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Learn how our bold, mesquite-smoked bourbon is crafted; a mix of fire, tradition, and frontier spirit.
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At the heart of every bottle of Warbringer Bourbon lies the magnificent mesquite. Our recipe starts at the smoke box, with the careful burning of mesquite wood from Texas. Inside our custom-built smoking chambers, carefully filled racks of premium, flaking grits corn are immersed for multiple days in cold, clean, unadulterated mesquite smoke.
Warbringer begins with premium flaking grits corn, selected for its trademark creamy, flavorful character. The grits corn is loaded into custom-built smoking chambers, where it’s smoked with mesquite wood at a low and slow burn for two days.
Corn and malted rye are finely milled and mixed with water, select enzymes, and steam to create a mash. Enzymes convert starches into fermentable sugars, essential for the next step.
After fermentation, the whiskey wash is distilled twice through gas-fired copper pot stills. While a rarity in the US today (pot distillation is much less efficient than column stills), copper pot stills produce smaller batches with deeper, richer and more nuanced character. In addition, our distillation runs are done slowly to maximize copper contact and increase roundness and smoothness.
While mesquite smoked corn comprises the majority of our mash-bill (65%), the rest is fire-roasted in a rotating steel drum, caramelizing sugars and imparting a sweet, roasted flavor.
The mash ferments in open-top cypress wood fermenters, developing complex aromas and rich flavors through interaction with the wood, whiskey wash, yeast, and open air.
After distillation, Our barrels are heated to the 3rd hottest temp ever recorded on earth - 133 degrees-occurring in 1859 in Santa Barbara, just a few miles from our Oxnard distillery. This temperature flux extracts flavors from Pedro Ximenez Sherry barrels, where Warbringer is first placed, and New American Oak, Alligator Charred barrels where Warbringer rests until maturity.
John Campbell, the first native of Islay to run Scotland's iconic Laphroaig Distillery —and its longest ever serving Distillery Manager— earned legendary status in Scotch. Now he’s swapped peat for mesquite, leading Warbringer Bourbon on the Oxnard Plains to forge an “Islay of America” as the undisputed new home of the finest, most exciting American smoked whiskies.
MASTER DISTILLER OF THE YEAR
2014, 2016 & 2023
