The Experimental Series

The Experimental Series charts the course of Bully Boy's journey to craft a unique, well-executed Bourbon. Over the course of two years we tinkered with different grains, different distillation proofs, different yeast strains, different toasts and char levels for our barrels, and different spirit cuts.

Our guiding principles were twofold: One, let's do things differently. There are lots of whiskey houses making Bourbon roughly the same way. Let's create something that plays within the four corners of what a Bourbon drinker would expect, but let's add something new to the story. Two, let's execute on every level. Let's dial in every aspect of the process, and let's do it the right way. Each barrel of the Experimental Series represents a singular stop along the creative journey, which ultimately ended in the selection of two flagship Bourbon expressions that will be released in 2024. Until then, we'll be releasing various barrels of The Experimental Series throughout the next year. We hope you enjoy sipping the Bourbon as much as we enjoyed making it.


Barrel 662

This was one of the first barrels of Bourbon we laid down. We knew we wanted to do a unique spin on Bourbon, so our goal with the earlier barrels was to establish a baseline. We used a fairly standard mashbill of 85% Corn and 15% Rye. We let it sit for close to six years. When we were approached about buying a Naranja De Vino wine barrel, we couldn’t resist. We finished the Bourbon for three months, and it picked up lovely notes of toasted orange peel, which married beautifully with hints of leather, tobacco and stone fruit

Release Date: 12/2/23

Barrel 772

Barrel 772 is our second Wheated Bourbon release. The mashbill is 59% Corn, 29.4% Wheat, 5.8% Pilsen Malt and 5.8% Barley Malt.  It's a high wheat mashbill. The sweet mash was around 18 Brix. We used a Single Malt yeast strain that excels at creating floral and fruit notes. The proof off the still was 145.5 proof. The fermentation time was roughly three days, and we let the mash sit for an additional day for further souring. We used a Medium Toast, Char 3 barrel, and the liquid entered the barrel at 120 proof. The Bourbon was aged for over five years in a temperature controlled environment. It left the barrel at 129.97 proof and we brought it down to 96 proof

Release Date: 10/7/23

Barrel 674

At five years old, Barrel 674 was one of the first Bourbon barrels we laid down. We were in the early stages of locking in the mashbill for our Flagship Bourbon, and we hadn't yet gone all-in on malted grains outside of Barley. In some ways it's the most traditional of The Experimental Series barrels. What really sets this barrel apart is the aging environment. Barrel 674 was aged at the top of our rickhouse, where temperatures routinely exceed 100°F during the summer. There was a ton of internal barrel pressure, so even at 130.06 Proof, there's some nice chewiness, and you get lots of lovely barrel notes. The mashbill is 82.9% Corn, 11.4% Unmalted Rye, 5.7% Two-Row Barley. We aged this Bourbon in a Medium Toast, Char 3 barrel for 5 years

Release Date: 4/15/23

Barrel 833

We began distillation of this Bourbon back in 2018 and it was the beginning of our exploration into using malted grain in a Bourbon mash. Typically, malted grain is used in Bourbon for converting starch into sugar, and it's usually somewhere between 5% and 10% of the mashbill; it's a workhorse malt that has little flavor. We dedicated 42% of our mashbill to malts that we found to be particularly robust in flavor and aroma. There are wonderful notes of pecan, creme brulee, dried cherry, and vanilla bean. In some ways, this experimental barrel toes the line between Bourbon and single malt. Whiskey that uses a lot of malt tends to shine at a higher proof bottling, so we decided to release this offering as a Bonded Bourbon, which means that in addition to being 100 Proof it's also over four years old and it's from the same distilling season, in this case the Fall season of 2018. The mashbill is 58% Corn, 18% Full Pint Malted Barley, 9% Victory Malted Barley , 9% Bonlander Malted Barley, 6% Distillers Malt. We aged this Bourbon in a Light Toast, Char 3 barrel

Release Date: 2/11/23

Barrel 766

For our first Experimental Series barrel pick, we chose a Wheated Bourbon. The mashbill is 62.9% Corn, 28.6% Wheat, and 8.5% Barley Malt, 5% of which is a Pale Malt. It's a high wheat mashbill (most wheated bourbons use roughly 15% wheat). The sweet mash was 18 Brix. We used a Single Malt yeast strain that excels at creating floral and fruit notes. The proof off the still was 141.36 proof. The fermentation time was roughly three days, and we let the mash sit for an additional day for further souring. We used a light toast, char 3 barrel, and the liquid entered the barrel at 120 proof. The Bourbon was aged for four years and 3 months in a temperature controlled environment on a rack closest to the floor

Release Date: 12/17/22