Overview: This limited release from Bulleit takes a different approach than most flavored or finished whiskeys — the mesquite smoke isn’t added after the fact. It’s baked into the grain itself, with malted barley smoked over mesquite wood before fermentation. That’s the same concept behind Scotch peated malt, transplanted into a Kentucky straight bourbon framework. At 93 proof on Bulleit’s standard high-rye mashbill, the spec sheet looks interesting. Whether that translates to something you’d actually reach for again is a different question.

The technique is worth understanding before you buy. In Scotch production, barley is dried over peat smoke during malting, which deposits phenolic compounds that survive fermentation and distillation and show up as smoke in the final spirit. Bulleit is doing the same thing with mesquite wood instead of peat — malted barley smoked before fermentation, so the smoke character is built into the distillate rather than added at the end. That’s genuinely different from adding a smoked flavoring, and it qualifies this as Kentucky Straight Bourbon under TTB rules. But smoke from malted barley makes up only a fraction of a typical bourbon mashbill. In Bulleit’s case, the smoked malted barley is 4% of the grain bill. Whether 4% smoked malt can drive the entire profile of a finished bourbon is the real question here.

How I Found It: Spotted this at Total Wine as a limited release, grabbed it without much deliberation. At $45 the downside risk felt manageable. I’m not usually a smoked-spirit person — mezcal and peated Scotch both leave me cold — but the bourbon framework had me curious about whether the American grain bill would buffer the smoke into something I could get behind. Short answer: not quite.

Age: NAS

Proof: 93 (46.5% ABV)

Mashbill: ~68% corn, 28% rye, 4% mesquite-smoked malted barley

Nose: The smoke hits first and doesn’t move. BBQ pit, brisket bark, dry char — it’s an instant and unmistakable mesquite signal. Underneath that there’s honey and dry corn, which is classic Bulleit territory. The smoke reads dry and savory rather than medicinal, which is the best version of this note. But it’s forward enough that the supporting cast barely gets airtime.

Palate: More interesting than the nose suggests. Black tea sweetness, vanilla, and something like grilled peaches — the mesquite creates a savory, almost umami depth that plays against the bourbon sweetness in a way that mostly works. The 93 proof is smooth, no real heat. The problem isn’t that any one thing is bad; it’s that the smoke sits on top of everything and never fully integrates. The classic bourbon notes — corn, caramel, rye spice — are in there, but you’re always tasting through the smoke to find them.

Finish: Medium length, and this is where the smoke really digs in. It parks on the roof of your mouth and stays there long after the liquid is gone, fading slowly into light oak tannins. If you like the smoke, you’ll appreciate the persistence. If you don’t, there’s no escaping it.

Who This Is For (and Who It Isn’t)

If you drink mezcal, love heavily peated Scotch, or are generally a smoked-spirit person, your assessment of this bottle is probably going to be different from mine. The smoke here is real, it’s well-executed, and if smoke is what you’re after in a whiskey, Bulleit has delivered it cleanly. The mesquite character is savory and dry — closer to Texas BBQ than medicinal peat smoke — which is probably the most flattering version of this concept.

For bourbon drinkers who don’t have a smoked-spirit background, the issue is that there’s no quiet moment in the glass. The smoke doesn’t integrate with the bourbon character; it sits in front of it. The high-rye Bulleit mashbill is interesting, and the 93-proof delivery is smooth — but you’re always tasting the smoke first, second, and third, and everything else feels like context for it.

Final Thoughts: This is a well-made bottle that I just can’t get excited about. It’s not harsh, it’s not off — it’s competently done. But the mesquite smoke dominates from nose to finish, and that leaves the classic bourbon and rye character buried underneath. I kept waiting for a sip that made me want another one, and it never came. If you’re into smoked spirits, try it — this is an interesting take on the concept. For the rest of us, this reads more as a curiosity than a bottle you’d work through. Worth trying if someone pours you a glass. Not worth buying to find out.

If You Liked This, Try…

• Standard Bulleit Bourbon — The same high-rye mashbill without the smoke. At the same proof and a lower price, it’s a useful before/after for understanding how much the smoked malt is reshaping this bottle’s character. If you liked the underlying bourbon but wanted less smoke, there’s your answer.
• Bulleit Rye — Bulleit’s full-rye expression at 95 proof. Spicier, more assertive, but back in the lane of a conventional American whiskey without the smoked malt experiment. A better daily drinker if this one isn’t landing for you.

Rating: Leave it on the Counter — Rating system explained