Pinhook 'Rocky Mountain Small Batch' Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky

Deep caramel, toasted pecan, and cocoa nib lead into a warming rush of vanilla spice and charred oak. Pinhook 'Rocky Mountain Small Batch' Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky 2025 Release is the black-labeled installment of the Rocky Mountain series, explicitly marked “Rocky Mountain Blend III” and built as a True Small Batch Cask Strength bourbon with a stated six-year age. Guided by founder and controlling partner Sean Josephs, this release reinforces Pinhook’s commitment to blending whiskeys to be the best expression of the barrels at that moment, not a fixed profile repeated forever.

Product Details:

• Spirit Type: Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Age: 6 Years
• Filtration: Unfiltered
• ABV: 59.7%

Sensory Description:

Aromatics arrive with dense caramel, browned butter, and toasted vanilla, then widen into baked apple, orange oil, and roasted peanut. The palate is full and assertive at cask strength, carrying molasses sweetness and sweet corn richness into darker tones of cocoa powder, char, and cigar box. Oak spice builds steadily, clove and cinnamon bark with a cracked-pepper edge, while the midpalate stays rounded rather than hot, suggesting careful proofing decisions even in an undiluted frame. The finish is long and structured, lingering with vanilla bean, toasted pecan, and ember-like oak. What defines Rocky Mountain Blend III is the combination of stated six-year maturity, the “True Small Batch” construct of intentionally small, commissioned micro-blends, and its place as the third installment in the Rocky Mountain run, positioned to feel singular rather than interchangeable with prior blends.

Producer’s Background:

Pinhook was founded by Sean Josephs, whose palate and career in hospitality helped shape the brand’s blending-first identity. From the start, Pinhook framed its releases as vintages, selecting barrels and then blending and proofing to capture the strongest expression of that year’s whiskey, rather than holding the profile to a rigid template

That philosophy matters even more in a city-specific release like Rocky Mountain Blend III, because its purpose is definition through selection.

Historically, Pinhook sourced distillate from MGP in Indiana, then later moved its modern operations and distillation partnership to Castle & Key, aligning the brand with a Kentucky-based distiller and a longer-term maturation vision. The shift from sourced whiskey to Castle & Key distillate is a key part of how Pinhook evolved from a clever concept into a more anchored production story, and Rocky Mountain Blend III sits squarely in that later era, emphasizing the Castle & Key relationship while still leaning on Josephs’ blending precision to make the release feel intentionally carved out from the broader lineup.

Serving Suggestions:

Pour neat at 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit in a Glencairn or tulip-shaped whiskey glass and give it a few minutes to open, cask strength aromatics broaden with air. Add a few drops of water to stretch vanilla and orchard fruit while smoothing the spice crest. For service, a single large cube will reveal more caramel and nut tones over time, and the structure makes it a confident backbone for an Old Fashioned with restrained sweetness and aromatic bitters, or alongside smoked meats, pecan pie, and dark chocolate desserts where oak and cocoa notes echo naturally.