Nooku Bourbon Cream

“Inspired by a Native American name for a white snowshoe rabbit,” Nooku is a new bourbon cream made with only two ingredients — bourbon and real cream. Both Nooku and the base bourbon come from Colorado-based Old Elk Distillery — the bourbon used being a two year old, made using a high-malt recipe. The cream is simple “real dairy cream.” No added sugar or other flavors are used in the production of the product, making it rather unique.

A very light beige in color, the product has some cinnamon notes on the nose that pair well with gentle vanilla and caramel, all atop a lightly eggy-smelling cream. The palate kicks off with a pleasant creaminess, but the whiskey kicks in quite quickly. It’s got a lot of spice to it — more clove than cinnamon — with lush and lingering vanilla caramel notes throughout. The finish brings on a lick of bittersweet, dark chocolate — giving the spirit a surprising sense of austerity given the young age of the whiskey used to make it. After the whiskey proper fades, there’s a lingering aftertaste of fresh wood and some toasty spices.

While it’s not an earth-shaker (what cream liqueur is?), it’s quite nice stuff, and more importantly it makes for a pleasant switch from the more saccharine, chemical loaded whiskey creams on the market.

34 proof / ABV 17%