If
you hopped in a time machine and set it for 1856, you'd stumble on a brand new
whiskey called Chicken
Cock. Distilled in Paris, Kentucky, it had a
rich history. Fast forward about 64 years, and you'd find Chicken Cock in
speakeasies around the country during Prohibition, including the famous Cotton Club
in Harlem.
“During the prohibition period, you could always buy good whiskey from somebody in the Cotton Club. They used to have what they called Chicken Cock. It was a bottle in a can, and the can was sealed. It cost something like ten to fourteen dollars a pint.” - Duke Ellington
Then,
in the 1950s, the distillery in Paris burned down, and the brand vanished into
history. That is until it was resurrected in 2011 by Matti Anttila
while he was researching older distilleries, and he purchased the rights to the
brand. His company, Grain
& Barrel Spirits, entered into a collaborative
distilling agreement with Bardstown
Bourbon Company in 2017.
The
13-year-old boy in me adores the name. It is the holy grail of immature jokes.
“You can’t have great whiskey without great wood and this expression is the perfect marriage of age and wood. That’s why we aged our eight-year-old whiskey in American oak barrels twice. This process allows us to extract all the great flavor within the oak to create a robust and intriguing sipper that’s likely to not last long on the shelves.” – Matti Anttila
Today,
I’m exploring Chicken
Cock Double Oak Kentucky Whiskey.
You’ll notice it isn’t a Rye or Bourbon, and that’s because it involves the use
of used barrels. While the mashbill is undisclosed, the recipe would have qualified
as Bourbon.
Double
Oak carries an eight-year age statement. That comes from spending seven years
resting in vintage cooperage before being transferred to new, white American
oak barrels for another year. The finishing barrel was housed on the top floor
of one of Bardstown Bourbon Company’s rickhouses.
A
46% ABV (90°) 750ml bottle costs about $99.99. It enjoys wide distribution
across the United States.
Before
I continue, I thank Grain & Barrel Spirits for providing me with a sample
of this Kentucky whiskey in exchange for my no-strings-attached, honest review.
Let’s #DrinkCurious.
Appearance: I drank
this whiskey neat from my trusty Glencairn glass. Inside, it was a dark, brassy
amber. A medium rim formed slow, wide legs.
Nose: As I
sniffed this whiskey, I smelled oak, berries, toffee, dark chocolate, and nuts.
I tasted mocha when I inhaled the vapor into my mouth. The nosing was an
enjoyable experience and had me wondering if the palate would keep up.
Palate: The
texture was oily, but a solid punch hit my tongue. After the palate shock, the
second sip opened things up. Charred oak, vanilla, and nutmeg were on the
front. Flavors of cinnamon and rye spices joined mocha to create the middle. The
back featured oak tannins, clove, and leather.
Finish: Very long
and leaving my tongue a bit tingly, the finish consisted of dry oak tannins,
clove, barrel char, cinnamon spice, nutmeg, and something slightly bitter that
I couldn’t identify. I repeated the sipping process to figure it out but couldn’t.
Bottle, Bar, or Bust: If you
like extensive wood notes, then Chicken Cock is sure to please. I liked the
spiciness, but the char seemed, for whatever reason, out of place. It is comparatively
priced to Chicken Cock 8-year single barrel Bourbon that I reviewed in 2020.
I’ve had several
double-oaked whiskeys, both American and not, and I mostly found them tasty and
worthwhile. Chicken Cock Double Oak is off-beat, especially with that bitter
note. Most of my interactions with Chicken Cock have found it to be decidedly different.
That’s not bad, but you’ll want to try this one at a friend’s house or a good
whiskey Bar before committing. Cheers!
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.
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