There’s a lot of new whiskey coming out this fall, with annual unicorn releases like Old Forester’s Birthday Bourbon and the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection leading the way. A distillery that doesn’t get quite as much recognition, but is still producing some excellent bourbon and rye, is Rabbit Hole in Louisville. The latest release is a new eight-year-old rye whiskey priced at $300, and while there are much better deals out there, this whiskey does deliver in terms of flavor.
Rabbit Hole was founded in 2012 by Kaveh Zamanian, a psychologist turned whiskey maker who opened his distillery in 2018 in Louisville’s Nulu neighborhood. A year later, Pernod Ricard acquired the brand, but Zamanian remains at the helm and was voted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2022. The distillery is currently making its own whiskey, but the core lineup is mostly sourced from or contract distilled at other distilleries. The range consists of bourbon and rye that was rebranded with new names a few years ago: Cavehill Four Grain Triple Malt Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Boxergrail Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, Dareringer Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in PX Sherry Casks, and Heigold High Rye Double Malt Kentucky Straight Bourbon.
Then there’s the Founder’s Collection, a series of high-priced special releases that are bottled at cask strength in very limited numbers. The last release was a 15-year-old bourbon finished in mizunara barrels (the second time that particular whiskey was part of the collection), which came out last spring priced at $1,500. This new Founder’s Collection whiskey is much cheaper at $300 per bottle, but that is still kind of pushing the upper limits for an eight-year-old sourced rye whiskey, even if it is good.
This is the second time Boxergrail has been released as part of the Founder’s Collection, but the first time it was bottled at six years old. The whiskey is made from a 95 percent rye/five percent malted barley mashbill, but since it’s labeled as Kentucky rye it doesn’t come from MGP, the Indiana distillery famous for that particular recipe. There has been some speculation that the source of the whiskey could be New Riff, but there is no confirmation as to the real source. Regardless, this is a tasty whiskey, and at 103.8 proof there’s a bit of heat but nothing that’s overpowering. There are notes of cinnamon, spice, vanilla, brown sugar, honey, and baked apple on the palate, and despite the mashbill it sips on the sweeter side of the flavor spectrum, more like a Kentucky style rye whiskey despite its rye-heavy mashbill.
Boxergrail Founder’s Collection is available in a run of 1,200 bottles that you can find at the distillery and around the country in specialty stores. As mentioned before, at $300 per bottle this is a pretty expensive whiskey given its age, but if you decide to drop the cash you won’t be disappointed by its quality. You can find previous Founder’s Collection releases available at Total Wine, and the core lineup is for sale at ReserveBar now.
