It feels like Pinhook Bourbon appeared on shelves out of nowhere, and so far we’re thrilled with the surprise.
While it recently gained a ton of popularity, Pinhook was actually founded back in 2010 by three friends with a unique perspective on bourbon. Each year, Pinhook releases blended bottles that represent the best of the best from that particular year. That means each year’s releases are truly unique and once they’re gone, they’re gone. It’s a pretty shocking concept for the bourbon community, considering most distilleries are striving to make consistent, signature products.
When you think about it, it’s pretty odd that Pinhook is treating bourbon like vintage wines and even selling their bourbon in wine bottles, but once you learn that Pinhook’s Master Blender and co-founder, Sean Josephs, is also a certified sommelier – well, things make a bit more sense.
Even with this “outsider” perspective to bourbon, Pinhook is trying to pay as much homage to Kentucky as possible by connecting their bourbon to thoroughbred horse racing. Each whiskey is named after a thoroughbred horse like Bourbon Heist or Hard Rye Guy and even the company name has a racing flair to it. “Pinhooking” is a process in the horse-racing industry of buying a young horse who shows promise and then selling it for a profit a few years later. Think of it like house flipping, but with horses.
Pinhook has even partnered with McMahon & Hill Bloodstock, which is owned by some of the best pinhookers in the business who also happen to race horses for Bourbon Lane Stables. What does all of this mean for the bourbon? Well, every one of Pinhook’s promising, young bottles is named after a promising, young thoroughbred out of Bourbon Lane Stables.
Pinhook started to sound pretty fun and fancy to us, but we were worried about one little snag – They don’t actually produce their own bourbon. Since 2017, Castle & Key has actually handled the brand’s distillation and aging, with Pinhook becoming the first bourbon to be released on the premises even ahead of their own products like Restoration Rye Whiskey. This isn’t necessarily a bourbon sin, and isn’t uncommon for a new company, but we still wondered if this meant Pinhook was too good to be true.
With the first few sips of the 2021 Bourbon Heist though, we stopped worrying. This offering is stuffed full of tropical, summer fruit flavors like mangoes, nectarines, apricots, and even peaches and rounded out by a slightly oaky flavor up front. You’d think the uncommon fruit flavors would be the most surprising thing, but then you realize that this bottle is 122.7 proof. And you’d never know. There’s a slightly warming finish to this bourbon, but nothing close to what you’d expect from that kind of proof.
If the Bourbon Heist is any indication of what’s to come from Pinhook, then sign us up. We’re officially hooked.
STATS: Pinhook Bourbon Heist Bourbon
- Price for us: $40 for 750mL
- Proof: 122.7
- Aged: 4 Years
- Distillery: Pinhook, contracting out to Castle & Key
- Recommendation: Neat
