Review: Still Austin Bottled in Bond Red Corn Bourbon 5 Years Old 2024

Still Austin‘s 2023 bonded red corn bourbon was such a hit that it spawned a sequel: For 2024, Bottled in Bond Red Corn is back, but at 5 years old instead of 4.

The mash remains the same: 36% Jimmy Red corn, 34% white corn, 25% rye, and 5% malted barley — as does everything else except the barrel time. This was even produced in the same distillation season as the 2023 release; it’s just lingered in the barrel for an extra year.

There’s obviously a huge amount of family DNA here, but I have to say the extra year of age has made this whiskey even better. The elements of pepper and nuts are still present on the nose, but the mint quality is much stronger, pricking at the nose from the get-go. The touch of char remains omnipresent as well: smoky barbecue beef, well-blackened burnt ends.

Sweet on the palate, there’s a lively caramel corn quality and plenty more mint, chased by cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The baking spice hits hard and stays with you, layered atop a heavy, nutty caramel character that provides a distinctly dessert-like quality. Then a surprising punch of fruit: brown banana, some tart green apple, then passion fruit and a touch of bitter rhubarb. Lots of vanilla is smeared across all of this, the finish taking on a kind of creamy custard quality. A reprise of baking spice keeps your palate alive through the lengthy conclusion.

Racy, spicy, and creamy at once, it’s altogether a delight… and one which comes out ahead of the 2023 four-year-old version by a small margin. (And only $5 more to boot.) The more I drank, the more I enjoyed it. Perhaps my favorite Still Austin release to date. Dare we try for 6 years of age?

100 proof.

A / $85 / stillaustin.com 

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