Ben Holladay Rickhouse Proof Small Batch Reserve Bourbon Review

By Randall H. Borkus

Rating: B-

Ben Halladay 6 Year Old Cask Strength Small Batch Bourbon
(Credit: Randall H. Borkus)

The brothers Ben and David Holladay founded the Blue Springs Distillery in 1856a, it was at a limestone well supposedly discovered by Lewis and Clark. The distillery changed hands multiple times; first to George Shawhan, who renamed it the Shawhan Distillery in 1900; again in 1936 to become the Old Weston Distillery; finally turning into the McCormick Distilling Company in 1942. In 1993, the business was purchased by Ed Pechar and Mike Griesser.

McCormick Distilling is now the oldest distillery west of the Mississippi River that still operates at its original location, and it was one of the handful of distilleries allowed to remain open to bottle medicinal whiskey during Prohibition. Ben Holladay, named for the co-founder of the original operation, now provides the name for their bourbon.

Ben Holladay Rickhouse Proof Small Batch Reserve Bourbon is distilled from a mash bill of 73% corn, 15% rye and 12% malted barley, aged for six years and bottled at a cask strength of 120.1 proof (60.05% ABV).

I enjoy Holladay’s transparency about their blending process. Here the Rickhouse Proof comes from their seven-floor rickhouse, Warehouse C where they blend six-year-old bourbons from four floors to create this small batch combination; fifteen percent comes from floor 2, fifty-eight percent from floor 3, twenty-two percent from floor 4, and five percent from floor 5.

The Bourbon
I poured this Bourbon whiskey into my Glencairn glass, and I immediately smelled the sweet Missouri juice as it splashed into my glass.  The whiskey color is a rusty brown clinging to the inside of my glass.

The nose is sweet oak, cinnamon, Caramel, and burnt cherry with hints of warm almonds. The front palate is warming yet the heat dissipates then opening with a spicy Caramel sweetness, baking spices, cinnamon, and a dry nuttiness. The mid palate sports more burnt cherry, toasty caramel, and corn sugars mingling with a touch of black pepper, and rye freshness. The finish is cinnamon spicy with a rye grain earthiness, oak dryness, and a black pepper splash.  The finish lasts medium long which surprises me for a six year old bourbon whiskey from Missouri.

I really enjoyed sipping this whiskey and it paired well with both a mild and a spicy cigars.  This is a keeper, and I’ll go back for another bottle.

The Price
A 750ml bottle has a suggested price of $74.99, and I even found bottles available on the shelf in Mandan, North Dakota.