Review by: zSolaris

American Whiskey Review #103: Corsair Oatrage Single Barrel Lock & K(e)Y Society Pick

Distillery: Corsair Distillery.

Region: Tennessee.

Age: NAS.

Mashbill: 51% Oat, 27% 6 Row Malt, and 22% Coffee Malt.

ABV: 55.2% (Cask Strength?).

Price: Sample courtesy of /u/dustbunna.

Color: 1.8, Old Oak.

This is the 3rd installment of this years’ Christmas Countdown. You can see the 2020 edition here and 2019 edition here.

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Nose: After letting it rest around 15 minutes, it started off a touch more ethanol-y/solvent-like than I generally care for. Notes of rubber and new plastic come straight on through. After letting it rest for a little longer, the more unpleasant notes did go away and left behind instead more enjoyable notes of wood varnish and leather polish. With enough time, a bit of oatmeal came through as well.

Palate: Coffee, coffee, coffee, and even more coffee. It tastes of espresso beans, espresso itself, and feels like you have a coffee roastery in your mouth. A note of well cooked chestnuts comes through as well.

Finish: Quite short. There’s a hint of chocolate and, you guessed it, coffee.

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Conclusion: I’d never heard of anyone using a bunch of oats for distillation purposes much less a blend of oat and malt barley. The folks over at Corsair might be onto something with that mashbill though. The nose does need some airtime to calm itself down, when it does it becomes a really lovely combination of earthier scents in wood varnish and leather polish. The palate is full of coffee notes, so much so that it probably was a good example of how the memory can play tricks on the mind. I definitely felt the energy boost from coffee after having tasted this, despite the fact that there was to my knowledge no actual caffeine here. The finish is a touch simplistic but still nice to get a bit of chocolate there. Would I buy a bottle? If I lived near one, probably!

Final Score: 80.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.