Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 90.4 Proof 750ml

When Woodford Reserve Double Oaked arrived in 2012, it was something of an anomaly. Most "finished" whiskeys at the time used previously occupied barrels — wine casks, sherry casks, port pipes — to add a secondary flavor layer through the residue of whatever had aged there before. Woodford Reserve did something different and considerably more expensive: a brand-new charred oak barrel, used purely for the second maturation, with no prior contents at all. Master Distiller Chris Morris and the Woodford Reserve team specified exactly how that second barrel should be prepared — deeply toasted for 40 minutes, then given only a brief 5-second char — a combination that is the inverse of the standard bourbon barrel preparation (10 minutes toast, 25-second char) used for the first maturation.

The result is one of the most specifically and the most deliberately engineered double-barrel bourbons in the American market — a whiskey that takes standard Woodford Reserve, already a blend of triple pot-distilled and column-distilled bourbon from Brown-Forman's Versailles, Kentucky distillery, and gives it a second act in a barrel built to extract maximum soft, sweet oak character without the bitterness that heavy charring alone would introduce. The Whisky Advocate called it "an intriguing study in wood and char" — dark fruit, warming wood spice, toasted oak, honey, gooey marshmallow, and vanilla sweetness, "darker" and more complex than the flagship expression. The official Woodford Reserve tasting notes: deep amber, rich notes of dark fruit, caramel, sharp honey, chocolate, marzipan, and toasted oak on the nose, a full-bodied mix of vanilla, dark caramel, hazelnut, apple, fruit, and spices on the palate, and a long, creamy finish with lingering hints of honeyed apple.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Woodford Reserve Double Oaked is produced at the Woodford Reserve Distillery in Versailles, Kentucky — the Brown-Forman-owned distillery whose Master Distiller Chris Morris has overseen the brand's production since the modern era of the historic Labrot & Graham site's revival. The base whiskey is standard Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select bourbon — famously a blend of bourbon produced through three different distillation methods, including triple copper pot still distillation (the only major American bourbon producer using this traditional Scotch-style approach across three sequential pot stills) and column-distilled bourbon, both from a mash bill of 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley.

After its initial maturation in standard new charred oak barrels — toasted for 10 minutes with a 25-second char — the whiskey is dumped into a second set of brand-new oak barrels prepared specifically and very differently: toasted for 40 minutes, then given only a brief 5-second char. This inversion — heavy toast, light char — is the single most important production decision in the entire Double Oaked program. Toasting caramelizes the wood sugars slowly and deeply, developing the vanillin, caramel, and dried fruit compounds that toasted oak deposits into whiskey. Charring, by contrast, creates the activated charcoal filtration layer and the more aggressive smoky, charred compounds. By minimizing the char to just 5 seconds while maximizing the toast to 40 minutes, Woodford Reserve's second barrel delivers an injection of soft, sweet, deeply caramelized oak character with minimal bitterness or astringency — the "additional soft, sweet oak character" that the official Woodford Reserve description specifically promises.

The whiskey rests in this second barrel for a little less than a year — an accelerated secondary maturation that intensifies the wood's interaction with the spirit without requiring additional years of primary aging. The result is one of the darkest bourbons in the Woodford Reserve range and one of the darkest widely available bourbons in the American market — color so deep that, as one reviewer noted, "it looks like very old bourbon" despite carrying no age statement.

Critics Reviews

Woodford Reserve official tasting notes: Color: "Deep Amber." Aroma: "Rich notes of dark fruit, caramel, sharp honey, chocolate, marzipan and toasted oak." Taste: "A full-bodied mix of vanilla, dark caramel, hazelnut, apple, fruit and spices." Finish: "Long and creamy with lingering hints of honeyed apple."

Whisky Advocate: "Double Oaked kicks the flagship Woodford bourbon up a notch, revealing a darker personality on the nose; it's resplendent with dark fruit, a burst of warming wood spice and toasted oak, a dollop of honey, gooey marshmallow, and plenty of vanilla sweetness."

Breaking Bourbon: "Delivers a traditional tasting double-barreled sip that highlights the benefits of using a new charred oak finishing barrel. It's one of the first double-oaked bourbon products that many new bourbon drinkers are exposed to — a well-rounded sip that leans into its secondary oak exposure and stands out against the company's standard Distiller's Select bourbon."

The Whiskey Wash: "Color: Dark amber. Nose: Caramel, smoky oak, figs, vanilla and almond. Palate: Velvety texture, oak, caramel, spice, smooth and balanced. Finish: Spice, medium long, smoky oak."

The Whiskey Ramble: "Nose: Warm, melted chocolate and caramel with sweet oak and vanilla extract. Some banana and medicinal cherry. A bit of mocha or sweetened caramel mocha macchiato. A little graham cracker note buried in there — like the start to a twist on s'mores. Caramelized dark brown sugar. Molasses without the sulfur."

The Whisky Study: "Starts off with strong notes of oak and barrel char. Toasted marshmallows, candied nuts, and buttered popcorn. The cherry sweetness dominates the entire experience — best treated like a dessert bourbon."

Tasting Profile

Nose Deep amber, bordering on dark chocolate — one of the darkest bourbons in the Woodford Reserve range, the color alone signaling the intensity of the second barrel's heavy-toast program. The nose opens with rich dark fruit — the most immediately distinguishing quality from standard Woodford Reserve, deeper and more concentrated than the flagship's brighter fruit profile. Caramel and sharp honey follow with warm, slightly tangy sweetness. Chocolate and marzipan add the most luxurious and the most specifically dessert-adjacent secondary aromatics — the marzipan note in particular distinguishing Double Oaked from virtually every other bourbon in its price range. Toasted oak threads through as the foundation that the 40-minute toast program builds most directly. Warm melted chocolate, mocha, and caramelized dark brown sugar add further richness. Toasted marshmallow and graham cracker add the "s'mores" quality that multiple reviewers identified independently. Banana and medicinal cherry add fruit complexity. Figs and almond round the aromatic picture with dried fruit and nutty depth.

Palate Full-bodied, velvety, and smooth — the texture that the second barrel's heavy toast and minimal char produce most directly. The entry delivers vanilla and dark caramel together with warm, coating sweetness. Hazelnut adds the most specifically nutty and the most memorably distinctive secondary flavor — present across multiple reviews as one of Double Oaked's signature qualities. Apple — specifically honeyed apple — adds orchard fruit brightness. Fruit and spices round out the mid-palate with the "full-bodied mix" that the official description promises. Cherry sweetness can dominate for some palates — genuinely sweet, occasionally bordering on dessert-like, which is precisely the character that makes this bourbon so accessible to newer whiskey drinkers while occasionally feeling almost too sweet to more seasoned palates. Oak and spice provide structural balance.

Finish Long and creamy, with lingering honeyed apple. The official tasting note's finish characterization is the most consistently confirmed quality across every review — a finish of genuine length and genuine creaminess, the second barrel's heavy toast depositing a smoothness that standard single-barrel bourbon at this proof rarely achieves. Smoky oak and spice linger at a medium-long duration. Some reviewers note the 90.4 proof leaves additional flavor potential on the table — "if bottled closer to 100 proof, Double Oaked could be taken to an even higher level" — but at its current proof, the finish remains gentle, warm, and genuinely satisfying.

Quick Overview

Serving & Occasion

Neat at room temperature in a Glencairn — the dark fruit, marzipan, and chocolate aromatics open generously without requiring water at 90.4 proof. A few drops of water can soften the sweetness further for palates that find the cherry note prominent. Outstanding alongside dessert — chocolate, caramel, or fruit-based — given the bourbon's own dessert-leaning sweetness. Equally at home in a bourbon-forward cocktail like a Boulevardier, where the dark fruit and chocolate carry through Campari's bitterness with genuine richness.

Cocktail Suggestions

Double Oaked Old Fashioned 2 oz Woodford Reserve Double Oaked · 1 tsp Demerara syrup · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · expressed orange peel. Stirred over large ice. The marzipan and dark fruit carry naturally through the Old Fashioned format — the heavy second-barrel toast adding a richness that standard Woodford Reserve doesn't deliver.

Double Oaked Boulevardier 1.5 oz Woodford Reserve Double Oaked · 1 oz Campari · 1 oz sweet vermouth. Stirred over ice, served up or on the rocks with orange peel. The dark fruit and chocolate notes provide exceptional depth against Campari's bitterness — one of the most recommended cocktail applications for this expression.