*Bourbon Culture is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
| Don't like ads? | No ads |
Back around 2021, I noticed an absurdly expensive bottle pop up at a few liquor stores here in Indiana. The bottle shape was unfamiliar to me and the topper had a bronze-looking race car. The name “Borchetta Bourbon” was also a big unknown. But what really caught my eye was the pricetag: $300. A quick Google check told me that it was a 5-year-old craft bourbon distilled (not sourced) by Big Machine Distillery – a name I never heard associated with making bourbon before.
If you’re wondering why the name “Big Machine” sounds familiar, it’s because it was an independent record label first. They’ve signed many big country music names over the years. Obviously their connection is to the city of Nashville, but Scott Borchetta has expanded his empire to include a partnership with Indianapolis Motor Speedway (home of the Indy 500) and collaborating with the Grand Prix to run races in Nashville. Distilled spirits probably seemed like the next worthwhile venture.
Big Machine makes their own bourbon
The Tenn South Distillery was purchased by Scott Borchetta in 2015. This operation was located in Lynnville, TN and had been making various spirits on a very small scale prior the acquisition. But it was the vodka that Scott and his brother Mark would stake their claim on. On top of distilling it 25 times (on their 500 gallon pot still), they had it pass through a platinum filter to enhance smoothness.
The old Tenn South distillery was also making whiskey during this time. Some pictures show a rudimentary charcoal filtering process (it looks like used barrels were filled up with sugar maple charcoal) for the whiskey to be dripped through. This is a requirement to make true “Tennessee Whiskey.”
But what if a distillery in Tennessee wants to make a bourbon? According to legal definitions, all Tennessee Whiskey can be called bourbon, but most distilleries in the state usually decide to skip the charcoal filtering step if they want to call it that. This seems to be the case with Big Machine. After viewing their social media pictures, you can see distinct barrel heads that say whether they are Tennessee Whiskey or Bourbon. The former has the acronym “LCP” wrote below it which surely means that distillate went through the “Lincoln County Process” (charcoal filtering). The bourbon barrels have no such designation.
The barrel heads also reveal the barrel entry proof for their whiskies. I noticed that the Tennessee Whiskies and “Red Corn Bourbon” have barrel entry proofs between 122 to 125. This is a fairly standard entry proof for the industry. Their “Single Malt” barrels have a barrel entry proof of 117.6. They also have barrels marked with just “Bourbon Whiskey” on the head that have a barrel entry proof of 110. I’m wondering if those contain the whiskey in the bottle I’m reviewing today.
Borchetta Small Batch Bourbon
Borchetta Bourbon reached out to me to see if I’d like to review a bottle. I was halfway expecting one of those $300 Borchetta Bourbon bottles to arrive in the mail. But what I received was the bottle you see before you. It’s a new release that seems to caters to proud Tennesseans or the mixer crowd since it’s only 80 proof. The back label has a very small spot on the bottom right corner with a handwritten number that indicates which mashbill was used for that batch.
From what I can tell, all Borchetta Bourbon use a wheated mash bill. The main component that separates them is which type of corn was used; white, red or blue. So the code on the back of the bottle reveals the batch number and which color of corn was used. In the case of the bottle I’m reviewing today – 011W – we know that the mash bill was 76% White Corn, 11.5% Wheat and 12.5% Mated Barley.
In conclusion, this is a sweet-mash, pot-distilled wheated bourbon that is made with heirloom corn and creek water (?!). The distillery made the choice to also proof it down to 40% ABV instead of something a bit more appealing to enthusiasts like 45%. I don’t think these specs create a recipe for success, but I’ve been wrong before. So let’s take a look. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.
Tasting Notes
Nose: A youthful punch of wet wood hits my nose upon the first sniff. Looking beyond that note doesn’t provide me with a lot of hope. There are lots of green notes and spice notes that would be more on the harsh side if it wasn’t for the low proof. Ground pepper, stale cinnamon and cardboard box. Here and there, a few notes of vanilla, tootsie rolls and caramel pop out. Mostly, the sweetness part is dominated by powdered sugar.
Palate: The mouthfeel isn’t as thin as I thought it would be, but I’m not saying it’s notable or anything. There is a bit of raw heat that likely comes from a lack of age, but mostly it’s refined sugar, freshly cut oak, vanilla and a hint of tootsie roll (again). The spice notes are unrefined and don’t add depth in the way I’d want. There is also a bit of grassiness/green-ness to the whole dram that doesn’t entice you to drink it straight. The final note I find it a bit of astringency and/or ethanol that hasn’t quite worked itself out of the distillate.
Finish: Vanilla, ash and some powdered sugar are pretty much all the finish has to give. It’s not entirely bad, but there’s nothing memorable about it. It goes away almost as quickly as it started meaning you need to take another sip to get the flavor back on your tongue.
Score: 4.4/10
I wish I had something more positive to say, but Borchetta Small Batch Bourbon doesn’t say a lot itself. I know that many other online reviewers received media sample bottles and they all have about the same thing to say about this release – it’s young, thin and is lacking in a many areas. Honestly, whenever a producer sends me an 80 proof whiskey to review I have to wonder why. 80 proof is synonymous with “Mix me into something” and that’s just not my jam. Even if I was a person who consumed a lot of cocktails (I’m not), then I’d probably go with a higher proof bottle just to taste the spirit. Is this not common for people to do?
Final Thoughts
I do not wish poor sales upon the Borchetta brand. I think what they have is unique and interesting. Pot still wheated bourbon is such a rarity in the whiskey world that I am still anticipating my first real good example of it. The Lincoln County Process (which I don’t think this bourbon used) also has me intrigued as to its effects on a bourbon like this. And while I don’t think that this bourbon would have been improved by a higher proof, perhaps a more selective small batch blend would have had better results.
All of these things and more still leave the door open for me to want to try other products of theirs in the future. But for now, Borchetta Small Batch Bourbon is a pass.