Breaking & Entering

Breaking & Entering American Whiskey
St. George Spirits
Alameda, California
ABV: 43%
86 Proof

This is the first spirit I’m reviewing from my home state of California. A friend gave this to me as a moving in present. She had recently visited her brother in the bay area and toured the distillery. It was her favorite one that she tasted and I was looking forward to it. To my surprise when I opened it and had a sip it tasted almost like rubbing alcohol.

Confused and disappointed, I decided to only use it for mixing for a bit. Then one night a few months later I got bold and decided to try it again. It tasted completely different. I had my partner try it again too to make sure I wasn’t crazy and they confirmed that it was much better. So it seems it needed a bit of air and time to develop flavor, and it tasted just fine from then on.

The bottle describes the reason for the name of the whiskey. They like to steal used bourbon barrels from other distilleries and use them again to age their own whiskeys. This one they proudly describe as rich with spicey rye. I would agree with that. The smell is subtlety sweet with caramel notes. The taste has a lot of spice up front, very bold, and then mellows out to match that sweetness. I ended up enjoying more and more as I finished the bottle.