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Brough Brothers Bourbon
About Brough Brothers Bourbon
Even with hundreds of years of bourbon distilling history in Kentucky, there hasn’t been an African-American owned distillery until Brough Brothers opened in 2019.
After working in spirit distribution overseas, Victor Yarbrough decided to start a bourbon distillery with his two brothers, Bryson and Chris. They chose west end Louisville, Kentucky as the location for the distillery, as it’s where they grew up and they wanted to support the local community. Brough Brothers currently only produce this bourbon, but are looking to expand to gin and vodka in the future.
The bottle design also celebrates Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to the logo with the brother’s faces, images of Kentucky culture (Bourbon, Kentucky Derby, Boxing and Basketball) fill the label.
Bottle Specs
❖ Spirit: Bourbon Whiskey
❖ Distillery: Distilled in Indiana, Bottled by Brough Bottling
❖ ABV: 41% (82 proof)
❖ Aged minimum 6 months
❖ Moderate Price
Tasting Notes
My Tasting Notes
❖ Color: Light brown, Honey
❖ Nose: Sweet and fresh apple, vanilla
❖ Taste: Honey, apple, mint, vanilla, bit of heat from the alcohol, thin mouthfeel.
❖ Finish: medium finish, spearmint and honey
Tasting Notes from Brough Brothers for Reference
❖ Nose: Attractive floral aromas of in bloom red roses with fragrant apples, and nutmeg.
❖ Taste: A medium body flavor featuring fruity notes of green apple and pear. It also has subtle hints of ginger and nutmeg. Featuring a golden honey color.
Cocktail
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Brough Brothers Blackberry Smash
3/4 oz simple syrup
1/2 oz lime juice
6–7 mint leaves
2–3 blackberries
2 oz Bourbon
1 oz club soda
❖ Muddle blackberries and Mint in a mixing tin.
❖ Add rest of ingredients, fill shaker with ice and shake for 10-15 seconds.
❖ Strain in to a rocks glass filled with ice and garnish with a mint sprig
I was originally planning to use Brough Brothers Bourbon for a fall cocktail, but this blackberry smash recipe caught my eye. All the other smash recipes I saw used lemon as the citrus, so I was excited to try one with lime. The Brough Brothers website only provided an ingredient list, and it was fun to kind of make my own recipe. The steps I used to make the cocktail are written above.
This is a dangerous cocktail. There was basically no alcohol taste, and it was really refreshing. It almost tasted like a minty fruit punch, which I wasn’t expecting. The only thing to look out for is the sweetness, as I found it on the edge of being too much. But, it’s relatively easy to adjust the amount of sugar and blackberries so you have a some control.
Bottom Line
RATING: 3/5
Brough Brothers Bourbon lacks some depth to be a go-to bourbon for me but I still found it enjoyable. I’ve never had a bourbon with such strong fruit notes and I thought it mixed well with the honey and vanilla notes.
But, the thin and almost watery mouthfeel did affect my enjoyment when drinking neat or on the rocks. The bottle has a minimum of 6 months age statement, so I wonder if some more aging could make a difference. This does mean that it’s easy to mix in a cocktail, especially if you don’t want a strong whiskey flavor.
In addition to the age, another growing pain for Brough Brothers is how they get their whisky. It’s common to outsource spirits from large distilling facilities in Indiana to generate some revenue while setting up their own facilities and aging their whiskey. This bottle is distilled in Indiana but bottled in Kentucky, so I’m guessing this is the case here. They usually try to match the flavor of the sourced whiskey to their intended flavor. I liked the notes in Brough Brothers Bourbon, so I’m looking forward to their in-house product.
And, I will definitely be looking to see what Brough Brothers do in the future. Despite some disappointments, I still had a positive experience with this bourbon and didn’t feel bad about spending $24-30. There are many well rounded bourbons (Elijah Craig for example) in this crowded price range, but I’m willing to pay a premium to support products from minority owned businesses.
As always, drink responsibly.
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