Episode 32: Cask & Coast Reserve Four-Grain Blend

The Pot Still Column: Episode 32

Cask & Coast Reserve Four-Grain Blend California Blended Bourbon Whiskey

Batch: #1

Proof: 102

Age: NAS

Finish: California Cabernet Sauvignon/Franc Wine Casks

Price: $69.99

A friend of mine slipped a bottle of this bourbon into my hands at a recent bottle share and requested that I review it. How could I say no?

Cask & Coast Spirits (CCS) is an independent bottling company located in San Diego, CA. I normally try to avoid reviewing local spirits and businesses in an effort to unconditionally support local distilleries, but this bourbon is made in the great state of Indiana, so I will make an exception. From what I can gather from the Cask & Coast website, this Four-Grain Reserve Blend is the first and only release from Cask & Coast Spirits. Some further sleuthing shows that the company was founded just over a year ago (2021), so it makes sense that they are still on their first release.

The bourbon at hand is a non-age-stated product distilled and aged by MGP of Indiana, and secondarily finished in California wine casks on the west coast. The casks in which the bourbon is finished are a mix of ex-Cabernet Sauvignon and ex-Cabernet Franc barrels. My uncultured ass doesn't know what Cabernet Franc is, and I'm not going to look it up, but I'm sure it tastes good. I haven't seen any other bourbons touting a finish in Cabernet Franc barrels, so I am curious to see how the wine reacts with the spirit. Other than that, the bourbon is modestly cut to 102 proof, and boasts a four-grain mash bill of corn, wheat, rye, and barley. The color is a little light for a wine-finished product, so I am going to gamble that this bourbon was not aged long in new oak barrels. Maybe 3 or 4 years including the finishing process.

While everybody knows by now that I am tired of MGP products and hate seeing the market dominated by sourced bourbon, I am finding a soft spot in my heart for this local brand. Before I even get into tasting the whiskey, I must commend Cask & Coast Spirits for being transparent about their products. Notably, the state of distillation is displayed prominently and centrally on the back label-- a clear deviation from the many sourced whiskeys that employ the smallest and most discreet print possible. The product is consistently advertised as a blend of Indiana bourbons, and the company has never claimed to be a manufacturing distillery. All of these things are great signs, and I appreciate the ease with which I can learn what I am buying when looking at this bottle. The glass itself is very attractive as well, reminding me of the vessels used by Sagamore Spirits.

On the nose, the wine finish is obvious but not overwhelming. If anything, it is subtle, its presence betrayed only by an exaggerated, slightly tannic tartness. Underneath the wine there are notes of banana, peanuts (very minimal), vanilla icing, and faux cherry. The nose is somewhat sharp, although not in an ethanol-forward way. It merely presents very crisply, much like a concentrated whiff of winter mint might interact with one's senses. The whiskey bears none of the old, sour wine notes that sometimes ruin wine-finished spirits, meaning the finishing process was successful and beneficial. I am not entirely sure that I would be able to identify this as an MGP product if I tasted it blindly, and that makes me happy.

The sensory experience of tasting this whiskey is interesting. The unadulterated bourbon hits the palate first, revealing the banana, cherry, and nut flavors immediately. The wine finish appears as the whiskey goes down, continuing into the finish for a short while before receding into a neutral, somewhat dry oak. The initial burst of un-finished bourbon flavors are intriguingly misleading, making me expect a dustier and oakier profile than there turns out to be. I appreciate the dynamic drinking experience, and the bourbon does have quite a bit of complexity, especially for a young MGP product. The finish, while not at all unpleasant, is a little short. Even so, it avoids the overly tannic and oaky characteristics that many wine-finished bourbons exhibit.

Closing Impression:

Overall, this is a satisfying bourbon that departs from the norm by introducing a dual wine finish to an otherwise very common distillate. While not entirely groundbreaking, the bourbon tastes better than just about all of the independently bottled MGP bourbons that I have tried at this proof. The proof itself is a positive factor, and I think the Cask & Coast team nailed it by choosing to bottle at 102 proof. The wine finishes add tremendously to the experience, and they do a great job of hiding any youth that the bourbon may otherwise have displayed. I prefer this whiskey to several other big-name, MGP-sourced bourbons currently on the market. At $69.99, Cask & Coast is decently priced, although it would be a better bargain at $50. Wine finishing can be an expensive process, and there are plenty of unfinished MGP products that sell for ten to twenty dollars more than this four-grain bourbon, so the price is reasonable. I don't like the idea of a "daily drinker" whiskey because of the term's obvious implications of overconsumption, but this is a daily drinker if I have ever seen one.

**Note: After completing this review, I returned to this bottle twice more by choice which says something.

Nose: 85/100 (Great)

Taste: 82/100 (Good)

Finish: 77/100 (Pretty Good)

Overall: 81/100 (Good - Above average)

*Thanks to Shea N. for supplying the bottle for this review.