I’m back. Not that you necessarily noticed I was missing, but I took a short sabbatical from reviewing and posting about bourbon (don’t worry, I took no sabbatical from drinking it!) to take care of some things and recharge. And I’m glad to say I’ve come out the other side refreshed, recharged and ready to go! In the summer months ahead, I have a ton of whiskies to review, ballparks to cover and other fun reads to post. So on with the show.
I certainly hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend – I certainly did, with a trip to see friends and family get married in St. Louis and New York City, respectively. Not only were my journeys an opportunity for my wife and I to spend time with many great people we do not see enough – it was also an opportunity to pick up and try some tasty regional bourbons. That’s where we start today – with Brooklyn’s own Kings County Distillery Bourbon.
Dan’s Bourbon of the Week: Kings County Distillery Bourbon Whiskey
Kings County Distillery has been on the scene for a little while now. Founded in 2010 in a building in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Kings County Distillery is the definition of artisan distilling. They do not and have never sourced their liquor, distilling and aging it on site. Even the grains come from a nearby Brooklyn farm, and their pride in sustainable, local distilling is strong.
I first became aware of Kings County this year at the Bourbon Classic, where Master Blender Nicole Austin joined a host of bourbon and whiskey legends for the panel discussions and tastings. Unfortunately for me, the Kings County booth proved so popular that I never got a chance to make my way up for a sample. No mind, I was in NYC and it seemed an ample opportunity to check it out.
I had hoped to give the distillery a tour – and will make a point to in the future – but on this trip time was tight, so I used the distillery’s handy site and found a store right by our hotel where I could purchase a bottle. (As a note, if you are in NYC and looking for a fantastic collection of whiskey, check out Bowery and Vine if you haven’t already. Great selection, and fun service.) Bottle gotten, and back home – time for a tasting.
Dan’s take: First thing first, I do love the packaging. A hip flask bottle befitting a local distillery with a throwback touch. I do wish I was able to pick up a fifth, as a pint or half-pint were the only choices available. That said, it’s a pricey pour at $45 a pint, so my wallet is happy for the smaller size.
The color was a rich amber, not so young as to give away the relatively young age (anywhere from 1-4 years). Kings County makes their bourbon from NY corn and UK barley – they don’t mention rye – and the nose is very strong of the sweet corn smell. There is an almost perfume-like note as well, like dried raisin and honey. It took a few minutes to fully open (it is 90 proof), and when it did, the corn was most present.
The mouth feel was thick and slick, with a viscosity I also didn’t expect. It was soft, and buttery, and made for a most enjoyable sip. Admittedly, it tasted young, and not as sweet as the nose, but very smooth. Hints of cinnamon and light caramel presented, but I didn’t note any vanilla or maple. There was no bitterness to speak of, and the corn sweetness carried it through to the finish. Again, cinnamon was obvious in the finish, but it would not be unfair to say that the smoothness, rather than any particular flavor, was the primary observation. The finish was relatively short, without a real burn.
Blind tasting it, I may have known it was young, but how young I wouldn’t have suspected. It does not have the complexity of an 8/10/12 year pour, but does have a sweet smooth finish rarely found in something so new. Overall, I was impressed. This is a nice bourbon, distinctly…well, Brooklyn!
Dan’s take: 8.3
(Don’t worry, more NYC songs are coming with future reviews!)
Last year when British spiritmaker Diageo announced the pending release of an “Orphan Barrel” series – a collection of bourbons retrieved from very aged stock Diageo owns – there was a bit of a schism in the bourbon community. Some criticized Diageo – a company that has among it’s many assets Bulleit Bourbon and the old Stitzel-Weller and Bernheim distilleries – for a lack of transparency in issuing these releases. Chuck Cowdery, the king of bourbon writing, led the charge. It has been his belief that, in not fully divulging the history of each of the Orphan Barrel releases, Diageo is exploiting an over-hyped market and taking money from the naive with flashy packaging.
There was another set of voices that defended the Orphan Barrel series, pointing out that Diageo had a very unique and distinct set of products that were very exciting. Bourbon distilled at legendary facilities like Stitzel-Weller and the old Bernheim factory could be assumed to be more ‘craftsman’ than the typical MGP whiskey sourced in so many bottles in the last few years.
The reviews were mixed as well. The first release, a 26-year old bourbon named Old Blowhard, was less than well received, with most commenting on the overall woodiness of the release as well as the prohibitive price ($150+). Then came Barterhouse and Rhetoric, two younger, very different and more affordable releases, and more popular in reviews.
Meanwhile, the bottles sold out, and Diageo could call the Orphan Barrel series a success. By the time the fourth release, Lost Prophet, was announced in the fall, interest was high.
I am coming late to the Orphan Barrel game. Here in Michigan, bottles of Old Blowhard/Barterhouse/Rhetoric started showing up in small numbers last year, but the price, as well as a lack of knowledge, kept it off of my shelf. Bourbon connoisseurs know that age is no guarantee of quality – in fact, very very few whiskeys can stand 20 years in the barrel without coming out tasting like oak tree bark. This is part of what makes drinks like the 20 year Pappy Van Winkle or the older Elijah Craig releases so unique: they retain their flavor even at this advanced age. But not all do – in fact, the 23 Year Old Pappy Van Winkle may be near impossible to find, but the last laugh is really on those who don’t realize it may be the least impressive of the Van Winkles because of that advanced age.
Age statements and ‘limited edition’ bottlings are to collectors as catnip is to felines, however, and that is Mr. Cowdery’s main complaint. It would be a fair hypothesis to make that any bourbon producer could find barrels of aged whiskey – regardless of taste, where they were stored, recipe or certainly quality – and make a healthy profit selling them to a relatively unknowledgeable ‘whiskey collector/investor’ base. But is that what Diageo did with their Orphan Barrel series?
The truth seems to be somewhere in between. The histories of each Orphan Barrel release can be investigated and found out. The impressive labels and mystic stories not withstanding, these barrels were made by serious, quality companies and stored in historic, if over-hyped locations. Simply storing barrels at Stitzel-Weller doesn’t make the product Pappy Van Winkle anymore than buying a Ford Fiesta from a dealership makes it a Mustang. But that’s not to say it can’t be good, even great. So I start my Orphan Barrel reviews with one of the recent releases: Orphan Barrel Lost Prophet.
Dan’s Bourbon of the Week: Orphan Barrel Lost Prophet
The story of Lost Prophet is a name dropper’s dream. It was distilled in 1991 at the (1) George T. Stagg distillery. That’s now (2) Buffalo Trace Distillery. It is believed to have been distilled using the Stagg Mash Bill #2 – the same as (3) Blanton’s and (4) Ancient Age (thats 75% corn, 15% rye, 10% barley). It was then moved for storage to the (5) Stitzel-Weller warehouse outside of Louisville. At some point, Diageo became aware of these barrels they had purchased in one of the transactions, and they bottled the results at 22 years. Like I said, a lot of name dropping.
But was it any good? We cracked a bottle and had a taste.
Dan’s take: Right from the start, this hit me as a different bourbon, and in a good way. The nose didn’t open up to sweetness at all – instead, it was an older, deeper scent. Dried fruits, raisins, a serious dose of cinnamon and clove, touched off with a hint of oak. But that was the biggest surprise – it was a hint of oak. At 22 years, I was expecting a lot more of the charred wood smell, and was pleased to get more texture.
The taste did not disappoint. Again, there was a spiciness – cinnamon, clove, plum and a slight bitterness of dark chocolate opening up to a wider leather taste. That bitterness did open up, with a decent taste of the oak, but never overwhelmingly tannin or pucker inducing. And it was shockingly smooth for a bourbon of it’s age. But, just as the nose, there was no real sweetness to be found. The dried fruit taste mixed with oaky smokiness was pleasant and unique though, making this a truly different pour.
The finish was long and smoky, with the wooden age lingering.
Sometimes, I will try a bourbon that is not to my taste profile, but I respect immensely anyway, and that’s how I feel about Lost Prophet. There are certain times and certain meals I look forward to pairing this well aged whiskey with. On one hand, it is a bit cost prohibitive, at $130 retail, but considering it is 22 years old, worth an investment. And while I sincerely hope Diageo becomes a bit more transparent with their origin stories, I think Lost Prophet is a worthy entry.
Among the many great things about travelling to Kentucky for bourbon events is the opportunity to purchase harder-to-find products that just aren’t available here in my home state of Michigan. While the local selection has certainly improved in the last five years, it is still a drop in the bucket compared to what is available in the larger Kentucky stores, much less the more legendary stops in Bourbon country.
When we were in the Bluegrass State last month for the Bourbon Classic, we were able to fit in a bit of shopping. Now, those expecting to run into those more well known unicorns – Pappy, BTAC, Four Roses Limited Edition, etc – will find themselves every bit as frustrated as they might in their own state. But some good knowledge of stores and a bit of luck mixed with a willingness to search, and you can certainly find some unique bottles.
It was with that mind set that Jen and I stumbled across a unique variation on a brand I had reviewed in February. Then, I tried the Buffalo-Trace produced, Virginia aged John J. Bowman single barrel for the first time, and found it enjoyable. This time, we found a bottle of a Abraham Bowman limited release, aged in Vanilla beans. It certainly seemed unique enough, so we brought the last bottle on the shelf home to try for ourselves.
Dan’s (not quite) Bourbon of the Week: Abraham Bowman Limited Edition Vanilla Bean Infused Whiskey
The Bowman distillery in Virginia has been putting out Limited Edition efforts for a few years now – past releases included a port-wine finish and a double barreled. This year, they released a vanilla bean infused version. The distillery explains this as quite a process – they “chopped up Madagascar vanilla beans in October, 2012″ that then “were added at various levels and tasted every ten weeks to observe how their flavor interacted with the bourbon as it aged. After a little over two years, all of the barrels were married together.”
What resulted was less a”flavored” bourbon and more of an interesting, enhanced version of their whiskey. Luckily for us, although the release was originally only supposed to be available in the Bowman home state of Virginia, we found a bottle in Kentucky, so a few got out.
Was it any good? Jen and I gave it a shot (pun fully intended).
Our take:
Dan: The nose is certainly vanilla-infused, but not nearly as much as i expected. There are serious rye notes here, as well as a nuttiness akin to walnut and pecan, and a soft oak smokiness. That’s not to say there isn’t an abundance of vanilla – it’s definitely there – but it does downplay some of the other sweeter notes I would expect. There’s no sweetness aside from the vanilla at all. But I think it’s well balanced.
Jen: The nose is a bit too Bath and Body works for me. And I don’t have to sit around with my nose in a glass, so who cares if it smells like there should be coordinating lotions?
Dan: The taste is surprising. I don’t get a flood of vanilla – this is no ‘flavored’ whiskey. Cinnamon and spice, orange, with more of that nuttiness in there, along with a touch of bitterness I am going to assign to the vanilla bean. Madagascar vanilla beans are known for being rich and creamy, and while the mouth feel here is thicker than the average whiskey, I wouldn’t call it creamy or buttery. It has a flatness to it – exceptionally smooth, but not particularly sweet.
Jen: But the taste was very nice. I think the vanilla flattens the complexity of the whiskey giving it a simpler taste, much like a flavored whiskey. However, unlike other cherry or honey whiskeys, the vanilla is integrated very naturally and very skillfully into the rest of the flavor profile. So you avoid feeling like a sorority girl while you drink it. It’s a very pleasant drink, and very tasty.
Dan: Good call. It is a bit flat, and very smooth, and has a medium finish that is ALL vanilla. It’s hard to prescribe who this is for, other than the adventurous bourbon enthusiast. It’s not complex enough for the aficionado, not soft enough for the flavored whiskey fan. I bet it would make an awesome mixed drink. But at $70 and up a bottle, that’s a pricey mixer.
We both like it, and it’s fun and different. A nice addition to the collection, but if it makes more than it’s current limited edition run, I probably wouldn’t seek it out again.
When Jen and I travelled down to Louisville last year for the Bourbon Classic, it was our first real foray into the larger bourbon culture, and the largesse of those involved (recap parts one and two here). The blog was only a few months old, and our participation and education about bourbon had come from distillery visits, reading books by Cowdery and Minnick, and personal consumption.
We were blown away by the awesomeness – of the event, of the people, of the culture as a whole. It kicked off a wonderful year where we made frequent trips to Kentucky: touring Four Roses, Wild Turkey, Buffalo Trace (again), Willett; visiting Louisville, Bardstown, Frankfort, Lexington; and eating and drinking at fantastic establishments. For the Bourbon Classic 2015, there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation – we were going again.
This year the Classic was a little later – the end of February (instead of the end of January), and we hoped that would lead to some good weather. On that end we weren’t so lucky, and we drove into a Louisville that had been hit pretty hard by a snow storm earlier in the week. We checked in to the 21c Museum Hotel – who have the most fantastic staff of any place we’ve stayed – and geared up for a wonderful weekend.
The first night of the Classic centers around a cocktail and small plate tasting. Nine bourbon labels are represented – Barton’s 1792, Buffalo Trace, Blanton’s, Four Roses, Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, Michter’s, Wild Turkey and Woodford Reserve. Each brand selected a mixologist and chef to prepare the tastings. We were pleased to see some of our favorite’s from last year returning, including Issac Fox of Volare and our favorite Louisville chef (and all around awesome guy), Levon Wallace of Proof on Main.
The setup is simple: attendees stroll the lobby of the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, where participating brands, chefs and master bartenders are set up against the walls, and sample to their heart’s content.
Setting up the judging area, Bourbon Classic 2015
That’s right – you stroll the rooms, picking up cocktails and chef-prepared small plates as you go. It’s beautiful in it’s simplicity. Personally, I am more of a three-fingers-of-whiskey-neat guy, but these cocktails are so expertly made (and often unique), that I was happy to try many…and many more! Of particular note was the Tallulah (a peanut tasting bourbon drink), a bourbon mimosa and a bourbon/beet juice/dill cocktail. The first two I found fantastic, the last…well, it was certainly inventive. Almost every dish was fantastic.
I avoided two mistakes I made last year as well. First of all, I didn’t try to chronicle every dish and drink. There is just an abundance of great stuff, and trying to write it all down is too much. Secondly, I kept my imbibing to a slower pace, to more fully enjoy the flavors of the evening.
We were happy to run into some friends we had made from the last Bourbon Classic. Greg and Chris from Virginia were in attendance again, and this time they brought more of their fellow alumni with them, making it a real college reunion of sorts. We got to spend some time with Wallace (who is leaving Louisville for Nashville very soon), and I also met Eric Byford, who founded Beard Force Films and was there shooting some final footage for a documentary on Kentucky Bourbon (and it’s impact on the local culture) he has been working on. He showed me a trailer and I am certainly looking forward to it.
Jen and I sampled dish after dish and drink after drink, and if the Bourbon Classic was limited to the Friday night event, it would be plenty enough reason to head down. But the event gets even bigger on day two.
Admittedly, we skipped the first “Bourbon Classic University” session of the day to do a bit of bourbon hunting and get a good brunch (Toast on Market!). The goal was to get good seating in the auditorium for the second session: The Bourbon Masters General Session. The list of distillers that would be present was impressive, and it was MC’ed by Fred Minnick.
The Legends of Bourbon: (left to right) Fred Minnick, Mark Coffman (Alltech), Wes Henderson (Angel’s Envy), Chip Tate (Tate & Co/Balcones), Ken Pierce (1792), Fred Noe (Jim Beam), Harlen Wheatley (Buffalo Trace), Jim Rutledge (Four Roses), Denny Potter (Heaven Hill), Nicole Austin (King’s Country), Joe Magliocco (Michter’s), Jimmy Russell (Wild Turkey).
Last year, the Master’s session was a genial celebration of bourbon’s rise in popularity. Anytime you get many of the more long-time distillers around each other – Russell, Noe, Rutledge and even Wheatley and Henderson – you are going to get funny anecdotes and good natured ribbing. While the mood and spirits stayed high this year, however, Minnick asked a little more probing questions.
Right off the bat, a highlight was the presence of Texan Chip Tate. Last year, Tate seemed to be the talk of the whiskey world, as he fought with investors over the future of the distillery he founded – Balcones. The debate about craft versus investment swirled around the proceedings, while headline grabbing words like ‘gunplay’ and ‘banished’ abounded. Since then Tate has left Balcones and started a new distillery, and this was the first time he spoke to the public.
Settlement agreement in place, there wasn’t a whole lot of detail Tate could go into regarding the saga, and he downplayed the media accounts. That said, he did talk about the difficulties with reconciling the spirit of craftsmanship with the drive of commerce, as well as say that many of the facts that he was accused of by the Balcones board simply were not true. He is looking forward to producing brandy, and after the non-compete agreement expires, whiskey, under his new name of Tate and Co.
A few other edgy topics were discussed. Henderson and Magliocco were asked about ongoing lawsuits against ‘sourced’ whiskeys and label information (Magliocco refused to comment, but Henderson spoke openly about how he finds them frivolous and unethical, equating the lawyers involved as whiskey ambulance chasers).
The popularity of flavored whiskey was talked about. Russell was proud to say that when he pushed Wild Turkey to start offering flavored drinks in the 70s/80s, he was well ahead of his time. Wheatley – who’s Buffalo Trace is owned by Sazerac, makers of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey – pointed out that it was made from Canadian whiskies (not bourbon), and those sales helped him finance Buffalo Trace experimental offerings. Rutledge said Four Roses wouldn’t offer flavored whiskey as long as he is the master distiller, and Magliocco warned that flavoring whiskeys could lead down the path taken by vodka in the last 15 years, where flavors and gimmicks made the spirit itself lose credibility.
Other topics included the “whiskey shortage” (consensus opinion – if you are a distiller, there is none. If you are sourcing, good luck!), new products, and the rise of women in bourbon demographics. This last one was a bit sticky – Nicole Austin, from King’s County Distillery in Brooklyn, New York, was the only woman on the panel, and her…annoyance…with being asked about being a ‘woman’ in whiskey (rather than a person in whiskey) was funny and well received. Further questions got a little more tense, as they discussed marketing whiskeys to women, and it became harder to tell if Austin, whose distillery is the first post-prohibition distillery in Brooklyn, was seriously upset or just sarcastically funny.
Bourbon Icons: Jim Rutledge (Four Roses), Fred Noe (Jim Beam), Freddie Johnson (Buffalo Trace) and Jimmy Russell (Wild Turkey)
Either way, the session ended jovially, and we kept our seats for the second session, a “Bourbon Icons” discussion with Noe, Russell, Rutledge and Freddie Johnson, tour guide extraordinaire of Buffalo Trace, who told of his family’s three-generation deep involvement in the Kentucky Bourbon industry. It was a captivating hour with four true legends – all of whom shared stories, and a few jokes.
Finally, the main event. Tables upon tables of fine bourbon – neat, on the rocks or with a splash of water. Again, there were again small plates as well as a buffet style presentation and, while a bluegrass band played from atop the stairs, the goal was to stroll and sample.
A Bourbon Classic ice sculpture representing the host city, Louisville
…and sample we did. Saturday has more varieties than Friday, with Jefferson’s Reserve, Old Forester, King County, Bulleit, Copper and Kings, Angel’s Envy and others joining the festivities. The distillers were mingling as well – I spoke with Jim Rutledge for quite some time about the difficulties resuscitating the Four Roses name in the Untied States after Seagrams had almost destroyed it. Jen spent some time laughing with Wes Henderson about his irreverent sense of humor (always a point winner with my wife).
Chatting with Jim Rutledge of Four Roses
When Greg and Chris let us know Heaven Hill was pouring its Parker’s Heritage Wheat Whiskey, we made a beeline there, and each enjoyed sips of one of our favorite drinks of 2014. Many more drinks followed, and by the time we retired at 9:30, another fantastic Bourbon Classic was put to bed. Let the countdown to 2016 begin!
Bluegrass music from the top of the stairsOld Forester making a presenceBlanton’s: always a favoriteMichter’s at work
So as I mentioned before, Jen and I had an amazing time at the second annual Bourbon Classic last year (for a recap of 2014, please read Part One and Part Two here), and decided to return to Downtown Louisville for the event again last week. Tickets were purchased, hotel reservations were made, and last Friday, we made the drive down from Detroit.
We arrived midday and, since the Classic doesn’t begin until 7pm, looked to enjoy a little more bourbon culture prior to the main event. We were staying at the 21c Museum Hotel close to the event, so we decided to stay close and check out the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience that opened in 2013 right on Main Street.
No, it’s not real bourbon – the lobby of the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience
The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is part of the official “Kentucky Bourbon Trail,” but it is not a distillery. Rather, it’s a sort of museum dedicated to the history of Evan Williams Bourbon – and whiskey in general – in Louisville.
A tour of the EWBE starts with a short film. Wall sized projection video is a very big part of the EWBE, and it starts with a bit of background about the bourbon namesake, Evan Williams, himself. Williams, as the legend goes, was the first commercial whiskey producer in Kentucky, settling in Louisville and starting there. Like so many of the ‘facts’ around the history of bourbon, the details of William’s life are less than clear, and they are presented in a less than canonical way.
Rather, the show sets the stage for a walk through ‘Louisville past.” The short film explaining the importance of Louisville as a port (and stopping point on the Ohio River) leads to a room showing what the small town of Louisville might have looked like in 1800, when the whiskey business was just starting in earnest.
This is the ‘experience” part alluded to in the title – Evan Williams Bourbon is actually made at Heaven Hill distillery nearby, before being bottled in Bardstown, KY. It is not actually made at this location – the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is more of a beginner’s guide to bourbon.
That said they have created a very small micro distillery, that illustrates the wall-scale, step-by-step “How Bourbon is Made” multi media presentation. Approximately one barrel of whiskey is created there a day, and tour participants are encouraged to sign the guest book to be alerted when the whiskey of their visit day is matured.
The Heaven Hill Experience Micro-Distillery
Subsequent floors (exhibits) show the 1800’s distilling equipment and methods, which serve as a good intro primer to how bourbon is made.
The upper floors focus on Louisville, and Bourbon, through the eras. A nineteenth century saloon is recreated. The third floor showcases the “Bottled-In-Bond” Act and it’s importance at the time. Some Prohibition-era bottles are displayed, along with some recreated era-appropriate storefronts.
Finally, the tour resolves in a tasting of different Heaven Hill products – we had Evan Williams, Evan Williams Single Barrel, and the wheated bourbon Larceny – in the recreation of a 1960’s bar where we learned about the history of Heaven Hill, and by proxy, the Evan Williams brand. We exited through a gift shop, and our time at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience was done.
All in all, it was a pleasant way to spend an hour – the cost wasn’t prohibitive, and it was fun. It certainly wasn’t as in-depth as an actual distillery tour, but in fairness, it didn’t claim to be. What it certainly did do was serve as the perfect primer for the main event – The Bourbon Classic!
A text exchange between myself and friend/bourbon enthusiast Josh McAllister…
It may only be Wednesday, but it feels like it has been a full week already, and there’s plenty more to come! In Michigan, we are steeped in snow and in the midst of another Polar Vortex, but we are not alone – a good swath of the country looks to be frozen along with us.
One place it’s not frozen is Florida, which is good because it’s Spring Training time! My Tigers have a few new faces (Cespedes, Gose, Greene and Simon), a few question marks (the rotation) and some injuries to see through, but few things can bring warmth to a sub-zero winter day like the thought of baseball.
This is also Bourbon Classic week, and I will be going for my second year. We had a wonderful time last year, sampling the wonderful dishes and drinks, and I am looking forward to it again. I just wish it was a tad warmer in Kentucky…
So what to drink when the weather is so very cold? How about trying something Barrel Proof? And that’s exactly what I did, with a glass of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof!
Dan’s Bourbon of the Week: Elijah Craig 12 Year Barrel Proof
The most recent issue of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is it’s sixth offering, although I haven’t been fortunate enough to run across the earlier five myself. It is also the highest proof, at a little over 140. No laughing matter here.
Heaven Hill barrels this direct – no char filtering – and it shows in the color. Even in the bottle, it’s a very deep brown. They have accented that with a dark label, and it is just distinctive enough to set it apart. I have respect for 12 Year Elijah Craig, even if it’s not my first choice (it is, however, my first choice in baking – it’s spiciness adds much to pies, cookies and chocolates!). How would this one fare?
Dan’s Take:
The deep, dark amber-brown color of the pour lets you know right away that this is not a light and breezy pour. But what really amazed me was the nose – a 140 Proof glass should burn, but this most certainly does not. There are many wonderful, unique and often, sweet aromas in this glass. Rich vanilla, caramel and the smell of warm baking, like a gingerbread man iced with maple frosting. Does that sound unique? It surely shocked me – there was no great burn, just the wholly unique smell of sweet baking in a wood fired oven.
The taste brought me back to earth and how. The tip of the tongue held that sweetness of caramel before the proof hit. In baseball, a pitcher might throw a fastball up around the batters shoulders to brush him back a bit, or get him to swing wildly at an eye level pitch – the ‘high heat.’ This drink is the ‘high heat,’ and the first sip admittedly knocked me back for a second. The nose had lulled me to sleep, but 140 proof woke me up fast. I caught my breath and tried again – slower this time. There is a slightly burned sugar taste, brown sugar to be more specific. Wood weighed in heavily, but not overwhelmingly, as the toasted oak blended well with the toffee, maple flavors.
(I handed it to Jen to sample, and she agreed with me on both the taste, and the kicks-like-a-mule effect of drinking too large a sip!)
It has a long finish, and a whole lot of burn. THe wood is probably strongest in the finish, and I’ll admit, it went on a little too long for me. Such a high proof leads to a long finish, and this one left traces of oak, alcohol bite and burnt toast on my palate for minutes.
So how do I rate it? I thoroughly enjoyed it – not unlike a roller coaster that gives you a great start, but maybe by the end you wish was a little bit shorter, this version of the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is a great ride. I look forward to trying other, varied proof versions.
With all of the discussion and debate that swirls around “sourced” whiskey – whiskey produced in a facility not owned and operated by the bottler and/or brand name on the bottle – it can too often go unsaid that there are two different ways a whiskey can be sourced. The first and often more controversial way is when a bottler or brand name purchases mass-produced barrels of an indiscriminate recipe distilled and aged at one of the larger distilleries and puts it out to market with less-than-transparent information. The ‘artisanal‘ bourbon that is really 3 year old sourced Indiana rye, or the fancy bottled and elaborate storied family recipe that is actually excess barrels purchased from an unnamed distributor.
This form of sourcing can be harmless – I’ve enjoyed many sourced and mysterious bourbons. But it can also be a gimmick, and there are many overpriced, underwhelming bourbons on the market made from a basic recipe by a bulk manufacturer and bottled with a ‘family heritage’ story and a hefty price tag. Its unfortunate, and gives sourcing a bad name. Legendary bourbon blogger Chuck Cowdery calls them “Potemkin Distilleries” and on the whole, I concur with his opinion: failure to demand transparency in what we drink only encourages others to be (at the least) disingenuous or (even worse) underhanded.
The other way whiskey can be sourced is much more interesting. This form of sourcing involves a distiller, NDP, or brand having their recipe distilled to their specs at a larger distillery. For example, everyone knows the name Pappy Van Winkle, but Pappy is distilled by Buffalo Trace to spec – the same as John J. Bowman.
John J. Bowman’s distillery (The A. Smith Bowman Distillery) is most interesting, because they are, in fact, a distillery. They are owned by Sazerac, the same as Buffalo Trace (and Blantons and Taylor and Stagg and etc). They are in Virginia, not Kentucky, and have been at the current location in Fredericksburg, since 1988.
What makes their process so different is that they have Buffalo Trace do the first distilling, to make the ‘White Dog’ corn whiskey. Then the distillate alcohol is shipped to Bowman, where they distill it two more times. Then it is barreled, stored and aged. I have even read that the barrels are stored upright, which is again very different.
So how is this Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey?
Dan’s Bourbon of the Week: John J. Bowman Single Barrel
Dan’s Take:
John J. Bowman Single Barrel comes without an age statement, a barrel or bottling number, or any other indicators that would allow me to match this single barrel with any others. Its unfortunate, because there is much about this whiskey I would like to find again! The bottle itself is quite lovely, with its image of Col. John J. Bowman exploring Kentucky on the back. It’s no slouch at 100 Proof. I just wish I knew a few specs.
The nose is fantastic – caramel, vanilla, oak, and a soft corn. It was a sweet nose, and as the soft corn gave way to the oak and wood, I almost couldn’t help but forget it was the dead of winter and think of soft campfire and roasting corn.
The taste was as smooth – a thick texture, with a great sweetness up front, but never overwhelming. Again, vanilla, and a vanilla almost sugary and frosting like on the front of the tongue, while the thick mouthfeel showed off a rich woodiness blended with a slightly tart citrus. Orange and a tiny bit of raisin, before resolving to a smooth finish of cinnamon, walnut and dry oak.
A second sip showed me a bit more of the rye – along with the cinnamon, there was a hint of clove and even a bit more of that raisin, roasting corn taste.
I found the John J. Bowman Single Barrel to be outstanding – a wonderful sipping bourbon, and a nice addition to the regular rotation. Most impressive. I can see why it’s competition scores have seemed to rise ever year.
The past few years, I have largely sat out the fall release extravaganza in the bourbon/whiskey world. Following them online can be great fun, but knowing so few would make it to Michigan precluded me from searching for them. Outside of the obvious Pappy Van Winkle and Buffalo Trace Antique Collection releases being hard to find, rarely have I seen an Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, a Parker’s Heritage or a Elijah Craig 21-22-23 on shelves here in the great Mitten state.
THis year was different, both in selection and my personal hunt. I decided to go after more of this year’s fall releases, and was pleased to find that many more were coming to Michigan, albeit in very very small numbers. And earlier this month, when the Bourbonr Blog posted their poll winners for the best of the 2014 Fall releases, I was proud to say I was able to hunt down half of them, including 5 of the top 10.
So now it’s time to start sampling them, and I opened with an absolute doozy – the 8th Edition of Heaven Hill’s Parker’s Heritage, a 13 year old Wheat Whiskey. And in a word, wow.
Dan’s (not quite) Bourbon of the Week: Parker’s Heritage 8th Edition – Wheat Whiskey (13 Years Aged)
The Parker’s Heritage label was started by Heaven Hill in 2007 to pay tribute to their Master Distiller Parker Beam. Parker Beam (and yes, he is of the Jim Beam family) has been with Heaven Hill since 1960, and been the Master Distiller there since 1975.
The first Parker’s Heritage, in 2007, was an 11-year old cask strength. Every fall since then, Heaven Hill has issued another limited edition, small bottling of a unique whiskey to pay tribute to Parker.
This year, it is a 13-year old Wheat Whiskey, made from the initial barrels of Bernheim Wheat Whiskey. Bernheim is bottled at 7 years old, so this years P.H. has an extra six years in the barrel – and these barrels were on the top floors of Heaven Hill Rickhouse Y. It has a minimum of 51% soft winter wheat in the mashbill, and to top that off, it was bottled at cask strength and without cold filtering. This years Parker’s Heritage is the closest thing you can get to drinking it straight from the barrel. But how was it?
Dan’s Take:
The nose jumped out at me with a real serious burn. And why not – at 127.4 proof, it had better! I let it sit for a minute and tried again, but it was still hot and not giving away anything. A little water and things were looking up. There was a deep honey and caramel, and a tang of what I would describe as citrus. The wood notes were muted, but I got a hint of baking spices and even a fresh biscuit-like smell.
The taste was outstanding. The first sip was heavy in the oak and baking spices I would expect from, well, a cask strength 13-year old wheat whiskey. But unbelievably smooth. The wood taste wasn’t tannic either – there wasn’t a bitterness, just a smooth woodiness and spice. The sweeter tastes – vanilla, a touch of toffee candy – swirled around as the thick pour subsided into a soft but lingering finish full of cinnamon and clove, and again a biscuity goodness.
The first taste was so good, in fact, that I dove directly into another – and again, it was fantastic. To have such a sweet nose, a complex taste full of character but not overpowering with bitter or tannins, and a medium, smooth finish that ends dry like coconut and oak, but not harsh in any way.
The Parker’s Heritage 8th Edition is one of my favorite whiskies of all time. Perfectly blended and delivered. It just makes me all that more sad that it will not be available again. Well done, Heaven Hill.
Dan’s Rating: 9.5
Master Distiller Parker Beam was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig Disease, several years back. In addition to a portion of Parker’s Heritage sales going to ALS research, you can visit his ALS Promise Fund page here, and support a great cause for a legendary man.
Rough week here in the “D,” losing Max Scherzer to the Washington Nationals. It’s bad enough they fleeced us on the Doug Fister deal a year ago, now they are just getting greedy. I’m especially sad to see him go, because aside from being a Cy Young Award pitcher, he was a fellow Mizzou guy. Oh well, sounds like the perfect excuse to go and drink the troubles away.
And there are increasingly more and more places to partake of the finer things (namely whiskey) as the “bourbon boom” continues. Here in Detroit, we have become home to several start-up distilleries. In the next couple weeks, I’ll discuss them – and their corresponding tasting rooms – at greater length. This week, I ventured to one of the hipper new distilleries – the Detroit City Distillery.
The Detroit City Distillery opened last year in Detroit’s historic Eastern Market. Only the second licensed distillery to open in Detroit in 80 years (the first was Two James, which we will discuss soon), it was the brain child of a group of close friends with a passion for booze and urban revitalization.
They began by distilling their own vodka and whiskey, as well as preparing for gin, which will be out ‘soon.’ But what about bourbon?
Bourbon is one of the trickier offerings for any start-up distillery. There are laws and rules regulation how bourbon has to be prepared, aged and bottled. I won’t break them all down here (a good explanation can be found here), but the hardest one is the aging. For a bourbon to be called “straight bourbon,” it has to have spent at least two years in the barrel. If it’s younger than four years, it must have an age statement on the bottle. So to make bourbon, a new distillery has to sink the money into storage, and barrels, grains and equipment and…wait.
There are, of course, ways around this. The most popular way is to “source” bourbon, buying from another (often mass quantity produced) distiller and bottle/label it with the new brand name. Many of the newer distilleries in Michigan are doing this, and Detroit City Distillery is too – sort of.
For their Two-Faced Bourbon, DCD is taking a five year old sourced bourbon and blending it with their own very young (6 month old) house made bourbon, in a 51%-49% mix – hence the name “Two Faced.” Since their bourbon is locally sourced (including corn from St. Clair County here in Michigan), it is truly reflective of their own recipe (which is high in rye), but has some of the age of an older bourbon.
DCD is very open about this process, unlike other distilleries that are sourcing and a little less forthcoming about it. And stopping into their speakeasy style tasting room in Eastern Market, one needs only look at their artisan cocktail list to see they are trying to do something both retro and inventive, with a great deal of respect paid to the craftsmanship.
The entrance to the Detroit City Distillery
With my good friend Eric Oliver joining me, we sat down at the bar to try the bourbon, as well as a few other drinks. The long bar is impressive – it is made of reclaimed wood from another Detroit building – and the soft lighting and exposed beams set a nice ambiance. Glasses were poured, toasts were made, bourbon was consumed.
Dan’s Bourbon of the Week: Detroit City Distillery Two-Faced Bourbon
Dan’s take:
Right from the nose, this dog has some bite. While only 94 proof, the first scent was hot, almost like a high-proof rye would be. Given a minute, the heat started to part and opened to an unsurprising corn and spice. There were hints of almond and a touch of toffee, but the prevailing smell was corn.
The taste was softer than I expected. Fiery on the front, the bourbon has those high-rye pepper notes, with a touch of cinnamon and allspice, but the younger corn seemed to temper it well. Nutmeg and a slight bitter – almost coffee – were present. It had a thin mouth feel, almost watery, but that works to it’s advantage – thicker would cause the spice to linger too long. There was a soft sweetness as well, part corn and part caramel.
The finish was hot but not lingering. There was a pepper to the finish, and it was the first time I detected a touch of oak. Most of all, there was that ever-present corn, soft and subtle.
The recipe for Detroit City Distillery Two-Faced Bourbon seems good – it was not overly simple, and blended nicely with the older sourced bourbon. As a sipping whiskey, it could use more aging to add complexity and depth. As a main ingredient in some of the totally unique cocktails they are preparing at their tasting room, it works very very nicely.
Detroit City Distillery Two-Faced Bourbon is not yet available at distributors, but will be soon. The price point – like most micro-distillers – is still on the higher side ($50 for 750mL), but there is something to be said for buying local now, isn’t there.
First of all…Happy New Year! Hopefully you had a wonderful holiday season, full of merriment, joy and bourbon. I most certainly did, so much so that I’m just now saying Happy New Year on the 12th of January! I would be lying if I didn’t admit that part of the delay in posting a blog was due to football – between my Missouri Tigers winning a New Years Day bowl and my beloved Detroit Lions losing a game to the Dallas Referees Cowboys, I’ve been wrapped up in football fever.
One of the best things about being emotionally invested in football this time of year is gathering with friends and coping with the nervousness of a tight game by sampling a new whiskey or two. And that is exactly what we did as time ran down on the Lions-Cowboys. We opened a bottle of Angel’s Envy Rye and tried something new.
I first had Angel’s Envy Rye last year at the Bourbon Classic. I admit, by the time I sampled it, I had partaken of a few other whiskies and my palate wasn’t quite as clean as I’d like for a review. But even then, I knew there was something very different about this pour. It took a little longer for the A.E. Rye to make it to Michigan, so in May I purchased a bottle while in Maryland to have for myself. This seemed the perfect opportunity to try it.
Dan’s (not quite) Bourbon of the Week: Angel’s Envy Rye
Few bourbons have grown on me like Angel’s Envy has. When I first reviewed it last year, I thought it remarkably smooth and clean – and a little dull. And I still think that it is one of the less complex bourbons I’ve had, in that price range anyway. But given the choice between a glass of Angel’s Envy and most other readily available bourbons, I have found I will choose the Angel’s Envy consistently. That has even included Kentucky Derby day! So what of this Rye?
I remember trying it at the Bourbon Classic and thinking “this is like candy!” And why not – Angel’s Envy Rye is finished for “up to 18 months” in Plantation XO Rum casks. So they take a rye whiskey, and then age it for a year and a half in rum casks before bottling it at 100 proof. Sound interesting? It certainly tastes interesting.
Dan’s Take:
Angel’s Envy Rye comes in the same style attractive bottle as its sister. It’s a little pricier ($60-80), and a little harder to find. I have read from others that it is an MGP/LDI sourced rye, so it shares characteristics with Bulleit. And let’s skip to the chase – if you like your rye whiskies tough, spicy and hot, this isn’t the one for you. But if you like something with some sweetness, read on.
This rye has a nose that’s as exotic as the trip these barrels have seen. There is little of the typical whiskey bite – rather, a sweet bouquet of orange peel, brown sugar, coconut and pear melt with a soft rye scent of clove, cinnamon and allspice. This smells sugary, much more like a rum than a whiskey, and it’s light and pleasant.
The taste has a lot going on. It has a thickness to it, creamy and buttery but with many of those same rum characteristics. Honey and cinnamon, with a touch that could even be pineapple. The toasted oak is very light, and the rye doesn’t fully blossom until the back of the palate. The higher proof also shows through, and it does have a bit of a bite in the back end (if only because it started so sweet). Make no mistake, it tastes like whiskey, not rum, but the typical pepper of rye is far offset by the sweetness that envelopes.
The finish is, admittedly, a bit confusing. The rye notes are there, with their spice and slight burn, but there is the thickness of rum as well. The sweetness, so nice in the sip, is a bit muddled in the finish.
I like sweet drinks, and I like mellower whiskies, so I rate this one with a pretty big caveat – this is not your grandfather’s rye. It may share a recipe with Bulleit or Dickel, but the finishing makes it wholly unique. This is a great whiskey for a summer night, I believe (or a winter night you want to pretend). As a taste profile, it might even be closer to the glut of “flavored” whiskeys on the market – but it has a few things none of them seem to: it’s made of a solid product to start, and the flavor is much more natural than any maple or honey additive found in one of those products. So my rating is for someone who, like me, has a sweet tooth now and again.
Baseball and Bourbon 