Found North Batch 009

COST: $165 for 750 mL bottle shipped from distillery ($15 shipping)

AGE: 19 years

MASH BILL: 91% corn, 8% rye, 1% malted barley (derived). This whiskey is a blend of the following:

• 19 year rye whiskey finished 1+ years in Ruby Port barrels
• 23 year corn whiskey aged in new American oak
• A different 23 year corn whiskey aged in new American oak
• 23 year corn whiskey aged in bourbon barrels
• 19 year corn whiskey
• 19 year rye whiskey
• 22 year corn whiskey
• 26 year corn whiskey

PROOF: 124.6

I consider this my “consolation prize” for not getting selected for a bottle of Hell Diver, because…this was literally a consolation prize for not getting selected for a bottle of Hell Diver. So, the real question is, does it even hold a candle to Hell Diver? Let’s find out!

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn

APPEARANCE: Dark caramel (1.5), after giving it a swirl, thin quick legs at first with a thick viscous ring at the peak of the swirl that creates a very slow rain of tear drops around the ring of the glass.

NOSE: There’s a heavy butterscotch presence but my favorite part is the is the raspberry and strawberry compote. A delicate thin mint note is present with my nose held above the rim of the glass and deep, spicy, tannic oak with a touch of cinnamon when I dip my nose below the rim. There is a little astringent nature to this one to be careful about. A little too deep of a whiff and you may need to pause for a minute to recalibrate.

PALATE: Thick, Karo syrupy mouthfeel that clings to the tongue and roof of the mouth and doesn’t let you stop tasting it. There’s a nice dance between sweet fruit notes and spices that is sure to entertain. Big red fruit jam hits first along with a touch of maple syrup. As the sweetness subsides, the spice begins to roll in with cinnamon, spicy oak, and cardamom. The spice then gives way to a little burnt brown sugar and raspberry to show up again before transitioning to the finish. The spice brings out the astringentness of the sip as well, but it’s not overpowering.

FINISH: There’s a light, syrupy sweetness that I associate with corn whiskey that is present throughout the finish and accommodates other notes such as charred, tannic oak dipped in molasses, a little orange zest, and a sprig of mint to top it off. The age shows particularly well with the heavy, tannic oak in the finish leaving a dry palate and the astringentness help amplifies it.

RATING: 8.8/10

VALUE: 6.1/10 (this value is based on a ratio of the $/mL to the rating above compared to this same ratio for all other r/Bourbon reviews I’ve made and normalized to 10)

OVERALL: Simply put, Found North doesn’t disappoint! But to answer the question of whether Batch 009 is close to Hell Diver…hell if I know. I still haven’t been able to try Hell Diver. 😆 What I will say is that Found North Batch 008 is the only 10/10 I’ve ever given out, and this does fall short of it. I think that is primarily due to the astringent nature of Batch 009. It was never overwhelming, but it was always present. It’s certainly expected at 124+ proof, but to be fair, it was also expected for Batch 008 and wasn't there… Overall though, this is a fantastic pour. This is complex and certainly shows the age and has a surprising flavor profile for the high percentage of corn whiskey that made up this blend. (I will add that at Found North’s recommended “Manager’s Proof,” the astringentness is reduced just enough and helps the notes bloom enough to puts this above 9.0 for me.)

BEHIND THE BOTTLE

I entered the drawing through Found North for their release of Hell Diver, and unfortunately, I wasn’t selected. As a consolation, Found North offered those that didn’t win 48 hours to pre-order one bottle of Batch 009 (limited at 2500 total) that would be delivered as part of a pre-order (essentially receive before available elsewhere). Of course after my experience with Batch 008 I wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity.

So, I’ve been sipping on this particular bottle for a couple weeks before writing this review, and while I feel like I’ve had some time to process the profile of this sip, I have hope that the astringentness will mellow out with some time at which this will be a solid 9-10 rating. Found North provides info on what they consider the “Manager’s Proof,” which is the perfect proofing down of this 124.6 proof whiskey, and for Batch 009 that’s to add 0.2 mLs of water to a 50mL pour (roughly 4 drops to 1.7oz) and let it rest for 10 minutes. I tried this and can attest to the fact it does improve the overall experience putting it solidly in the 9.2 range for me.

Found North makes all their whiskeys by blending corn whiskeys with rye whiskeys (sometimes with various finishings). Found North Batch 009 is the oldest and most involved blend of their releases to date. The cornerstone of this blend is a 19 year old rye whiskey finished over a year in Ruby Port barrel. Now, for those that are quick with math, you may recall above I mentioned this mash bill is 91% corn and only 8% rye. So, you may be asking yourself how the hell can a rye whiskey be the “cornerstone” when there’s no way it can be a major component. Well, when Found North describes a component as a cornerstone, they aren’t describing the “major component,” they’re saying that this is the whiskey that they started with for making this blend and built the blend around the notes of this cornerstone whiskey. The cornerstone is normally a more robust set of notes that make it easy to build around without losing site of it.

Lastly, I’ve generally been opposed to super aged whiskey because most of what I’ve had at 15+ year age statements start to be way too over oaked. However, Found North stated the following on their website about Batch 009:

Old whisky does not necessarily equal good whisky, but old whisky often presents flavors and textures that are unavailable within younger barrels of maturing whisky.

This is a great statement that highlights both sides of the debate: older is not automatically better, but with careful selection, that older whiskey just may offer an experience unrivalled by anything you can get in younger whiskey. This gives me more of a “proceed with caution” view instead of a more general “avoid” view for super aged whiskeys.

1 | Disgusting | ...I've not subjected myself to this level

2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage

3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28

4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select

5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated

6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Widow Jane Decadence

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, WhistlePig PiggyBack SiB, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, JD SiB BiB, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Barrel Bourbon Batch T8ke, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08

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