Buttered cornbread | Caramel | Wet oak | Leather | Cigar box

Creamed corn | Toffee | Graham cracker | Tobacco | Caramel chews | Light seasoned oak

Slight spice | Candy corn | Brown sugar | Cinnamon roll | Lingering sugary-spice mix

Pure Antique 18 Year is part of the Preservation Distillery portfolio, which includes Very Olde St. Nick, Rare Perfection, Wattie Boone & Sons, and Cowboy Little Barrel. Like other brands in the company’s portfolio, very little information is provided on this bottle. Notably, the website listed on the label, pureantiquedistillery.com, is no longer active.

Despite the lack of background, the whiskey is highly drinkable. Buttered cornbread on the nose gives way to notes of tobacco, caramel chews, and graham cracker on the palate, followed by candy corn and a lingering sweet-spicy mix finish. Considering the whiskey’s flavor profile, age, and proof I would venture a guess that this originates from Cascade Hollow Distilling Co. (formerly George Dickel Distillery), and if it doesn’t, it certainly shares flavor attributes akin to a similarly aged and proofed Dickel-sourced bourbon. I really enjoy the flavor profile of this whiskey, but at the price point it is difficult to justify considering bourbons with a relatively similar age and flavor profile can be found for much less. Moreover, I would highly recommend Preservation Distillery’s Rare Perfection 14 or 15 Year (two of my personal favorites) as an alternative if you are looking for a higher aged whiskey from Preservation Distillery.

The bottle in review comes from batch H-ZJ-3.

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Editor's Note: The MSRP was updated on 3/22/2023 from $500 to $389.