New Bottle Highlight Series: Deep Creek Reserve Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Made entirely of Virginia-grown grains (corn, rye, wheat, & barley) with the malting of the barley being done in Charlottesville, Deep Creek Reserve Bourbon is not age stated but is a minimum of 3-5 years old. It is brought to bottling proof (90 proof/45% ABV) using purified local water and is non-chill filtered. It is aged in newly charred American White Oak barrels sources from the Appalachian Mountains.

The distillery began distilling in 2020 and is owned by Royall Ferguson and 25-year disabled Navy veteran (a master chief with Naval Special Warfare) David Emmons. Both are members of the American Distilling Institute, a trade organization for craft distilleries in the U.S. It is the first licensed distillery in Chesapeake, Virginia, since Prohibition.

VERY INITIAL TASTING NOTES:

Initially, this comes across on both the nose and the palate as a simple, straightforward bourbon with distinct youthful notes. With medium viscosity with moderately slow-running tears on the sides of the glass, the bourbon has aromas of honey, prominent toasted oak, caramel, vanilla, a hint of honeyed dark cherries, and baking spices (cinnamon and nutmeg).

On the palate there’s a honeyed sweetness immediately followed by a blast of oak before the two become more balanced as I roll the bourbon around my palate. I also pick up notes of caramel, vanilla, prominent baking spices (those from the nose + some cloves), and black pepper. On the finish the honey and a lot of toasted/charred oak returns alongside some oak tannins. The flavors meld better together the longer they aerate in the glass.

I’ll definitely be revisiting this and taking updated tasting notes as the bottle continues to open up. After at least 3-4 spaced out tasting notes-taking sessions, I’ll write up a full review.