It’s always interesting to see a well-established distillery make a true pivot and enter a new sphere of the liquor market. Mississippi’s Cathead Distillery is one of the better-known craft producers of vodka in the U.S., to the extent that the average liquor drinker might be forgiven if they thought that vodka was the only product Cathead produced. In reality, the distillery has created a range of products since it first started distilling in 2010, including its flagship vodka and a range of flavored variants (honeysuckle, pecan, etc), along with several varieties of gin and a chicory liqueur. But bourbon? Now that’s a serious departure.
Recently, Cathead has gone and done just that, launching their first ever whiskey product in the form of Old Soul Bourbon Whiskey. This is a partially sourced, partially in-house distilled and aged straight bourbon, blended and packaged in a lovely, rounded bottle that evokes French cognac and certain scotch brands such as Glenmorangie. From a presentation standpoint alone, it’s clear that Cathead is going the extra mile to shape a premiumized perception for the product, although the roughly $39.99 MSRP places it somewhere near the higher end of the midshelf. And with an age of its distillates that falls between 4.5 and 2 years, it stands as somewhat pricier than others in its relative age bracket.
To their credit, Cathead isn’t coy about any of this information, stating freely on their website that Old Soul is composed of a blend of bourbons distilled in Indiana and Mississippi. “Indiana” is of course the behemoth that is MGP, producers of so much contracted bourbon and rye on the American market. We have no quarrel with this—MGP makes good products, and we only ask that distilleries make their sources clear. In specific, Old Soul is composed of the following, all of which are high-rye bourbons:
— 55% Straight Bourbon Aged for 4 years 8 months (MGP)
— 35% Straight Bourbon Aged for 4 years 3 months (MGP)
— 10% Straight Bourbon Aged for 2 years 1 month (Cathead)