Thunder Mesquite-Finished Bourbon Whiskey
KC Johns is pouring her heart into the whiskey
Thunder Whiskey is a bold, smokey spirit made for the road, late-night stories, and music lovers who like their drink with a kick.
This collaboration is all for KC’s fans, friends, and family. Something to enjoy straight up or old-fashioned.
“This meticulously crafted spirit is made to be easy-drinking and unpretentious, with bold, contemporary character.”
– Marni Witkin, TasteMistress, CALI Distillery
Thunder is a high-rye bourbon finished with blackened Sonoran mesquite, shaped by its journey through two distinct varieties of oak. The result is a bold, flavorful whiskey with rich notes of chocolate, coffee, and caramel beautifully overlaid with aromatic mesquite smoke. It’s no surprise it earned a Double Gold Medal at the 2024 Sunset International Spirits Competition.
Crafted from American yellow field corn and toasted flaked rye, Thunder strikes a perfect balance: the mature, starch-rich corn delivers a smooth, sweet base, while the rye brings complexity infusing minty, spicy, and floral notes with a dry, Scotch-like undertone.
After aging in a unique sequence of new American oak and sweet toasted French oak barrels, the whiskey is finished with blackened mesquite branches harvested from family-run farms in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico. Burned in traditional sand-and-clay pits, this premium mesquite is the same used in authentic Texas barbecue and its influence on the whiskey is unmistakable.
Thunder is an American take on smoky Scotch. But instead of building on a sharp, bitter malt base, we begin with a smooth, rich bourbon—then layer in American-style barbecue smoke in place of peat’s tobacco-ash character.
The result? A remarkably smooth, complex, high-proof whiskey—one we believe is among the finest we’ve ever tasted.
So good, in fact, that Sunset Magazine named it the Best Bourbon of 2024.
We can’t wait to share it with you.
— KC, Marni & Howard