Heavy caramel | Cinnamon apple streusel | Butterscotch | Creamy vanilla | Rich & potent

Backing spices | Stone fruit | Dark brown sugar | Dry oak | Concentrated & very robust

White pepper | Dried raspberries | Prune | Cedar | Faint grain | Apricot aftertaste | Long

Lost Lantern is a purveyor of single barrel whiskeys. While this is nothing new, what differentiates them is that they hand select the barrels and either create new blends combining whiskeys from multiple distilleries, or in their Single Cask series, highlight a particular distillery with the name of the distillery on the bottle’s label.

This isn’t the first time Lost Lantern has spotlighted Cedar Ridge Distillery, but this time around the bourbon is 5 years old. Uniquely, this particular single barrel was a “short cask,” as it only relinquished 100 bottles from its 53 gallon barrel.

Cedar Ridge is a good example of giving a young distillery time to grow. When we first reviewed their bourbon at the start of 2017, it was green around the collar and it was clear the whiskey needed more time in the oven.  With this single barrel, a greater maturity is on display as it is more even throughout, with a solid foundation to prop its flavors up on. Its aroma is fantastic, with strong crowd-pleasing scents of caramel, cinnamon apple streusel, butterscotch, and vanilla. Its palate packs a punch with very concentrated flavors of dry oak, stone fruit, and a wealth of baking spices. The finish is notably long, with dried raspberries and prune standing out the most. This Lost Lantern release is one of the best expressions I’ve had of Cedar Ridge yet. Concentrated, potent, and packed with flavor, this is an easy pull at its asking price.