"Born in Kentucky, raised in California" is the whole idea. Amador Whiskey Co. belongs to Trinchero Family Estates — the St. Helena wine family behind Sutter Home and Napa Cellars — and the concept trades on what they already had in abundance: Napa Valley wine barrels. The company debuted in June 2014 with Ten Barrels, a genuinely odd and much-loved limited release created with Charbay's master distillers Miles and Marko Karakasevic: a California straight whiskey distilled from a craft IPA, finished in Napa Cellars Chardonnay barrels, so the hop character carried straight through. It sold out fast enough that the follow-up went bigger. Double Barrel launched in 2015 with 280 barrels of Kentucky straight bourbon — a mash bill of 72% corn, 13% rye, and 15% malted barley, aged three to ten years in new charred oak — trucked to California and finished in the Trinchero family's estate wine barrels before bottling at 86.8 proof. The Chardonnay-finished Double Barrel earned Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and 93 points from Tastings.com; the Cabernet Sauvignon Double Barrel spends nine to twelve months in medium-toast French oak Napa Cab barrels, picking up a faint red hue, crème brûlée richness, and a silky mouthfeel. Vanilla, toast, brown sugar, and spice throughout. A Napa take on Kentucky bourbon, built for a Perfect Manhattan or a slow neat pour.

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