The Ambassador 12 Year Bourbon

Flagship of Bourbon diplomacy.

It's possible your favorite distillery isn't a distillery at all. Dave Schmier and Michael Kanbar founded Redemption Rye in 2010, but never distilled their own drop. They source all of their Whiskeys from MGP in Indiana. They sold Redemption in 2015 and moved on to other hidden Spirit caches of MGP. This time, they created an opulent blend of five MGP barrels from the same 12YO batch. They bottled the Whiskey at barrel strength and named it the Ambassador Bourbon. Dave says it's the best Bourbon he's ever bottled! We believe him.

The barrel proof wonder that came from new charred white oak casks ended up in 600 bottles only, so it's quite a limited offering (rarer than Pappy van Winkle 23YO!). But what an offering it is: rich caramel and vanilla dance around with the cask char and create an unprecedented sensation rarely found in Bourbons. The problem with Bourbons that spend more than a dozen years in barrels is they can get pretty woody. But that's not an issue for The Ambassador. It's elegant and smooth, perfect in a Manhattan cocktail or just neat.