Whiskey drinkers can be a very fickle bunch, eschewing one style in favor of another for totally valid if entirely subjective reasons. Enter Oak & Eden’s Whiskey Customizer program, in which you can tailor make a bottle to your specific flavor profile. And if you don’t like it, you only have yourself to blame.
There are limits to how you can build your whiskey, of course, but the options are plentiful. You start by choosing one of the brand’s admittedly young base spirits—bourbon, four grain bourbon, wheated bourbon or rye whiskey aged for about three years. Each comes in 90 proof or 114 proof versions, depending on how strong you like it. Then comes the step that is the defining feature of Oak & Eden—the proprietary and trademarked In-Bottle Finishing technique, in which each bottle of whiskey has a spire of wood added to it for a burst of extra flavor.
We’ve covered the trend of inserting staves into barrels of bourbon before, something that brands like Maker’s Mark and Broken Barrel do. And while Oak & Eden is not alone in adding a piece of wood directly to a bottle, the brand keeps it simple with just two options—American oak (sweet and toasty, according to the tasting notes) or French oak (floral and peppery). After that, you can choose if you want to have your whiskey infused with flavors ranging from coffee to vanilla to maple to pineapple, but purists might want to skip that step. Lastly, you can design your own bottle label.
Once you receive your bottle, you are advised to wait at least six weeks before drinking it to fully allow the effects of the in-bottle finish to make themselves known. “The launch of Whiskey Customizer allows our customers to unleash their creative spirit, one bottle at a time, in a way that has never existed before,” said co-founder & CMO Brad Neathery in a statement. “As important as making the new experience seamless on our site was providing visual and educational tools on building a whiskey, an often misunderstood and intimidating spirit. We are a whiskey for the people, inviting and empowering anyone to be a creator.”
Whiskey Customizer is part of Oak & Eden’s Anthro Series, which features collaborations with actors, artists and musicians. This new project is a partnership with photographer Ben Christiansen, who shot photos for the launch in Texas. If you’d like to try it out, you can order a bottle directly from the Oak & Eden website, where you’ll find staff suggestions or the opportunity to start from scratch (the 90 proof bottle is $64, the 114 proof is $79).
