2025 Still Austin Tanager Cigar Blend Bourbon Whiskey Review: Old World Skill Meets New World Innovation
- Nick Anderson
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
“Thy duty, winged flame of Spring, Is but to love, and fly, and sing.”
– James Russell Lowell, The Nest
Count me amongst the lucky few getting to taste the 2025 release of Still Austin's yearlong project to bring us another edition of Tanager, their take on a cigar blend. This rendition, however, was done alongside the queen of this category: Nancy "The Nose" Fraley. Nancy doesn't do it the new school way; no, she does it her way. Having studied under masters in the Cognac and Armagnac regions of France, Nancy learned of the "Petites Eaux" technique as well as many other old-world spirit production methods. When you bring that kind of skill to the innovators at Still Austin, you've got a recipe for a really good time. The Still Austin website describes this synergy, saying:
To create our most premium offering to date, Nancy and John [Schrepel] combined our finest 6-year old high rye bourbon with pure Texas water and aged it to at least 50 proof for at least one year before adding it to the base whiskey for final proofing. This ancient blending technique, known as Petites Eaux (small waters), has been used for centuries in the Cognac and Armagnac regions of France.
Petites Eaux creates a rich and complex flavor profile, adding more caramelized wood sugars and length to the palate of the final product. This is similar to the standing practice of ‘barrel rinsing’ used amongst many bourbon producers, but utilizes a much longer aging process. For Tanager, the result is a cigar blend whiskey with a remarkably sweet and soft finish.
As if the whiskey wasn't cool enough, you have to check out the custom artwork that Marc Burkhardt did specifically for this release. This was a crucial part of that yearlong process, and the final piece is truly breathtaking. I am lucky enough to have this signed print for my whiskey study.
With all the grains used in this project being Texas grown, this is truly an exercise in terroir. If you've had some other examples of Texas whiskey, you know this is a wildly raucous region for aging spirits. I'm curious if all these innovative production methods will translate in a meaningful way to the final product, so let's dive in on a review, shall we? I'd like to thank Still Austin for providing a sample for the purposes of this review with no strings attached.
Company on Label: Still Austin
Whiskey Type: Cigar blend bourbon whiskey
Mash Bill Percentages: A blend of 53% blue corn, 25% red corn, and 22% white corn bourbon:
Blue corn: 26% blue corn, 25% white corn, 44% rye, 5% malted barley
Red corn: 36% red corn, 34% white corn, 25% rye, 5% barley
White corn: 70% white corn, 25% rye and 5% malted barley
Resultant blend: 13.78% blue corn, 37.15% white corn, 9% red corn, 35.07% rye, and 5% malted barley
Proof: 107.5°
Age: 6 years
MSRP: $149
Further identification: Bottled non-chill filtered and available only at the distillery in Austin, Texas and at select retailers while supplies last
Nose: The glass opens with a bouquet of hay aromas: chamomile, almond, and tobacco are all level and cohesive. It's a vanillin-forward dram, but not in a traditional bourbon sense... think biscotti, bread pudding, and muffin tones all accompanied by that layer of creamy and floral vanilla. On longer inhales, darker tones of coffee, allspice, and cast iron develop nicely. Well-aged oak comes across with a copious amount of lignin breakdown, producing the aroma of fresh linen bedsheets. Coming back from a sip, a bit of booziness is finally apparent as the aromas shift towards butterscotch, honey, and crème brûlée. This whiskey is certainly one of those multi-act performances I love to explore, as I suddenly find a hint of light pine aromas that takes me right back to the stand of trees I was hunting in earlier today. Breathe in a little deeper, and there is a warm apple pie to be found. Late in the pour, the featured centerpiece of vanilla returns in droves to a widening smile. The empty glass smells of whipped cream and cinnamon.
Palate: Wow, I'm immediately impressed by how balanced this delivers across all the different taste receptors. An uber-creamy, oily mouthfeel completely coats every bit of the mouth, leaving behind no heat. Buttercream frosting, vanilla pound cake, and a hint of lemon come together beautifully. I am reluctant to say there is no linger here, but it's just different than any whiskey experience you might expect. It lands so cleanly on the palate with a gorgeous mouthfeel and a faint reminder of the flavors you just experienced; it really urges you towards another sip to reenter the experience of sweet joy again. In doing so, slivered almonds in unsalted butter give an intriguing depth. The finish is beginning to mount with subsequent sips, suggesting this is a session dram meant to be savored straight through rather than jumping around in a comparison tasting. Working towards the bottom of the glass, I turn up peach dump cobbler and apple pie. My last sip is a powerhouse of flavor as cannoli and nutmeg slow dance into the night.
TL;DR: A wildly intriguing and sui generis bourbon built for balance and mouthfeel
Rating: 4/5
Who else but Nancy Fraley, the nonpareil blender of our generation, could pull off something as fantastic as this? All the intriguing details pulled from the Texas terroir are shining through in this release, but in a way I don't think anyone has ever tasted before. If you're on the fence about Texas bourbon, you need to make this release your next sip.
