Buffalo Trace’s New Bourbon Neighbor Is Generating Some Serious Buzz

Double Staved Means Twice As Nice

Launched on August 21 in honor of John Graves Mattingly’s 201st birthday, the new bottle is a six-and-a-half-year-old, 119-proof blended Kentucky bourbon that has undergone the distillery’s signature “Double Stave” process, bringing J. Mattingly’s trademark style to a wider audience.

For the Double Stave process, the distillery’s workers break down old bourbon barrels into large pieces and add them to the barrels used to age their whiskey. The added staves increase the surface area of charred wood for the liquid to interact with, allowing the whiskey to absorb flavor and color from the barrel at a faster rate.

Famed whiskey reviewer Jim Murray has already reviewed the new whiskey and rated it a 96 — an exceptionally high score — while describing it as “remarkable” and crediting the Double Stave process with giving the bourbon the “honeyed and toasted intensity” of one thrice its age.

I personally have yet to try the stuff, but J. Mattingly notes its new hooch has a nose of apple skin, baking spices, pie crust and buttery chocolate; a strong palate of oak; and a finish where all of those flavors come back to join forces and mingle for a bit.

If that sounds good to you (it does to me), you can score a full-sized bottle of J. Mattingly 1845 Classic Double Staved Bourbon directly from the brand’s online shop for $120.