Willett Pot Still Reserve

Caramel, vanilla, spice, integrated oak. Willett is a respected Kentucky craft distillery.

This is a wheated bourbon. The mash bill is 65 percent corn, 20 percent wheat and 15 percent malted barley. Wheat takes the place rye would usually fill, so the spirit comes out softer. It goes into the barrel at 115 proof and is bottled at 94 proof, which is 47 percent alcohol. The bottle is the tell: an exact copy of the patented Willett pot still, made for them by Vendome Copper and Brass.

Thompson Willett set up the distillery on the family land in Bardstown in 1936. His rule was to use the best ingredients, watch the details, then step back and give the whiskey time. The estate is still family owned, run today by his grandchildren.

Drink it neat first. The wheat makes it a natural for an old fashioned as well.