Penelope Havana

 Fresh off the truck here in Maine and the latest release from Penelopes Cooper Series.

Penelope Havana

93 Proof / 46.5% 

Mash Bill: 74% Corn / 16% Wheat  / 7% Rye / 3% Malted Barley

This whiskey is a straight four grain blend of bourbon that is double cask finished in both Caribbean rum barrels and farmsourced maple syrup barrels.

As you can see in this picture,  I am a fan of Penelope! Penelope is a blender and finishing operation that built up such a following for their product that the company they source their whiskey from, Midwest Grain Products or MGP as the whiskey world refers to them as, purchased the company in 2023. This partnership opened the door for Penelope to expand production and also access some of the premium barrels in MGPs Rickhouses. 

This current release has been on the "coming soon" releases for some time and as the calendar rolled into 2025 I noticed a few sightings and whispers that January was its official roll out. After stopping in a few shops and doing some casual foraging with no luck, I started to get a little desperate and took it to the next level and started asking around... "did Maine get much?",  "is it gonna end up a being a lottery bottle?"  Luckily after a short conversation one shop offered up that they had one out back and allowed me to purchase it.

Not being one to sit on unpopped bottles, I figured I should crack it open and give you my thoughts on this latest offering from Penelope.

My Thoughts:

Pours a deep caramel color with sticky legs and a touch of clarifying on the rim.

Aromas are full of rustic grain, toasted brown sugar, sawdust and banana bread, with hints of raisin, pecan pie, kola nut, coconut cream and dried apricot.

The palate follows and is accentuated by a nice medium viscosity leaving a warm oily mouthfeel after each sip. The flavors evolve with a soft approachable entry that layers notes of salted caramel, tobacco spice, earthy mellow grain...slowly midpalate the sweetness of the finishing rolls into a warm buttery maple note with hints of rum raisin, gingerbread, clove, raw sugar, nilla wafers and cardamom linger and draw out the layers. 

Really enjoying this as neither the rum or the maple take lead role in the flavors but rather accentuate each other while never giving up the grainy bourbon hug that bring cohesion from front to back. 

(FINAL SCORE 94pts)

Will probably snag a second bottle if I stumble upon one and would highly recommend you picking one up if you can find it!

Happy Foraging.