I first tried Southern Star’s Paragon a couple years back. It is a wheated straight bourbon whiskey made in Statesville, North Carolina, and has a red label to announce itself. I enjoyed it and appreciated the mid-$30 price point, but had never returned to it…just too many other things out there to try, I guess. Then I started seeing a black label version of Paragon start showing up in local stores…behold the Southern Star Paragon Cask Strength! This is the same wheated bourbon, just bottled at 110.7 proof (55.35 ABV), just like it comes out of the barrel. At around a mid-$60 price point, I imagined it would have to be pretty good to be worth the money.
The color in the glass was a nice medium-dark amber color. Swirling the liquid around in the glass gave up thick legs that moved down the glass fairly quickly. Giving the Paragon Cask Strength the nose, I got strong caramel notes, with additional oak, vanilla, and subtle baking spice notes.
The sip is mild and sweet on the tip of the tongue at first, gaining fire and intensity as it moves to the mid-palate and slides down to the finish. Yeah, that was my first sip of the day and it’s not usually best to start off with something in the 110 proof range. Subsequent sips gave up notes of sweet orange, barrel char, toasted caramel, and even a bit of leather.
I really loved this pour and would definitely pick up Southern Star Paragon Cask Strength again…and again…and again.
