2018 Woodford Reserve Distillery Series Double Double Oaked Straight Bourbon Whiskey 375ml

The 2018 Woodford Reserve Distillery Series Double Double Oaked Straight Bourbon Whiskey is the 90.4 proof (45.2% ABV), 375ml edition of the series' most coveted bottling from a pivotal year at the Versailles, Kentucky distillery — sold only in Kentucky, at the distillery and a handful of select stores.

The formula is the one fans line up for: fully mature Woodford Reserve Double Oaked — built on the brand's 72% corn, 18% rye, 10% malted barley mash bill — finished an additional year in its second, heavily toasted, lightly charred new oak barrel. Two years in the second barrel, double the standard Double Oaked finish, turns a famously sweet bourbon distinctly spicier: dark toasted-oak sugars, deeper color, and a richer, more brooding palate that contemporaneous reviewers singled out as one of the series' best tricks. In the 375ml format, that darker profile lands with particular intensity — a half bottle built for slow winter sipping rather than the back bar.

It was a milestone year around the whiskey, too. In 2018, Elizabeth McCall was promoted to Assistant Master Distiller alongside Master Distiller Chris Morris — a step on her path to becoming the brand's third Master Distiller — and that November the Distillery Series added its first-ever Bottled in Bond release, underlining how central the series had become to Woodford's innovation story. Morris tied the moment to place: the Woodford Reserve Distillery is a National Historic Landmark, on a site where fine bourbon has been made since 1812.

Double Double Oaked bottlings from this era predate the release's later national fame — the January on-sale rituals, two-bottle limits, and sweepstakes were still to come — which is exactly why series collectors prize the Kentucky-only years. This is the cult bottling while it was still a local secret, in the half-bottle format that forced the flavor into sharper focus.

• Size: 375ml
• Proof: 90.4 (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 in the second barrel
• Series: Woodford Reserve Distillery Series — 2018; sold only in Kentucky (distillery and select stores)
• Vintage: 2018 (per label)