Just in Time for Spooky Season Sipping, Texas Distillery Milam and Greene Releases High-Proof Bourbon Paying Homage to the Bats Roosting in Its Rickhouses
On Tuesday, Milam and Greene announced the rollout of the latest bourbon within its 2023 Wildlife Collection, and the release could not be more perfectly timed as Halloween draws near. The Texas-based distillery’s latest expression is a single-barrel bourbon that is a liquid ode to the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat.
The Milam and Greene Wildlife Collection Free-Tailed Bat Single Barrel Bourbon will be available via the brand’s website for purchase. Those near Blanco, Texas can pick up a bottle from the distillery tasting room on Wednesday at 3 p.m. CST.
The single-barrel bourbon clocks in at 126.8 proof and was bottled at cask strength. The bourbon was distilled and barreled in Tennessee before being brought back to Texas, where it was bottled. The bourbon’s higher proof stems in part from the extreme temperature fluctuations it was subjected to while aging in Milam and Greene’s Blanco, Texas rickhouse.
“The whiskies in our Wildlife Collection are a product of the environment,” Milam and Greene Whiskey CEO and Master Blender Heather Greene said in a news release. “The Free-Tailed Bat Single Barrel Bourbon was aged for more than five years in Tennessee where it was distilled before being subjected to the vast temperature swings in Texas. This barrel has been in our Blanco, Texas richouse for two years and four months, which is longer than any of the Wildlife Series releases.”
Greene went on to describe some of the weather the bourbon was exposed to which included triple-digit heat during some of the driest summers on record, coupled with extreme ice storms and freezing cold.
“The deep freezes and searing heat cause the whiskey to interact with the barrel more aggressively driving deeper and more complex wood notes and earthiness not seen in other releases,” Greene continued. “The reaction helps enhance the flavor by extracting richer notes of oak and viscosity, and it increases the proof since high temperatures with high humidity cause more ethanol to evaporate while high temperatures with low humidity cause more water to evaporate.”
The brand chose to honor the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat, which happens to be one of the fastest-flying animals in the world. The bat is known to reach speeds up to 100 mph, and Texas hosts one of the largest Mexican Free-Tailed Bat Colonies in the world. Late summer and early fall are what the brand refers to as peak viewing season for these bat colonies, as this is when they migrate to warmer climates. Milam and Greene’s latest release coincides perfectly with the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat migration.
“Free-Tailed Bat Single Barrel Bourbon is named for the Mexican Free-Tailed bats that take up residence in the rickhouses occasionally,” Milam and Greene Whiskey Distillery Manager Rikk Munroe said in the news release. “They roost in the upper dark corners during the daytime and head out around dusk to feed on insects before returning by morning to sleep for the day.”
Just 130 bottles of the extremely limited whiskey are available. The expression hosts a suggested retail price of $150. In July, the brand released another member of its Wildlife Collection, Rattlesnake Single Barrel Bourbon, which clocked in at a hefty 127.64 proof.
An Inside Look at the Milam And Greene Wildlife Collection Free-Tailed Bat Single Barrel Bourbon
The single-barrel bourbon was distilled from a mashbill of 84% corn, 8% rye and 8% malted barley. The expression was barreled in Tennessee on March 7, 2016, and bottled on Sept. 25. The bourbon spent a total of seven years, six months and 18 days aging. Five and a half of those years aging were spent in Tennessee and the last two years and four months were spent in Blanco, Texas, at Milam and Greene’s rickhouse. Here are the tasting notes for the bourbon, provided by Milam and Greene.
Nose: Caramel candy, stone fruit cobbler, baking spice.
Taste: Mild nuttiness, oak notes, allspice, candy corn.
Finish: Smooth, creamy and round.
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