Penelope Bourbon Brings Back Rye Whiskey With Distinctive Finish That Celebrates the ‘Wine of Kings’

Penelope Bourbon releases whisky finished in Tokaji casks. (Photo: Penelope Bourbon)

On Tuesday, Indiana whiskey superproducer MGP announced that Penelope Bourbon is bringing back its Tokaji-finished rye whiskey. The brand will roll out a limited run of 1,900 6-pack cases available with a suggested retail price of $89.99 per 750-milliliter bottle. Bottled at 106 proof and composed of a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted barley, this whiskey was finished in Tokaji wine casks, according to the brand.

“From consumers to tasting panels, our Tokaji Cask Finish was really well received last year,” Penelope Bourbon founder Michael Paladini said in a statement. “For the initial release we used a 6-year-old straight rye whiskey as our base, and we are excited to bring this back but with an 8-year base at the same price point.”

Tokaji is a sweet, Hungarian dessert wine made from grapes infected with Botrytis cinerea, according to Wine Enthusiast. Botrytis is what is known as a noble rot, and the fungus causes grapes to shrivel up and raisinate. Tokaji is known as “the wine of kings.”

Penelope often experiments with distinctive cask finishes; check out out review of the brand’s Rosé Cask Finish Bourbon here.

In June, the brand released a limited-edition rye whiskey with a 100% rye mashbill. The 5-year-old, non-chill-filtered rye was a part of Penelope’s Toasted Series and marked the first whiskey to be released since the brand was acquired by MGP.

As for this latest release, it is described as possessing a dark chocolate-covered nose with raisins and almond pastry, coupled with a body possessing sweet honey and caramel with citrus zest. The finish has black cherry, tobacco and red wine.

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