Redwood Empire Pipe Dream Bourbon Review

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Redwood Empire is a rather large distillery/producer located in the Russian River Valley of California. About five years after they distilled their first batch of distillate at the Graton Distillery, they seem to have secured a nice foothold on the shelves of liquor stores around the United States. This is no easy task because it requires a lot of liquid and marketing to be able to do this. Fortunately for Redwood, they’ve managed to secure both in their short time.

Redwood initially popped into the scene sometime in 2019 with barrels of highly-aged MGP bourbon that they finished in wine barrels (these were 12 year old barrels) or straight from the barrel (these were 14 and 15-year-old barrels). This was coming off the tail end of MGP running out of aged stocks like this and everyone was feeling the pain. Fortunately for Redwood, enthusiasts were so desperate for those older MGP barrels that they would buy anything on the spot. Those barrels were low-key hits.

But Redwood’s plan was never to solely source barrels of bourbon to sell. They were also making their own. Beginning in 2016, they have advanced at a very rapid pace. The latest information I came across mentioned they could fill 30 barrels a day. For a craft distillery, that’s an impressive amount.

Redwood Empire Pipe Dream

Redwood Empire has many different whiskies in their lineup, but today I’ll be focusing on Pipe Dream. Unfortunately, I’m late to the party because Pipe Dream has been out for several years now. There is even a barrel proof version that I wish to review in the near future. But for today, I’ll explore this bottle since it’s still a very common version to see on the shelf.

Rather than go into the standard spiel about how Redwood Empire names their bourbons after the tallest redwood trees or how they use proceeds to plant more trees, let’s talk about the bourbon that’s inside of this bottle.

The standard story has been that Redwood Empire blends together their own bourbon and bourbon that they sourced from Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. Altogether, this blend is comprised of barrels ranging from 4 to 12 years old.

Ok, so everything seems pretty normal so far. This is a recipe that many distilleries have followed, but what is strange is that they had previously given a combined mash bill of 75% corn, 21% “raw rye” and 4% malted barley. This didn’t really make sense if the combined mashbill of 4 separate distilleries was basically the same as the low-rye mash bill from MGP.

Then, sometime in 2023 (when this bottle was purchased), Redwood Empire updated the combined mash bill to 74% Corn, 20% Rye, 4.5 Malted Barley, 1.5% Wheat. This indicates that they’ve started to use MGP’s 51/45/4 wheated bourbon recipe. I still don’t understand how they get those numbers (is it an average from the total volume, or the average of all the mash bills used?) but it’s a mystery that looks like it’s going to remain a mystery for some time.

Not much else is known about the bourbon that Redwood Empire has put into Pipe Dream, but their pictures on Social Media show us that they use barrels sourced from Charlois Cooperage (most well-known for their wine barrels) with a Level #3 char. I assume they’ve been toasted as well. This is a good sign to see if you’re wondering about quality. Those barrels are then aged upright on pallets in their California warehouse(s) for at least 4 years. The climate is somewhat temperate, so wild temperature fluctuations are not typically a thing. Will this affect the distillate as it ages? I think so, but how? There’s only one way to find out. Let’s dive into this bottle. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose:  The nose is very light with citrus fruit, cooked apples and a light caramel scent. There are floral notes along with grainy notes and some indistinguishable herbal green notes. This doesn’t smell like a rich bourbon at all and must lean heavily towards the youthful 4-year-old barrels if I had to guess.

Palate: I’m greeted with flavors that trend towards the “green” side of the spectrum. Green wood, floral notes and somewhat earthy. Fruit flavors like medicinal cherry cough syrup, fig, and a hint vanilla can’t carry the weight of this dram, but they try. Brown baking spices spices like anise and cinnamon blend together with some seasoned oak, too. There are some good and bad flavors in this dram, but nothing feels balanced.

Finish: I find lingering spice notes like red pepper flakes and peppercorns. The fruits have morphed into just citrus notes. I also still find a mouthful of young (green) oak. Caramel sauce helps sweeten it up, but it’s not like there’s much that’s memorable here.

Score: 4.9/10

Redwood Empire Pipe Dream is utterly unremarkable in every way.  If this is a blend of 4- to 12-year-old barrels, it must lean heavily on the 4-year-old ones. Those barrels must also be Redwood’s own because they taste entirely too young and thin to be made by a legacy distillery. I found very little to like in this dram and would pick almost any other 90 proof, ~$50 bottle over this.

I’ve heard of good things about the barrel strength version of Pipe Dream but this standard batched version has me scratching my head how anyone could buy this more than once. And if that’s too harsh of a thing to say, I’d be surprised if people would pick this in a blind taste test over bottles with similar specs and value.

Final Thoughts

My assessment may seem harsh for this bottle, but in a way, it kind of confirmed my fears about the brand. I’ve heard very little chatter from the bourbon groups I’m in about any of their standard products and probably should have taken that as a sign that I should avoid it. Lesson learned.

Coming up soon I’ll have a review of Redwood Empire’s Lost Monarch. Can they get some redemption with that bottle? I’ll find out and get back with you, but for the time being, keep your money in your pocket when you see this bottle and consider something with more flavor instead.