What makes them especially unusual, however, is the cooperage. During a period when traditional whiskey barrels were in extremely short supply, this whiskey was filled into new, heavily charred American oak barrels produced by Canton Cooperage. Founded in 1933 and long associated with premium wine barrels, Canton brings a very different cooperage tradition to the world of bourbon, giving this small parcel a style all its own.

HRC was never a large production run, and barrels like #5018 represent exactly the sort of oddball, one-off whiskey that makes the Rare Character program so much fun to explore. With its high-rye recipe, unusual barrel source, and genuinely limited provenance, this is a fascinating departure from standard Indiana bourbon.