Fugitives Spirits Grandgousier Tennessee Whiskey 375ml

The 375ml Grandgousier is the sampler's route into one of Nashville's most singular whiskeys — a half bottle sized for first encounters, side-by-side flights and travel. For a single-barrel spirit, the smaller format has a particular logic: it lets you taste what an individual cask is doing without opening a full bottle, and makes it easy to compare barrel runs over time.

Grandgousier is Tennessee whiskey in the strict sense. Fugitives Spirits copper pot distills a mash of heirloom Hickory Cane corn and Irish malted barley, then mellows the spirit through sugar maple charcoal the distillery burns and crafts itself — the charcoal step that separates Tennessee whiskey from bourbon. Aging follows in toasted, charred oak. The whiskey is bottled at 94 proof (47% ABV) from one cask at a time.

Expect an inviting nose where sweet corn and caramel meet butter biscuit, a rounded mid-palate with orchard-fresh apple, and a gentle smoky thread from the maple charcoal running underneath. Oak time layers in caramel apple and toasted grain as the glass sits. Critics have taken notice: the whiskey holds a Gold-level Exceptional 93 rating from Tasting Panel magazine.

Slip this half bottle into a blind tasting against better-known Tennessee names, or give it to the whiskey drinker who thinks they have tried everything from the Volunteer State. The literary name — borrowed from Rabelais' giant king — is a story in itself over a shared pour.

• Size: 375ml
• Proof: 94 (47% ABV)
• Age or Class: Single barrel Tennessee whiskey, no age statement
• Origin: Nashville, Tennessee
• Distillery: Fugitives Spirits
• Style/Class: Tennessee whiskey, copper pot distilled
• Composition: Heirloom Hickory Cane corn and Irish malted barley
• Cask/Aging: Handmade maple charcoal mellowing; toasted and charred oak maturation
• Tasting Notes: Sweet corn, caramel and butter biscuit; apple mid-palate with a soft smoky undertone