Sweet oak | Strawberry | Plum | Sugar cookie | Honeycomb | Apricot | Barrel char

Raspberry jam | White grape | Raisin | Red currant | Brown sugar | Vanilla

Fermented white grape | Plum | Black cherry | Dates | Light charred oak

The whiskey alchemists of Dark Arts Whiskey House are moving their attention to the art of port finishing. Ruby and tawny port finishes are by far the two most common types of port finishing, but white port finishing is slowly making a name for itself, and for good reason. White grapes tend to pair exceedingly well with traditional bourbon flavors. Combine that with red fruit flavors that red port finishing provides, as in the case of “The Empyrean II,” and you can expect a lot of flavors to come at you all at once.

The bourbon’s aroma begins with sweet oak up front, and is quickly overtaken by strawberry and plum scents. From there, sugar cookie, honeycomb, and apricot round out the complex aroma. The palate does its best to balance the rich red and white grape flavors all at once. Raspberry jam tends to hit first, with a distinct, crisp, bright white grape note taking over. Though it isn’t for long, with raisin and red currant fighting their way into the mix. Traditional brown sugar and vanilla notes round out the palate. The finish is where things get a bit more unusual, but that's also what Dark Arts tends to bring to their whiskeys. Fermented white grape notes lead the finish, creating a dry, tart, and fruity taste in your mouth. That lingers while plum, black cherry, dates, and light charred oak settle in.

There are a lot of great flavors that come at you in “The Empyrean II’s” sip, but the unusual fermented white grape note is impossible to ignore. It makes for a sip that pushes port-finished bourbons into new areas they have rarely gone before. Dark Arts whiskeys don’t typically go for mainstream appeal, as they are also a company that markets a bourbon specifically to blunt smokers. The fermented white grape makes “The Empyrean II’s” sip more challenging than it probably needs to be, but I can’t help but think that was by design. It’s an especially big and flavorful pour at 111.5 proof, and it isn’t shy about any part of its port finishing - and all of the good and bad that come with it.