Bourbon Blending Kit from Timber Creek

There’s a lot of craft distilleries popping up across the county. For some of the distilleries it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. Most small (craft) distilleries turn to different techniques or unique mash bills to differentiate themselves. Bourbon and whiskey takes years to make. That doesn’t mean these small distilleries can’t produce something with buying before that.

Timber Creek Distillery is a craft distillery near Destin, FL. They’ve just released their Bourbon Blending Kit. Here’s what comes in the kit:

• 750ml bottle 100% Florida Corn Whiskey @ 100 Proof -11 months old
• 375ml bottle 100% Florida Wheat Whiskey @ 100 Proof – 14 months old
• 375ml bottle 100% Florida Black Rye Whiskey @ 100 Proof – 12 months old
• 375ml bottle 100% American Single Malt Barley Whiskey @ 100 Proof – 9 months old
• 150ml Pyrex graduated blending beaker
• 6” glass stir rod
• 7.5ml graduated pipette for exact measurement
• Bourbon Blending Guide
  • Describes our distillation process, where flavors come from, and how to blend these 4 whiskeys into any Bourbon mash bill.
  • Includes examples of how to blend Timber Creek Bourbon mash bill.
  • Includes a list of popular commercial Bourbon mash bills so customers can blend their favorite Bourbons.

I got a chance to test a kit out this weekend. I have to admit, they’re a lot of fun. While I managed to drop the stir rod in the first fifteen minutes it was still easy to blend the whiskies in the beaker. The whiskey is young. They range from 9-14 months and you can taste it. Because of the age the taste is heavy on the sweet and oak flavors. There’s still a lot of flavors to work with in the blends though.

I started my blending by recreating a traditional bourbon mash bill (85/10/5 corn/rye/barley). It was pretty good but need more of the rye spice to balance the sweetness. Next up I took a que from Four Roses and tried a 65/35/5 blend. This was much better. The taste is sweet, vanilla and woody but there’s enough black pepper to make it quite enjoyable. I tried a four grain bourbon but it was the final blend that was my favorite. I mixed 60/40 (rye/wheat) and let it sit for about 30 minutes. After a couple hours of blending I realized I just drank about 250 ml’s of 100 proof bourbon. But, you know what they say about the time/fun relationship.

The Timber Creek Blending Kit is interesting. Yes, the whiskey is still young. I’d rather buy craft in a format like this than a $70 bottle of bad bourbon. If you’re in to the nerdy side of bourbon you’ll love this kit.