Blue Note Wheated Bourbon Review

Some bottles find you before you know enough to go looking for them.

Mine was a store pick that turned up near the tail end of COVID, sourced by a buddy of mine who had better connections than I did. I didn't know much about Blue Note at the time — I just knew the bottle didn't last three months on my shelf, which by pandemic standards was borderline reckless. Jobs weren't guaranteed and money was tighter than usual, and there I was working through a bourbon I probably should've stretched out. When it was gone, I regretted not grabbing a second.

At the time I was living in a control state, which meant Blue Note wasn't exactly walking distribution lines toward me. Without a friend doing me a solid, I wasn't getting anymore anytime soon. It wasn't until I moved back to Texas that I actually had the shelf access to chase it down and figure out what I'd been missing.

Digging into the brand since, I've learned Blue Note is still a young name — built by B.R. Distilling Company, who lean on Green River Distilling to fill out most of what they bottle. This Small Batch Wheated Bourbon Blend is their newest swing, and it's exactly the kind of release that had been missing from my shelf since that first store pick disappeared.

The Bottle

Distillery: B.R. Distilling Company (sourced from Green River Distilling)

Release: April 2026

Classification: Wheated Bourbon

Proof: 101 (50.5% ABV)

Age: No Age Statement (NAS)

Mash Bill: 70% Corn, 21% Wheat & 9% Malted Barley

First Impression: Caramel, cinnamon, charred oak, and peach.

On the Palate: Baking spice and brown sugar lead into apricot preserves and fresh wheat bread.

The Last Sip: Leather and blackberry settle in alongside honey and a crack of white pepper.

Final Thoughts

I don't like leaning on the word "crushable" — it gets thrown around too easily in this hobby — but there's no better way to describe this pour. It's warm, medium-bodied, and disappears out of a glass faster than it should for something sitting at 101 proof.

If this Wheater sticks around as an ongoing release rather than a one-off, it's a real problem for anyone charging a premium for harder-to-find wheated bourbon. Green River has already proven it knows how to deliver value at this price point, and Blue Note is leaning on that same strength here. At $45, it's hard to find a wheated bourbon doing more for the money.

It took me years, a move across state lines, and a fair amount of regret over an empty bottle to fully appreciate what Blue Note was doing. I'm not making that mistake twice — this one's going back on the shelf, and I'm buying two.

🟢 Buy