New Centennial from Laws Whiskey House to be One of America’s First Bonded Wheat Whiskeys

Laws Whiskey House Bonded Centennial Straight Wheat Whiskey. Photo Courtesy Laws Whiskey House.
Laws Whiskey House Bonded Centennial Straight Wheat Whiskey. Photo Courtesy Laws Whiskey House.

Colorado’s Laws Whiskey House is releasing Bonded Centennial Straight Wheat Whiskey, one of the nation’s first bottled-in-bond wheat whiskeys.

Whiskeys bearing the label bottled-in-bond must be distilled at the same distillery in the same distilling season, aged a minimum of four years, and bottled at exactly 100 proof. The new Bonded Centennial Straight Wheat Whiskey uses 100% Colorado wheat all grown in the San Luis Valley and all harvested during the same season.

“We want to lead the charge on defining what wheat whiskey can be,” said Al Laws, founder of Laws Whiskey House, in a press release. “The distinct flavors of this heirloom grain really shines for us in this expression.”

The distillery offers tasting notes for Centennial of “mountain strawberries and orange marmalade that accentuate hints of alpine meadows and wildflower honey” on the nose, and “jasmine tea, sage and spruce tips fade into pink peppercorns, with crisp linen on the mouthfeel.” They tell us to look for a dry finish “with a slight bitter, candied orange.”

The standards for wheat whiskey recipes are similar to those for bourbon and rye – a wheat whiskey must be at least 51 percent wheat, while a bourbon must be 51 percent corn and a rye whiskey must be 51 percent rye grain.

While the bottled-in-bond designation is mainly seen on bourbons, it’s able to be used by any American whiskey. New York Distilling Co. released a bottled-in-bond Ragtime Rye earlier this spring, while Jack Daniel’s released a bottled-in-bond Tennessee Whiskey last year.

Centennial isn’t the first bottled-in-bond release that Laws Whiskey House has offered. It joins Law’s bottled-in-bond family of Four Grain Straight Bourbon, Secale Straight Rye, Straight Corn Whiskey, and Two Grain Straight Bourbon.

Bonded Centennial Straight Wheat Whiskey is hitting shelves in Colorado this week at a suggested retail price of around $70.

Caroline Paulus
Caroline Paulus is the Senior Editor for The Bourbon Review. She lives and writes in Lexington, Kentucky. Follow her on Instagram @misswhiskeyhistorian to keep up with her latest in bourbon news - and a few old finds, too.