Shenk’s Homestead Sour Mash Whiskey Review (2021)

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

With it’s sour mash whiskey, Michter’s harks back to its brand roots in southeastern Pennsylvania, and especially so with Shenk’s Homestead. Michter’s Sour Mash disappeared in 1989, one of the late casualties of the 1970s world whiskey bust. “New Michter’s” reintroduced it in 2012, as one of those expressions that isn’t quite bourbon or rye, as these classifications are parsed based on what grain leads the mash bill and carries over the 51% mark. Bourbon, for example, is 51%+ corn. Michter’s US1 Sour Mash Whiskey has come to enjoy a modest, but solid reputation among those who know it.

The title is drawn from John Shenk, the semi-legendary, Revolutionary War era founder of the distillery that became Bomberger’s, site of the southeastern Pennsylvania roots I previously mentioned. It too is drawn from Michter’s sour mash stock, but with some Chinquapin oak barrel-aged whiskey mixed into the general stuff for good measure. This is a separate species of white oak, best thought of as a cousin of the more familiar Quercus Alba. Michter’s has been drawing on Chinquapin for Shenk’s since 2019, and Bomberger’s Bourbon uses it as well, but the wider whiskey fanbase only became fascinated with the wood when Sazerac released it’s Old Charter Chinquapin Oak. Such is the fever that attaches to all things Buffalo Trace. Shenk’s is bottled at an easy drinking 45.6% ABV

The Whiskey
A pour takes on a shining, bright amber appearance, while the scent coming up from the glass is akin to an oak plate of ginger cookies and graham crackers, garnished with lemon slices. The flavor takes that oak plate and replaces the cookies and fruit with a hefty slice of lemon cake with caramel drizzle and a sprinkle of allspice. The finish lingers on as a touch oak and a touch spicy.

Fans of Michter’s Sour Mash are in for a treat with Shenk’s, and if you are one of those who loves Sour Mash or Sour Mash Toasted Barrel, then this is a must-buy bottle. It’s superbly well-balanced, with a character that is squarely in the broader frame of American Whiskey, but not really settled within any of its particular branches. It’s not a bourbon or a rye or even a hybrid. It’s simply Shenk’s Sour Mash, and very enjoyable at that.

The Price
The official price is $90. As already indicated, at that price tag any fan of Michter’s Sour Mash should consider this a must-buy. The problem is plenty of online retailers have marked this item, which is supposed to cost about as much as a bottle of Booker’s, at $200. So, if you an snag it at $90, do so with all speed.