Big Machine Distillery Clayton James Tennessee Whiskey

Big Machine Distillery is a relative newcomer to the whiskey world. This is their “core” offering. They also have a single barrel that I sampled but I think this one is better value. I picked this up while on a distillery tour in the very rural area the distillery is located near the town of Lynnville, Tennessee (which is rural itself).

This whiskey is made with locally sourced white corn, bottled at 45% abv, and this batch was aged for 4 years and 4 months. The mash bill is 74% white corn, 14% wheat, and 12% malted barley. Neat in a Glencairn.

Nose: A big whiff of pine tree sap (maybe fir/spruce too, we don’t have those here so I’ve never had the pleasure of smelling their sap). Some butterscotch and a wee bit of chocolate in there as well, but the pine sap is the predominant note. In a good way. I generally don’t care for piney notes in whiskey but this one isn’t bad.

Palate: Yeah if you could get syrup from pine trees, this would be it. The same butterscotch is here again too.

Finish: Some barrel char on the finish (#4 char barrels are used). The finish reminds me a bit of WT101 where I also get a healthy dose of barrel char. Then again with the pine sap.

Overall: If you like pine tree syrup, then you’ll like this. I can’t get the image of pine cones and evergreen needles out of my head when I drink this. Very interesting whiskey and unlike anything I’ve had before.