Joseph Magnus Murray Hill Club Special Release Batch 4 is a blend of 8- and 17-year-old Indiana-sourced bourbons. The bourbon is finished for four months in Calvados casks from Normandy and bottled at cask strength of 111 proof. It rests for 4 to 5 weeks before bottling.
What I love most about this is the subtlety of the Calvados finish. It's there, lending some lovely orchard fruit notes, but it isn’t drowned in Calvados. It could be cloyingly sweet but it's not. Sometimes finishes are deployed to cover up a subpar base, or boost a lower proof items profile... This is an exercise in tasteful restraint.
The aromatic nose is rife with apple crisp, mulled cider, apple-cinnamon muffin, and vanilla frosting. Those notes continue on to the palate, which is chewy, tannic, and incredibly flavorful; in addition to the apple, there’s rich cinnamon spice, cooked berries, chocolate covered cherries, and candied nuts.
