Fitch’s Goat 100% Corn Whiskey

Fitch’s Goat Corn Whiskey appears to be a defunct label to a defunct brand that originated in Texas from the minds of Jeff Peace and Joe Alecci.  The parent brand is Bone Spirits Distillery, which makes a few other spirits to include clear spirits, a bourbon and this corn whiskey.  There is no website for Bone Spirits Distillery and Yelp reviews seems to taper off after the middle of 2018.  Even the Instagram and other social media accounts seem to abandoned lately, so that probably means they are no longer distilling.

Corn Whiskey is a category that not too many distilleries bother to put out these days due to the lack of demand, but it is very easy to make.  The base requirements are using a mashbill of at least 80% corn and if you’re going to age it (which you don’t have to), you can use uncharred or previously used barrels.  Fitch’s Goat opts to use 100% corn sourced from Texas and ages it in uncharred barrels for approximately 2 years.  This is why the whiskey inside looks so light.  

I happened upon this whiskey in late 2018 after a local liquor store in southern Indianapolis got in a few cases and was selling it for $8.99 a bottle.  I heard that when this was first released in Texas, that it was going for $35, which is absurd.  I asked for a sample and found a surprising texture of liquid cornbread.  It was kind of a one trick pony, but it did that trick well enough for me to buy 2 bottles.  But not all whiskey is going to be exactly how you tasted it once, so let’s see how the bottle does after a few months of oxidation.  I sampled this neat and in a Glencairn.  

Tasting Notes

Nose: Notes of dry, unbuttered cornbread give the nose a slightly pleasant scent, but then start to transform into raw ethanol fumes.  Those fumes will dissipate after setting in the glass a while, but it’s still a very raw and astringent nose.  Oddly, there are whiffs of faint sweet cream here and there but overall, there is no real depth here.

Palate: The palate’s best, and only, trait is that of fried mush.  There is no sweetness.  It is extremely thin and since there is nothing interesting except for raw ethanol heat, you’re going to want it gone immediately from your mouth. 

Finish: The finish is very one-dimensional with mainly an unsalted popcorn aftertaste.  Then, ethanol seems to take over it all over.  The finish is unpleasant and still one dimensional.

Score: 2/10

Admittedly, Corn Whiskey is probably not intended to be drank by itself and especially from a glass that amplifies the nose of the liquid inside.  Also, at $9, a person shouldn’t be expecting too terribly much from the product.  But when you view a direct competitor like Mellow Corn to this whiskey, and see that their normal prices are within $2 of each other, you would be hard pressed to wonder why you should go with the younger product with a very shaky distilling background like Fitch’s Goat.  In reality this whiskey probably falls directly into the category of “mixers” but I would be hesitant to add this into any cocktail that needed the alcohol boost of a whiskey because the harshness this one has may even shine through it.  And if this whiskey truly was $35/bottle when it was released in Texas, there’s simply no way it should be on anybody’s list to buy.

Ratings Breakdown

1 | Disgusting | Drain pour (Example: Jeffers Creek)

2 | Poor | Forced myself to drink it

3 | Bad | Flawed (AD Laws 4 Grain BiB, Clyde Mays anything)

4 | Sub-par | Many things I’d rather have (Tincup 10 year)

5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary (Larceny, Sazerac Rye)

6 | Very Good | Better than average (Buffalo Trace, OGD BiB)

7 | Great | Well above average (Old Ezra Barrel Proof, Old Weller Antique)

8 | Excellent | Exceptional (Michter’s Barrel Proof Rye, Four Roses Barrel Strength)

9 | Incredible | Extraordinary (GTS, 13 Year MGP or Canadian Rye)

10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close (William Larue Weller)