Ammunition Cask Strength Bourbon (Cabernet Sauvignon Finish) Review

In my eyes, there are certainly worse vectors out there, in terms of ways to get involved in the spirits industry, than entering via the world of wine. Winemakers are, after all, typically known for the dexterous nature of their palates and blending acumen, skillsets that meld naturally into the creation of small-batch whiskey. Also, if you’re going to be exploring secondary maturations and cask finishes in wine casks, who’s going to know the unique nature of a specific wine cask better than the person who initially aged their own wine in it? So with all that said, I think the kind of vertical integration sought by a company like Daylight Wine & Spirits makes a lot of inherent sense. They’re the makers of Ammunition wines, and by extension Ammunition Bourbon and Rye Whiskey, both of which see secondary maturation in those wine casks. And after tasting the company’s new cask strength bourbon expression, I get the sense that this is a product line that is just now really rounding into form.

With that said, there’s a little mystery here, and the nature of the liquid in the bottle is not 100% clear. Ammunition has been doing secondary maturations to bourbon and rye since the late 2010s, but those earlier releases were reportedly sourced from the genesis point of so, so many other whiskeys on the shelf: MGP of Indiana. Back then, the company had an unusual mash bill of 60% corn, 25% wheat, 10% rye and 5% malted barley, potentially reflecting their blending of multiple MGP mash bills, which would then have a secondary maturation in various Sonoma County wine casks for roughly 3 months. But that’s not what is in these bottles today.

Now, the liquid (for the bourbon expressions at least) is clear about its sourcing from Kentucky, with a recent press release stating that it is “proudly distilled in Kentucky with no MGP.” Its mash bill is reportedly 70% corn, 20% rye, 10% malted barley, which doesn’t exactly match up with any of the big distilleries that are the usual suspects for sourced Kentucky bourbon. The label, meanwhile, says this was “distilled, aged, finished and bottled by Ammunition Distillery, Bardstown, Kentucky,” but there are no real listings online for “Ammunition Distillery” as an independent entity. The source of Ammunition Bourbon is thus not exactly clear, but we can say two things for sure: This is now Kentucky bourbon (with no wheat in the mash bill), and it now has a notably longer 6 month secondary maturation in French Bordeaux wine barrels that previously held Ammunition Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon. The age statement has likewise increased to 4 years, as opposed to the flagship bourbon that was previously a blend of 2, 3 and 4-year-old whiskeys.

All told, this seems to speak to Ammunition Wine + Whiskey seeking a more premium product, one that can more fully be transformed by its signature secondary wine cask maturation. And that makes perfect sense to me, because without it we’re looking at just another young bourbon on a shelf that is so often stuffed with them.