This New Pair of Whiskeys Was Finished With Gibson Guitar Wood

We cover a lot of cask-finished whiskeys here for the simple reason that there are a lot of them to cover. Many secondary maturations are tried and true—think wine, sherry, or rum barrels. But every now and then you find something that you haven’t seen before, as is the case with this new whiskey finished with staves from Gibson electric guitars. The question you should always ask, however, is if it actually makes a difference.

In this case, we can’t really say because samples were not available yet to try (and the only way to really gauge would be to try a finished and unfinished sample side by side). Still, this new whiskey from Whiskey Jypsi does sound interesting. If you’re unfamiliar with the brand, it was cofounded by country music star Eric Church along with some partners as part of a company called Outsiders Spirits. There have been several releases over the years, including Explorer, a 6-year-old bourbon, and multiple batches of the Legacy series, which are blends of aged whiskeys.

This release is the first in a new series called Tonewood, and it consists of two different expressions. What binds them together is that each was finished with “tonewood” staves, which according to the whiskey maker Ari Sussman are specific types of wood chosen for the acoustic properties they give to an instrument. The staves were made from “offcuts,” essentially leftovers from the production of Gibson guitars. Sussman experimented with different profiles, extraction rates, proofs, and other factors before settling on the final staves, which were put into barrels of whiskey to finish for about six weeks and presumably add new flavor. Stave finishing is not new, of course, and has yielded some great results before—Maker’s 46 is perhaps the best-known example of this practice.

Tonewood Vol. 1 is a blend of 20-year-old straight bourbon and 14-year-old whiskey from a bourbon mashbill (so it can’t qualify as bourbon, likely due to the barrels it was aged in), each with a mashbill of 84 percent corn, 8 percent rye, and 8 percent malted barley. The blend was finished with the Gibson staves and bottled at 109 proof. Official tasting notes describe oak, vanilla, baking spice, honey, polished hardwood, caramelized sugar, and roasted nuts on the palate.

The second whiskey is called Tonewood: The Collective, and the blend is different here: 36 percent 14-year-old whiskey from a bourbon mashbill (the same as before), and 64 percent 8-year-old straight bourbon (75 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and 4 percent malted barley). Look for notes of vanilla, graham cracker, caramel, and toasted grain, and it was bottled at a lower 103 proof.

“Whiskey Jypsi was built to challenge the usual rules of whiskey making, but never just for the sake of being different,” said cofounder Raj Alva in a statement. “Tonewood works because the idea is bold, the materials are real, and the result adds something meaningful to the whiskey.” This release also coincides with a new guitar collab with Church and Gibson called Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Eric Church Hummingbird Dark.

Both whiskeys are available now at the brand’s website, and are rather expensive. Tonewood Vol. 1 has a price tag of $800, and it comes in a custom-made Gibson case with a guitar strap. The Collective is available for $200, and a portion of the proceeds from its sales will go to benefit the Gibson Gives charity (this whiskey will expand to retailers at a later point).

See Also

Buffalo Trace Released Its Third Prohibition Collection of Whiskeys