the envy of the angels. The spirit that evaporates during maturation is called the ‘angel’s share,’ and Lincoln Henderson, who tasted the finished bourbon, joked that they now had a better share than the angels.
Port wine isn’t blended into the bourbon. Instead, fully matured bourbon is transferred from new charred oak barrels into casks that previously held ruby port, adding a delicate layer of red-fruit character.
The grain mix is 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley. Corn creates a sweet base, rye adds pepper-like and spice-like notes, and malt aids fermentation.
The distilled liquid is strongly burned inside newly made American white oak barrels and then filled. Aromas of caramel, vanilla, roasted nuts and wood emerge from this first barrel.
According to the official description, it is usually aged in new oak barrels for 4 to 6 years. The alcohol seeps into the wood during the warmer months and escapes during the colder months, deepening the color and flavor of the bourbon.
Several mature bourbon barrels are selected and blended so the batch tastes consistent before the port-cask finish adds its own layer.
The blended bourbon is transferred to a 60-gallon port wine oak barrel from Portugal. It is further aged for up to 6 months and has overlapping aromas of raisins, ripe red fruits and subtle chocolate.
After the port finish, the whiskey is blended once more before bottling. Vanilla and toast from the new oak remain clear, while the port-derived fruit sweetness is kept from dominating.
Angel’s Envy Port Finish standard. The dried fruit flavors of the port are plotted together on the nearest sherry axis for comparison.
First comes bourbon-like vanilla, maple syrup and toasted nuts. This is followed by raisins, ripe fruit, and bitter chocolate, showing signs of port cask.
The oak is clear, but the fruit sweetness fills the gap compared to bourbons made with only new oak. There is no peat smoke, and the spices from the rye keep the finish from being too sweet.
This value is not a public composition table, but rather the sensory impression of the reference bottling transferred to the same six axes.
Bourbon Hall of Famer Lincoln Henderson and his son Wes founded Angel’s Envy in 2010. For Lincoln’s final independent project after a long distilling career, he applied to bourbon the secondary-maturation approach more commonly associated with Scotch.
The angel’s share is the spirit that evaporates from a cask during maturation. The brand says that roughly 5% is lost each year. After tasting the finished port-cask bourbon, Lincoln joked that they had secured a better share than the angels—hence the name Angel’s Envy.
In 2016, Angel’s Envy opened the first fully operational new distillery on Louisville’s Whiskey Row since Prohibition. The aim is not to cover the finished bourbon with port flavour, but to add a light layer of red fruit over it.
Port wine is a fortified wine made in Portugal. Since grape distilled alcohol is added during fermentation to stop the fermentation, sugar remains and the alcohol content increases. Angel's Envy does not pour the wine itself into bourbon, but uses oak barrels that contained Ruby Port. Therefore, the finishing is indicated on the label as ‘Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Port Wine Barrels’ rather than simply bourbon.