We’re here to tell you that remakes can be good. Excellent, even.
It was in 2018 when Bill Straub and Bob D'Antoni, both Whiskey enthusiasts, founded the Four Gate Whiskey Company in Kentucky and launched their mission to release très petits batches of unique combinations of Whiskey and finish barrels. And boy did they mean it when they said unique. Partnering with Kelvin Cooperage, a family-owned barrel supplier founded in 1963 in Scotland and currently based in Louisville, the combinations of quality Whiskey blends and used barrels they put together are so exotic it almost seems like you didn't read it right. We guess it's like those funny-looking couples you'd never put together, but they just work.
After their first release of barrel finished Whiskey was so warmly received in 2019, Four Gate decided to use that very same mash bill for the Kelvin Collaboration numero due. But, as always with this forward-thinking distillery, there’s a twist. This time, the 12YO high rye Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey was filled in three massive Cognac barrels and a selection of Dark Rum barrels that came from the same Rum distillery as for batch numero uno. Oh yes, a Straight Bourbon Whiskey finished in Cognac and Dark Rum casks. We’re not usually in favor of remakes (especially in movies, but we’re too classy to give any titles), but this is a worthy inheritor of the iconic Kelvin Collaboration. Non-chill filtered at 126.4 proof, there are just 2,574 bottles of this one-of-a-kind spicy sweetness out there.