Doc Swinson’s “French Toasted” Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Toasted French Oak Casks
Some people just have a knack for continuous creativity. Jesse Parker and the team at Doc Swinson’s are just those kind of people.
Facing the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, Jesse decided he wanted to explore the effects of different wood types and maturation methods on the MGP bourbons and ryes they were blending and finishing. The first of these releases is the Doc Swinson’s French Toasted Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Toasted French Oak Casks.
French oak is one of my favorites - the dark chocolate and heightened baking spice profile brings out new and unique flavors in whiskies as much as it does in the many wines finished in French oak casks. There have been plenty of French oak finishes, some successful and some not, but it had been done before. So Jesse did a Jesse and decided to get some new casks instead of used ones.
He partnered with Taransaud Cooperage, one located in the heart of Cognac country. Trees for these casks were felled from the Troncais Forest, cut, and seasoned for a minimum of 36 months (3 years) before being coopered into large format 600L casks and medium-toasted. These barrels were constructed before Jesse and the team might have known to use them, but in a case of fortunate timing they were able to secure a few of them.
The Troncais Forest is one of the most famous in France, about as central geographically as you could get within the country and heavily forested. Its history is a timesuck all its own (shoutout to Dan Cummins) from its use as a study point for oak for the French Navy to its current horticultural and ecological niches. The core point to take away from this forest’s use is that between 70-75% of its trees are sessile oak, also known as Quercus petraea.
Like many Forests with a capital “F” in Europe, it’s more than just a grammatical quirk - it’s a highly-controlled area of growth, with trees being felled at an average age of 250 years. Forests were managed for many reasons, chief amongst them the maintenance of a steady oak supply for shipbuilding, carpentry, and other uses for which oak was the best wood available. The Forests of England were managed as early as the 12th century, and the methods by which they were managed are found in some of the earliest surviving records of Medieval England, including the Domesday Book and royal rolls.
In France, the Troncais was managed by the nobility as early as the 14th century when - another coincidence - it was ceded to the Duke of Bourbon. The Forest as we know it today was organized into a growth pattern under Jean-Baptiste Colbert in 1670 during the reign of Louis XIV for - wait for it - a two hundred year plan to supply the French Navy’s oak needs. The copse founded by Colbert was only around 13 hectares, much smaller than the current Forest’s breadth, but it nonetheless created the conditions he desired. Quercus petraea grows in similar patterns to American oak - tall, straight, few knots, enough substantive strength to hold up to naval rigors but enough flexibility to be shaped into the ships’ hulls.
Side note: often, when referring to French oak, people are talking about Quercus robur, not Quercus petraea. Much like American oak - which covers at least 60-65 different species, not just Quercus alba - French oak includes many sub-species and variations.
Among the multiple features of these trees and their casks are a fine grain, which is more porous and allows for more whiskey penetration in and out of the wood. A fine grain means less width between the tree’s annual growth rings; another way to view it is that fine grain wood has more vessels and less structural material. A fascinating study conducted by Canton, Taransaud, and Kadar Cooperages in 2014 studied the effects of fine/tight grain or open/wide grain on wine, evaluating the compounds released or created in the wine from interaction with the oak after a 12-month period. The study is easy to understand, so I greatly urge you to take a read when you have a few minutes or if you’re particularly interested in wine.
There are a bunch of intriguing findings here, including that the fine grain oak generally leads to “greater quantity of wood aromatics (eugenol, whiskey lactones) whereas open-grain barrels release a larger amount of tannins (ellagitannins).” Alongside this, the researchers found that the open grain barrels “release more toasty/roasted aromas in the early months (furanes, guaiacol, and phenols), which then decrease. This explains why shorter aging can emphasize aromas from the toasting - especially in open-grain barrels.”
Another finding that plays into this product’s narrative is that “during long élevages, tight grain will enhance volume and texture of already elegant grape tannins, while offering a wider aromatic palette.” Basically, longer aging leads to greater tannic growth. As part of the Exploratory Double Oak Series, Doc Swinson’s didn’t bottle all of the whiskey aging in the French oak casks. This current batch was aged approximately three months; the remainder is planned to age for a total of 8-9 months. The study referenced here was done on wine - my greatest curiosity is whether the same chemical changes happen with a higher proof spirit like whiskey (also on a grain distillate versus a fruit distillate) over the same period of time, whether the proof accelerates the interaction, whether the larger format counteracts some of the assumed acceleration, and more.
Then, there’s another variable thrown in: Jesse aged the differently-mashbilled MGP bourbons separately to evaluate the effects on flavor throughout the three month aging period. The 75/21/4 mashbill (also called the 21% rye mashbill) brought out lighter, spicier notes, where as the 60/36/4 mashbill (the 36% rye mashbill) brought out smokier and fruitier elements. The compounds mentioned above - eugenol, whiskey lactones, furanes, guaiacol, and phenols - are all present. Moving somewhat backwards, the guaiacols and phenols come across in whiskey as smoky, creosote-laden, and coffee grounds. Furanes are also related to coffee grounds aromatically. Whiskey lactones should be familiar to most drinkers of American whiskey as the coconut flavor so present in American oak. Finally, Eugenol represents the baking spice flavors - it is clove oil, spicy and peppery that can also be found in nutmeg, cinnamon, basil, and bay leaves.
So, does the study on wine translate to the barreling of whiskey in tight grain French oak? Seems like it so far, but we’ll only find out in a few months if it does longer down the line.
At three months, the balance between whiskey, American oak, French oak, and toasting all meld beautifully. Despite what could easily be a woody final product, this never gets close to that. The bourbon is ever-present, blending both the rye spice and the corn oils and coconut/butteriness with the French oak’s influence.
I’ve liked, even loved, French oak finishes before. Never has one made me so interested as to do this research or want to know what it tastes like in a few more months. That alone is worth the purchase price. The taste earns a second bottle.
Thank you to Doc Swinson’s for providing this sample free of charge and without editorial constraints.
Doc Swinson’s “French Toasted” Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Toasted French Oak Casks: Specs
Classification: Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Origin: MGP, Finished by Doc Swinson’s
Mashbill: Blend of 75/21/4 and 60/36/4 MGP Bourbon Mashbills
Proof: 110.6 (55.3% ABV)
Age: NAS (Minimum 5.5 Years plus Finishing Time)
Location: Indiana, Finished in Washington
Doc Swinson’s “French Toasted” Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Toasted French Oak Casks Price: $84.99
Doc Swinson’s “French Toasted” Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Toasted French Oak Casks Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Iced green tea. Thin rims and large globules.
Nose: Bourbon and French oak hit as one, not separate at all. The bourbon is a classic MGP profile, the toasted oak sweet and nutty like brown butter with a slight smokiness. Hints of a maple old fashioned. Incense smoke, no proof on the nose.
Palate: Oak is much more present here, creamy and super peppery. The initial burn is followed by intense French oak flavors of baking spices, whole cloves, smoky barrel char, and maple sugar. Cinnamon brioche being toasted. Mouthfeel is delicate and mildly prickly, sitting and growing on the chew. Chocolate-cinnamon cereal, with frankincense perfuming the whole mouth.
Finish: Medium length, all about the French oak and the rye from the bourbon mashbills highlighting each other.
Overall: Never turns woody, despite my expectations that it might. The French oak is pervasive but not overpowering, instead highlighting the same flavors found in the bourbons and their rye components. The intent of aging only three months was to focus more on the new toasted wood aspects, in which I think Doc Swinson’s was fully successful. The only thing holding it back for me was a thinner-than-expected mouthfeel, which might be addressed in the next, longer-aged batch.
Final Rating: 7.7
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary
8 | Excellent | Exceptional
7 | Great | Well above average
6 | Very Good | Better than average
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary
4 | Has promise but needs work
1-3 | Let’s have a conversation
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