This next edition of our Whiskies of the World exploration focuses on another major retailer that attended the San Francisco event, Total Wine & More. This year, they featured three bottles, one of which was The Shin 15 Year we already covered in our Dram Club article. The two remaining whiskies were far from Japanese in origin, however.
Chestnut Farms Bourbon
Chestnut Farms is a private label bottle exclusively for Total Wine, and this high-rye bourbon is their core offering under that brand. It's sweet on the nose, with notes of brown sugar. The palate is a bit spicy, but the sweetness follows through on the nose, for a fairly smooth mouthfeel. The medium-short finish bring out the baking spice elements from the palate.
McFarlane's Reserve
Little is known about the origins of this newly released wheated bourbon from IJW Whiskey, which also appears to be carried exclusively by Total Wine, other than that it carries a 3-year age statement. The nose is almost sickly sweet, with notes of candied yams and gummy treats. The palate is dripping with caramel sweetness throughout, before giving way to a short finish with just a tinge of spice.
It's always interesting to see what retailers bring to an event like this; I appreciate that they chose bottles unique to their distribution rather than just random popular whiskies. If I had to pick a favorite from this booth, I'd obviously go with The Shin 15 Year, which was a very nice dram. I hope we continue to see retailers show off unique bottlings that establish their identity within the whiskey world in years to come!