Opened in 2019, Columbus, Ohio’s Echo Spirits was founded by Joe Bidinger and Nikhil Sharoff, both engineers when the doors first opened. In the years since, they’ve been able to quit their “day jobs” to put all of their effort into their whiskeys and rums, but that hasn’t stopped them from paying tribute to their former careers. They do this by releasing whiskeys in their aptly named Engineer Series.
Echo Spirits Engineer Series Batch 25A -Trail Mix
The newest addition to the ongoing series is Echo Spirits Engineer Series Batch 25A—Trail Mix. This blended bourbon consists of whiskeys from two Kentucky-based Bardstown Bourbon Company mash bills. Both are 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% barley. They were also both matured for five years. The difference between the two whiskeys is that one was double-oaked at Echo Spirits for an extra year and a month in heavy toast new American oak from the Speyside Cooperage in Craigellachie, Aberlour, Scotland.
The result is a 113-proof bourbon that (according to Echo Spirits) begins with a nose of honey-roasted peanuts, butterscotch, milk chocolate, geranium, spearmint, and coffee. Sipping it reveals notes of cranberries, raisins, dark chocolate, salted peanuts, cashews, oak, and lemongrass. The finish is moderate in length and warm and ends with dried fruits and oak.
“The Engineer Series came from our desire to innovate constantly and try to surprise people,” Bidinger said in a press release.
“While our own whiskeys age, we don’t want to blindly dump barrels together and label them our own. It’s important to us to remain transparent about where our whiskey is coming from while creating something new and unique each time.”
“We try to treat individual whiskey barrels like ingredients in a dish. And we love to use different ingredients each time.”
Where can I buy it?
This is a limited-edition blended bourbon, and the brand is only releasing 357 bottles. For $52.95, you can purchase a botttle at the distillery in Columbus or through its distribution network. You can also purchase one online for $59.99.
