Bitters | Orange | Cherry | Sugar cube | Cinnamon | Oak spice | Citrus zest | Gingerbread | Toasted oak

Creamsicle | Cherry | Bitters | Cinnamon | Honey | Sweet oak

Orange bitters | Tangerine | Gingerbread | Salted pecan | A touch of Absinthe | Light clove | Peppermint | Toasted oak

Oaklore Distilling Co. was founded by neighbors Tom Bogan and Matt Simpkins. What started as a shared love of whiskey while walking their children to elementary school evolved into a full-time distillery in Matthews, North Carolina. Eventually, the pair picked up Travis Masters to round out their partnership. The company currently does not distill; instead, it sources whiskey from Jackson Purchase Distillery in Kentucky and Southern Distilling in North Carolina. The company ages its whiskey in North Carolina’s Piedmont area, which it states “is an ideal climate, particularly when it comes to barrel aging.”

Oaklore Story Series: Old Fashioned Cask Finish Four Grain Bourbon begins with the company’s four-grain bourbon blend, which is then finished for 12 to 18 months in Oaklore’s ex-Old Fashioned barrels that previously held their Old Fashioned Cocktail Mixer. You can expect typical Old Fashioned cocktail notes throughout, with the four-grain bourbon base adding more citrus in the aroma, creamsicle creaminess, honey, and sweet oak on the palate, and tangerine, salted pecans, light absinthe, and clove in the finish. It features a decent drop-off in flavor, without leaving you with an overly sugary aftertaste. Yes, there is a lot going on, but because it’s also so familiar, it comes across as straightforward and purposeful.

Since there is no direct comparison to this finished bourbon to other Old Fashioned finished bourbons, the natural question that arises is: Why choose it over making your own Old Fashioned cocktail or purchasing a premade bottled Old Fashioned? With Oaklore’s bottle costing $90, it is also in company with the ultra-premium, but well-worth-it Gold Fashioned premade at $150. There’s no easy answer, and it ends up being a personal one. Not everyone wants to make an Old Fashioned cocktail, or thinks they have the skills to do it. Many premades are overly sweet and can vary in proof and price.

Oaklore instead falls into a weird middle ground. It’s not inexpensive, it's proofed like a bourbon, and although it isn’t as strong flavor-wise as a true Old Fashioned cocktail, it’s in no way subtle either. It’s merely an option, and one surprisingly few have even attempted in the market. There are some whiskeys (typically finished) that taste like an Old Fashioned, like Willet XCF, Parker's Heritage Collection: Bourbon Finished in Orange Curaçao Barrels, or more recently, Barrell Craft Spirits’ 18 Year Old Whiskey Finished in Orange Curaçao Barrels. Oaklore Story Series: Old Fashioned Cask Finish Four Grain Bourbon, on the other hand, is as close to an Old Fashioned cocktail, without technically being an Old Fashioned cocktail, as you get. It blurs the lines to such a degree that it's hard to tell where the bourbon starts and the Old Fashioned mixer ends. It’s dangerously drinkable and extremely enjoyable, which means it's doing a lot right.