Bud & Marilyn’s debuted a new whiskey made in collaboration with Pittsburgh distillery Wigle Whiskey, and, in honor of chef Marcie Turney’s grandfather, they’ve named it Bud’s Best Bourbon.
 

The bottle itself features a caricature of Bud on its label, and the whiskey is cask 495 from Wigle’s distillery. It was aged for 18 months in a 15-gallon white-oak barrel and is made up of various organic and local products, including Wapsie Valley corn from Washington, PA, soft winter wheat from Enfield, NY, and malted barley from Chilton, WI, with all of the above being organic items from small farms.
 

The batch is distilled to 145 proof and bottled at 90 proof, and we at Drink Philly were lucky enough to grab a glass of the stuff itself recently. Though Bud’s Best Bourbon is marketed as, well, a bourbon, it feels more like a great cross between rye and bourbon — while it goes down smoothly and has a little bit of that typical bourbon sweetness, it has a great heat to it, though there’s no harshness, nor does the heat linger for too long. With its rye-style spiciness and its smooth bourbon feel, this is a potent but crowd-pleasing whiskey that is sure to be popular with brown-liquor lovers throughout Philadelphia.

You can get Bud’s Best Bourbon by the glass at either Bud & Marilyn’s or Barbuzzo, so head to either Turney spot to taste this new, exciting collaboration.

Photo via Bondfire Media