Woodford Reserve Double Double Oaked Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 90.4 Proof 700ml

The name requires a moment of parsing — and the name, once parsed, tells you exactly what you need to know. Woodford Reserve Double Oaked is a bourbon finished in a second heavily toasted, lightly charred new oak barrel. Woodford Reserve Double Double Oaked takes that same Double Oaked bourbon and extends the second barrel contact to up to two years — approximately double the finishing period of the standard Double Oaked release, hence the doubled name. Not two different finishing barrels. One second barrel, for twice as long.

Master Distiller Emeritus Chris Morris discovered the concept unintentionally: Woodford had Double Oaked barrels aging in the warehouse that had simply been there longer than the standard finishing period, and when he tasted them, they were excellent. The extended second-barrel contact was producing something darker, richer, and more specifically complex than the standard Double Oaked — more oak layers, more dried fruit concentration, more of the smoked maple and hickory smoke character that the heavily toasted second barrel deposits when given twice the time to work.

First released in 2015 as a distillery-exclusive Distillery Series expression, Double Double Oaked became a permanent national distribution product in 2025 — a step that Bourbon Culture called "one of the most successful new products the brand has rolled out over the last 15 years" when discussing the overall Double Oaked program. Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall's own characterization: "a deep richness unlike any other American whiskey on the market or anything you've tasted from Woodford Reserve." The official tasting notes confirm: rich maple syrup, dark butterscotch, brittle caramel, bittersweet chocolate, burnt marshmallow, and sweet hickory smoke on the nose — rich dried cherry and cranberry fruit in blackberry jam, brightened with ripe apple, chai tea, and warming clove on the palate — a warm, drying, lingering clove finish. At 90.4 proof in a 700ml bottle.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Woodford Reserve Double Double Oaked is produced at the Woodford Reserve Distillery in Versailles, Kentucky — the Brown-Forman-owned property whose history stretches back to 1812, making it one of the oldest distillery sites in the Commonwealth. Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall leads the current production program, with Master Distiller Emeritus Chris Morris — who created both the standard Double Oaked and the Double Double Oaked concepts — continuing in an advisory and creative capacity.

The base whiskey begins identically to standard Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select: the signature triple pot still and column distillation blend from a mash bill of 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley, distilled at the Versailles facility using copper pot stills of a style otherwise found almost exclusively in Scotch whisky production — the only major American bourbon producer using triple copper pot still distillation across three sequential stills. This base bourbon matures in standard new charred oak barrels for 5 to 7 years before beginning its second-barrel journey.

The second barrel is identical in specification to the Double Oaked's finishing vessel — heavily toasted for 40 minutes, then given only a brief light char — but the Double Double Oaked's defining distinction is time: where the standard Double Oaked spends roughly a year in this second barrel, Double Double Oaked spends up to two years. The additional year amplifies every quality that the heavily toasted second barrel contributes. More vanilla and caramel from the toasted wood sugars. More of the hickory smoke and smoked maple character that this specific barrel preparation produces at extended contact. More dried fruit concentration from the 18% rye content's phenolic compounds interacting with the oak across a full additional year. The color deepens to what Bourbon Banter describes as "deep, rich roasted coffee bean" — one of the darkest natural-color bourbons in the Woodford Reserve range, the extended second-barrel producing a mahogany depth that communicates the scale of the wood influence before the first sip.

Critics Reviews

Woodford Reserve official tasting notes:
Nose: "A robust medley of rich maple syrup, dark butterscotch, brittle caramel, bittersweet chocolate, burnt marshmallow and sweet hickory smoke notes dominate the nose. Rich dried cherry and cranberry fruit swim in a blackberry jam brightened with hints of ripe apple."
Palate: "Chai tea and warming clove notes develop to spice up the palate."
Finish: "Warm and drying with a lingering clove character."

VinePair (2025 review):
"The nose starts off with a medley of syrupy, sweet notes: dark pan caramel, black treacle, vanilla nougat, and wood smoked maple syrup. That smoked maple syrup aroma is especially noticeable and builds with additional minutes in the glass. Double Double Oaked's nose is both more tannic and sweeter than the typical Woodford profile. This is a fruitier, juicier, and lengthier finish than almost any other Woodford product I've tasted in recent memory. Fruit, table sugar, and cinnamon linger."

Bourbon Banter:
"Nose leads with maple syrup, cedar, pipe tobacco, bitter chocolate, dried plum, chocolate icing, and — surprisingly — sour orange. It's lovely to nose, and the longer you spend with it, the more that bouquet broadens."

Elizabeth McCall, Master Distiller:
"This handcrafted, double-barreled bourbon has a deep richness unlike any other American whiskey on the market or anything you've tasted from Woodford Reserve. Resting five to seven years in the first barrel, then up to two years in a second barrel, this liquid features extraordinary flavor notes. It is unexpected and complex."

Chris Morris, Master Distiller Emeritus:
"Double Double Oaked was created after I realized the distillery had Double Oaked barrels that were older than the established finishing period used for that release, and that the whiskey inside them tasted pretty good."

Bourbon Culture (on the broader Double Oaked program's significance):
"Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon is one of the most successful new products the brand has rolled out over the last 15 years. Perhaps its biggest achievement is that it sparked a revolution among virtually all distilleries to release a double-barreled product of their own."

Tasting Profile

Nose
Deep mahogany, bordering on roasted coffee bean — the up-to-two-year second barrel producing one of the deepest natural colors available from any Woodford Reserve expression. The nose is where the Double Double Oaked's most dramatically extended second-barrel contact is most immediately apparent: rich maple syrup arrives first — not the light, clean maple sweetness of a younger bourbon but a smoked, syrupy, deeply caramelized version that the official tasting notes specifically call out as "wood smoked maple syrup." Dark butterscotch and brittle caramel follow with the concentrated, slightly toffee-adjacent sweetness of extended toasted-oak contact. Bittersweet chocolate adds a dark, slightly bitter secondary richness. Burnt marshmallow adds the specific campfire-caramelized quality that the heavily toasted second barrel's char produces over two years. Sweet hickory smoke threads through as the most enduring and the most specifically American-oak-at-this-toast-level secondary aromatic. Rich dried cherry and cranberry swim in blackberry jam. Ripe apple adds brightness. Cedar, pipe tobacco, and dried plum add complexity. The nose builds considerably with air — VinePair specifically noting the smoked maple as "especially noticeable and builds with additional minutes in the glass."

Palate
Rich, dark, and fruit-forward — the VinePair characterization of "fruitier, juicier" than other Woodford products confirmed from the first sip. Rich dried cherry and cranberry lead in a blackberry jam that is the palate's most vivid and the most immediately generous quality — the 18% rye mash bill's fruit-developing phenolics given an additional year of second-barrel time to express their most concentrated and most darkly fruited character. Ripe apple adds brightness alongside the dark fruit. Chai tea develops through the mid-palate with the specific warm, spiced aromatic complexity that clove, cinnamon, and cardamom together produce — an unexpected and specifically chai-identifiable secondary quality that distinguishes Double Double Oaked from every other American bourbon in the Woodford range. Warming clove spices up the close of the mid-palate. The base Woodford triple pot still character — the specific triple-distillation richness that distinguishes Woodford from column-still-only bourbons — carries through as the structural backbone.

Finish
Warm, drying, and clove-persistent — the official characterization confirmed in a finish that is both longer and more specifically fruit-forward than either the standard Woodford Reserve or the standard Double Oaked produces. Table sugar and cinnamon linger alongside the clove, with fruit carrying through more vibrantly than the heavily oak-influenced nose might suggest. The smoked maple character from the nose fades to a lighter backdrop at the close. A lingering warmth resolves the experience into something genuinely satisfying at 90.4 proof.

Quick Overview

Food Pairings

The smoked maple, dark fruit, and chai spice make this one of the most dessert-forward and most specifically food-compatible bourbons in the section:

• Dark chocolate with dried cherries — the most direct flavor mirror available
• Pecan pie — the butterscotch and smoked maple aligning with the nut and caramel
• Crème brûlée — the burnt marshmallow and brittle caramel finding their most natural culinary counterpart
• Aged sharp cheddar — the clove and dried fruit providing a compelling savory-sweet pairing
• Smoked meats — the hickory smoke note bridging the preparation

Cocktail Suggestions

Double Double Boulevardier (the most recommended serve)
1.5 oz Woodford Reserve Double Double Oaked · 1 oz Campari · 1 oz sweet vermouth · expressed orange peel. Stirred over ice. The dried cherry, blackberry jam, and dark chocolate carry through Campari's bitterness in a Boulevardier of unusual depth — universally cited as the best cocktail application for this expression.

Smoked Maple Old Fashioned
2 oz Double Double Oaked · 1 tsp maple syrup · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · expressed orange peel. Stirred over a large ice rock. Maple syrup amplifies the smoked maple syrup's most defining aromatic note — the result is the most specifically Double Double Oaked-character-honoring cocktail format available.