Starlight Distillery Bottled In Bond Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

Since this is our first review of a Starlight whiskey under Starlight’s own brand (The Whiskey Reviewer previously wrote up a Lost Lantern bottling of Starlight’s handiwork), an introduction is in order. The distillery is named for Starlight, Indiana, located not even twenty miles from Louisville’s Whiskey Row. The distillery is the most recent outgrowth of the Huber family farm in Starlight. The Hubers immigrated from Germany to the US in 1843, eventually settled in Starlight, and started a winery on their farm in 1978. The distillery came in 2000, but for many years that was a port wine and brandy-making operation. The Huber family was a key lobbyist for changes in Indiana law to both allow for their original fruit-distilling operation and then later for making whiskey, which they started doing in 2013.

Lisa Roper Wicker, this website’s favorite itinerant craft distiller and blender, worked for Starlight for about a year back in the day, between her first whiskey gig at Limestone Branch and moving on to Preservation Distillery in Bardstown. Dana Huber, co-owner of the farm, is the one currently named as leading the blending process.

This particular, blue-labeled standard bottled in bond bourbon is a blend of two different distillates, one a 60% corn, 20% rye, 20% barley malt (so it could be said rye and malted barley are joint, secondary flavoring grains) and the other a four-grain bourbon of the same proportions of barley malt and rye, but only 51% corn and 9% wheat making up the difference. As 85% of the grain used is grown on the farm, Starlight Bonded Bourbon more than qualifies as an estate whiskey.

According to Starlight, they draw on 15 to 18 barrels per batching, so it could be counted as a small batch whiskey (all craft whiskeys are essentially small batches though). Making things more complicated, those barrels do not have a standardized char level: they could be anywhere from char #1 to char #4. Moreover, the staves, although all air dried, could have been drying for anywhere from two to five years. However, as a bonded whiskey, we know it’s all Starlight; at least four years old; all stock came from the same distilling season; and the proof is 100.

The Bourbon
I see the coloring on my pour as bronze/dull light amber. The nose has a sweetness drawn from a kid’s juice box vein to it, coupled to a solid current of vanilla and seasoned with mint and cookie spices. From there the palate evolves into something more oaky and spicy, but without losing its foothold on candy corn and caramel. Finally, the finish turns decisively to ginger and cinnamon.

The Price
Expect to pay $50 for a fifth bottle of this Indiana bonded craft bourbon.