Skip to main content

Should You Pick Up the New Cask Strength Bourbon from Angel’s Envy?

By Sam Slaughter Aug 6, 2021 7:43 AM

angels envy — Angel's Envy/Facebook

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

To us, cask strength bourbons are great. They pack a punch (of both flavor and strength) and, because of their usual price points, make excellent gifts when you need to impress someone (or make up for something you did while drinking cask strength whiskey).

Recommended Videos

As with their previous cask strength limited releases, Angel’s Envy finished this year’s edition in port casks. Once the bourbon has aged on its own in new American Oak barrels, the Louisville-based distillery uses 60-gallon ruby port barrels that are made from French oak and imported from Portugal to finish the liquid for anywhere from three to six months (depending on the taste).

In total throughout 2017, 10,000 bottles of the cask strength release were produced — a jump from the 8,000 produced last year.

angels envy cask strength 2017 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Appearance: Deep copper with a slight crimson hue.

Nose: Caramel corn and cinnamon spice are present up front, with hints of vanilla and raisin shortly thereafter. On the end there’s a little bit of wine sweetness that evokes the barrels this bourbon was finished in.

Palate: Much like the nose, caramel is one of the first and foremost flavors here, though here it is bolstered by some cassis notes. There is a nice amount of vanilla, too, with fruit flavors that end up resembling fruit cake. Clove and baking spice act as a nice balance to the sweeter notes. Some oaky tannins come through, with dark chocolate overtones near the end.

Finish: Dark chocolate and oak again to finish this out. The finish is long, smooth, and pleasantly tingles the gums.

Final Thoughts: The port wine sweetness blends well with the sweetness that comes from the bourbon. If you like the cask strength bourbon or the port cask-finished bourbon from Angel’s Envy, this is definitely one you need to try and get your hands on. The price may scare some people away — especially for a bourbon that is only around six or seven years old and sourced rather than made (though that will hopefully be changing soon now that Angel’s Envy has its own facility) — but if you’re looking to splurge a little, then this is one to splurge on.

Angel’s Envy Cask Strength 2017 is 62.25 percent ABV and retails for around $200 (though most online outlets are selling it for $400).

Feature image courtesy of Angel’s Envy/Facebook.

Topics

Auto Reviews

Drinking in the Rain: A New York speakeasy perfects a not-to-miss riff on an old fashioned named for Don Lockwood

don lockwood cocktail singin in the rain ep mgm

When I was a kid, I remember my mother always watching musicals. West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, there seemed to be one on every time my mom had control of the remote. One of the ones I remember seeing and liking immediately was Singing in the Rain. Watching Gene Kelly dancing on the flooded sidewalk and swinging around a light pole while, well, singing in the rain. I hadn’t thought of that movie in a long time. Maybe decades. That was until a few weeks ago when I was on a trip to Fort Lauderdale and I heard about a cocktail called the Don Lockwood, a riff on the old fashioned named after Kelly’s character.

Now, as a huge fan of the old fashioned, I am leery of the riffs. I am the same way with pizza, burgers, and macaroni and cheese. They’re already perfect. Stop messing with them. However, when I saw the recipe, I decided to give it a shot. I went to multiple bars and restaurants and asked each one if they had heard of the cocktail and I got a lot of blank stares and shaking heads. So, when I got back to the city, I had a very clear first priority, hit Saint Tuesday in Tribeca and try their Don Lockwood.

Flavors to watch in 2027: Coffee flavor trends

Latte

As the year winds down, the flavored coffee world gets extra busy. From pumpkin spice in the fall to gingerbread and pecan praline around the holidays, flavored coffee always seems to shine toward year-end. As we look ahead to 2027, Christophe Ernotte, VP of North America at La Cimbali, shares his thoughts on where beverage flavor is headed next year. From nutty, green flavors like matcha and pistachio to brighter, more acidic, citrus-forward drinks, here’s what Ernotte believes may become 2027’s hottest coffee flavor trends.

Coffee and espresso flavor trends to gain momentum

The best non-alcoholic fall beers to celebrate Sober October

Deschutes

Dry January might be the most popular month for taking a break from alcohol, but Sober October is a close second. If you’re spending this month sans alcohol and you’re getting tired of simply drinking sparkling water, there are options aplenty, especially if you’re usually a beer drinker.

If you didn’t know it already, the non-alcoholic beer world has improved a lot in the last decade. When I first started writing about alcohol twenty years ago, I wrote an article where I taste-tested NA beers and the results were fairly brutal. While I won’t name the beers, pretty much all were fizzy, yellow, and at best fairly flavorless. In essence, they didn’t really taste like beer. That’s definitely not the same today. It’s a whole new world of non-alcoholic beer.