Veteran Whiskey Review: Six and Twenty Old Money Wheat Whiskey

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History – Six & Twenty Distillery, located just outside of Greenville, South Carolina, is a veteran-owned business founded in 2011 by David Raad and Farmer Redmond. The pair met at Clemson University where they played rugby together. Before starting Six & Twenty Distillery with David Raad, Mr. Redmond’s primary claim to fame was that he is a descendent of infamous South Carolina Moonshiner, Major Lewis Redmond. Mr. Raad recognized a need for homegrown, high quality spirits in South Carolina, so he teamed up with his former teammate to try and provide exactly that to the Greenville area.

Six & Twenty Distillery gets its name from the 1700’s legend of a Choctaw Indian maiden named Issaqueena, who fell for Englishman Alan Francis. Eventually, Issaqueena was captured by the Cherokee and overheard a plan by the tribe to overtake Francis’ trading post. Legend has it that, in an effort to warn Francis, Issaqueena made a daring escape on horseback. Along her ride, she would name landmarks to help identify them. One of those landmarks was the Six & Twenty Creek, located near the present day distillery, and was named because it was located about twenty six miles from the Cherokee village.” (Source: Greenville Online)

“In 2020, David Raad would attend the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV) Accelerate Program. This program assists veterans in identifying areas within their business that need tweaking, in an effort to achieve a more sustainable growth. As a result of his involvement in this program, Mr. Raad was invited to Dallas, Texas to participate in the Institute of Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) Veteran EDGE Conference. At the end of the conference, after competing in the Accelerate Challenge, Raad was awarded the Disabled American Veterans’ Arthur H. and Mary E. Wilson Top Venture Impacting Veterans Award and its accompanying $10,000 prize.” (Source: Upstate Business Journal.com). I am excited about this one, let’s dig in!

Value – The value is fair for this bourbon. It comes from a local distillery with all grains sourced from SC. For something special like that its on par at $40.

Appearance – Light Mahogany. The bottle looks super cool and resembles an old medicine bottle. I love the color of the label which really makes it pop and its back label showing dedicated ingredients from South Carolina. 

Nose – Grassy, Vanilla and some summer fruit on the nose.

Palate – Soft / Nutty / Pear and Peach. This palate happens to be very relaxing as you draw on it. It comes on nicely and not overpowering in the slightest bit. While it does show its sweet undertone of the mashbill it represents of wheat it leaves more to notice like a nice thickness that pleasantly coats the mouth. 

Finish – Creamy, Dry and Apple pushes through at the finish. Its very pleasant and there is no heat involved in this for those that prefer it. I am one to love a very hot finish but in fairness to the overall whiskey market this is not a bourbon so it should push your limits like a bourbon does. This is well rounded and really leaves you with a nice yearning for more. 

Summary – In the end we are reviewing this whiskey because we love to support veteran owned distilleries and want to see what innovations they are coming up with. I really enjoyed this whiskey and would rather be sipping on this than Jameson for example. It’s unique and I can see it pairing well with many foods. Just like the 5-Grain bourbon that we have reviewed in the past, I really like to keep these Six and Twenty Bourbons on the shelf to share with friends. It’s unique that they source only local to SC, age them 3 years which is big for a local distillery and take so much pride in their products. Also, the bottles look pretty awesome as well.

7.1

Uniqueness – 1-10 – 6

Appearance- 1-10 – 10

Nose- 1-20 – 12

Palate- 1-20 – 16

Finish- 1-20 – 8

Value- 1-20 – 19