Chicken Cock Red Stave Petite Sirah Barrel Finish 750ml

Chicken Cock Red Stave is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey finished in used Petite Sirah wine barrels from J. Wilkes, a California winery, a Kentucky bourbon house borrowing California red wine barrels for extra color and fruit. It's bottled at 51.2% ABV, or 102.4 proof, high enough to carry the wine-cask influence without losing the bourbon underneath. Expect dark berry and baking spice up front from the wine finish, layered over classic bourbon caramel and vanilla, with a warm, slightly tannic finish that reads more like a fortified spirit than a standard bourbon. It's a pour for drinkers who already like barrel-finished whiskey and want something different from a sherry or port cask.

How to drink Chicken Cock Red Stave

Neat or with a single rock is the right call — the proof and wine-cask tannin hold up fine to a little dilution but don't need a mixer to work. Skip cocktails here; the Petite Sirah finish is the whole point, and you'd just bury it.

Bourbon102.4 proof · Petite Sirah wine barrel finish (J. Wilkes)