Michter’s Bomberger’s PFG Is a Great, Unique Bourbon

Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Sunday for his latest whiskey review.

Michter’s has become one of the most celebrated Kentucky bourbon brands over the past decade, and for good reason—the core bourbon, rye, and American whiskey are all solid options in a world of many, and the high-priced, high-age statements expressions avoid the tannic bomb curse that some succumb to. Michter’s also doesn’t shy away from occasional experimentation, as evidenced by the new Bomberger’s PFG, a bourbon that is completely different from anything else the distillery has released—which turns out to be a vey good thing.

Bomberger’s Declaration and Shenk’s Homestead are part of Michter’s Legacy Series, a collection of whiskeys that launched in 2018 as a tribute to the distillery’s lengthy history. Shenk’s Homestead is a sour mash whiskey (not a bourbon or rye) that is named after John Shenk, the man who founded the Pennsylvania distillery in the 18th century that would later be purchased by Abraham Bomberger—hence the name of the Legacy Series bourbon—and ultimately become Michter’s. The new Bomberger’s PFG is a straight bourbon like the others in this series that bear his name, but it’s a very different release.

PFG stands or “Precision Fine Grain,” a process that the distillery has trademarked. First the whiskey was aged in new toasted and charred barrels for an undisclosed amount of time (there is no age statement). Then the bourbon is put into new French oak barrels that were toasted and charred using a proprietary process to achieve a specific flavor profile. The wood for these barrels came from the Tronçais, Allier, Nevers, and Vosges forests in France, and was air dried for 40 months along the Charente River which the distillery says has a very specific climate and microflora that affect the wood and therefore the whiskey that is aged in it.

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All of this amounts to a very different bourbon than anything else in the Michter’s portfolio, and also a very interesting and delicious bourbon. The use of French oak for American whiskey maturation can be polarizing because of the often intense impact it has upon the spirit’s flavor. And that impact is certainly pronounced here, which might not be to everyone’s taste, but I urge you to at least give this bourbon a try. This secondary maturation has transformed the whiskey into a spicy, woody, fruity delight without losing the bourbon’s core identity. There are notes of caramel, fermented grapes, leather, sweet tobacco, milk and dark chocolate, and a cabinet full of baking spices, with every sip revealing something new.

Michter’s has a few other twists on the classics in its lineup in the form of its toasted barrel finished whiskeys and barrel-strength bourbon and rye (both relatively common, particularly the latter). The new Bomberger’s PFG, however, takes a finish that isn’t exactly novel (there are other French oak finished bourbons out there), but really makes it unique to the Michter’s catalogue, and one that stands out based on the procedure and method used. If you’re a fan of Michter’s, or just a bourbon lover who is eager to try something new, give this whiskey a try—you won’t be disappointed.

Score: 93