Angel’s Envy Cask Strength Bourbon Review (2024)

By Richard Thomas

Rating: A

When Lincoln and Wes Henderson first released Angel’s Envy, I was living in Portugal and responded to the news with a quip: “Kentucky bourbon finished in a Port pipe? That is my life story in a bottle.” The timing was such that I was able to become familiar with their Cask Strength expression from the very first, and I have been lucky enough to continue to take notes on every one of the annual releases.

Just the other day, I was observing to colleagues that I am probably the only person around with vertical notes on the entire series. For example, in 2019 I was able to do a summary feature on every one of the Angel’s Envy Cask Strength bottlings. This is the 13th year for the series, and perhaps in a couple more years a 15 year round up will be in order. This track record is one I hope to continue to retirement.

This year saw a change up in the production process behind Angel’s Envy Cask Strength, as Master Distiller Owen Martin spreads his wings a little after two years on the job and the creation of Angel’s Envy Triple Oak. Cask Strength has heretofore mirrored the flagship expression, except for being stronger and coming from specially selected barrels. This year, Tawny cask-finished bourbon was put into the batching in addition to the standard Ruby cask stuff. For comparison, Ruby Port is fruitier, sweeter and often a dessert wine; Tawny port tends to be aged longer, even when it does not have an age statement, and has a leathery, nuttier and more vanilla character to it. As a fellow who travels to Portugal regularly and brings Port home every time, I like Ruby, but never drink it outside of a dessert wine context; but I open a bottle of 20 year old Tawny as a Christmas Port for sipping through winter every year.

This year’s edition came in at 118 proof.

The Bourbon
My pour retained its deep amber coloring in the glass, even with a splash of water. The nose led with wine fruit–boozy grape, black cherry, plums–buttressed by a solid nutty note and a pinch of woody spices. The scent was a dry one too.

Sipping revealed a silky texture. The wine fruit from the nose leads again, this time hand-in-hand with a balanced helping of vanilla bean. The nuttiness is more subdued, balanced by an on-par note of cookie spices that serves as the supporting characters. Add to that a little leaf tobacco coming on at the end as an extra, and you have the cast for this production. The finish ran dry, with a that trace of cookie spice lingering on.

I think the addition of Tawny cask aging has done worthy things for Angel’s Envy Cask Strength. This series is one that routinely hits the A- mark for me (previous reviews that gave it an A grade were by my colleague Andrew Graham; my own notes, not written up for the website, have those at A-). This time it earned a solid A, and if you’ve been reading my work, you know that is a mark I rarely hand out. This year’s Angel’s Envy Cask Strength is worth its three digit asking price.

The Price
The production run for Cask Strength was almost 23,200 bottles this year. One would think that would help in getting one, especially with a retail price of $230. But a survey of online retailers shows that isn’t the case: it is sought after enough that one should expect to pay at least $300 on demand, and some unscrupulous, greedy Scrooges have it marked up as high as $600.