I was gifted this bottle recently from a work colleague. If someone was to critique this blog and give feedback over the the obvious poor quality writing! It would be I am very Scotch centric. There is good reason for that obviously I live in the central belt of Scotland and its far easier to visit Glengoyne up the road from my house than fly to Ireland to talk about Irish whisky or the single malt distilleries of America or Japan.

However, when someone gifts you a bottle from a bourbon distiller you haven’t heard of because you can’t buy it in the UK and it is a farm distillery who wins awards. Well, in that case you really should keep the bottle and not open it for a while but yeh… I got intrigued and interested so it lasted maybe a fortnight on the shelf before being opened.

The Distillery

Speaking of our farm, it’s located in Dane, Wisconsin, about 20 miles north of Madison. It’s here where we’ve been raising seed corn since 1946 (for three generations) and the heirloom red corn, wheat and rye used in our premium bourbon since 2008.

The first interesting thing about J Henry is that they don’t have a distillery. In Scotch whisky farm distilleries you have a farm which produces barley on some or all fields and a small set of stills. Think places like Kilchoman (larger scale) or Daftmill(smaller scale) which are end to end farm to bottle operations.

The farm itself is in Dane, Wisconsin, 20 milesa from Madison. With three generations in farming J Henry is different in that they are a large scale corn seed production farm which produce corn seed for their own needs and that of other farms. Farming and agriculture are their main focus.

That is cool because it gives them the skillset to bring back long forgotten corn strains like Heirloom Red corn which is uniquely used in their mashbill but the artistry of bourbon production is delegated off to another distillery to produce under contract. Contract distilling is much more common in America than it is anything else especially in Scotland.

More information on J Henry the farms can be found at: Henry Farms LLC

More information on J Henry the bourbon brand can be found at: Our Story | Discover Our Legacy — J. Henry & Sons

The Bourbon

The farm does mature some/all of their Bourbon onsite though so you can do a tour experience and try some from the warehouse. Although I think they are called a Rickshaw in Bourbon-land.

There is none of this small batch available on even the company website. This really speaks to the craft style and small batch makeup. With no more than 20 barrels in each batch with the final bottling being watered down slightly to 46% ABV.

The official tasting notes are:

Musky notes of sandalwood and brioche make up the nose. The warmth of this bourbon lifts flavors of stewed figs and cherries, vanilla, cinnamon and cinnamon stick, enhancing the harmony between them. Barrel beauty prevails here.

Tasting Notes

Colour	Mahogany red
Nose	a touch herbaceous and spicy but still very woody. A nice freshly churned butter note balances the woody notes. Its actually like a mens aftershave in some ways
Palate	Cinnamon buns, vanilla pods simmering in milk. The legs in the glass are incredible so viscous and defined.
Finish	Liquorice Allsorts – the ones with the little sugar balls on the outside. A long long finish

Where Can I buy?

Nowhere in the uk and not many places in the US either. This is even sold out in the J Henry website.

Final Thoughts

Naively I can sometimes think Bourbon can be very samey. The reason I think this is because the production methods are all the same in my head and the type of wood is the same and the virgin wood is so intense on the spirit that goes in the barrels in the hot climate of America that everything taste of liquid Quercus alba.

This Bourbon isn’t that though its interesting, challenging and unique. Exactly what a farm based craft whiskey should be.