Is Angel’s Envy Port Finish Bourbon as heavenly as its reputation claims?
In the last few years, you may have noticed an uptick in the types of whiskey finishes available at your usual liquor store. Finishing, the act and art of aging a whiskey in a secondary container for additional flavor, has been a Scotch tradition for awhile. But the bourbon world has gone all in with everything from toasted barrel finishes like Basil Hayden Toast to rum, sherry, wine, and port finishes. This funky bourbon trend though, owes a lot to Angel’s Envy Port Finish Bourbon.
Around 2011, thanks to the work of Lincoln and Wes Henderson, Angel’s Envy was launched. Only a few years later, the company was bought by Bacardi and the Louisville Distilling Company was opened under Bacardi to get operations fully going. Angel’s Envy now has a smattering of limited releases, along with their signature series: rye whiskey finished in rum casks, cask strength bourbon finished in port wine barrels, and the original bourbon finished in port wine barrels.
Now again, these days, a port finish isn’t really all that impressive. But Angel’s Envy was really the first to pilot this type of finish. Their bourbon is aged for about 6 years and then moved to port wine casks for another 3 – 6 months. The small batch is made up of 8-12 barrels and is released at around 86 proof. The resulting bourbon has a fruity, vanilla nose that leans into a raisin and peppercorn flavor with a. bit of oak. The finish is a little light and floating, with only a few glimpses at the fruity vanilla flavor. It’s an easy to drink bourbon, but mainly because it’s muted and not overly complex. And at $50 a pop, that quickly becomes a real problem for us.
A decade ago, a $50 price tag could easily be chalked up to the novelty of a port wine finished bourbon. But that was then and this now. Competitors like Basil Hayden Dark Rye and Isaac Bowman Port Barrel Finished Bourbon are doing the same finish for about $10 less. We certainly can’t ignore the fact that Angel’s Envy blazed the barrel finish path, but the problem with being a trailblazer is that others usually catch up, and in this case, surpass.
Angel’s Envy Port Finish Bourbon has earned and kept some seriously devout followers, but for us this bourbon is stuck in purgatory.
STATS: Angel’s Envy Bourbon Finished in Port Wine Barrels
- Price for us: $50 for 750 mL
- Proof: 86.6
- Aged: 4-6 Years + an additional 3-6 months in port wine casks
- Distillery: Louisville Distilling Company, owned by Bacardi
- Recommendation: Mixer
