Starlight Distillery Huber's Rickhouse Select Gift Shop Exclusive Single Barrel Indiana Straight Bourbon

VITALS:

- $60

- 114.6 Proof

- 4.5 years

- Barrel No. 16121

- Indiana

I certainly consider myself a fan of Starlight Distillery. I was introduced to them about four years ago, back when they had an ugly and very unassuming label, one that had never attracted my attention. But, on recommendation, I gave one of their single barrel ryes a try and thought it was absolutely delicious! Now they have all sorts of SKUs on the shelves and a pretty robust private barrel program out of which have come some absolutely incredible bottles of whiskey.

So, when I finally got the chance to visit the distillery and Huber's farm on my way back from Louisville a couple Summers ago, I went with the intention of buying whatever gift shop exclusive single barrels they had available. This is the last of what I purchased, sadly. But, on the brighter side, it gives me reason to make my way back there soon!

The nose was certainly more traditional, in that I got notes of vanilla and caramel or even burnt sugar right up front. It did have a bit of a cinnamon spice, perhaps at times more of a black pepper spice. There was also a bit of a wood note, but not really that deep oak note. It was more like the smell of fresh cut wood.

The flavor was good, albeit not very complex. It was caramel forward, but also had a significant amount of that burnt sugar flavor I got off the nose. There was a certain nutty quality to it as well, kind of like walnut, even with the slightly bitter parts from the shell.

On the finish the black pepper seemed to come through more, overtaking any cinnamon spice. I wouldn't have described this as a "spicy" bourbon until I got to that finish. It also had a good amount of brown sugar on the finish, as well as a light walnut note that lingered for a bit.

All the flavors were good, but it just came across as somewhat simple. I would have loved for the vanilla I got on the nose to come through in the flavor, or for some fruit-forward notes. But, I still enjoyed what was there, and once I opened it the bottle still wasn't long for this world.

Grade: B