Bhakta Hogsworth Bourbon & Armagnac

Blend of whiskies from Minnesota and Tennessee, Armagnac, and bottled in Vermont

93.8pf

 

 

Raj Bhakta might be better known for his first venture, WhistlePig, but Bhakta Spirits is where he's putting his focus these days.  He has amassed a huge number of vintage armagnac casks and is finding every permutation between bourbon and armagnac he can, whether that's aging one in another's barrel or, like here, blending them together.

Armagnac is really an under-represented spirits category compared to Cognac here in the U.S., although there is a certain subsection of whiskey drinkers that have discovered just how good it can be. Bhakta has gone all in on this French style of brandy, and while it remains to be seen if Americans will fully embrace it, a release like this is one way of making it more familiar. The exact makeup of Hogsworth, a name that furthers the WhistlePig comparison, is 52 percent bourbon and 48 percent Armagnac. The bourbon does not come from MGP in Indiana as you might expect; instead it’s 10 percent four-year-old Minnesota bourbon and 42 percent four-and-a-half-year-old Tennessee bourbon (the distilleries are not disclosed). The Armagnac in the blend is a 13-year-old 2010 vintage (21 percent), 11-year-old 2012 vintage (22 percent), and a small portion of 42-year-old 1982 vintage (5 percent). The spirit (it’s not really a whiskey anymore) is bottled at 93.8 proof.  Overall, this is a complex sipper with lots of fruit notes, spice taking a back seat.