Review #948 - Found North 19 Year T8ke 'The Eleventh Hour'

Following up on last year's Found North 19 Year 'Ten Years of T8ke' release, there's another new Found North for the 11th anniversary of T8ke. This release is named 'The Eleventh Hour,' and it carried a 19 year age statement like last year's bottle. Like all Found North batch releases, though, this is a blend of different aged components sourced from Canada - here's the list:

19 year corn whisky
20 year corn whisky
22 year corn whisky
24 year rye whisky

The focus of this blend is the finishing casks, which are Manzanilla sherry and Constantia wine casks. Manzanilla is a dry sherry, and Constantia wine is a bit like Sauternes, though it originates in South Africa - this blended whisky could show off a nice combination of sweet and dry notes, then, along with some spice due to that high age statement. As usual, there's also a bit of new oak finishing involved in this Found North Blend.

At the time of bottling, the cask strength sat at 61.8% ABV (123.6 proof), and the retail price was set at $230.

Found North 19 Year T8ke 'The Eleventh Hour'

USA/Canada - Blend

Price: USD 230 (2026)

Age Statement: 19 Years

Strength: 61.8% ABV

Cask Makeup: Finished in new oak, Manzanilla sherry, and Constantia wine casks

Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; bottled 2026

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle at 80% fill level at time of review. Tasted in a nosing glass, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: Rich oak, but also sweetness from caramel - good balance. Sugary sweet red fruits and vanilla buttercream icing come next, and we also get soft tobacco. Overall, it ends up leaning sweet, and butterscotch and fudge are more dessert-like accents.

Palate: Classic Found North, leaning a bit sweet - butterscotch, tobacco, and tons of creamy vanilla. There's a decent sweet wine influence bringing Golden Delicious apples, cherry cordial, and a hint of milk chocolate; warming tannins build, and complexity is good overall. The mouthfeel is medium-thick.

Finish: Tobacco and lots of vanilla, and it still leans sweet. We get some lighter notes like lemon-lime soda, cream soda, and buttercream cake icing; the leathery oak notes build in intensity in the aftertaste. It's a medium-long finish.

Final Note: We really enjoyed this T8ke Found North release, more than last year's 'Ten Years of T8ke' version. This has that classic butterscotch-like sweetness from the high corn mashbill, but the usual leathery oak is also there from the long aging period. Those wine casks are adding some very nice sweet notes layered on top of that - creamy, subtle fruit, nice baking spices. We found this version leans just a little bit sweet overall, but we like it for that.

Value for this bottle is just below average on our scale; it's an excellent whisky, but it's also expensive at about $230. For Found North fans, this is a good one to find, and it adds a nice twist on the usual Found North recipe with those unusual cask types.

Our Rating: 9.0 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 5.88

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.