Review: Happenstance Straight Bourbon and Single Barrel 9 Years Old

Happenstance Whiskey is a 100% women-owned & led whiskey company in Nashville, Tennessee, started in 2021 by an Anheuser-Busch alumna. The operation focuses exclusively on sourced bourbons, including a mainline release and a pair of single barrel bottlings.

We tasted both the full-time Founder’s Edition and one of its single barrels — with details and tasting notes to follow.

Happenstance Straight Bourbon Founder’s Edition Review

A bottling of 4 year old distillate from Indiana, billed as a “cabernet-style” bourbon, intended to be full-bodied and sweet. Though just 4 years of age, this whiskey noses with an impressive maturity, touched with milk chocolate and vanilla, rounding out overtones of hazelnuts and some well-roasted peanuts in the shell. The nose does indeed connote a full body, with gentle layers of graphite and turned earth, hints of anise and toasted coconut rounding out the aromatics.

On the palate, the whiskey does smolder a bit, combining butterscotch and creamy peanut butter with layers of toasted coconut and milk chocolate. A Graham cracker kind of sweetness perks up the midpalate, the finish taking on a latent, light fruitiness, almost winey with notes of strawberry and cherry. (If any part of this whiskey could be considered delicate, this is it.) More coconut and a light cola note linger on the finish. Pretty solid. 90 proof. A- / $50

Happenstance Single Barrel Bourbon 9 Years Old Review

A completely different whiskey, 9 year old Kentucky distillate, pulled from a single barrel. There’s no telling whether you’ll get what we reviewed — the website lists two barrels available, neither of which aligns with the coding on our sample — but let’s review what we have.

This whiskey is extremely spicy, driven on the nose by notes of black and red pepper, fresh green herbs, and mint. Menthol cigarettes are a clear aromatic influence, with notes of vanilla and lemon balm lingering underneath. The herbaceousness of the nose is tough to fully get your arms around, but tobacco is a constant.

The palate is quite sweet and fruity, raisins leading quickly to brown sugar syrup, laced with baking spice. There’s lots of cloves here, alongside some bittersweet chocolate. However it isn’t long before that menthol tobacco note returns to focus, a powerful eucalyptus character all but dominating the late game of the body. All of this melds nicely with brown butter, a hint of oiled leather (more Lexus than horse saddle), and a twist of citrus — though the finish invariably rolls back, reminding me a bit too clearly of cough drops. Throat feels great, though. 110 proof. Reviewed: Barrel #15781. B+ / $90

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