Candied fruits | Mixed red berries | Aged oak | Dark caramel | Gumdrops | Plum | Faint pie crust 

Stone fruits | Rye spice | Baking spices | Burnt caramel | Cinnamon stick | Subtle Cavendish & Harvey Wild Berry Drops

Rye spice | Stone fruits | Dash of candied fruits | Gentle aged oak | Light leather | Raisin | Lingering gentle dry heat 

Fathertime Bourbon is a new company and brand created by comedian Jim Gaffigan in partnership with Stu Pollard, who is a college friend of Gaffigan’s. Launched in the spring of 2024, the brand sources bourbon from an undisclosed distillery(ies) in Kentucky and has it bottled in Bardstown. Each batch is denoted with a name and a story from Gaffigan explaining why it displays the moniker it does. 

For Santa’s Reward, the company is evoking the legend of “Santa’s Reward.” The company states that the legend goes that “in the late 1700’s, in what was then considered Kentucky County, Virginia, a poor Irish immigrant widow named Marcia Mitchell Gavahan began secretly gifting small bottles of fine corn whiskey to the townspeople who had shown her and her six children kindness throughout the year. The bottles would be placed on doorsteps on Christmas Eve marked only with, ‘Santa’s Reward.’ Though many suspected her, Marcia never admitted she was behind it, always replying with a smile, ‘Maybe it was Santa’.” Each of the 242 bottles in the inaugural release comes in a limited-edition etched crystalline decanter, a hand-signed and numbered letter from Gaffigan, and is displayed in a box wrapped in a leather-like finish. 

Santa’s Reward is meant to evoke the spirit of giving at Christmas. While there’s certainly no defined Christmas time bourbon, Santa’s Reward does an exceptional job of producing a sip that captures flavors that evoke this time of year. It opens with an aroma that contains a fantastic combination of scents, ranging from candied fruits and gumdrops to classic scents and pleasing mixed red berries and plum. The sweetness found in the nose carries forward and evokes Cavendish & Harvey Wild Berry Drops at the midpoint, along with stone fruits and various forms of spice. These stone fruits and rye spice drive forward the conclusion of the sip and are joined by gentle dry notes of oak, leather, and raisin. A lingering dry heat puts the finishing touches on the experience. 

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m always a little skeptical when a celebrity starts a bourbon brand, especially when the first big limited release is a $500 bottle. However, there’s no denying that Santa’s Reward is anything but an exceptional pour. It evokes flavors of Christmastime, but it manages to do so without barrel finishing. The 15 year bourbon base chosen never comes across as over-oaked, instead utilizing every ounce of its proof to produce a delightful drinking experience. While there’s no denying the price is incredibly high, I’ll be the first to say that I wish more than 242 bottles were produced, as this is one bourbon that more people should get to experience this holiday season.