Angel’s Envy has been focused on making one type of whiskey for more than a decade—Kentucky straight bourbon that is finished in port casks. The distillery has achieved a great deal of success with this mission, but it has also added a rye whiskey finished in rum barrels, a series of cask-strength bourbons, and a few one-offs along the way (including last year’s excellent Triple Oak expression, a permanent release). Today Angel’s Envy announced the launch of a pair of new limited-edition whiskeys, and they certainly sound like something worth trying—Two-Grain Bourbon Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Peated Cask Rye Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey Finished in Scotch Barrels.
According to the brand, these two new whiskeys were inspired by the time that master distiller Owen Martin spent in both Scotland and Kentucky, and that makes sense when you dive into the details. The Two-Grain Bourbon Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is, as indicated by the name, made from a mashbill of just two grains—90 percent corn that came from Langley Farms in Shelbyville, KY and 10 percent malted barley. That is very different from the usual Angel’s Envy bourbon mashbill of 72 percent corn, 18 percent rye, and 10 percent malted barley. The whiskey was aged in new charred barrels from Kelvin Cooperage for an undisclosed length of time and bottled at 112 proof. According to an article in the Louisville Courier Journal, this was a blend of 50 barrels that were cut to 116 proof and then put back into those same barrels for further aging, yielding about 17,500 bottles.
Peated Cask Rye Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey Finished in Scotch Barrels reveals a lot of information in that lengthy name. This is a six-year-old rye whiskey that was finished in peated scotch casks sourced from Islay, the region of Scotland that is famous for its smoky whisky, and bottled at 100 proof. According to the Courier Journal, Martin too the unusual step of aging Louisville tap water in Angel’s Envy rye whiskey barrels for ten months, and then used that to proof the whiskey down yielding 7,200 bottles with notes of pepper, herbs, and earthy spice on the palate.
Both of these whiskeys are listed at $55 apiece, but they are distillery only releases so you’ll have to travel to the distillery in Louisville to snag a bottle (not the worst fate in the world), although the odds are they will show up on the secondary market at some point as well. You can find the rest of the Angel’s Envy lineup available to purchase at websites like ReserveBar now.
Authors
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Jonah Flicker