Cody Road Bourbon Whiskey Review & Tasting Notes

 

I've had some decent luck with Iowa distilleries. Forgetting the obvious one everyone has heard of, some of the others have been excellent. One may have even distilled something that has earned serious consideration for my Whiskey of the Year. 

Mississippi River Distilling Company is located in Le Claire, Iowa, which is literally on the banks of the Mississippi River. Established in 2010 by brothers Ryan and Garrett Burchett, it is a grain-to-glass distillery that utilizes a hand-made German still built by Kothe Distilling Technologies. They lovingly call the still "Rose."

"The still consists of a handmade German boiling pot and two tall copper rectification columns. Those columns house distillation plates that allow us to distill the purest vodka up to 95% alcohol. We can also turn off some or all of those plates to make whiskey in a traditional pot still fashion or anything in between. It gives us the flexibility to be as creative as we want to be with our distillates. We have affectionately named her 'Rose' as she has the curves of a beautiful woman and is the true 'River Rose' at our distillery." - Mississippi River Distilling Company

Its line of whiskeys is called Cody Road, named for the road it is located on. Today I'm sampling its standard Cody Road Bourbon, made from a mash of 70% locally-grown corn, 20% wheat from Reynolds, Illinois, and 10% unmalted barley from Davenport, Iowa. Once run through Rose, it aged "over two years" in 30-gallon new, charred oak barrels. It is bottled at 90° and a 750ml will set you back about $33.49.  As you can see from the photo, I picked up a 50ml at a random liquor store run.

So, how was Cody Road Bourbon? I'll #DrinkCurious and tell you more...

Appearance:  Served neat in my Glencairn glass, Cody Road was the color of caramel. It formed a heavy rim with slow, fat legs.

Nose:  This put off a huge bouquet of apple and corn. Hidden beneath were caramel and nutmeg. All those aromas were shoved aside by sawdust. When I took the air into my mouth, I discovered sweet corn.

Palate:  The mouthfeel started thin but grew into a medium body. This was seriously corn-forward, which was joined by dusty cocoa powder. The middle offered light berry fruit and unmistakeable barley. The flavors on the back were oak, tobacco, and clove. 

Finish:  The sawdust was challenging to get past. Tobacco leaf and clove struggled to get through, and the barley flavor soon eclipsed them all. It ended with both dry wood and the return of that sawdust. The finish was medium in length and warming without a burn.

Bottle, Bar, or Bust:  The problem with using smaller cooperage is that it is almost always obvious smaller cooperage is involved. That sawdust smell and flavor are dead giveaways. This isn't to suggest that smaller cooperage can't lead to very good whiskey, because Lord knows I've certainly given my fair share of Bottle ratings to whiskeys aged that way. Unfortunately, Cody Road isn't in that realm. There are a few things that would likely improve the experience:  Let this age another year in the smaller cooperage, switch over to 53-gallon cooperage, or blend malted barley in with the unmalted barley like the Irish and Scots to reduce some of the punch.

While I commend the Burchetts for thinking outside the box, it just isn't enough to save Cody Road Bourbon from a Bust rating. 

My Simple, Easy to Understand Rating System

• Bottle = Buy It
• Bar = Try It
• Bust = Leave It

Whiskeyfellow encourages you to enjoy your whiskey as you see fit but begs you do so responsibly.