Taste Test: One of the Country’s Best Craft Beer Brewers Just Made a Stellar New Bourbon

A collaborative new whiskey release is always a good marketing ploy, but the reality can be either just a known name added to a brand or actual, real deal involvement. The new Pinhook Collaboration Series happens to fall into the latter category, and this surprisingly good bourbon is a testament to both the quality of the distillery the whiskey came from and the talents of the guest star involved in the blending. That would be Garrett Oliver, who has made his living as the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery for three decades.

This brewery is located in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, and has become a household name around the country since its founding in 1987. Whether or not it’s still a craft operation is subject to your interpretation, given that Japanese drinks company Kirin acquired a minority stake in 2016, and Carlsberg purchased brand rights for Europe and parts of Asia to the tune of about $130 million in 2021. And not all of the beer is produced in Brooklyn—some of it is contract brewed in upstate New York.

Still, Brooklyn Brewery is a legit OG of the craft movement and makes very good beer. Oliver, who has been with the brand since 1994, is also an author and an expert on spirits and wine in addition to beer, which made him an obvious choice for this collaboration. Pinhook was co-founded by ex-restaurateur and sommelier Sean Josephs in 2010, and for over a decade has sourced whiskey from various distilleries into annual vintage blends as master blender.

MGP in Indiana and Castle & Key in Kentucky have supplied much of the whiskey over the years, and Josephs has put together a series of high-quality whiskeys with fetching label designs featuring racehorses. The Collaboration Series launched in 2021 with Maison Noir winemaker Andre Mack–a 10-year-old bourbon sourced from Wyoming Whiskey that was said to be made with a “winemaker’s approach. ” That whiskey was good, but the second in the series (which I guess was made with a beermaker’s approach) is even better.

Garrett was deeply involved in the blending process of 20 barrels of whiskey selected by Josephs that were brought to Brooklyn from Texas distillery Still Austin. “In some ways, the blending process was very familiar because I’ve been blending barrel-aged beers for many years,” said Garrett. “My goal was to create an expression that was complex, interesting throughout, and delicious, but not ‘obvious.

’ I think we did that; this bourbon is great on its own, but it also makes an awesome Old Fashioned. ” No disrespect to Still Austin, but that source may come as a surprise to whiskey fans just based on lack of name recognition alone. And if you’ve tried a lot of craft whiskey before, you might be worried that means immature bourbon on the thin side–but that is absolutely not the case here.

This high-rye bourbon was distilled and aged for four years in Texas, and has a palate that belies that relatively young age. The mashbill is 75 percent corn, 20 percent rye and 5 percent malted barley–fairly standard for a bourbon, maybe a bit higher on the rye side but not extravagantly so. And it’s bottled at 118.

9 proof, which is substantial but not overpowering. At a recent tasting, a fellow writer remarked that the whiskey reminded him of Booker’s , which seemed like an unexpected but accurate assessment. This new Pinhook bourbon is a truly pleasurable high-proof drinking experience, with rich notes of caramel, molasses, vanilla custard, and apple tart leading off on the palate.

Despite being nearly 120 proof, the alcohol burn is minimal. The color is a deep reddish brown, and that redness follows through flavor-wise with bright raspberry and strawberry notes, along with darker stone fruits. There’s also a cause that’s important to Oliver and so many others involved here.

Proceeds from sales of the bottle will be donated to The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling , an organization chaired and founded by Oliver that awards scholarships to people of color who want to pursue brewing and distilling education. At that recent tasting, Oliver spoke quite a bit about the impact of being a Black man in the predominantly white craft brewing industry over his many years, and how difficult it has been for people of color to find entryway based on bias and the cost of education. He acknowledged realizing at a certain point in his career that he, as a well-respected gatekeeper in the industry, was actually contributing to the problem on some level.

This served as the impetus to start the foundation in 2020 to initiate structural change in the industry. I generally like Pinhook Bourbon, but I really, really like this particular expression. Good bourbon, good cause—this is a win-win whiskey that is worth tracking down and sharing with friends.

Every week Jonah Flicker tastes the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Friday for his latest review . .