6 days ago
Whiskey Of The Week: Oaklore North Carolina Rye — Port Cask Finish
Whiskey is distilled nowadays in all 50 states — legally, that is — which is kind of crazy when you consider that less than 25 years ago, even my home state of New York was fighting for the right to be able to do so. The last 10-15 years have been a golden age for regional craft distilling, and if you're looking for peated Maine single malt, oat whiskey from Chicago, or rye from Alaska, it's all out there.
I've tried whiskey made everywhere from Mississippi (strong and a little harsh) to Hawaii (they're better at rum), but for whatever reason I'd never tried one from North Carolina. The state actually has a long, rich history of whiskey distilling — it rivaled Kentucky for bourbon capital of the U.S. before booze abolitionists went and killed the industry in 1909, 11 years before Prohibition became the law of the land. As was the case with so many other states, boozemaking was restricted to backwater moonshine stills until the 21st century.
Founded in 2017, Oaklore Distilling Co. is middle-aged by North Carolina distillery standards.
Photo courtesy Oaklore Distilling Co.
North Carolina isn't the distilling powerhouse it once was, but it's making up for lost time. In the last 20 years, several dozen distilleries have popped up throughout the state, making vodka, rum, liqueurs, gins, and of course whiskeys. Oaklore Distilling Co. was founded in 2017 by a trio of friends — two of whom met at the bus stop as elementary school dads, and their distillery/tasting room opened for business in Matthews, just outside of Charlotte, in 2022. It was named Charlotte's best distillery by the Charlotte Observer in both 2023 and 2024, and its Four Grain Bourbon recently won a double gold medal at the 2024 John Barleycorn Awards (full disclosure: I'm a judge for the Barleycorn Awards, but as far as I know I didn't judge any Oaklore products).
The Oaklorers' current whiskeys were contract distilled to their own specifications at 'sister distilleries' Southern Distilling Co. in North Carolina and Jackson Purchase in Kentucky. They've just bought 45,000 square feet of warehouse space; for now, their barrels age in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. According to Oaklore, the region is optimal for aging spirits because, and I quote, 'The moderate climate with large swings in daily temperature year-round forces the barrels to breathe deeper and more often, allowing the whiskey to penetrate the grooves at a higher rate.' OK, I'll buy that.
The latest in their ongoing Story Series, an annual limited edition where they mess around with various processes of the whiskey-making process, Port Cask-Finished Rye is made from locally sourced grain, aged for 6 years in new #2 and #3-charred American oak, and then finished in San Sebastian port casks from... Florida? Apparently St. Augustine has a winery and they've been making port there for a while, a fact of which I was, perhaps shamefully, unaware. Only 90 bottles have been produced, available for $100 at the distillery or from their online store.
The mashbill is 70% rye, 20% corn, and 10% malted barley — the middle ground between 95% ryes from Indiana and barely-legal 51% ryes from Kentucky — and it's bottled at a not-too-harsh/not-too-weak 46% ABV. Based on the intense dark ruby color of the whiskey, I believe their shpiel about Piedmont's ideal aging conditions. On the palate it's a banger, with jammy dark fruit notes kept in check by the rye spice, culminating in a medium, lightly syrupy finish. It's a decadent, luscious whiskey that kept me going back for just one more sip... and another... and what the heck, let's have another glass while we're at it. But while it's easy to drink, that doesn't mean it's simple. There's a lot of flavor to contemplate.
As mentioned, only 90 bottles were made, which makes it a bit of a collectors' item. And unlike many of the collectors' items I write up, this one's a mere hundred smackers. For a whiskey of this quality, that's a fair shake no matter how many bottles are floating around.
