2015 Woodford Reserve Distillery Series Double Double Oaked Straight Bourbon Whiskey 375ml

The 2015 Woodford Reserve Distillery Series Double Double Oaked Straight Bourbon Whiskey is where one of American whiskey's great cult bottlings began: an inaugural release of Woodford Reserve's Distillery Series, unveiled in July 2015 as a 375ml distillery exclusive that took fully mature Woodford Reserve Double Oaked and finished it for an additional year in its second, heavily toasted, lightly charred new oak barrel.

The Distillery Series was Master Distiller Chris Morris's experimental playground — a line of small-batch, 375ml releases sold at the Versailles, Kentucky distillery, with Double Double Oaked and Sweet Mash Redux as its first two expressions. “With the Woodford Reserve Distillery Series, we used our industry and sensory knowledge to create an eclectic line of one-of-a-kind expressions,” Morris said at the launch. “By pushing the creative boundaries of whiskeys even further, we are inviting our customers who visit our distillery to experience extreme variations of whiskey.”

The process builds on Double Oaked, which re-barrels mature Woodford Reserve into a second new oak barrel given roughly a 40-minute toast and only a light char. Double Double Oaked keeps the whiskey in that second barrel for two years — double the standard Double Oaked finish — trading its sibling's sweetness for a distinctly spicier, darker profile. As Morris later explained, the team experimented with tripling and quadrupling the finishing period, and those didn't work; two years was the sweet spot. The base bourbon carries Woodford Reserve's 72% corn, 18% rye, 10% malted barley mash bill, produced at the National Historic Landmark distillery site where whiskey-making dates to 1812.

The 2015 bottling was planned as a one-time-only release — and demand had other ideas, eventually turning Double Double Oaked into the series' star and an annual winter tradition. One note of precision: published specifications for this first bottling are scarce; every subsequently verified Double Double Oaked release is 90.4 proof (45.2% ABV), so confirm this bottle's proof from its label. For collectors of the series, this is the origin bottle — the first appearance of a bourbon people would one day line up in January for.

• Size: 375ml
• Proof: ABV varies; see bottle label (every subsequently verified Double Double Oaked release is 90.4 proof / 45.2% ABV)
• Age: No age statement — fully mature Double Oaked finished an additional year in its second barrel
• Origin: Versailles, Kentucky
• Distillery: Woodford Reserve Distillery (Brown-Forman)
• Whiskey Type: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Mash Bill: 72% corn, 18% rye, 10% malted barley
• Cask/Cooperage: Second new oak barrel — heavily toasted, lightly charred; two years total (double the Double Oaked finish)
• Series: Woodford Reserve Distillery Series — inaugural release, July 2015 (with Sweet Mash Redux)
• Vintage: 2015