Starlight Distillery "The Joy Of Starlight, Ep. 5” Port Finished Single Barrel Rye Whiskey The Prime Barrel Pick #34

Starlight Distillery is located at Huber's Orchard, Winery & Vineyards in Starlight, Indiana. Initially, they planned to be a brand distillery with the idea forming in the mid-'90s. As the story goes, they were inspired by their ancestors, who once distilled fine brandies in this area in the early 1800s. On December 7th, 2004, they released their first brandy.

Starlight has since transitioned into whiskey, distilled in Huber's 80-gallon copper pot still from Germany and then transferred to 53-gallon charred, American White Oak barrels. While their whiskeys tend to be on the younger side, don't let the age fool you. This is some of the best single barrel sub-5-year-old whiskey we've tasted.

Outside their excellent straight bourbons, the distillery was one of the first to experiment with finishing barrels and continues to innovate in that space today. They use various finishing barrels, each adding a unique characteristic to the liquid inside.

This barrel is our 5th selection from the distillery, which speaks volumes about the quality of whiskey they output. We visited the distillery along with a handful of our members (want to experience barrel picking for yourself? join our Discord whiskey community) in the spring of 2022 to select a honey-finished straight bourbon (which we did). We were on the way out when we decided to try a few finished barrels serendipitously, and this Portuguese Butt finished barrel was just too good to pass up. This is a 700L Portuguese Ruby Port Cask blend of 90% rye / 10% malted barley & 80% rye / 20% malted barley mash bills. This has a little indigenous rye in the mash bill as well. The barrel then was secondary-aged for roughly six months. The result is great rye that drinks like luscious rye, but the fun starts on the back palate and finish when the port finish does its magic. We've picked up dark chocolate/cocoa nib notes on the back, making the rye a must-have for us. We were not planning on selecting rye, let alone port-finished rye. But after our crew tasted it, we were blown away by how the rye spice gave way to the almost dessert-quality aftertaste. A truly delicious and one-of-a-kind whiskey!

The barrel was bottled at 105.6 Proof, making for a great neat sipper. You could sip it by itself or use it as an aperitif after a hearty meal.