Sometime in 2025, a new company’s bourbon offerings appeared on the shelves of liquor stores all over the place…late 2025 for the Chattanooga area, as I recall. Dancing Panda has a beautifully ornate bottle, circus-inspired label, and fanciful bottle stopper complete with a dancing panda. I have yet to find a website for the company that bottles their whiskies, but research suggests that the 3 main offerings (designated by their age: 4, 8, and 10 year old products) are sourced from 3 different distilleries. The 10 year is suspected to be from Heaven Hill, while the 8 year that I’m looking at today is thought to be Barton 1792.
The mash bill used here is reported as 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley and it is bottled at 100 proof (50% ABV). Giving it a swirl and a nose, I got bright cherry notes up front, while further nosing picked up vanilla, oak, and an almost medicinal note.
The sip of the Dancing Panda 8 Year is really nice…caramel sweetness at the tip of my tongue, before some proof spice and oak come into the mix, a bit of green apple, and a touch of cinnamon and other baking spice on the finish. It’s got a fantastic complexity and flavor for a $60-70 bottle. This one had sat a couple months since the last time I had any and I had forgotten just how good it is…reminding myself practically assures that I will buy another when this one is gone.
