Chocolate | Cherry | Spiced raisin | Leather | Cinnamon bundt cake | Charred oak

Spiced raisin | Cherry cobbler | Burnt toast | Leather | Cinnamon stick

Chocolate-covered cherry | Dry oak | Mixed spices | Black tea | Oak tannins

Preservation Distillery is best known for their portfolio of brands, consisting of sourced products, including Pure Antique, Very Olde St. Nick, Rare Perfection, Wattie Boone & Sons, and Old Man Winter, among others. For those brands, very little information is provided about the background of their distillation and, often, the mashbill. Preservation Estate Pot Distilled Wheated Bourbon changes that, as it is 100% in-house distilled product produced by Preservation Distillery.

The brand states that each release is composed of only 1-3 barrel batches that will range in proof between 110-118. While the exact mashbill percentage is not provided, the grains used in this wheated bourbon are. The distillery has labeled Preservation Estate Pot Distilled Wheated Bourbon as a bourbon rather than a straight bourbon, which is once again odd given that it would normally appear as a straight bourbon on the label for a bourbon of this age.

Despite the small size of their Preservation Estate Pot Distilled Wheated Bourbon batches and the age fluctuating by a year or two, there is surprising consistency among the previous year’s release we reviewed and this release, which isn’t a bad thing.

The bourbon starts off with a wonderfully rich aroma. Decadent chocolate mixed with cherry, spiced raisin, leather, and cinnamon bundt cake against charred oak. Spiced raisin returns on the palate, providing a sweet, dark fruit taste layered with warm baking spices and a touch of molasses-like richness. This works in tandem with the rest of the palate’s flavors of cherry cobbler, burnt toast, leather, and cinnamon stick. The finish begins with a chocolate-covered cherry note that some of the best wheated bourbons often feature. Beyond its baking spices, dry oak, black tea, and oak tannins make up the rest of the finish and may be polarizing to some. It’s not uncommon for wheated bourbons to go in this direction, but Preservation Estate Pot Distilled Wheated Bourbon manages it well.

Although Preservation Distillery’s brand portfolio can come across as a bit random at times, with the number of brands they put out, it’s nice to see consistency with their Pot Distilled Wheated Bourbon. This might be because it is in-house distilled and not at the whims of whatever they can source at any given time. Being the second release of their own aged distillate, Preservation Estate Pot Distilled Wheated Bourbon continues to impress.