Rabbit Hole

Rabbit Hole Distillery is a Louisville, Kentucky craft distillery founded by Kaveh Zamanian, producing grain-to-bottle bourbon and rye with an emphasis on unconventional mashbills and full production transparency. Core expressions include Heigold High-Rye Bourbon, Cavehill Four-Grain Straight Bourbon, Boxergrail Rye, and the Dareringer Straight Bourbon finished in PX Sherry casks.

Browse all bourbon and rye whiskey at Wooden Cork.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Rabbit Hole’s mashbill approach distinctive?

Most American bourbon producers use one of a handful of well-established mashbill formulas — a high-rye bourbon (around 25–35% rye), a wheated bourbon (wheat instead of rye), or occasionally a four-grain mashbill. Rabbit Hole designs its mashbills around a specific flavor target rather than convention. Heigold is a high-rye bourbon (70% corn, 25% rye, 5% malted barley) — the rye proportion is at the upper end of what major producers use, producing a more assertive spice and pepper character than standard bourbon. Cavehill is a four-grain bourbon (70% corn, 10% malted wheat, 10% honey malted barley, 10% malted barley) — the use of honey malted barley is unusual in commercial bourbon production and contributes a subtle sweetness and grain complexity that standard malted barley does not provide. Boxergrail is a 95% rye, 5% malted barley rye whiskey — the near-total rye content produces an intensely spicy, grain-forward spirit. All three are designed to be distinctly different from each other rather than variations on the same theme.

What does PX Sherry cask finishing do to Rabbit Hole Dareringer?

Dareringer is Rabbit Hole’s Straight Bourbon finished in Pedro Ximénez (PX) Sherry casks — a specific type of cask that previously held one of the world’s sweetest and most intensely flavored fortified wines. PX Sherry is made from sun-dried Pedro Ximénez grapes and contains extremely high residual sugar concentrations — the casks are saturated with this intensely sweet, dried fruit, and molasses-flavored material. When bourbon is finished in PX casks, the wood releases those compounds into the spirit: dark raisin, fig, dried date, dark chocolate, and a richness that Oloroso or Fino Sherry casks — which are drier — cannot replicate. PX finishing adds noticeable sweetness without adding sugar — it is the wood and the residual cask material doing the work. Dareringer is among the more assertively finished American bourbons available in terms of the Sherry influence per bottle.