Bib & Tucker Drops Gold Roast, a Coffee-Infused Bourbon
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Coffee and whiskey have met before, and seem to get along pretty well; some examples from the past few years include Jameson Cold Brew, Ironton Coffee Cask Finished Rye, Broken Barrel Black Hjerte, and Kings County’s Coffee Whiskey. The latest, from Tennessee whiskey brand Bib & Tucker, is called Gold Roast, and the brand wants you to know that this is not a flavored whiskey but instead a bourbon infused with coffee beans—and the result is quite good.
Bib & Tucker is a sister brand to Redemption Whiskey, both of which are owned by Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits and have Alan Kennedy as their master blender. (Read the review of the new Redemption 18 Year Old, one of his excellent recent whiskey releases.) The core Bib & Tucker bourbon is a 6-year-old expression, and that is the base of Gold Roast. The whiskey is filtered through sugar maple charcoal as part of the Lincoln County process before being aged in new charred oak barrels. During the final months of maturation, Arabica coffee beans from Muletown Coffee Roasters in Tennessee are roasted to Kennedy’s specifications and steeped in some of the bourbon at cask strength using a cold extraction process. That bourbon is then blended with un-finished bourbon to create the final product which is bottled at 92 proof.
“With Gold Roast Bourbon, we set out to honor the timeless relationship between coffee and bourbon, two American rituals that have gone hand in hand since the turn of the century,” said Kennedy in a statement. “Starting with our signature mashbill of corn, rye, and barley, we carefully crafted a spirit that could carry the richness of a proprietary Arabica coffee roast without overpowering the delicate character of our 6-Year Tennessee Bourbon. The result is a finish that delivers the perfect balance of smoothness and roasted coffee complexity. It’s refined, nuanced, and unmistakably Bib & Tucker.”
He’s not wrong. This a good example of how you can pair the flavors of coffee and bourbon. There is a bit of natural sweetness that comes from the whiskey itself, as there are no sweeteners or additives used. An undercurrent of coffee ties together every sip, as you’d expect, but it actually tastes like coffee and not some artificial version of a caffeinated beverage. Behind that, the bourbon’s intrinsic grain, vanilla, chocolate, and caramel notes buttress the palate, making this a unique sipper that would work really well in an Old Fashioned for coffee lovers.
Bib & Tucker Gold Roast officially launches this August (SRP $50) as a permanent member of the core lineup, but it looks like it’s already available at websites like Total Wine along with the rest of the portfolio.
