New Holland Spirits—the distilling branch of New Holland Brewing—announced the latest edition to its year-round Dragon’s Milk bourbon product line with Dragon’s Milk Origin. Unlike the Beer Barrel Bourbons that the company specializes in, Origin is a straight bourbon whiskey that is five year aged (or more). New Holland sent me a sample to review.

Press release:

On Saturday, April 16th, New Holland Spirits of Holland, MI will officially release Origin Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey ($44.99 MSRP) as a new year-round addition to their Dragon’s Milk brand portfolio. Origin is a straight bourbon whiskey, distilled in small batches and bottled at 95 proof. This release is the first year-round bourbon with an age statement of 5 years or more for the craft distiller.

“Origin is one of the most exciting projects we’ve taken on at New Holland,” said Adam Dickerson, Brand Manager at New Holland. “We’ve been sampling this product patiently for five long years and are continually impressed by its complexity of flavor, and delicate finish. As Michigan’s oldest whiskey distiller, we are immensely proud to be able to offer this bourbon to our customers. We feel that it is a landmark moment for us as a distillery.”

Origin’s unique status among modern bourbons is owed to the distilling process that made it possible; namely the near 100 year-old prohibition-era pot still that resides at New Holland’s production facility is used to produce all of their bourbon recipes. This traditional still imparts fruit forward character and a balanced body, while allowing New Holland to produce true small-batch bourbon, always bottled at the pinnacle of flavor in batches of 100 barrels or less. The recipe features corn, rye, and a high ratio of malted barley.

“Origin’s high-barley mash bill and 5 year maturation in char 3 oak barrels offers the drinker a one-of-a-kind experience” Dickerson said. “We are particularly enthusiastic about Origin’s four signature tasting notes of stone fruit (namely pear and apricot), citrus, baked pastries, and vanilla wafer. The marriage of these flavors with the myriad of additional sub-flavors forms a truly memorable bourbon and presents you with new tasting notes to uncover each time you revisit.”

The name Origin derives from the origin story of Dragon’s Milk (the parent brand for the bourbon). The original Dragon’s Milk Stout (#1 Stout by volume brewed in the U.S.A) was born from bourbon barrels and those barrels have become an integral part of the evolution of New Holland’s Brewery and Distillery. The Dragon’s Milk name has evolved from the original stout to become the parent brand to an entire portfolio of beer, bourbon and other barrel-aged endeavors. Origin celebrates the pure spirit that crafted a legend. “Every legend has an origin,” Dickerson said. “This is ours.”

Origin will be released on April 16th at New Holland’s own retail locations and will begin distribution to Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Texas, and California on Monday, April 18th.

I still have notes to post about the other bourbons New Holland sent me, but I’ll be trying this one soon too.