Lonerider Sherry Cask Bourbon Review

By Andrew Graham

Rating: B-

“What’s your favorite sherry bomb?”

Just trot this question out around a few well-informed whiskey drinkers and listen with mischievous pride as the conversation devolves into madness.

First, it implies something there isn’t even absolute consensus on: that a sherry bomb can even be good. I’ve heard the phrase used to ridicule a whiskey, not to compliment it. And then: can more or less any whiskey that takes on sherry notes be deemed a sherry bomb? Redbreast 12? Macallan 12 Sherry Oak? Or is the phrase reserved for whiskeys where the sherry notes create more problems than they solve by overpowering all other qualities?

Regardless, this question is probably a good way to troll any group of whiskey snobs.

I’m not sure that the Lonerider Sherry Cask Finish Bourbon is a sherry bomb, but I’m also not sure that it isn’t. To me, it approaches that line where a whiskey finished in Sherry casks becomes a sherry bomb, if the phrase “sherry bomb” is meant to criticize the needlessly overpowering sherry quality some such whiskeys have instead of praise those that incorporate sherry notes well to complement other flavors. (And for anyone who accepts that a sherry bomb can be exceptional, head on over to our sherry bomb listicle from a couple years ago.)

Lonerider Sherry Cask Finish Bourbon is the first spirit released by Lonerider Spirits, sister craft distillery of award-winning Lonerider Brewing Company in Raleigh, North Carolina. It’s a high rye bourbon (45% ABV) with a mash bill of 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley, all non-GMO.

The Bourbon
Color: Medium amber.
Nose: Jammy fruit and dates, with notes of corn, toasted nuts, and vanilla extract.
Flavor: More of the same from the nose, with mulling spice and new wood, but I had to reach a bit for any flavor note besides those imparted by the sherry finish. It tastes exactly like what it is: a young high-rye bourbon finished for an unspecified amount of time in ex-sherry casks.

As I tend to do, I made a cocktail out of this after drinking it neat and with a couple drops of water. In a bid to balance the jammy notes of the sherry finish, I used Lonerider as the base of a perfect Manhattan, which swaps out half of the sweet vermouth of a traditional Manhattan with dry vermouth. It was noticeably better, in my opinion, than Manhattans made out of wheated bourbon like Maker’s Mark.

This whiskey’s strength is definitely as the base for a cocktail as opposed to sipping straight. Use it for that purpose, and the grade gets bumped up a bit.

Finish: Still sherry-focused, with warm spice and notes of old leather. I appreciated the bit of heat on the finish of this 90-proof spirit.

The Price
Lonerider Sherry Cask Finish bourbon has a suggested retail price of $40.