Cedar Ridge has spent years running its single malt through just about every cask it can find. Now it’s trying the same trick on its bourbon.
The distillery based out of Swisher, Iowa (and the state’s first licensed distillery since Prohibition, FYI) has just released Portside II, a limited, small-batch Iowa bourbon built on the idea behind its 2023 QuintEssential Special Release Portside.
That original was a 6-year-old American single malt finished in first-fill ruby port, first-fill Amontillado sherry, and virgin French oak casks, then bottled at cask strength.
Portside II starts instead with Cedar Ridge’s flagship bourbon, made from a mashbill of 74% corn, 14% rye, and 12% malted barley and aged in new American oak.
From there, it’s finished in three casks: new French oak, first-fill Amontillado sherry, and first-fill port, and bottled at 115 proof. The port casks come from Portugal, California, and Cedar Ridge’s own estate.
Master distiller Murphy Quint says this is the first time he’s taken a concept from one whiskey category and moved it into another
Cedar Ridge’s single malt playbook, but make it bourbon
Bourbon keeps the lights on at Cedar Ridge, and it’s among the best-selling bourbon brands in Iowa. But for whiskey drinkers outside the state, the distillery’s reputation runs through its QuintEssential single malts.
That line has been Cedar Ridge’s lab. The signature blend draws from up to 20 different finishing casks. The special releases, from Portside to a cigar-inspired malt, stack port, sherry, Madeira, and Tokaji on top of each other.
It has also made Cedar Ridge one of the louder voices behind American single malt, which finally became an official category last year.
The bourbon side has been catching up. The last two Anniversary Editions were wine-cask-finished bourbons. But Portside II is the first time Quint has ported a specific single malt recipe over (pun intended).
Moving to bourbon means a sweeter corn base and new charred oak, both of which leave the finishing casks less room to work than a malt does.
It’s also coming in well under the roughly $100 the single malt special releases usually go for, which makes it the cheapest way into Quint’s cask experiments so far.
Where to buy it
Portside II is $59.99 for a 750 mL bottle. It’s on shelves in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, South Dakota, California, and Florida, and it ships direct from Cedar Ridge to 45 states.
