B.R. Distilling Company has released a new limited-edition expression under its award-winning Blue Note Bourbon portfolio — a Small Batch Wheated Bourbon Blend that brings a softer, more grain-forward character to a lineup that's already earned serious recognition on the competition circuit.
The release comes in at 101 proof, bottled unfiltered, and carries a mashbill of 70% corn, 21% wheat, and 9% barley. It's limited to approximately 2,800 cases, available now through BlueNoteBourbon.com and in select states across the country at a suggested retail price of $44.99 for a 750ml bottle.
Image credit: B.R. Distilling Company
What Makes This Bourbon Different
Most bourbons lean on rye as the secondary grain, giving them that familiar spice-forward bite. Wheated bourbons take a different path. By swapping rye for wheat, distillers shift the entire character of the whiskey — pulling it toward softer, creamier, rounder territory. It's a style that has a devoted following, and Blue Note is stepping into it with this new expression.
The mashbill here is heavy on corn, as any bourbon must be by law, but that 21% wheat is doing real work. On the nose, the blend opens with ripe peach, caramel, and a touch of apricot, with cinnamon spice showing up to keep things from going too soft. On the palate, sticky toffee and pastry-like sweetness take over, with a rustic grain quality underneath and a subtle hazelnut note that carries into a warm, honey-soaked finish.
It's not a thin or shy bourbon. The 101-proof bottling makes sure of that — there's weight here, but the wheat keeps it from turning aggressive.
What Harris Smith Had to Say
Harris Smith, Assistant Production Manager at B.R. Distilling Company, explained the thinking behind the blend.
"Wheated bourbon has always offered a softer, rounder expression of the grain, and with this blend we set out to highlight that character at its most vibrant," Smith said. "By carefully selecting barrels that balance creamy sweetness with developing spice and oak, we created a bourbon that shows both the approachability of youth and the depth that thoughtful blending can unlock. The result is a whiskey that's rich, layered, and unmistakably wheated — designed to showcase just how expressive this style can be."
That word — blend — matters here. This isn't a single barrel release or a straightforward age-statement pour. Barrel selection and blending are the real craft in something like this, and getting the balance right between young sweetness and more developed oak character takes real know-how.
Memphis Is More Than a Marketing Story
It would be easy to dismiss the whole Memphis angle as branding, but the geography actually plays a role in how this whiskey develops. B.R. Distilling's production facility sits on Royal Avenue, just north of downtown Memphis, where the Mississippi and Wolf Rivers meet. The climate there is not subtle. Memphis summers are long and brutal, and the temperature swings between those hot days and cooler nights push the whiskey in and out of the wood with more intensity than you'd see in a cooler climate. That heat accelerates the interaction between the spirit and the barrel, pulling out flavors faster and driving deeper extraction.
The result, according to the distillery, is a flavor profile that's bold without being harsh — the kind of richness that comes from a whiskey that's been pushed hard by its environment.
B.R. Distilling Company was founded in Memphis in 2014, making it the oldest licensed distillery in the city. More than a decade in, it has built a full portfolio around the blues music heritage that defines Memphis culture. The Blue Note name nods directly to that tradition, and the flagship lineup has grown to five core expressions.
The Portfolio Behind the Name
The Blue Note flagship lineup gives some useful context for where this new wheated blend fits.
Juke Joint ($34.99) and Toasted ($44.99) are the workhorses of the range, and they've earned their place on shelves the hard way. At the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, both expressions were awarded Platinum medals — a designation that means each received Double Gold medals for three straight consecutive years. That's not a common achievement. The San Francisco competition is one of the most competitive blind-tasting events in the spirits world, and repeating at that level across multiple years says something about consistency.
The lineup also includes Uncut ($49.99) and a Straight Rye Whiskey ($34.99), rounding out a range that covers most of what a serious bourbon drinker would be looking for. The new Wheated Blend sits right in the middle of the price range at $44.99, making it accessible without undercutting the premium positioning the brand has worked to build.
Where to Find It
The Small Batch Wheated Bourbon Blend is available now online at BlueNoteBourbon.com, with shipping available to a wide range of states through Bevstack, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas, and many others.
Physical retail distribution covers a solid footprint as well, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and more.
For those within driving distance of Memphis, B.R. Distilling's 110,000-square-foot production facility is open Monday through Friday from 10am to 4pm. Guided tours, including a tasting, run on Thursdays and Fridays for $20 plus tax and fees — a reasonable ask for a behind-the-scenes look at one of the South's more established craft distilleries. Tours can be booked at BlueNoteBourbon.com.
Worth Paying Attention To
The wheated bourbon category has gotten crowded over the past decade, driven largely by the secondhand market obsession with a certain well-known Kentucky brand. But demand for the style has created real space for producers who can deliver quality at an honest price point.
At $44.99, the Blue Note Small Batch Wheated Bourbon Blend is asking for a fair shot, not a leap of faith. The unfiltered bottling at 101 proof suggests the distillery isn't cutting corners to chase a softer mouthfeel — they're letting the wheat do the work while keeping the proof honest.
With 2,800 cases on the market, this one won't last forever. For anyone who has been on the fence about exploring wheated bourbons beyond the usual suspects, this release offers a legitimate entry point from a distillery that has consistently proven it knows what it's doing.
