Review: Koopers Father’s Office Bourbon and Sweetheart of the Rodeo Bourbon (2026)

Texas-based Kooper Family Distilling recently rebranded, dropping the Family and simplifying to Koopers (no apostrophe). Sorry, fam! Labels have been revamped across the board, with Koopers branding much more prominent and consistent across the lineup.

The brand is also ramping up production with all manner of special releases, one of which we look at below along with a fresh review of the relaunched Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which is probably Koopers’ most approachable and available offering.

Koopers Father’s Office Bourbon Cigar Blend 8 Years Old Review

Father’s Office is an 8 year old “cigar blend” Indiana whiskey finished with amburana and mizunara oak staves. While I expected this to be divisive, I figured that since it was merely finished with some number of staves from amburana wood rather than in a whole barrel, the impact would not be as extreme as it is. Wrong. The short of it is that Amburana has had its way with this whiskey, and to an extreme I didn’t really think possible given the details provided. From the jump the nose exudes that cinnamon and brown sugar sweetness that is unmistakably driven by amburana, becoming sweeter as it sits in the glass. Eventually it begins to evoke the aroma of a bowl of butter creamed with lots of sugar and baking spices, plus crushed almonds and artificial vanilla extract.

If you think Father’s Office is too much on the nose, just wait until you dig into the palate, which is somehow even more over the top with sugar and spice. Vanilla syrup drips across the full experience, becoming nuttier and spicier as it develops on the tongue. Imagine a liquified baklava and you’re on the right track. Even the heat of the whiskey — at 57% abv — vanishes beneath the waves of sugar.

To say this doesn’t really resemble traditional bourbon — and especially a purported “cigar blend” — is an understatement, and even though I enjoy the occasional amburana-finished whiskey, this one was just way, way too much for me. I have no idea why mizunara would be included as part of this equation. It’s completely invisible against the amburana’s impact, which threatens to crush the life out of the experience. 114 proof. B- / $84

Koopers Sweetheart of the Rodeo Bourbon (2026) Review

While the 2020 bottling was MGP stock, this is a blend of three bourbons of unstated origin — aged 4, 4, and 6 years old, distilled somewhere else but aged in Texas. The combined mashbill is a four-grain combo, with 70 to 75% corn in the final blend.

This is as soft a bourbon as I’ve encountered in recent years, the wheat component making an obvious from the start, pairing with gentle peanut and Cracker Jack notes to create quite a sweet nose, ultimately evoking Bit-O-Honey as much as anything else I can recall. Time in glass allows notes of sweetened coconut to emerge, followed by quite a hearty punch of spice. Even longer and notes of red berries become effusive.

The whiskey feels even sweeter and more seductive on the palate, heavy with honey, syrup-laced coconut, and hints of lemon. It certainly drinks on the young side, but not immature, caramel and vanilla hitting the palate like a highly-dosed latte, well-drizzled with melted Hershey’s bars. Warming on the finish with gentle baking spice elements, touches of clove, pepper, tobacco, and rosemary all emerge at the tail end of the experience to hint at grittier and more complex possibilities, should this have lingered in barrel for a few more years. 90 proof. B+ / $47

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