Blue Note Bourbon, the Memphis, Tennessee-based whiskey brand from B.R. Distilling, has released a limited-run Cherry Wood Cask Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The expression starts as straight bourbon aged in American oak, then finishes in wild-cherry wood casks sourced from the Jura region of eastern France.
It’s bottled at cask strength — 120 proof, 60% ABV — with a mash bill of 70% corn, 21% rye, and 9% malted barley.
Dan Jurkovic, B.R. Distilling’s national sales director, said the cherry cask was meant to add complexity while the cask-strength bottling preserves enough structure to balance out the sweetness.
B.R. Distilling holds Memphis’s oldest distillery license, and it’s built its name as a blender rather than a grain-to-glass operation — sourcing Kentucky distillate, then finishing and aging it just outside downtown Memphis, where the humidity off the Mississippi does a lot of the work.
Blue Note’s growing up fast
B.R. Distilling has been Memphis’s oldest licensed distillery since 2014, though it didn’t start out making whiskey — the company launched as a vodka producer before pivoting to aged spirits. Blue Note debuted in 2018, built specifically around Memphis’s blues heritage, with the brand’s name and blue-lit tasting room leaning in.
Since then, it’s moved fast. The core lineup (Juke Joint, Toasted, Uncut, and a straight rye) has racked up some nice wins in competition, including back-to-back Platinum medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Distribution has kept pace: what started as a regional pour is now sold in more than two dozen states plus Washington, D.C., with Blue Note adding Indiana, Nebraska, and a new Kentucky distributor just this past June.
Limited releases have become a regular part of the calendar too. Special Reserve, Single Barrel Reserve, a 17-year-old, and honey-cask expressions have all come and gone in just the past couple of years, each one adding to the brand’s growing reputation among cask-strength bourbon fans.
The Cherry Wood Cask fits their pattern: a small, specific experiment from a distillery that’s figured out how to turn scarcity into demand.
Where to buy it
Blue Note Cherry Wood Cask is available now at $64.99 a bottle through Seelbach’s online, plus retailers in Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Tennessee. With roughly 1,000 cases made, expect it to sell through state allocations quickly.
