Red Bordner Single Barrel American Malt Whiskey Review

By Debbie Shocair

Rating: B-

Tommy “Red” Bordner began learning his way around the moonshiner’s still when he was just twelve years old, and today he heads up a distillery in Boiling Springs, SC, where he is making a bevy of  (legal!) spirits. His output spans a range from flavored moonshines to an agave spirit (not made in Mexico, so it can’t be called tequila), and including an 80 proof South Carolina single barrel whiskey that would make his ancestors proud.

Bordner makes his whiskey with what he claims is a generation-old family recipe, from a mash bill of 60% barley, 20% rye, along with 10% caramel-malt barley and 10% cherrywood-smoked barley. It is laid away for two years in new charred American oak barrels, made right there in South Carolina at Blackwater Barrels. The mashbill and aging make Red Bordner an American Malt.

According to Jeff Foster, Director of Sales and Marketing at Bordner, the entire team is “proud of the quality product we make.” They do some serious grassroots marketing, getting immediate feedback from numerous and frequent in-store tastings, and they take that feedback to heart. As a result, they seem to be growing in popularity and Foster say they have seen nearly a 5-fold increase since he took his position in April 2017. Says Foster, “We don’t have the big-brand name, but we have the taste and the quality – that’s what our customers and our sales are telling us.”

The Whiskey
On the nose, this South Carolina whiskey was rife with caramel corn, sweet hay, and vanilla taffy candy. Sweet, sweet, and sweet.

Breaking it with a half teaspoon of water brought out more candy notes – much like vanilla fudge – and some very pleasant underlying notes of pipe tobacco. It was still very sweet. The mouthfeel was moderate, just under the tip of the tongue.

The finish was somewhat surprising and relatively short. It left most of the sweetness behind in favor of leather, tobacco, and bittersweet dark chocolate. I found that enjoyably interesting, given the sweetness in the introduction.

This is great whiskey for an afternoon with friends, so yes, it’s a daydrinking choice.

The Price
It’s currently only available in stores in South Carolina, but Foster is working hard to broaden availability and expects to be available in seven more states very soon. Retails at around $29, pretty moderate by craft whiskey standards.