The Midnight Pour That Made Everyone Drop Their Flutes🥃

💥 Opening Pour

It’s not every day you meet a bottle born to party—but this one came dressed in fireworks. When the world zigs for champagne on New Year's Eve, we zag with something bolder. You’re about to meet the pour that turns heads and toasts louder than any cork.

📖 The Story

Several New Year’s Eves ago, I found myself circling back to the same routine: champagne flutes, polite smiles, and fizz. But as the night deepened and the fizz faded, something was missing — depth, warmth, purpose.

That’s when a friend slid me a bourbon that had been quietly whispering across the room. It wasn’t flashy. It didn’t beg for attention. But with the first sip, the whole room leaned in. No more noise. Just flavor. Just warmth. Just the kind of pour that makes a moment.

And that night taught me something.
Champagne celebrates the moment. Whiskey makes it.

So this year, for your midnight toast — or the one right after — I’m spotlighting a bottle with texture, finesse, and a finish that lingers longer than the countdown.

Meet Town Branch Sherry Cask Finished Bourbon — a real Kentucky bourbon given a second life in Oloroso sherry casks for extra depth and roundness. 🥃🔥

🥇 The Weekly Pour

Bottle: Town Branch Sherry Cask Finished Bourbon
Price: ~$90–$120 (varies by state)
Proof: 96.4
Age: Blended finish after oak aging

Nose: Rich sherry influence with vanilla, roasted nuts, and figs
Palate: Sweet honey, dried fruit, toasted oak, warm spices
Finish: Smooth and elegant with balanced sweetness and gentle spice

✅ Finished in Oloroso sherry barrels for complexity
✅ Soft yet flavorful — perfect for celebration sips
✅ Smooth finish that pairs with rich foods

🛒 Buy it now → Check availability online

🍹The Art of Mixing

Cocktail: Sherry Kissed Boulevardier

Ingredients
• 1.5 oz Town Branch Sherry Cask Finished Bourbon
• 1 oz sweet vermouth
• 1 oz Campari
• Orange twist

Instructions

1. Stir all ingredients with ice.

2. Strain into a chilled coupe or rocks glass.

3. Garnish with an orange twist.

Tip: The sherry finish brings out the vermouth’s fruitiness and softens the Campari’s edge.

🍖 Flavor Pairing Picks

🍗 Prime rib roast with garlic herb crust — A New Year’s classic, rich enough to stand up to the bourbon’s warm spice and sweet oak.

🍑 Baked Brie en Croûte with fig preserves — Elegant, gooey, and fruit-forward — a perfect echo of the sherry finish.

💨 Davidoff Winston Churchill “The Late Hour” — A refined cigar with pepper, dark coffee, and creamy notes that pair beautifully with the smooth, sherried bourbon.

🧠 Big Lesson of the Week

A great celebration pour doesn’t just sparkle — it deepens the moment, adds a layer, and turns a sip into a memory.

🥂 Final Toast

Here’s to moments that taste like warmth, and nights that feel like home.

🥃 Repeatable Proverb

“Good bourbon doesn’t just finish the year — it starts the next one right.”

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Now Its Your Turn

Reply with your New Year’s pour traditions.
Save this newsletter.
Star it for later.
Share it with someone who needs a better midnight toast.

Cheers to winter nights, warm glasses, and pours worth remembering,

Ethan “Neat” Whitmore

P.S. Friday, I’ll share the origin story of the first bourbon finished in sherry casks — and why distillers still love that twist.