Forget the fancy label, the hand-blown bottle, and that dramatic backstory about a founder’s third cousin who allegedly punched a bear to get his first still. It’s all a distraction. When you’re spending your money, there are two critical variables that matter in the bottle: the grain and the yeast. Today, we're talking about 18th St. Distillery. You might know them for their beer, which is fine, but the distillery is where they apply the most extreme level of pedantry. Their product is designed for a single purpose: to taste great. We will now detail how they optimized the variables to achieve that.
Wrong. The mashbill is the operating system of your bourbon. It’s the precise grain recipe cooked down to create the sugary water, the “wort”, that the yeast will eventually demolish. By law, it must be at least 51% corn. That’s the baseline, bringing the required caramel and vanilla sweetness.
The other 49% is where a distiller shows whether they’re a copy-paste artist or an actual creator. You can throw in rye for spice and attitude, wheat for a soft, gentle profile that nobody will remember, or malted barley to aid fermentation and contribute some bready or nutty character. Now, let’s be honest about those notes. You won’t find notes of ‘your high school crush’ or ‘a leather-bound regret’ here. Just corn, yeast, time, and wood. Let’s call it what it is: grain flavor.
18th St. Distillery, leveraging their craft beer experience, understands grain like a sommelier understands grapes. Their flagship bourbon starts with that requisite corn-heavy base, but they then layer in a healthy, unapologetic dose of rye. This isn’t a soft, easy-drinking, “approachable” whiskey for people who prefer mild suggestions. It’s got a backbone. The rye injects a complexity and pepper that stands up in a cocktail and makes its presence known when sipped neat. It’s high proof, and you will feel it. It’s not ‘smooth’ because it’s not supposed to be. It’s meant to have a character that demands your attention.
This deliberate choice means their bourbon isn’t trying to please everyone, and that’s the point. It’s for the drinker who wants a spirit with a point of view, one that’s balanced by allowing the rye-driven pepper to slice through the sweetness.
If the mashbill is the blueprint, the yeast is the construction crew, a tiny, critical crew that is often the most overlooked. The yeast’s job is simple: eat sugar, produce alcohol. The secret, however, is that during this feast, the yeast produces a huge range of flavor-carrying compounds called “esters” and “phenols.” These are, literally, the flavor. Banana, apple, clove, smoke, it all comes down to the yeast strain.
Many distilleries just use a common, commercially available distiller’s strain. It’s the sensible Toyota Camry of the yeast world, reliable, efficient, and completely boring. 18th St. Distillery takes the brewer’s approach: yeast is an ingredient, not just a tool. They cultivate their own proprietary house strain, unique to their operation. The loudest distilleries are usually overcompensating. We prefer to let the three-year process speak for itself.
This proprietary yeast is a massive flex. It means their base flavor profile is inimitable; no one else can replicate the specific esters their strain produces. It’s their secret sauce, trained to lean into a complex, fruity note that provides a signature character before the spirit even hits a barrel. This commitment is the hallmark of a distiller obsessed with character over conformity.
If you’ve ever had to Google what ‘petrichor’ means just to read a whiskey review, you know the problem. We’re not here to give you a vocabulary test. We’re here to give you a pour.
The truth is, 18th St. uses a spicy rye mashbill and a unique, fruity yeast. This means you should expect a bourbon with a sweet corn entry, a punch of rye spice, and an underlying complexity of fruit notes you might not be able to name.
But here’s the rub: your palate is yours alone. That’s the beauty and the frustration of tasting. One person’s “complex spice” is another’s “burn.” This is where you stop guessing and start knowing.
Instead of buying a bottle based on a single opinion, you can use a tool built for this exact problem. The OAKR app is like having a bourbon sommelier in your pocket. It aggregates tasting notes and flavor data from blind-tasting panelists, cutting through individual bias to give you a clear picture of a spirit’s profile before you spend your hard-earned cash.
OAKR takes the work out of the equation. You can search for 18th St. Distillery’s bourbon and see its full flavor profile laid out. You’ll see the dominant notes, like caramel, rye spice, and oak, and the more subtle undertones that their unique yeast provides. Better yet, the app gets to know your preferences. By rating what you drink, OAKR can give you personalized recommendations for other spirits you’re likely to enjoy. It connects the dots between a distillery’s process and your personal taste.
Stop wandering the liquor aisle in confusion. Understand the building blocks like mashbills and yeast, then let OAKR do the heavy lifting. Explore the app, discover the in-depth flavor profiles of spirits like those from 18th St. Distillery, and get recommendations tailored just for you. Your next favorite bourbon is waiting.
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