H.K. Young High Rye Toasted Bourbon – “ShortStuff Bourbon” Single Barrel Pick Review

About H.K. Young

“By meticulously selecting and blending whiskeys finished in our unique toasted barrels, each crafted to enhance specific notes, we create distinctive batches that showcase the extraordinary flavors and aromas toasted barrels provide.” – H.K. Young Website

“Three bourbon enthusiasts walk into a bar…” – it sounds like the start of a bad joke but instead, it’s essentially the way C.G. (Cole) Hanna, Spencer Kilijian, and Tyler Young started H.K. Young — and they are certainly a far stretch from anything remotely resembling a joke.

They exploded onto the scene in 2025 with a singular question, “What’s next?” paired with a singular purpose: to source only quality Kentucky Bourbon and finish it exclusively in secondary toasted barrels.

They aren’t the only company doing toasted barrel finishes, but they are the only ones custom-designing each toasted barrel with Independent Stave Company to match each mashbill and blend type they bottle.

This might be the most well-rounded H.K. Young single barrel I’ve had to date. It isn’t punchy or disjointed, and for a high-rye bourbon the spice stays surprisingly restrained until the finish. The nose leans heavily toasted, while the finish lands with slam-bang intensity and structure. It’s also the most tannic HKY I’ve encountered, drifting confidently into dark soda and candied territory without losing balance.

While there’s certainly a consistency and some similar notes between H.K. Young releases, I continue to be impressed by the differences between each one. This pick is no different – showcasing the chocolate and marshmallow of a quality toasted bourbon yet straying into more obscure tasting notes like bottle caps and even tropical fruits.

Certainly, credit goes to the continued quality of the producers in the H.K. Young team like Darrick Jackson, VP of Sales, who is generally the primary lead for single barrel selections, but also credit to the pickers who selected a unique hybrid toasted bourbon.

Buy this if you:

• Enjoy toasted bourbon with a twist
• Want a balanced but wild tasting ride
• Like high rye bourbon with plenty of counteracting sweetness and barrel character

Skip if you:

• Drink only lower proof whiskey
• That’s all I’ve got

Value

Here’s an example of a whiskey priced above the general $10/year rule at $99.99 — yet it’s an exception and very much worth it. Let’s break it down:

• 7-year-old whiskey → around $70 (following the $10/year rule)
• Quality Kentucky (Bardstown) stock → $79.99 MSRP (minimum 6-year Single Barrel)
• Multiple months finished in a custom-designed hybrid barrel → +$5–10 (24-month seasoned American oak with French oak heads)
• Unique hybrid mashbill → +$5–10

You’re already justifying the price from a simple material and manpower perspective.

• Finish this equation with a quality single barrel pick (and pickers) → typically adds $10–20 to a bottle. With that, you’re not just meeting value — you’re exceeding it.

Transparency

H.K. Young is my favorite kind of NDP as far as transparency functions in the whiskey world.

From the front label, you can already gather age, barrel strength, single barrel designation and who/name proof, state of distillation, and finish type.

Circling to the back label, it discloses exactly which type of toasted barrel.

The only thing it is missing is the exactly distillery and mashbill, which the company happily (and legally) will tell you if you inquire about it, including allowing the single barrel pick team to disclose this to their club members/customers. That alone is unique in this deeply NDP market — most that I’ve experienced will at most disclose to the barrel pick team where it was sourced from but almost always ask for you to not disclose this to whomever will be buying the bottles.