This Rum Cask-Finished Bourbon Takes a Walk On The Tropical Side

Spring officially arrived this week—and what better way to ring in the season than a whisky that’s accented with tropical flavors? Rum cask-finished whiskies aren’t new, but recently they’ve been taking their share of the cask-finishing spotlight, and now, Limestone Branch Distillery has joined the conversation with a rum cask finish for its Yellowstone bourbon.

Part of Yellowstone’s Special Finishes Collection, this new release is made with the label’s standard bourbon mashbill—75% white heirloom corn, 13% rye, and 12% malted barley—and aged 4 years in new charred oak before being moved to rum barrels. Those barrels are sourced from an undisclosed distillery in Cuba, which distills its rum from molasses. After nine weeks in rum barrels, the bourbon takes on new flavors: there’s plenty of tropicality, poached pear, gingerbread, tobacco, toasted marshmallow, and brown sugar sweetness, making for a saccharine sipper. Bourbon is well-matched with rum, given that the inherent sweetness in both spirits can play off each other to great effect, enhancing existing notes of vanilla, coconut, tobacco, and more. But distillers need to exercise caution when using rum casks—you can imagine how overpowering those honeyed flavors could become if left to finish too long. Check out some of our favorite rum cask-finished whiskeys here.

Yellowstone is long known as a somewhat underrated bourbon, albeit one with plenty of fans, and one with a fairly straightforward approach. But lately the brand has seen greater variety and creativity. Last October, Limestone Branch kicked off the Special Finishes Collection with Toasted, a 4 year old bourbon finished with five varieties of staves named for the aromas and flavors they imparted (double-toasted American oak, high toast, vanilla, rickhouse, and spice rack). Prior to that, master distiller Stephen Beam (descendant of Jacob Beam) had introduced various limited releases for the brand, including a 7 year old bourbon finished in marsala superiore casks. Yellowstone has gone beyond Kentucky bourbon, too, introducing an American single malt in February 2023.

Yellowstone Rum Cask Finish is available nationwide at an SRP of $50 a bottle.