Tobacco leaf | Pure molasses | Burnt caramel | Sweet oak

Vanilla bean | Roasted coffee bean | Baking spices | Dark chocolate | Oak

Dry | Toasted walnuts | Clove | Dry oak | Black pepper | Soy sauce

Chattanooga Whiskey’s Founder’s Anniversary Blend releases are meant to symbolize the company’s past, present, and future. To do this, they implore a Solera process using three barrels of bourbon. They take from the past for the present, then add back for the future. According to Chattanooga Whiskey, this means “Each year to commemorate their anniversary, [company founder Tim] Piersant evaluates the whiskey within each solera barrel, trialing various blends to highlight the best of each recipe. After each year's blend is complete, the distilling team refills each tank with newly mature barrels, where they will quietly marry until the following year.”

The 12th Anniversary Blend includes 12% of barrel 1816, which holds the company’s original recipe, which was sourced from MGP in the company’s early years in 2012. Then 60% of Barrel 91, their current Tennessee High Malt recipe bourbon, and 28% of their Infinity Barrel, which is a mix of malt and rye malt whiskeys from both their Experimental and Riverfront Distilleries, with six new mashbills being added to it this year. If you’ve followed Chattanooga Whiskey for some time, you know they don’t do anything simple.

As for how the Founder’s 12th Anniversary Blend smells and tastes, it hits all the right marks. Big caramel and cherry on the nose, with malt and rhubarb not far behind. The palate features rich red velvet cake, prune, and molasses, with the finish turning towards oatmeal raisin cookie and layers of sweet oak. Chattanooga Whiskey succeeds in what they are going for with their Founder’s 12th Anniversary Blend. It tastes equally like old and current Chattanooga Whiskey but with an undercurrent that is foreign and new. 12th Anniversary Blend offers an alternative to their current standard High Malt Tennessee Bourbon. It’s more complex but also a bit more chaotic and harder to pin down compared to the standard fare. As such, it makes for a great limited release.