Lost Lantern Single Cask #3 Boulder Distillery Bourbon Review (Fall 2021)

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

The latest batch of single cask bottlings from Lost Lantern includes some real lovelies, and among them is the bourbon from Boulder Distillery. That Colorado distillery was started by Scotsman Alastair Brogan, who brought Scotch-style whiskey-making to the Rocky Mountains, complete with a Forsyths-made copper pot still. That Scottish style is reflected in their bourbon as well, made with a high malt mash bill: 51% corn, 44% malted barley, and 5% rye. The barrel used to make this single cask was a 5 year old, 53-gallon, new oak ASB, stored in the mile-high elevation of the Boulder area for all five years of that maturation. The contents were bottled at cask strength, in this case an eye-popping 69.2% ABV, for a yield of 181 bottles.

The Whiskey
A pour of this whiskey has a dark, deep red amber coloring. With a proof pushing 140, I put a sizable splash of water into the glass before taking a step forward. As it turned out, that one hefty splash was enough.

A sniff gave me something like a Smores made with a big, fat caramel candy instead of a marshmallow: toasted graham crackers, oodles of caramel, a little earthy, cocoa edge. The first sip revealed a whiskey with a decidedly oily texture, which doesn’t surprise me in a very high-malt, very high proof bourbon. It has the standard brown sugar and vanilla sweetness, a dollop of fudge, and this coupled to a bold, but still smooth current of oak. The finish trails off with mellow spices and wood.

For a bourbon that is essentially rocket fuel in a bottle, it’s also surprisingly–if not shockingly–smooth. The high malt mash bill and copper pot distillation show themselves as much as the maturation in the high, dry, thin air of Boulder.

The Price
The retail price for this whiskey is $105 for a 750 ml bottle.