Woodford Reserve Is Launching a New Cognac Cask-Finished Bourbon
It’s been a busy month for Woodford Reserve. We reported on a couple of new releases from the Kentucky distillery, both of which were firsts—a new American single malt and a bourbon aged entirely in chinkapin oak barrels. And now comes the news about the new Double XO Blend, which marks the first global travel retail release under the tutelage of Woodford master distiller Elizabeth McCall.
Double XO Blend, which was previously a China exclusive, is a limited-edition blend of straight bourbons that were double and triple distilled, matured in new charred oak barrels, and finished in a combination of heavily toasted barrels and Cognac casks. There are a few notes of interest about the production of this particular release. Like the core bourbon expression, the whiskey is a blend of spirit that is produced at the distillery in Versailles, KY, where it is triple distilled in three pot stills, and spirit made at parent company Brown-Forman’s Shively, KY distillery that is double distilled. And it’s actually a blend of some of Woodford’s previous releases—Double Oaked, which is finished for up to 12 months in toasted oak barrels, and bourbon that has spent up to seven years in XO Cognac casks.
Woodford has used both toasted casks and XO Cognac barrels (which previously held Cognac for a minimum of 10 years) to mature its whiskey before, but not in this combination. The limited-edition Distillery Series, for example, has included at least two different expressions finished in heavily toasted casks—Toasted Oak Oat Grain and Toasted Oak Four Grain. And the expensive Baccarat Edition and even more expensive Kentucky Derby: Baccarat Edition were both finished in XO Cognac casks (the latter also spent time in “handcrafted couture barrels seasoned in the Kentucky Derby Winner’s Circle at Churchill Downs,” for what it’s worth).
This is not the first Woodford Reserve whiskey to get an exclusive global travel retail release, either. Previous expressions that were initially released in limited numbers at the distillery, and then moved to duty-free shops, include Master’s Collection Sonoma Triple Finish and Batch Proof Series 121.2, both of which proved to be popular upon their initial launch. We did not get to sample the new Double XO Blend, but the official tasting notes describe chocolate-covered raisins, nutmeg, and toasted hazelnuts on the nose, followed by cinnamon, clove, brown sugar, raisins, and blackberries on the palate. This whiskey will be available starting this month in select global travel retail locations with a suggested retail price of $175 per 700 ml bottle.
