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Founded in 2018 by Mike Paladini and Danny Polise, Penelope Bourbon was created to honor the birth of Mike's first child of the same name. Since then, Penelope has sourced NDP components from MGP, Bardstown Bourbon Company, and Speyside Cooperate, though it is operated by MGP since it's acquisition of the brand in 2023 under it's Luxco subsidiary. The brand focuses on new and unique whiskies, often playing with atypical mash bills, blends, or barrel finishing processes and this bottle is no different.
Penelope Architect is a relatively young bourbon with a high rye mash bill that is aged for four weeks after the addition of French oak staves produced by Tonnellerie Radoux, a storied cooper with more than 70 years of history - now part of François Frères Cooperage Group. Radoux has a proprietary technology called Oakscan® which is used as part of their quality control process to use near-infrared spectrometry to measure the concentration of various chemicals within each stave (mainly polyphenols and tannins) and ensure the proper balance of flavor. Before this process, it was exceedingly difficult to understand the chemical content of a particular stave and therefore the resulting impact it would have on the whiskey. Penelope targets a medium tannin concentration for these staves, enough to be interesting but without overwhelming.
Architect is known for changing slightly with each release, commonly called a "Build". This bottle is from build No. 11.
🛒Sourced: $48.99 at Costco Perimeter, GA - 750ml - more commonly around $60 though craft prices seem to definitely be coming down across the board. This is not a particularly old bourbon, so I can see it coming down further. Maker's 46 is actually much older, albeit lower proof, and retails between $30-40.
🧪Proof: 104 proof, 52% ABV - comfortably in my proof sweet spot!
🎨Color: R5 - blood orange, can tell the staves have been in there
🥔Mash Bill: 75% Corn, 21% Rye, 4% Malted Barley. Aged a minimum of four years and then finished for an additional four weeks after the addition of the flavoring staves. Originally, Penelope used their signature four-grain mash bill (a blend of three MGP standard recipes), though they shifted to the current high-rye tri-blend for builds No.6 to date.
A #4 char is used on the staves while a #2 char is used on the barrel heads. MGP's standard barrel entry proof is 120.
👃Nose: Pleasant and buttery, honey, biscuit, and toasted oak. Surprisingly sweet. Smelling some youth for sure.
😜Palate: Warming with but on the thin side, clove and nutmeg that lapses into Belgium waffle. A little bit of charred caramel in the mid-palate with some coying sweetness tempered by young wood edges.
💦Finish: Short of flavor but with a lingering warmth, wood - mostly barrel.
🏆 Overall: 5.5/10 - Good - Not bad whiskey by any stretch. It delivers on nice bakery palate but for a finished whiskey I'm left wanting. You can tell that this is four year whiskey in the nose and on the tongue. No matter how nice the staves, there's no getting around the time in barrel. Excellence is hard to scale and this is one bottle that I think may suffer from maximum manufacturing. 104 isn't a crazy proof point by any means, but I think if they want to keep the youth it may make sense to have a little more agua to round off the edges.
Half Bottle Update - With a few weeks of air under the cork, some of the young roughness has definitely mellowed. Bumping the rating up to 5.5 as it has been increasingly solid, though not wildly different.
💵Would buy again? Nope, not unless I see some bonkers reviews from people I trust. Maker's Mark 46 is much thicker and more flavorful for substantially less and Woodford Double Oaked is only a buck more.
⚖️Rating Scale:
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume it by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws | Struggle to get through the bottle
4 | Serviceable | Mixing or ice recommended.
5 | Good | Drinkable Neat | An agreeable dram indeed.
6 | Very Good | Any flaws offset by interesting flavors | A cut above.
7 | Great | You find yourself reaching for this one often | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Serve to Impress Guests | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite | You guard this bottle jealously.
10 | Perfect | You didn't think anything could be this good | A clear champion.