Indiana's MGP (or Midwest Grain Producers) have been the man behind the curtain for many a whiskey label over the last couple decades, fueling the whiskey boom with the actual juice to fill bottles with. When folks want to start a whiskey brand and can't actually manage to distill and age the stuff themselves, they often turn to MGP, who have proven to not just be a giant industrial behemoth of production, but legitimate masters of the craft as well, earning a somewhat reluctant cult following of drinkers who came to realize that all of these independent labels of whiskey they fell in love with all hailed from the same place.
So it should come as no surprise that eventually MGP would capitalize on the prestige of their product with their own line of whiskies - no middle man necessary. Enter George Remus Straight Bourbon, named for a notorious Prohibition Era lawyer turned bootlegger who oversaw many of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana's distilleries, both illicit and those licensed for "medicinal use" during the 1920's, running a massive empire of booze that served as the inspiration for many popular depictions of the wealthy, cosmopolitan kingpin bootlegger.
The whiskey itself is a blend of high rye bourbons all aged a minimum of four years, bottled at 47% abv. The nose shows cherry, brown sugar, ripe summer berries, and a touch of oak. On the palate, cherry pie richness, vanilla, and oaky spice are the name of the game, with am impressive, rye heavy finish of spices, leather, and more oak.
