I’ve been holding my breath — and alcohol intake (damn Dry January!) — all month for the announcement of this annual release by Woodford Reserve. So when I saw the email this morning about Double Double Oaked finally coming out, I did what any dedicated whiskey journalist would do: I threw my egg sandwich and dog in the car, poured my coffee into a to-go container and hit the road to Versailles.

Sure, I probably should have at least tweeted something out about Double Double 2022, but there was no time, and I can’t tweet and drive very well.

So now I’m back home with two precious bottles of one of my favorite releases of the year, and I’m here to tell you a little more about it. Double Double Oaked is mostly available at the distillery in small 375ml bottles.

The highly-anticipated bourbon is made by letting fully mature Woodford Double Oak sit an extra year in a second heavily toasted new oak barrel. That extra 12 months of mingling with the wood really produces an extraordinary whiskey that is known far and wide.

“We are excited to once again offer one of our most-coveted annual bourbon releases,”
said Master Distiller Chris Morris in a news release. “This is the perfect winter bourbon with tasting notes of burnt marshmallows,
cranberry and bittersweet chocolate.”

I haven’t cracked open my bottle yet, but according to the press release, you can expect notes of dried cherry and cranberry, along with blackberry jam, chai tea and clove. I can’t wait to try this first thing on Feb. 1 (again, damn Dry January!).

If you head to the distillery in the next few days, you can purchase two bottles per person for $59.99 each. Because of the bottle limit, they will likely have these through the weekend I would guess. But you never know. People do clamor for this bourbon, so don’t delay if you can help it.