According to Forbes, Horse Soldier Reserve Select Barrel Strength Bourbon makes for some of the best winter sipping.
The business magazine's list of the "Top Bourbons To Drink This Winter" puts the creator of Horse Soldier — St. Petersburg distillery American Freedom — in good company, as names like Angel's Envy and Basil Hayden's also received shout-outs.
This is what Forbes says about Horse Solider: "From Columbus, Ohio, and produced by former Green Berets, this high-wheat-content bourbon is bottled at 112 proof and boasts generous waves of chocolate and dried tropical fruit on the nose that find a sweet, equally generous palate as a counterpart, with lemon drops, cinnamon, and candied orange peel."
Yup, American Freedom produces Horse Soldier in Columbus, Ohio. Even after its forthcoming facility launches in St. Pete's Warehouse Arts District in spring, the distillery will continue to make bourbons up north.
Why? According to American Freedom co-founder Scott Neil, the weather conditions are ideal.
"We'll always have our bourbon up north," Neil told St. Pete Catalyst last year, "because the climate in the Ohio River Valley area gives us four distinct seasons, for the aging of the barrels, and the maturation process."
Horse Soldier Reserve Select Barrel Strength Bourbon retails for about $80.
This article appears in Jan 24-31, 2019.