Rabbit Hole Dareringer Sherry Cask Bourbon Review

I’ll pour a Glencairn and get to work on this Rabbit Hole Dareringer Sherry Cask Bourbon Review. Rabbit Hole’s Dareringer is a wheated Straight Bourbon Whiskey that is finished in PX Sherry Casks. They use a mash bill of 68% corn, 18% wheat, and 14% malted barley, place it in toasted and alligator charred American Oak barrels with an entry proof of 115, and let it age for a minimum of 2 years.

The whiskey is then finished in Pedro Ximenz Sherry casks. Most American whiskeys that are finished in sherry casks use Oloroso Sherry casks, but Rabbit Hole chose to use PX Sherry casks for their higher sweetness. According to Rabbit Hole, “The resulting whiskey is refined, balanced with a long cascading finish.”

Dareringer is a non-chill filtered bourbon and is produced in small batches made up of no more than 15 barrels.

Classification: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Age: NAS (rumored to be 5 years)
Proof: 93
Proof Designation: Small Batch
Filtered Status: Non-Chill Filtered
Mash bill: 68% Corn, 18% Wheat, and 14% Mmalted Barley
Cask: New Toasted then Charred American Oak, PX Sherry Cask finish
Distillery: Rabbit Hole Distillery
Company: Rabbit Hole Distillery
Distilled/Aging Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Batch Notes: batch size is never more than 15 barrels
MSRP: $80 (2023)
Availability: Very Available

Rabbit Hole Dareringer Sherry Cask Bourbon Review

My tasting reviews are unique in that I include the notes of several well-known whiskey critics. The hope is that this format will help me and others to explore and expand their tasting experience. After you have taken your own tasting notes, read the reviews and see if there is a flavor note that others discerned that now you can detect as well.

Appearance

A few swirls in a Glencairn forms a thin crown that lasts for about 1 minute before droplets form and a few legs appear.

Nose

Dessert caramel, sweet cherry, sherry wine, apricot, peach, floral notes.

Other Reviewer’s Perceptions

31 Whiskey: Taking a sniff, you can immediately tell that something different is going on here. I’m picking up things like dried figs, raisins, apricots, and blackberry jam all mixing together for this delicious charcuterie plate in a glass.

Whiskey Raiders: Jammy and sweet on the nose, plenty of cocoa, clove and caramel to keep things balanced.

Breaking Bourbon: Marmalade | Dried fruit | Cherry | Raspberry | Full & inviting.

Palate

Peach, pear, caramel, light barrel char, tangerine, nutmeg, hint of cherry, blackberry.

Other Reviewer’s Perceptions

31 Whiskey: It tastes like a good wheated bourbon — brown sugar, caramel, vanilla, and some drizzled honey sweetness — with just a touch of cherry and dried fruit backing it up and rounding out the flavor profile. The sherry flavors definitely add a new layer of complexity that wasn’t there before.

Whiskey Raiders: Medium mouthfeel, some caramel, praline and plenty of juicy fruits. Cherry, blackberry, currant and a hint of peach, the PX is clear to find in the palate.

Breaking Bourbon: Burst of fruit | Cherry | Raspberry | Light oak | Sherry | Caramel | Sweet | Gratifying mouthfeel.

Finish

Medium-short finish, caramel, hint of sherry, mild sweet oak tannins.

Other Reviewer’s Perceptions

31 Whiskey: No notes.

Whiskey Raiders: Medium length finish, no heat, more PX goodness. Caramel, praline, jammy sweetness on the finish once more.

Breaking Bourbon: Gradually increasing spice throughout | Wet oak | Cherry | Red grape | Light raisin | Medium-length turning dry towards the end.

The Burn

3 out of 5. This means that the burn from the alcohol is about what I would expect it to be. It doesn’t drink like cool-aide, but it also doesn’t drink hot. It drinks like what I’d expect from a 93-proof bourbon.

Notes and History

Rabbit Hole Distillery was founded by Kaveh Zamanian in 2012, leaving his career as a psychologist behind in order to create “modern whiskeys that challenge the status quo and offer a new vision of what an authentic whiskey can be”.

Part of their strategy is to treat the grains with the same innovation and care that chefs do when creating new recipes. “We look at the grain-cooking process as a big part of flavor,” Zamanian says. “It’s actually the only proprietary part of our entire production. We have already established our fingerprints on our products just in the way that we cook our grains.”

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