Penelope Bourbon Brings Back Its Rye Finished in Tokaji Barrels

Penelope Bourbon was founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Danny Polise and Mike Paladini, who created the brand with sourced whiskey from MGP and then began by selling it to retailers door-to-door in their home state of New Jersey until they could find a distributor. Last year it all paid off, as MGP swooped in to acquire Penelope for $105 million.

Penelope’s secret to success is its cask finishing, primarily with its Cooper Series, a high-scoring line of cask-finished whiskeys. Now, Penelope is aiming to capture some of that magic by releasing a new version of a fan-favorite rye. Penelope Bourbon Tokaji Cask Finish is a rye with a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted barley, distilled at MGP’s Ross & Squibb Distillery. After aging at least 8 years, the distillate was re-casked in tokaji wine barrels—sourced from an undisclosed winery in Hungary—for 8 1/2 weeks and bottled at 53% ABV.

Some things have changed from Penelope’s first tokaji cask-finished rye. The new batch has a different age statement—2 years older than its predecessor, which was only aged for 6 years. The ABV on the new version is slightly lower than the original’s 53.3%. Everything is largely unchanged: the mashbill, source of the liquid, and length of finish all haven’t been touched. The new expression has also maintained the same suggested retail price of $90.

Going with a higher age statement wasn’t necessarily by design. “The pairing of the whiskey was more about connecting the right batch of rye as opposed to the age,” says Polise, the brand's master distiller. “The blend of rye whiskey that ended up pairing best was 8 years old.”

The first tokaji finished rye, which our tasting panel rated 91 points, is one of Penelope’s highest-scoring expressions—this new batch has big shoes to fill, and we’re looking forward to seeing if it’s up to the task. Tokaji Cask Finish is available at retailers across 40 states, and some 11,400 bottles were produced. Using the simplest math, that works out to fewer than 300 bottles per state, so happy hunting.

Lending sweet, syrupy notes to a whisky, tokaji casks are something of an underrated finishing barrel. Though relatively rare, they’re responsible for some impressive expressions—Yellowstone Limited Edition 2023 (91 points), Barrell Craft Spirits Private Reserve AH02 (94 points), and Glenmorangie A Tale of Cake (93 points). If you want to learn more about these curious casks, we’ve assembled a full story on tokaji finishes.