What we’re drinking: Old Elk Cognac Cask Finish Wheat Straight Wheat Whiskey and Cigar Cut Punch Cut
Where it’s from: Launched in 2013, Old Elk is based in Fort Collins, Colorado. They’re headed up by Master Distiller Greg Metze — a 40-plus-year vet of the whiskey world who spent 14 of those years as the Master Distiller for MGP/LDI — as well as Melinda Maddox, the brand’s Master Blender.
Why we’re drinking these: We’ve extolled Old Elk’s mastery of wheated whiskeys, but we’re also fans of their Cask Finish series, which imparts their whiskeys with new flavors via secondary barrel maturation. Their latest offerings feature the best of both worlds: wheat whiskeys (and some bourbons) crafted by Metze that undergo further aging in unique barrels, a process overseen by Maddox, who now has much more space to play with.
“We decommissioned a distillery in 2022 and then we built this new blending facility in 2023, so now we’ve got a capacity that’s about 100 times what we could do before,” Maddox says. “Doing the more complicated blends in the smaller facility was like a Tetris game.”
What Is Cigar Blend Whiskey?
The labels Cigar Cut or Cigar Blend are becoming more noticeable in the spirits industryIt’s not the only change. Maddox suggests the brand is moving a bit away from wheated bourbon to get people “to understand what a straight wheated whiskey” really can do. And then there’s the education for their Cask Finish series.
“We did a Cognac cask before, for our flagship bourbon release, because people were more familiar with that,” she says. “We want to roll this out slowly. You have to educate on what a wheat whiskey is, you have to educate on what a cask finish is and you have to educate on what Cognac is, right?”
As for the Cigar Cut, we’ve discussed the idea of “cigar cut” or “cigar blend” before, especially when it comes to Old Elk. “It’s a blend that can stand up to a cigar,” Maddox says, but it’s also meant to evoke the warm glow of a smoldering campfire.
Let’s test them out.
How they taste:
- Cognac Cask Finish Wheat (47.5% ABV): Featuring an initial six years of aging with an additional year finished in Cognac casks, this one is full of caramel, orange peel, oak spice and apricot. It’s incredibly approachable but still complex.
- Cigar Cut Punch Cut (54.55% ABV): This is a blend of four whiskies, including two high-malt bourbons that have undergone additional aging in Armagnac and Oloroso sherry barrels (separately), along with two wheat whiskeys aged additionally in former Tawny Port and Sauternes casks. There’s a lot of heft here but also a nice oiliness to the texture. It’s full of wood spice, cherry and chocolate notes.
Fun fact: Old Elk’s other claim to fame is its Slow Cut Proofing Method. “It’s something we’re really proud of,” Maddox says. “It’s our proprietary proofing down method.” Essentially, they stretch out the proofing to weeks (instead of a day), adding small increments of water to keep the liquid cool and “save the delicate flavors.”
Where to buy: You can find limited quantities of Old Elk Cognac Cask Finish Wheat Straight Wheat Whiskey and Cigar Cut Punch Cut online and in stores for $90 and $130, respectively.
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