Glenn’s Creek Café Olé™ Bourbon
Glenn’s Creek Café Olé™ Bourbon Bottle. Image credit: Glenn’s Creek Distillery.
Glenn’s Creek is, to me, the most exciting Kentucky distillery operating today. It’s also one of the most unknown.
Just down McCraken Pike from the restored Castle & Key property, you drive through the castle grounds, go another mile or so, passing a sign saying “Old Crow Distillery”, and then come to an orange “road closed” sign (last year’s floods washed out the roads, and they haven’t been repaired yet). It’s here you’ll find Glenn’s Creek.
Situated in the former Old Crow Distillery’s bottling plant, Glenn’s Creek is the brainchild of David Meier. Affectionately known as Grumpy Dave, Meier is at turns brutally honest and wildly creative, an understated salesman who came to whiskey late and has dived as deep as you can go.
Dave is, by his own admission, a process guy. He puts in the time to understand the ins and outs of what he’s doing, perfecting the basics. Then, the tinkering begins.
At the volumes that Glenn’s Creek is currently producing, a process change can be a quick one that is a one-day affair but takes no shorter time to come to market. They’re still doing everything in the not-so-large bottling plant, fabricating their own stills and finding ways to make things happen. In homage to the sacred place in which they operate, they’ve taken the time to trap some yeast from the Old Crow fermenters - but we’ll get into that in another review.
Glenn’s Creek Café Olé™ Bourbon was one such tinkering. Building off of their OCD #5, the core bourbon expression, Café Olé™ came about because of feedback from a tasting. After hearing that some patrons enjoyed the OCD #5 but preferred a roasted flavor - one specifically mentioned coffee - Dave went back to the process and asked himself where he could insert more roasted flavor. The answer was simple: the malt. By swapping some of the regular malt for heavily toasted malt, darker notes (and colors!) emerge.
This bourbon is, quite simply, outstanding. It’s not a long-matured product, and yet has depth and complexity far beyond its years. If you’re a purely aesthetic drinker, the color is unbeatable. Roasted barley leads to coffee and chocolate while never letting you forget that this is a bourbon. Smoky barrel char, cola syrup, dates, and molasses all make appearances. At 110.6º, the mouthfeel was syrupy and filling.
It’s something both familiar and totally new, unique and reminiscent of the great bourbons you’ve had before.
Take the time and visit Glenn’s Creek. Try their products, hear the stories, and don’t go home without a bottle - it might not be there the next time you visit.
Glenn’s Creek Café Olé™ Bourbon Whiskey: Specs
Classification: Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey
Origin: Glenn’s Creek Distillery
Mashbill: 87% Corn, 8% Rye, and 5% Malted Barley
Proof: 110.6 (55.3% ABV)
Age: ~42 Months
Location: Kentucky
Glenn’s Creek Café Olé™ Bourbon Whiskey Price: $63.21
Glenn’s Creek Café Olé™ Bourbon Whiskey Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Amber maple syrup. Medium rims, slow almost static large drops.
Nose: Molasses cookies, with dark edges of cocoa and toasted bread. Barrel char on the nose - that’s different! - with Coca-Cola syrup, rich, dark, and slightly fruity.
Palate: Tons of cola syrup, now more Cherry Cola-esque, sweeter. Barrel char still quite prominent, and I love it. Roasted corn still in the husk with the edges catching fire, a little astringent under the tongue and along the sides of the tongue and the corners of my mouth. Mouthfeel is heavy, syrupy, and delicious, black pepper and smoky oak from the tip of my tongue all the way down my throat. Coffee beans and oily heat.
Finish: Long, smoky maple syrup and a wonderfully heavy feeling. Less heat, more sweet, but not cola-sweet anymore. Everything balances out towards the end. Date syrup and pomegranate molasses.
Overall: This is a WOW of a bourbon. Incredible. Heavy roasted corn, sweet and caramelizing, peppery heat, moderate proof, and an oily, coating mouthfeel that never lets go. Truly different and outstanding. A top bourbon of the year contender.
Final Rating: 8.5
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
More Glenn’s Creek Reviews
