McLaughlin Distillery is located in Sewickly, Pennsylvania, which is about 12 miles from Pittsburgh. The distillery was founded by Kim McLaughlin in February 2016. Before opening the distillery, McLaughlin spent 4 years in the Marine Corp and 23 years as a dairy farmer in upstate New York.‍

‍McLaughlin Distillery is very small, with 5 full time and 10 part time employees currently, which McLaughlin described to us as truly part of the distillery with “someone here almost all the time” and the people are what made the distillery “take on a life of its own.” McLaughlin distills all of their own products, and currently, all products use a 100% corn mashbill, though beginning in May 2025, they added a 65% rye, 35% corn mashbill based on demand for rye whiskey. The company began with one 50-gallon still, but has since upgraded to six 100-gallon stills, with production capacity of approximately 600 (small) barrels per year, with distillation running approximately 330 days out of the year. The company ages their whiskey onsite and offsite, using 2.5-gallon (~500 barrels), 5-gallon (~600 barrels), 10-gallon (~1,500 barrels), 15-gallon (<100 barrels), and one 30-gallon barrel. Small barrels have been used because they are more manageable in size and weight, and ultimately have contributed to the distillery’s unique flavor profile. While they built their own barrels initially, the company now buys them and seeks out barrels made from northern oak due to its tighter grain structure.‍

‍For Cask Strength Baby Barrel Bourbon, 2.5-gallon barrels are used. Not all 2.5-gallon barrels end up as single barrels, however a new one is typically identified and harvested when the bottles from the previous one are about to run out, so the product is produced on an ongoing basis. According to McLaughlin, they are typically identified first by weight, then by taste, as the lighter barrels with more evaporation loss are generally good candidates as they tend to have a more intense flavor profile. Each 2.5-gallon barrel is filled with approximately 13 bottles worth of distillate, and the yield tends to run about 8-9 bottles after approximately 5 years. Each bottle of Baby Barrel Bourbon is individually engraved, which includes the running total bottle number considering all Baby Barrel Bourbon Single Barrels ever produced. The bottle in review is number 945.

There’s a lot going on when you initially approach this whiskey. Dark cherry syrup and red velvet cake are wrapped in waves of maple sugar candy, raisin, and dense peppery oak. Underneath are hints of tobacco and graham cracker. There’s some potency to the mix of scents, but it’s manageable and strikes about right for the bourbon’s proof point. Overall, it’s not perfectly balanced, but it’s fascinating and enjoyable nonetheless.

Big flavors of raisin and peppery oak bring a grippingly intense start to the sip. Caramel, brown sugar, and a touch of molasses add additional sweetness. Tobacco and graham cracker form against the sweeter flavors, skewing towards the savory side in contrast. The overall strength of the flavors is remarkably high, and it has a chewy, almost weighty, mouthfeel. Ultimately it’s a really distinct, intensely enjoyable midpoint.

A surge of black pepper spice gives way to peppery oak and waves of caramel and raisin. Dark cherry, tobacco, and graham cracker follow. As the initial spice fades, remnants of brown sugar and caramel linger. The end brings an elevated degree of balance to the whiskey, as the heavier peppery oak and raisin become more tempered. The finish lasts and lasts, enticing you to hold off and savor it before taking another sip.

Cask Strength Baby Barrel Bourbon is a very atypical product in today’s marketplace and thrives on its unique attributes. Being a true micro-distillery that distills on very small stills with a 100% corn mashbill and then ages in very small 2.5-gallon barrels sets the tone for just how unusual this brand of whiskey is. But unlike many craft distilleries of the past, McLaughlin has dialed in the flavor profile and attained age so that the resulting product is both immediately distinctive tasting and also really enjoyable. Moreover, while oak does provide a driving influence to the flavor profile, it’s not over-oaked as bourbons aged in small barrels can sometimes be.

Tasting it reveals traits similar to past Kings County Barrel Strength releases and Garrison Brothers barrel proof variations, which are (or have been) aged in 15-gallon barrels and offer unique, gripping flavor profiles that include intense oak in various forms. But still, Cask Strength Baby Bourbon manages to find flavor territory all its own. Even though it has some roughness around the edges, its good qualities far outweigh this, ultimately reinforcing the concept that small barrels and a 100% corn mashbill can work really well when done right.

Cask Strength Baby Barrel Bourbon isn’t a low-priced product; instead sitting in limited edition territory at $200 per bottle. Many would balk at this being from a lesser-known local distillery and aged just over 5 years. However, given the hands-on, small-scale approach that’s taken to create this bourbon, and the fact that the end result is both unique and enjoyable, is enough to rethink its value proposition. For those who take a chance and enjoy intense, unique tasting bourbons, it delivers and then some.

The distillery offers a unique alternative for those looking to save some money but willing to wait and experiment a bit on their own. For $500, you can purchase a 2.5-gallon barrel plus 15 750mL bottles of distillate. You’ll need to empty most of them into the barrel at home (at your own discretion of course), and may need to top it off a bit after the initial absorption from the wood, but if you can wait long enough you, in theory, could have essentially the same product as that being reviewed here. Of course, without being able to replicate aging conditions, the end result will most likely come out a bit different from what McLaughlin is selling, which applies to any single barrel bourbon regardless of where it’s aged. That said, with an expected yield of 8-9 bottles after 5 years, that comes to about $60 per bottle, plus the barrel is yours to keep. The distillery even allows customers to bring the barrels (or samples) in after aging is underway and helps taste-test them with the customer.

The typical mantra for a company is to produce more, get bigger, and reach a wider audience on an increasingly larger scale. While McLaughlin Distillery has followed the general path of producing more and reaching a larger audience since their inception, the company’s scale has remained very small by comparison to most other whiskey makers. This means their products are the result of a very hands-on, highly curated process.

Cask Strength Baby Barrel Bourbon is the epitome of this. With a microscopic yield of only 8-9 cask strength bottles per barrel, Baby Bourbon is simply a product you do not come across that often, if ever. The proof is ultimately in the final product, which is enjoyable and unforgettable at the same time. To put it simply, this is an incredibly unique bourbon you don’t want to pass up.