Review: Whiskey Jypsi Gibson Tonewood: The Collective

Here’s a new collaboration for you: Whiskey Jypsi partnered with Gibson — the guitar makers — to “reverse the familiar relationship between guitars and whiskey. Guitar makers have used whiskey barrel wood for years. With Tonewood, Whiskey Jypsi and Gibson flipped the idea: toasted maple tonewood offcuts from Gibson’s broader guitar-building process, wood already prized for resonance and character, are reimagined for whiskey finishing.” The release coincides with the launch of a new Eric Church guitar called The Epiphone, though its details are beyond the scope of Drinkhacker’s coverage, I fear.

There are two Tonewood whiskeys coming out. The first is a very limited offering (250 bottles) called Tonewood: Vol. 1, made from 20 and 14 year old whiskey stocks finished with toasted Gibson maple offcuts. The second is a more available spirit called Tonewood: The Collective, reviewed here, which uses younger whiskey stocks — 36% 14-year-old American whiskey from a bourbon mashbill (84% corn / 8% rye / 8% malted barley) and 64% 8-year-old straight bourbon (75% corn / 21% rye / 4% malted barley) — as its base. It’s finished on those same Gibson maple offcuts.

Whiskey Jypsi Gibson Tonewood: The Collective Review

The nose here is clean and quite sweet, the maple influence obvious from the get-go. Gently infused with gingery baking spices, a syrupy aroma emerges in short order, evoking Sunday pancakes with a side of chocolate milk. Oak is toasty and soothing, well-integrated into a pleasant and rounded whole. Indeed, it smells exactly what you imagine a freshly constructed acoustic guitar might smell like.

The palate continues the theme, and is perhaps even sweeter than the nose suggests, the maple quickly ceding way to notes of milk chocolate, then some mint. Caramel and toffee build from there, though eventually they give way to a more bready, toasty quality that grips the finish. Combined with the lingering spice notes and the not insignificant sweetness, the whiskey ultimately gives the impression of cinnamon rolls, though a touch of cayenne adds just the lightest sense of heat to the fade-out.

Solid, to be sure, but it’s firmly sweet tooth material.

103 proof.

A- / $199

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