Redwood Empire Grizzly Beast Bourbon Review – Batch 3
Bottled in Bond
Redwood Empire uses their own distillate for the crafting of the Grizzly Beast, and each release so far has had a different mash bill, dominated by a high corn ratio, but also a high rye ration compared to the other grains. They are produced out of Sonoma County, California from the Redwood Empire region which follows the coast from San Francisco north to the Oregon boarder. So, let’s grab a pour and get to working on this Redwood Empire Grizzly Beast Bourbon review for batch 3!
Something that is extremely welcome to see from a whiskey company is the amount of transparency that Redwood Empire displays on their bottles! They list the Distilling Season & year, the Bottling month & year, Lot Size (batch size), Batch Number, Mash Bill, age statement, and Master Distiller. The only thing missing is barrel char level and barrel entry proof.
Here is an interesting comparison of the mash bills of the first three batches:
- Batch 1: 69% Corn, 22% Rye, 5% Malted Barley, 4% Wheat
- Batch 2: 66% Corn, 23% Rye, 4% Barley, 7% Wheat
- Batch 3: 68% Corn, 20% Rye, 5% Wheat, 5% Barley, 2% Triticale
Series: Grizzly Beast – Batch 3
Classification: Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Age: 5 years
Proof: 100
Proof Designation: Bottled in Bond
Filtered Status: Non-Chill Filtered
Mash bill: 68% Corn, 20% Rye, 5% Wheat, 5% Barley, 2% Triticale
Barrel Char Level: 3
Barrel Entry Proof: ??
Distillery: Redwood Empire Distilling
Company: Redwood Empire
Bottled By: Redwood Empire
Distilled/Aging Location: Sonoma County, California
Master Distiller: Jeff Duckhorn
Release Date: June 2023
Batch Notes: batch size is 105 Barrels
MSRP: $79
Secondary Market: $90 – $110
Availability: Somewhat available
Redwood Empire Grizzly Beast Bourbon Review – Batch 3
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.
For this tasting: Fresh Crack, Glencairn Glass, Neat, Room Temp, Breathe: 1 hour
Legs
The legs develop very quickly with beads forming at about 5 seconds, the first legs form at about 8 seconds (very short), and the first legs reach the bottom at about 16 seconds.
Nose
It has a sweet, pleasant nose with toffee, vanilla, caramel, licorice, baking spices, anise, potent fig, and a hint of graham cracker.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Bourbon Boss Man: Strawberry Fruit Leather, Twizzlers, Apple Juice, Vanilla, and Baking Spice.
Whiskey Straight Up: A bubble gum and cinnamon note. A dusty, mildew note.
Fred Minnick: Old desk, hint of basement or mold, some fruit, floral notes. It’s kind of a battle in my nose with the one smell that I really don’t like, and then these other smells that I really do like. It’s not really bad, but it’s not really good either.
Palate
The palate is semi-dry, mildly spicy, and not as sweet as the nose suggests. Oak tannins, sweet oak, baking spices, a hint of cedar, cloves, toffee, mild licorice, sweet apple, dark fruits, honey.
Before reading the mash bill I had thought that the flavor profile suggested that this might be a high-rye recipe…I got it right!
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Bourbon Boss Man: Baking Spice, Vanilla, Caramel, Nuttiness, Leather, and Dry Oak.
My Rating: Mix It! (This has an amazing nose, yet the palate and finish are lacking something and are a bit dry)
Whiskey Straight Up: Anise, fennel, Necco wafer candy, cinnamon, bitter oak. Its very sweet with a little bit of cherry. It is pleasant but I’m not sure I’d pay $90 for it. The bitterness is a bit too much for me on my palate.
Fred Minnick: This is really good. A beautiful maple syrup note, some hazelnut, brown sugar butter, cinnamon red hot. It feels tingly going down. I like this a lot.
Finish
The finish is medium in length, semi-sweet with toffee, fig, mild baking spices, and anise. But it does drop off fairly quickly and ends dry with a little tannin. Not unpleasant…just short.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Bourbon Boss Man: Medium to Long with Sweet Dry Oak and Baking Spices.
Whiskey Straight Up: na
Fred Minnick: na
Mouthfeel
The mouthfeel is light, smooth, unimpressive. It has a low viscosity.
The Burn
4 out of 5. This means that the burn from the alcohol is a bit lower (5% to 9%) than what I would expect it to be. I would guess this to be around 95 proof, not 100 proof.
Tasting Summary
The Grizzly Beast Batch 3 is a decent sip, semi-dry to my palate with some mild oak tannins up front, followed by mild baking spices and then the sweet notes. Is it worth $90? I don’t think so. Am I upset that I paid $90…no, but I would rather have paid less for a taste at a bar.
But, I do notice that different batches have different mash bills. Batch 3 is 68% Corn, 20% Rye, 5% Wheat, 5% Barley, 2% Triticale. Compare that to batch 2 which was 66% Corn, 23% Rye, 4% Barley, 7% Wheat. And Batch 1 was different as well. So, the mash bill differences could definitely make for some hitters and misses for the Grizzly Beast brand name.
My Rating
The higher the score the better the whiskey is in my opinion. For reference, my best rated bottle so far is the George T. Stagg 2022 (138.7p) with a score of 9.7.
| Score Type | Score | Examples |
| Likability Score | 7.2 | 1.0 – 10.0 |
| Availability Score | 3 | 1-Rare, 2-Hard to Find, 3-A Little Hunting, 4-Easy to Find |
My Tasting Notes
A blank version of this tasting notes wheel is available in both a color and a black & white version in the member’s area.
Notes and History
From the back of the bottle:
“The name Grizzly Beast is a combination of two trees: The Grizzly Giant, a giant Sequoia located in Yosemite National Park that has over two billion leaves, and the Mattole Beast, a massive 375-foot coastal redwood located in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.“
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