Fortuna Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Rare Character Fortuna Sour Mash

At the height of America’s original whiskey boom of the late nineteenth century, a German immigrant named Phil Hollenbach crafted a brand called Fortuna that helped define the early days of the modern bourbon industry. Hollenbach left a lasting mark on the whiskey trade, having found great success in Louisville, Kentucky. He strived to delight customers far and wide by sharing some of the “Taste of Good Fortune” provided to his family. Over a hundred years since its inception, Fortuna Bourbon has now been revitalized for a new generation of whiskey lovers to celebrate. Aged a minimum of six years and hand-selected by the folks behind Rare Character Whiskey. Nose: Bready caramel notes jump out of the glass first. Diving deeper I find it to be reminiscent of flan.

The nose is quite sweet with vanilla softening the sharpness of the background nutmeg and cinnamon. A strong base of oak serves as the backbone for a delicate dance of allspice, peppermint pastel party mints, and soft floral tones. As the glass warms a lovely honey sweetness forms with crystalline sugar coming as close to reality as possible under my nostrils. The cinnamon notes almost venture into some of the aromas that tend to come off of amburana oak, though it's quite soft here. That note is the only one that detracts from the nose personally, though I know many folks are crazy for those finishes. Time for a sip. 

Palate: My first sip is incredibly soft. Caramel leads the way as it did on the nose, though cherry skins follow close behind here. The mouth feel is on the thinner side, but it's also so incredibly sweet that I think that is a positive here. Another sip shows off vanilla bean ice cream, chocolate, date and soft plum. Soft, sweet honey persists as a cherry hots tingles the chest.

The finish is short, but sweet, suggesting another sip isn't far out on the horizon. My last sip is a great balance between confectioners sweets and soft tannins.