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This week, Woodford Reserve announced the nationwide launch of Double Double Oaked bourbon, a much-loved but hard-to-buy expression that debuted back in 2015 as a distillery-only exclusive. And while it drives my Grammarly account crazy, Double Double Oaked (not a typo) is a continuation of a growing trend in the American brown spirits business of finishing a whiskey for additional time in a second barrel. Here, that means a fully mature Woodford Reserve Double Oaked bourbon (that’s a single “Double”) maturing for two extra years in a second, heavily toasted, lightly charred new oak barrel.
Confused? Let me explain. The easier-to-find Double Oaked is matured in separate charred oak barrels, with the second barrel deeply toasted before a light charring. Double Double takes that Double Oaked expression and adds two extra years in another barrel, hence the “double double” and a spirit that’s more complex than the original, slightly sweeter counterpart.
The genesis for Double Double Oaked began in 2006 when the Versailles, KY, distillery — which dates back to 1812 but was launched with the Woodford Reserve name in 1996 by Brown-Forman (and today is probably best known for its association with the Kentucky Derby) — introduced the Master’s Collection to show off its bourbon-making creativity. “We didn’t even use the term innovation yet,” says Master Distiller Emeritus Chris Morris. “We were just trying different things to sell and have more stories written about Woodford Reserve.”
Within that series, Woodford Reserve began to flex its creative muscle, debuting four-grain bourbons, chardonnay finishes, four-wood finishes, malt whiskeys and a variety of other experiments that were novel for the American whiskey market. It led, indirectly, to the creation of the Distillery Series about a decade later. “The Distillery Series started when we wanted a premium expression for Woodford because that’s what people were asking for,” Morris says. “They wanted something special. ‘I can’t just go out and buy Master’s Collection at a whim. What do you have?’ And we had nothing. So that begins the development of Double Double Oaked.”
The original Double Double Oaked was a 2015 limited release that sold out in a month. Since then, it’s been a yearly release (for the most part), but as a distillery-only exclusive and only in a 375ml bottle.
The most important aspect of Double Double is, natch, that second barrel. After spending five to seven years in the first barrel, it’s the heavily toasted aspect of the second barrel that really delivers new flavors, as a few of us discussed with the Woodford team during a distillery visit in early November, where Morris and Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall gave us a first taste of Double Double Oaked and conducted a barrel toasting demonstration.
Meet Elizabeth McCall, Woodford Reserve’s New Master Distiller
Why it will (and won’t) be business as usual for the popular Kentucky bourbon brand“We toast all our barrels,” Morris says. “And Double Double Oaked is the ultimate toasted barrel. We toast for a long time — the more you toast, the more lignin [a polymer in wood] will be converted into vanilla. If we’re trying to attract, and who doesn’t like vanilla, rum drinkers and malt whiskey drinkers and beer drinkers and bourbon drinkers, all these people who love vanilla, Chardonnay drinkers…that’s a good thing to have.” (The normal Woodford barrel toast is 10 minutes with a half-minute char; Double Double Oaked is up to 40 with a just a “splash char.”)
“Someone during an interview called us the OGs of toasted oak, and I was like, yeah, I guess you could call us that,” McCall says. “We are the OGs because we’ve been doing it for so long. Double Double Oaked has that extra-long toasting and a unique second barrel.”
(BTW, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out Woodford Reserve’s parent company Brown-Forman had a rough week, laying off 12% of its workforce and announcing the closure of its Louisville-based cooperage. This news certainly tempers the celebration of this release.)
I hadn’t had Double Double Oaked in a while — the perils of living out of state — but McCall promises the new release would see very little flavor variation from previous iterations (“If you were doing a blind tasting with previous releases, I don’t think you’d notice much difference.”). My initial thoughts? I get a lot of cherry, vanilla and a bit of bubblegum on the nose. That cherry note continues on the palate, offering hints of marshmallow, caramel, chai tea, blackberry, apple and cloves with a dry and slightly spicy finish.
Awkward name aside, Double Double Oaked represents the ethos of Woodford Reserve, which has long held an innovation streak and strived to reach outside the typical bourbon drinker (which, in 2025 and with stagnating domestic whiskey sales, is probably still the smart call).
“I remember when the bourbon market was shrinking in 1982,” Morris says. “We had to start targeting more than the U.S. and go after malt drinkers, Cognac drinkers, fine wine drinkers, craft beer drinkers, rum drinkers. You have to go after everyone to have a chance of success. And you have to go after every different type of palate that whiskey can deliver. It has to have the flavors of the world in it. We were making whiskey for the local consumer, but now we have to make whiskey for a global audience. You can’t just do the same old thing.”
The 700ml bottle of Double Double Oaked (90.4 proof) has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $199.99. It’s available at the distillery and also available for shipping in several states (KY, ND, NE, ND and D.C.) in the online store at shop.woodfordreserve.com (and if that link isn’t working — which is what we’re currently experiencing — you can try an online store like Cask Cartel).
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