(UNFILTERED - UNCUT - FULL FLAVOR)

Age: 6-years

Proof: 120.1 proof

Mash bill: 73/15/12 Corn/Rye/Malted Barley

Source: Holladay Distillery, Weston MO

About the product: Ben Holladay Rickhouse Proof Bourbon is Ben Holladay Bourbon in its original form, straight out of the barrel.

When Master Distiller Kyle Merklein pulls samples of bourbon, he is always tasting them at full-proof. It’s special to be able to share this bourbon in its original state just as he would taste in the rickhouse. With a higher proof, the flavor of the bourbon is more robust and complex than what you would taste at a lower proof.

Distiller Notes by Kyle Merklein: "We discussed the origin of releasing the Rickhouse Proof bourbon on our podcast, but this product was always sold exclusively at our distillery. It became pretty clear early on that there was demand for this full flavored bourbon out in the market, and this August release was designed with that in mind. 

I typically select the bottlings by tasting straight from the barrel, but I will always sample at 100 proof to see how the bottled in bond will taste. This batch, however, I cared more about how the Rickhouse Proof version tasted.  

The inspiration for this bottling ultimately came from the October 2022 bottling of Ben Holladay. For the longest time, that was the favorite bottling of so many employees on-site, but my regret with that one was that we never had a Rickhouse Proof version hit the market. I didn’t want to directly copy that bottling, but was able to use the same distillation season and a very similar breakdown of floors, with various tweaks based on how the bourbon was tasting. Overall I’m very excited to see this hit shelves throughout our market, and looking forward to having a few pours with new and old friends alike. 

Four floors have been blended to create this end-of-summer sipper. We ended up using fifteen percent of floor 2, fifty-eight percent of floor 3, twenty-two percent of floor 4, and only five percent of floor 5."