Peg Leg Porker Pitmaster Reserve 15 Year Old Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey (750ml)

In 2013, Carey Bringle founded Peg Leg Porker Bourbon, the world’s only bourbon brand owned by a pitmaster. In between competitive grills, Bringle spends his time sourcing high-end whiskeys which he runs through an extra filtration using hickory charcoal to contribute added flavour and colour. These are marketed under a quirky label featuring a three-legged pig (Bingle lost his leg to cancer as a young man). His grandfather was friends with Lem and Hap Motlow of Jack Daniels, and their whiskey was a standard at family events, hence the strong association with Tennessee whiskey. Renowned for his expertise in smoke, Bringle delivers unrivaled flavours that set Peg Leg Porker apart from the rest. 45% Alc./Vol.

Other reviews... 2 years ago we took a deep dive into the whiskeys of Peg Leg Porker, sourced Tennessee bourbons at a variety of ages, bottled by a local pitmaster after filtering through his own charcoal, after aging. What we missed at the time was PLP’s top expression, a 15 year old “Pitmaster Reserve” that was on the verge of release then and which is still tough to track down. We’re finally back with a look at Peg Leg 15, a likely Dickel-born offering that’s well into its teens. First impressions: The nose is super-soft, a curiously abstracted bourbon that offers notes of vanilla wafers over vanilla, peanut brittle over peanut shell, and egg cream over pure chocolate. Notes of honey, nougat, chocolate wafers, and Almond Roca all inform a palate that — no disrespect — feels drawn from the candy aisle at your local CVS. Touches of applesauce, walnut oil, cinnamon raisin bread, and some toasted coconut give the whiskey even more layers of well-sweetened spice, but they’re never backed up by much in the way of body. As the finish builds, the whiskey comes across as aggressively sweet, a Cinnabon character dominating as any sense of the barrel quickly dissipates. I never thought a 15 year old bourbon could come across so gently — for better or for worse. This might have shown a bit better at higher proof, just thinking. - drinkhacker.com