Four Gate Split Stave By Kevin Rye Batch 10

One of the most innovative cask finishing programs of the last decade brings complexity and sweetness to a brilliant Rye Whiskey.

Four Gates Whiskey Company is the brainchild and passion project of Louisville-based "Chief Barrel Officer" Bob D’Antoni and "Chief Blending Officer" Bill Straub — who is also Editor in Chief at ModernThirst.com. In 2018 they started sourcing aged Spirits, carefully combining them, and finishing them in rare casks to make a series of limited edition releases. The results have been impressive to say the least. With less than a dozen releases out so far, they have already had eleven of them score above 90 with Whiskey Advocate’s tasting panel and six being named a Top Ten American Whiskey in 2019 and 2020.

Four Gate Whiskey has a long partnership with Kelvin Cooperage. And a part of that has been the invention of an innovative technique for developing complexity in Whiskey. This technique is called "Split Stave." Like all great ideas it is deceptively simple, yet so effective that they’ve trademarked the name. Kelvin takes half the barrels to a medium toast. The other half are darkened to a #2 char. Then the barrels are disassembled and put back together with alternating toast/char staves. Previously, Whiskey-makers had to choose between the marshmallow and crème brûlée notes of toasted barrels and the smoky oak of a charred one.

Four Gate Split Stave By Kelvin Rye Batch 10 finishes their seven-year-old Indiana Rye Whiskey in these exclusive Split Stave casks. And that sounds good to us.