OXNARD, Calif. — UFC champion Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko is stepping into the whiskey world with a limited single-barrel release made from heirloom Bloody Butcher red corn and finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks.
Warbringer Bullet Edition Overproof Whiskey, produced by California’s Sespe Creek Distillery, is the first in a planned series of releases with the two-time UFC flyweight champion. The 114-proof whiskey is limited to 170 bottles and carries a suggested retail price of $95.
Shevchenko selected the barrel with master distiller John Campbell, who previously spent 16 years as master distiller at Scotland’s Laphroaig distillery. Campbell said the fighter chose the Bloody Butcher whiskey during a blind tasting of several barrels.
“This is Valentina’s whiskey, and so the process was all about finding something she genuinely delighted in,” Campbell said. “We tasted through a lot of different barrels, but when she blind selected the Bloody Butcher, it was like, ‘Ahh right, of course!’”
The mash bill is 65% mesquite-roasted Bloody Butcher red corn, 10% hand-roasted yellow corn and 25% malted rye. Sespe Creek describes the whiskey as smoky and bold, with honey sweetness followed by spice and eucalyptus.
For Shevchenko, the smoky character brought back memories of home and cooking over an open fire in Kyrgyzstan.
“There was a rich earthiness to it like being outdoors, and also sweetness and eucalyptus, which reminds me of home,” she said. “The smoke I also love. In Kyrgyzstan, we cook over open fire. So that smell is family; it is a celebration.”
Warbringer Bullet Edition debuts Nov. 3 and will initially be available through the Warbringer online store and in limited quantities at select retailers in California, Texas, Arizona and Colorado.
Sespe Creek Distillery is based in Oxnard, California. Its brands include Warbringer Bourbon, Silvergrin Vodka and Parlor Cay Rum.
