The world of American whiskey is one simultaneously dominated by both trends and tradition. From HAZMAT-level whiskey to single barrel and single rickhouse bourbons, there’s seemingly always something new for enthusiasts and collectors to pine over. One of the biggest buzzwords to rise in the industry over the past few years: amburana. Much like Japanese mizunara before it, this exotic barrel quickly went from an obscure wood used solely in South America to barrel-age cachaça to being one of the most desired barrel finishes in whiskey.
The wood’s rise to prominence has made it a contentious topic around enthusiast circles. Some aficionados can’t get enough of it, while others are immediately turned off by the distinctive flavors and aromas the wood imparts. But love it or hate it, few aficionados fully understand where amburana comes from, what it actually does to a whiskey — and most of all, whether it’s here to stay or fade into obscurity.
Strong Start
Amburana may be new to whiskey, but the wood has been used to barrel-age spirits for generations. The tree is native to South America, with the highest concentration of growth in Brazil. In the spirit world, it was first widely used to age cachaça.
“Amburana is the second most popular wood for aging cachaça, after oak, which is Brazil’s favorite wood for their national spirit,” says Luke McKinley, marketing director at Novo Fogo cachaça. The wood imparts an extremely distinct flavor profile in a spirit — once you’ve tried it, it’s intensely recognizable, even when just a small amount is used in a blend.
“Based out of all of the finished whiskeys I’ve had, it’s definitely the single most identifiable finish,” explains whiskey writer and critic Mike Frey. Frey has reviewed around 800 different whiskeys on Reddit’s /r/bourbon community and his own website, Bourbon Culture. Whiskeys aged with amburana have a strong, cinnamon-forward baking spice note that is distinctly different from the spice aromas normally found in whiskey — think cinnamon rolls, gingerbread, or carrot cake. Less flattering descriptions like potpourri and perfume are also sometimes used to describe the wood.
Amburana Rising
Amburana first hit American whiskey through WhistlePig’s Old World Cask Finish Rye Bespoke Finish series, which first hit shelves in spring 2019. The next major amburana-finished bottle was Starlight Distillery’s Carl T. Huber Cigar Batch rye in December 2021. For the Indiana distillery, amburana was a familiar profile that showed promise in the whiskey world.
“Cachaça was my gateway into that amburana,” explains Starlight’s co-master distiller, seventh-generation winemaker, and third-generation distiller Christian Huber. “Our family was into brandy, rum, stuff like that, [but] I really liked what it imparted.”
According to data collected by independent statisticians Whiskey Decision, the amburana phenomenon was in full swing after Starlight’s Cigar Batch. 2022 saw the first major jump in amburana-finished releases with popular non-distilling producers Rare Character and NuLu joining the fray. In 2023, the amount of new amburana-finished whiskeys increased a staggering 215 percent, with at least 28 confirmed releases in the calendar year. More high-profile brands like Barrell Craft Spirits threw their hats into the ring and were joined by smaller craft distilleries like Rabbit Hole and RD One.
But just as the wood seemed poised to take over the whiskey world, concerns that its reign might be short-lived began to arise.
A Wood’s Worth
American whiskey producers quickly discovered that amburana isn’t the easiest wood to work with. Amburana has a few unique properties that cause barrel maturation to work a bit differently than American or European oak. The wood contains chemical compounds like vanillin, similar to oak, but it’s also uniquely rich in coumarin, an organic compound found in many plants including tonka bean.
“From our experience working with casks made from amburana, the flavors contributed and the speed at which they can be perceived is unlike most other barrels used in the whiskey maturation process.”
“This rich, mucky vanilla-adjacent compound makes amburana beloved for perfumes and also for cachaça aging,” McKinley explains.
Full amburana barrels are also significantly more expensive than oak and can cost producers up to twice as much as a standard new or used barrel. To add to that, the structure of the wood is quite different from the French and American oak most whiskey producers are familiar with.
“It’s is a little less dense than oak and more porous, so it’s prone to leakage,” says Matt Thomas of barrel distributor Northeast Barrel Company. The more porous nature of the wood can lead to more evaporation of the spirit over time as well. The biggest issue for producers, though, is how potent the wood is.
“I have never had a barrel come to our rickhouse already having such an intense aroma, which is certainly an interesting place to start,” says Sienna Jevremov, head distiller and blender at Widow Jane Distillery. Widow Jane’s first amburana-finished whiskey is expected to be released later this year. Because of this potency, the wood can quickly overpower a whiskey.
“From our experience working with casks made from amburana, the flavors contributed and the speed at which they can be perceived is unlike most other barrels used in the whiskey maturation process,” explains Tripp Stimson, chief whiskey scientist for Barrell Craft Spirits.
“A lot of people tried these barrels, and it’s such a strong wood, and they might have not really liked the flavor with how powerful it is.”
The finishing process, which routinely lasts months or even years, can take just days with amburana. To ensure the whiskey isn’t completely overpowered by it’s distinct flavor profile, producers need to be vigilant.
“For our initial release of our amburana Founder’s Collection, we finished the spirit in our amburana barrels for just a few weeks, tasting thieved samples every week and even daily toward the end of the process,” explains Rabbit Hole Distillery founder Kaveh Zamanian.
To both cut production costs and to temper that intense impact, producers sometimes eschew using full barrels in favor of using amburana staves, spirals, or chips. But even though using staves or spirals cuts down on waste and saves money, that approach is controversial and seen as a shortcut among whiskey traditionalists.
“Amburana gets a little dicey for me; it blurs the line between finished and flavored whiskey,” explains Seth Benhaim, founder of Broken Barrel Whiskey and Badwater Brands. “The point of finishing a whiskey is to further age, further rest. If you were to tell me, ‘Hey, here’s the whiskey, I just dumped whole cinnamon sticks into it,’ then partner, you’ve got a flavored whiskey.”
The Boiling Point
After the explosion of amburana-finished whiskeys in 2023, the once red-hot market appears to be cooling. From tracking Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) filings and release announcements, Whiskey Decision found that there are only a handful of new releases slated for release in 2024 — quite the decline from the previous two years of meteoric growth. The interest in the wood itself from producers seems to have leveled off, as well. Without disclosing sales figures, Northeast Barrel Company reports a decrease in interest from producers.
“[The trend] is pretty much done now,” Taylor says. “A lot of people tried these barrels, and it’s such a strong wood, and they might have not really liked the flavor with how powerful it is.”
“Every moderate to high-level enthusiast has experienced [the wood] numerous times, and I think they’ve already made the decision on if they like that profile or not.”
According to IWSR drinks market analysis, the entire spirits industry saw a 2 percent decline in sales volume in 2023, which would explain a dip in new amburana finishes this year — but there appears to be much more to the story than just economics. Spend any time peeking around online whiskey communities and it becomes clear that amburana is polarizing: Some people love the Christmas-spice flavor profile, and just as many others are turned off by the potpourri aroma or see the wood as a gimmick used to get a quick and premium limited release to market.
“There’s no shortage of purists in whiskey,” Benhaim says. “They want things to be done the traditional way. They’re not into innovation. They’re not into secondary finishing, and amburana is kind of a niche hyper-finishing.”
A bigger issue? Amburana’s mystique may have simply subsided, and whiskey drinkers now know where they stand on its appeal.
“Every moderate to high-level enthusiast has experienced [the wood] numerous times, and I think they’ve already made the decision on if they like that profile or not,” Frey explains. “There are people that really do like it, and they’re going to continue to buy it. But I think people just know to stay away from it if they don’t like it.”
Although amburana’s peak seems to have already passed, the unique wood is likely going to find a permanent place next to mizunara in the arsenal of exotic finishes for whiskey distillers. Some distilleries, like RD One, have already added a permanent amburana-finished bourbon to their portfolios, while Starlight’s Cigar Batch will continue to be an annual release. And despite the vocal detractors, there is still a very devoted contingent of enthusiasts who can’t get enough of amburana-finished whiskey.
As the use of the wood settles down to a more stable rate, the producers that continue to work with the wood and become more familiar with it will presumably continue to improve their aging and blending techniques.
“I don’t think we have tapped all the potential yet,” Jevremov says, “and I am excited to see what comes.”
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