Meeting #20: October ‘25 - Bradshaw, Penelope Wheated, and Rabbit Hole Cavehill

Another wonderful evening at Mike and Susan’s backyard paradise! Always love a crisp autumn evening - add in some whiskey, good food, and good company, and you’ve got yourself a perfect situation! 

We sipped 3 new whiskeys (with no commonality this time), and standard HF tasting protocol was followed. Here we go! 

#1) Bradshaw Straight Bourbon 

103.8 proof / aged 2+ years / $40

70% Corn, 21% Rye, 9% Malted Barley

HF avg: 3.02

NOSE: brown sugar, oak, butterscotch

TASTE: caramel, cinnamon, citrus, bergamot

FINISH: dry oak tannins, warm, baking spice

This is 2+ year old Green River juice, bottled by Silver Screen bottling Co. for the legendary Steelers QB, Terry Bradshaw. Cool little bit of trivia, this bourbon has an ABV of 51.9%, which conveniently matches Terry’s career passing average!  For $40, this is a good tasting whiskey with a little extra for those football/Steeler’s fans out there. We all love Green River here at High Flight, so I was excited to see “Owensboro, KY” on the back of the bottle. It’s a bit young, and you can get a regular bottle of Green River at the same price point with a few more years under its belt - but overall, a good value! It’s got your classic bourbon flavors, but a hint of bergamont, which is kind of unique! A great christmas gift for the whiskey/football lover in your life??

#2) Penelope Wheated

95 proof / Aged 4-6 years / ~ $45

74% Corn, 16% Wheat, 7% Rye, 3% Malted Barley

HF avg: 3.16

NOSE: Honey, sweet corn, brown sugar

TASTE: Very soft and sweet, hint of oak, with faint rye spice.

FINISH: Oak, vanilla, peppercorn

Another great sipper from Penelope, MGP juice bottled and selected by the fine folks at Penelope in NJ. This wheater is soft, sweet, and easy drinking. A few subtle spice notes pop through from the 4-grain mashbill. Folks enjoyed this one, with our sitting just above average at a nice 3.16 on the HF scoring scale. You really can’t go wrong with Penelope stuff, in my humble opinion!! I like some more than others, but haven’t had a bad one yet! 

#3) Rabbit Hole Cavehill Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

99 proof / aged 3 years / $65

70% corn, 10% malted wheat, 10% malted barley, 10% Honey Malted Barley

HF avg: 2.98

NOSE: floral, apple cider, cinnamon

TASTE: sweet, honey, cereal, offset by some bitter oak

FINISH: Medium finish with spice, tannins, some honey sweetness

Rabbit Hole has mixed reviews amongst our crew. It’s definitely quality stuff, but there’s arguably better things at this price point. RH Cavehill is a unique whiskey with some “honey malted barley” in the mashbill, which adds some fruity sweetness throughout the sip. And I’m here for the sweetness!  I found it had a slightly bitter oakiness to it as well, if you are into that. This one came in a little below average at 2.98, again, with some mixed reviews. For $65, not sure the value is there for most people? 

Just 2 more meetings left for 2025, and I think we have some great stuff planned for y’all!! See you Nov 13th!!