Disclosure: the sample for this review was provided at no cost. Our tasting notes and score are our own.
A little background
Cedar Ridge The QuintEssential Tokaji Cask Finished is an American Single Malt whiskey from Cedar Ridge Distillery in Swisher, Iowa, and the first release in the brand’s QuintEssential Single Cask Series. The series highlights Cedar Ridge’s award-winning American Single Malt in some of the most unique finishing casks from around the world, and this edition is finished in a cask that held Tokaji, the Hungarian dessert wine with centuries of history that Louis XIV famously called the “king of wines, and the wine of kings.” The mash bill is 100% 2-row pale malted barley. This 2025 release (Cask No. TK-24-01) is bottled at 116.8 proof and carries a price of $69.99.
The Quint family has farmed and distilled spirits for generations, and Jeff Quint founded Cedar Ridge in 2005, making it the first licensed distillery in Iowa since Prohibition. After releasing its first batch of whiskey in 2010, Cedar Ridge became a nationally recognized craft distiller, earning honors such as the American Distilling Institute’s 2017 Distiller of the Year and Best American Craft Whiskey at the 2016 New York World Spirits Competition. The distillery manages every step of production from grain to glass, milling grain on-site, distilling its whiskeys twice and aging them in non-temperature-controlled rick houses, where Iowa’s swinging weather pushes the whiskey in and out of the barrel wood and costs an angel’s share of about 18% compared with the industry standard of 12%.
(Tasted neat from a Glencairn Glass)
Color
Gold
Nose
Orange peel, tangerine, crème, clove, red hot, rhubarb, mint, and leather.
Palate
Cherry lifesaver, tangerine, pineapple, brown sugar, bitter baking chocolate, oak, and spice.
Finish
Lemon citrus, cedar, vanilla, pineapple, cherry, baking spice, mint, and oak.
In closing
Cedar Ridge QuintEssential Tokaji Cask Finished opens with an interesting and enjoyable nose of orange peel, tangerine and crème, layered with clove, red hot cinnamon candy, rhubarb, mint and leather. Despite the 116.8 proof, it noses effortlessly. The palate delivers a very pleasant attack of flavor, with cherry Life Saver, tangerine, pineapple and brown sugar leading the way before bitter baking chocolate, oak and spice add depth. There are a lot of artificial candy flavors here, carried by an enjoyable oily mouthfeel that makes this a genuinely “juicy” whiskey. The finish is long, moving through lemon citrus, cedar, vanilla, pineapple, cherry, baking spice and mint with oak underneath, and it has really cool peaks of flavor that keep resurfacing as it fades.
For a first entry in the QuintEssential Single Cask Series, the Tokaji finish shows what Cedar Ridge’s American Single Malt can do in an unusual cask, adding bright fruit and candy-like sweetness without losing the malt’s structure. At $69.99 for a 116.8-proof single cask American Single Malt, the value is excellent, and the finish alone makes it worth seeking out. Fans of fruit-forward, wine-finished whiskey should put this bottle on their list.
NOTE: The sample used for this review was provided at no cost courtesy of Cedar Ridge Distillery. We thank them for the sample and for allowing us to review it with no strings attached.
Cedar Ridge The Quintessential Single Cask Series Tokaji Cask Finished
116.8 Proof
Please enjoy responsibly. Never drink and drive.
