NoCo Distillery: Founder's Reserve Cigar Blend

MSRP: $65 for 375ml

Mash: American whiskey aged in Tokilya (in house agave), rum, brandy, rye, bourbon and single malt then married and aged in new oak

Proof: 133.3

Age: NAS

Nose: immediately you're met with a cornucopia of fruit, apricot, currants, fig, tangerine, and apple, its followed by some nice rounded earthiness akin to tobacco and moss

Palate: the nose follows through to the palate beautifully before layering in cedar and leather, an almost menthol like mint follows on the mid palate, there's a brown sugar sweetness that trails at the end before adding just a subtle whisp of smoked black tea

Finish: medium to long finish of currant, leather and honey

Rating: Hoard it (Out of Hoard, Buy, Try, Pass)

Thoughts: I absolutely adore this. It reminds me a lot of the old KRY ryes from Rare Character/Bardstown Bourbon Co. Those were so fruit forward and wildly unique, and this follows that same flavor pattern. Just a blast to the face of fully unique fruit forward whiskey that constantly ebbs and flows into new complexity the longer you sit with it. This makes me want to do a blind cigar blend flight, because this is killer. It may very well be the best cigar blend I've had. Thankfully, it's not the most expensive cigar blend either. I can't recommend this enough. My only regret is that the one time I bought a 375ml, it turns out it'll be something I will absolutely fly through. I already want another pour, and I know I'll be sampling this out as well. Grab this.

What's the Deal?: NoCo distillery is quietly doing things their own way, and making absolute bangers along the way. It almost feels like this Cigar release was something of a natural progression. They make their own agave spirits, Tokilya, they make their own rum, rye, single malt, bourbon, brandy... So why not try aging one of their wild mashbill whiskies in all of it? I think that the main reason that this works so well, is that everything is made in house. There is a shared backbone between everything that is being made. The result is a whiskey that doesn't taste muddied or weird despite having so many finishes. This just ends up being special. I'm a huge fan of what NoCo is doing, and the NoCo Cigar blend is no exception. If you haven't yet, you should check out the behind the barrel video I did where you can learn more about what they're doing!