Widow Jane Baby Jane Bourbon Whiskey
I make a lot about wanting to promote and write about New York whiskies, but some distilleries have been kept at arms length, usually for one of two reasons: dishonesty/lack of transparency or I just don’t like it. In Widow Jane’s case, it was the former.
There’s plenty written about what went wrong and what was done wrong at Widow Jane in the past, so I won’t rehash it here. The main thing to understand is that the culture has changed - and most (if not all) will chalk that up to one woman joining the team: Lisa Roper Wicker.
Lisa cut her teeth in the industry with stops at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Distillery, Starlight Distillery, and Preservation Distillery, a 2-year stint at Limestone Branch Distillery and some wine-making thrown in for good measure. She has more than earned her place as President, Head Distiller, and Head Blender at Widow Jane - but before she could move the company forward, she had to make some changes.
Most of the changes had to do with two things: the story of the water and the story of the sourcing. Both had - again, without getting into details here - checkered storytelling around them. I’m still doing my research on it, but clearly Lisa’s tenure marked a turning point, and the brand’s reputation has been on an upswing ever since.
To be clear, I don’t think I’ve ever had a Widow Jane product I thought was bad, pre- or post-Lisa’s arrival. I enjoyed the core offering, and the Widow Jane Decadence is a great example of both maple finishing and how to balance the less-than-desirable Dickel notes skillfully (seriously - the first batch made me think of breakfast waffles, and subsequent batches have just gotten better). The Vaults and Lucky Thirteen I only tried recently, and both were solid pours.
I’m starting this series, though, with the newborn - the Baby Jane. A corn varietal designed for Widow Jane from a genetic mix of Wapsie Valley and Bloody Butcher strains, this is meant to be more peppery than a typical corn (think more rye spice) and earthy/vegetal. It still has corn sweetness, but it’s corn the same way Rosen or Danko or Ryman rye is rye - technically correct, totally different profile in practice.
This is around one year old right now, and a distillery-only bottling simply due to low volume as they start producing. At one year old, it shows remarkable complexity, rounded out edges that normally would take 3-4 years in typical aging for commodity corn-fed mashbills to round out. It’s a fruity, jalapeño cornbread, and shows what I think is exciting promise for the future.
I’ll get into more about the water, the grain, and all that in upcoming reviews of Widow Jane products, but suffice it to say the future is bright, and in the hands of Lisa Roper Wicker I trust things to keep being done the right way.
Widow Jane Baby Jane Bourbon Whiskey: Specs
Classification: New York Bourbon Whiskey
Origin: Widow Jane Distillery
Mashbill: Undisclosed
Proof: 93 (46.5% ABV)
Age: ~1 Year
Location: New York
Widow Jane Baby Jane Bourbon Whiskey Price: $80
Widow Jane Baby Jane Bourbon Whiskey Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: 14K gold. Splotches all over the glass, no rims, few droplets sink to the bottom.
Nose: Wet ground and leaves after a fall rainstorm (saccharine, I know, but that’s the scent memory). No denying there’s some youth here, but it’s simply young, not grainy at all or fermented. The year in wood has already rounded off the rough edges. Mixed fruit gummies, tart nectarines and granny smith apples.
Palate: Cornbread batter studded with jalapeños. Quite spicy, lots of pepper that holds the front half of my tongue. Vanilla custard on the sides of my mouth. Mouthfeel is oily and a tad drying, keeping the spice going deeper along the palate until it dries to a lacquer. Warm cinnamon applesauce with cloves.
Finish: The dryness is strange for one so young, but not unwelcome. It lends a nice body to a younger whiskey. The fruit turns into fruit leather, still studded with black peppercorns on a long, fading finish.
Overall: Spicy cornbread. No one will mistake this for an older bourbon, but neither will they think this is particularly young. It’s quite drinkable as is and the Baby Jane flavor is unmistakable and clear. This begs for a little more time in the cask, and I’m excited to see what that future holds.
Final Rating: 6.5
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
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