar to Agricole style rums in the Caribbean.

Overall, the group at the tasting was really surprised at the flavor and how good this is.

The color on this is a decently dark amber; about right for its seven years of aging. On the swirl is a thin film but a thick sheen of oil with some big thick legs and droplets; a nice oily whiskey. On the nose are some grassy rye notes but there is also the strong presence of churros – the bready, cinnamon notes – and coconut. On the palate are some nice herbal notes, including much to my surprise some basil and mint, but then the churros and coconut take over, with a really nice dessert sweetness. On the finish, the coconut starts to fade and cinnamon and sugar really dominate along with some nice oak notes. This is a really good whiskey.

But, Amburana wood is definitely different, and while the underlying rye whiskey here is very good from what I can tell, the Amburana definitely is the strongest influence on the flavor profile, and folks will either really like it or really not. But, I do have to say that the creativity of whiskey producers use of wood to produce different flavor profiles is at an all time high and is really exciting.