Summer Gala #2 - Aug ‘25

What an awesome Gala - great food, great bourbon, and a great venue! A special thanks to Susan and Mike for hosting us again, their backyard is so perfect for our gala. A fine BBQ dinner provided by Zach Green, whom I know from Dividend Bourbon Club - incredible eats is all I can say, what a great hobby to our benefit, and we were proud to have him join us.

Also, we held our first HF mini golf tournament, which was a blast! Adam came out on top and walked away with a bottle of Buffalo Trace! This lucky duck also beat all the odds and won a bottle of Blanton’s in the drawing - didn’t think that would happen!

We tasted 3 of the finest bourbons I’ve tasted together in a long time: Knob Creek 15, Wild Turkey 12 and Old Swagger bottled-in-bond 12 year.  The Knob 15 and Turkey 12 are typically sent overseas, mostly to Japan with the Wild Turkey 12 even having Japanese and Chinese writing on the label.  As we learned, the Japanese own a large percentage of American bourbon distilleries; hence, they get the good stuff sent over!  Jared has his connections and landed these bottles for High Flight, which all scored very high.  

#1) Knob Creek 15 

100 proof / aged 15 years / $100

77% Corn, 13% Rye, 10% Malted Barley

HF avg: 3.62

NOSE: blast of rye spice and dry oak, with undertones of raisins and burnt sugar

TASTE: Dry oaky mouthfeel, slight graham cracker and raisins, with rye spice

FINISH: continuation of the oaky flavors, with faint caramel sweetness

You can really taste the 15-years of oak in this one! The oaky dryness really stands out, supported by some delicate layers of sweetness underneath. If oaky whiskeys are your jam (those who like double oaks) - then this is definitely for you! It would be interesting to do a blind tasting of the 12, 15, and 18 year bottles, see how much the oak changes over time.

#2) Wild Turkey 12 Year

101 proof / Aged 12 years /  $140

75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley.

HF avg: 3.68

NOSE: Rich caramel, toffee, cinnamon, granny smith apple

TASTE: caramel, creme brûlée, apple crisp, followed by oak and pepper spice

FINISH: oak and pepper spice, but undertones of caramel remain

Great sweetness with a nice oaky char to balance it out. There were a few folks in the crowd that REALLY dug this one. Jam packed with flavors, with a little more complexity than the Knob Creek, in my unprofessional opinion. Great pour! The Japanese labeling is pretty cool too.

#3) Rising Tide Spirits - Old Swagger 12 Bottled in Bond

100 proof / 12 year / $175

75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley

HF avg: 3.98

NOSE: Cinnamon, blood orange, cherry cola, and leather

TASTE: Oily, Nutty, creme brûlée, cherry cola, citrus, changing to spicy oak 

FINISH: oak, baking spice rye notes

WOW! Another awesome pour. Really loving the fruit sweetness (cherry cola, blood orange) followed by the more “earthy” flavors of leather, tobacco, and oak. Complex and balanced sip. Old Swagger is also a neat story.  Bottled by Rising Tide Spirits, the bourbon is blended from only a dozen barrels, and bottled in a gorgeous, hand-blown decanter which takes 14 minutes each to create, violating the rule that the fancier the bottle, the crappier the bourbon! Old Swagger is now our High Flight high flyer, top of our scores with a 3.98 average – it’s good stuff! 

Hope you all enjoyed yourselves at the gala. For those who couldn’t make it, hopefully we can schedule a mini winter gala to make it up to you! See y’all at the next one!

-Greg & Logan