Review #169 - Old 55 Single Barrel - Moontown Brewing Pick
Another look at a distillery relatively local to us: Old 55. This is a small bourbon distillery in Newtown, Indiana - they've been going for about 10 years now, based near the family's farm.
Essentially all of the whiskies bottled by Old 55 are actually single barrel bourbon - most of them are bottled in bond, as well, aging for 4 years after a Spring or Fall distillation season, before being bottled at 50% ABV (100 proof).
This barrel was picked for a local brewery, not too far from the distillery - Moontown Brewing Company. Based in Whitestown, Indiana, Moontown shares a very unique character with Old 55 Distillery: both are based in old schoolhouses in their respective hometowns. This was the first barrel pick done by Old 55 for the craft brewery.
Old 55 Single Barrel - Moontown Brewing Pick
USA - Bourbon
Current Locally Available Price: USD 80 (2023 - for an equivalent product)
Age Statement: 4 Years
Strength: 50% ABV
Details: Bottled-in-bond, distilled Fall 2018, bottled Fall 2022, picked for Moontown Brewing Co.
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 7 months; bottles at 90%, 80%, and 20% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Strong oak - somewhat dry, nutty, not a ton of sweetness at first. There's dusty corn grain and acetone, along with dry vanilla pods, even some sharper black pepper. Lightly earthy, and with a lot more time, hints of sweetness come through: brown sugar mostly, with a whiff of orange and cherry fruit.
Palate: Medium-thick mouthfeel; oak is again dominant - it's strong, with lots of spices. Anise, pepper, dry vanilla and sweet vanilla, cooking spice. So much oak. There's char, soft herbal notes, and a super-dry wood, like sun-bleached driftwood; later, a little bit of barbecue flavor comes in.
Finish: Lightly herbal and earthy, oily, and plenty of oak tones again: fresh lumber, nutmeg, cinnamon, and char. There are soft sweet flavors in the aftertaste, like sweet corn, cherry, and a mild caramel.
Final Note: A bit one dimensional, and very strongly oaked, especially for spirit that's only four years old. Old 55 does use 30 gallon new charred oak barrels for their aging, as opposed to the typical ~53 gallon barrels used by most of the American whisky industry; while that practice could possibly 'age' the whisky faster and introduce more mature flavors at a in a shorter time, it does also vastly increase the risk of over-oaking the product. For us, we would like to see a little more time taken to introduce the oak in a measured way, which would also allow for some more flavor development and complexity. This bottle wasn't cheap, either - value suffers a little bit.
Our Average Rating: 4.8 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 4.49
Check out our other Old 55 reviews:
