Pour Tony: Angel’s Envy Cask Strength Bottled-in-Bond

Owen Martin pouring Angel’s Envy Cask Strength Bottled-in-Bond

I found myself in Louisville with an afternoon to spare, so I made my way over to the Angel’s Envy distillery and visitors’ center — specifically the office of master distiller Owen Martin. I’d gotten word about a downright bizarre-sounding new bourbon he’d been working on and wanted to get the scoop — and, hopefully, a sip — from the man himself. Turns out it’s not only Angel’s Envy’s first bourbon to not be cask-finished (this is the brand, you understand, that almost single-handedly made cask-finished bourbons a thing more than a decade ago), but it’s bottled-in-bond AND cask strength. Now, if you know your American whiskey, you know that bottled-in-bond must by law, among other things, be bottled at exactly 100 proof (50% ABV). And cask strength means, well, whatever the proof is when it comes out of the cask. So what gives? Is it some kind of typo or something?

Deconstructing the Blend

Angel's Envy Bottled in Bond Cask Strength

As we sat down across a desk crowded with bottles of various sizes — all of which he’d been working on and many of which we wound up sampling — Owen made it clear that the non-finished bourbon was the brainchild of the late Angel’s Envy founder, Lincoln Henderson, and had been laid down for that purpose in 2018, four years before Martin came on board. He explained, “Lincoln’s idea was, this is the exact same grain bill, exact same distillation, exact same fermentation. The one variable was changed on this was we used 103 as the entry proof instead of 125.” By the time Martin was in charge, those bottles had fallen below the 100 proof standard for bottled-in-bond. But he had a trick or two up his sleeve.

“Bottled-in-bond stipulates one distillery, right? One [six-month] distilling season. Within that distilling season, you can blend. We still have normal entry [proof barrels]. Right? Let's go take it to like an algebra, go back and set up a system of equations… This is just x and y. And then start toggling.” Turns out that 27 barrels laid down at 103 proof, plus two barrels laid down in the same distilling season at 125 proof, created a cask strength bourbon of exactly 100 proof. 

Tasting Notes 

Of course, all this is merely a cute math trick if it doesn’t taste good, and let me tell you, Angel’s Envy Bottled-in-Bond Cask Strength bourbon is terrific, lightly sweet and creamy with a corn muffin/oat cake vibe, and a mellow, lightly spicy finish. And now, the bad news — it’s only available at the distillery (Angel’s Envy’s first distillery exclusive!), and as of right now, at least, Martin has no plans to repeat the experiment, at least not right now. But we drank plenty of the other things he’s working on, and there wasn’t a dud in the bunch. So prep your liver and grab your credit card.