Koval Single Barrel Wheat PX

Koval takes things like “single barrel” pretty seriously, so get a bottle of this little miracle as fast as you can.

Koval is the first small batch distillery in Chicago since the dark days of the prohibition era, and one of the leading craft distilleries in the US. It was founded in 2008 by Robert and Sonat Birnecker who abandoned their academic careers to follow their hearts. Growing up, Robert lived near Salzburg, Austria, and was immersed in a culture of small-batch distilling, so perhaps this is destiny. For those of us who love great spirits, it is just good luck for us!

The distillery supports sustainable agriculture and is certified as both organic and kosher—there’ll be no outsourcing for these kids. In eight short years, they have expanded their miracle-working to … geez, just about everything from Gin, to Whiskey, to Liqueurs, and a bunch of other fiddly things, all of them professionally crafted and tasty-good. In fact, they are rated as one of the top ten small-batch distilleries in the US.

You need to know one more thing about Koval … they take the whole “limited edition / single cask” thing pretty seriously. They even allow individual retailers and restaurants to buy a specific barrel—even a custom configured one. We minions here in the office have no idea how Uncle Flaviar managed to get his hands on a Koval Single Barrel Wheat PX Cask. And officially, we can neither confirm nor deny whether or how much inventory of this little gem there is.

What we can say is that Koval Single Barrel Wheat PX Cask is an absolutely delicious Wheat Whiskey aged about four years in one of those fancy-schmancy Pedro Ximenez (PX) casks that are usually only found in high-priced single-malt warehouses. How did they even get their hands on a PX cask in Chicago? We have no idea. When it comes to the Birneckers, such miracles are commonplace.