Earlier this year, I profiled Nicole Austin, the talented young distiller at George Dickel, under the umbrella of Cascade Hollow Distilling Co. As part of that story, I discovered Austin’s first new product with the distillery that she was really proud of, the George Dickel Bottled in Bond. Austin searched the voluminous warehouse inventories of Dickel to discover a honey hole of 13-year-old stock all distilled in a single season, as the laws of the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897 requires. These barrels from the fall of 2005 were especially bold and peppery, and the extra age was far and above the required four years for BiB.
I thought at $34.99 per bottle, this was one of the best aged whiskey deals I had seen in a long time, and apparently the whiskey experts at Whisky Advocate magazine agree with me. They recently declared George Dickel Bottled in Bond to be No. 1 on their list of the Top 20 Whiskies of the Year for 2019. This is definitely an upset victory for a Tennessee whiskey, considering Kentucky bourbons or imported single-malts usually take home the top honors. If you can still find a bottle of this remarkable whisky (Dickel’s spelling, btw), pick it up. Because now that it’s an award winner, it might disappear fast!
