Upshot Red Corn

Upshot Red Corn is the final stop on my Whipper Snapper exploration today. Red Corn is a recent addition to the Whipper Snapper corn lineup, designed to showcase different maize varieties, and reportedly the first of many to come. Currently sold out until next year, I managed a second tasting this week from the last bottle, which is about half full. The red corn used is a rare heirloom type, also known as ‘Jimmy Red’, which was apparently a favorite among southern U.S. moonshiners in the early 1900s. Back in 2018, Whipper Snapper sourced this variety from the same farmer who grows their yellow corn, at the Bothkamp family farm in Kununurra, in the northernmost part of Western Australia. Nose: Very gentle. Does the sensation of sinking into a high-quality pillow have a scent? It should. It’s delicately floral, with honey sweetness, a hint of nuttiness, and pear in the background. Over time, it starts to feel slightly oily. Palate: The initial texture is balanced between oily and syrupy. Vanilla and toffee are prominent, initially masking subtle notes of crisp green apple and light honey. There's a creamy consistency, but I don't detect as much wood influence as in the yellow corn Upshot. Towards the end of the sip, there's a macadamia or Brazil nut-like quality that's quite intriguing. Finish: Moderately short. Toasted nuttiness, caramel-brown sugar, and smooth chocolate. Surprisingly complex. Kununurra is an incredible place; I've spent roughly 6-8 months of my life observing rocks there in the far north of Western Australia. Kununurra is a harsh environment, with extreme temperatures exceeding 45°C, torrential downpours, fires, intense humidity, and unforgiving ancient landscapes of rocky canyons, arid scrubland, and dangerous snakes. This whisky is nothing like that. Very far from it. In a word, delicate. This is perhaps expected, but the Red Corn is a completely different spirit from its regular yellow corn Upshot counterpart. Delicate and light, this liquid possesses unexpected gentleness and a novel character. It requires considerable patience and deep thought to uncover its offerings. I spent close to an hour with it and still don't feel I've fully grasped it. Consequently, it's a bit of an anticlimax to say that after all that effort, it's less enjoyable than the regular Upshot. I will admit it is superior, but it demanded a lot of work. I wonder what a newly opened bottle would reveal?