High Coast Berg

"Origins" is a rather new series from High Coast (formerly known as Box), with Berg being the last one in the lineup. It's a first-fill bourbon aged and Pedro Ximénez finished whisky with an average age of 6.54 years. High Coast is very transparent with the facts on their homepage, and a complete cask list plus other interesting info is available for anyone curious about weight, volume, saturation, yeast types and other nerdy details. I think this sounds very interesting on paper, but I've also had a few disappointing experiences with PX finished where the result has been overcooked and too spicy from the intense sherry. Here we go!

Oh man, this is (young) PX done well. No signs of raisins taking over, not too spicy. Sweet with a nice balance, consistent and enjoyable. Not a ton of complexity but I don't see that as a huge minus here. Making whisky this young is treading a thin line between boring and rushed, but High Coast makes this work out very well. Price is good too, and that's hard to ignore for something this tasty. What would happen with another few years in the cask? Perhaps even more rounded flavors, but if 5-6 years made the whisky this flavorful, the line of "too much sherry" would probably have been dangerously close.