Bourbon Review: Abraham Bowman Double Barrel Bourbon

The Sazerac-owned A. Smith Bowman Distillery has released a number of finished whiskies, which have ranged from mediocre to very good. I really enjoyed the port finished bourbon they did a while back, though I did not much care for the gingerbread stout beer cask finish they did last fall. The latest "limited edition" release (and doesn't it feel like everything is a limited edition these days?) is a "Double Barrel" bourbon. For this one, they took six year old bourbon and re-barrelled in in more new charred oak barrels for an additional 11 months. Although the total barrel time is just over seven years, you would expect the re-barreling to impart a lot more wood. Let's see.

Price: $79 (which is a bit over MSRP)

Proof: 50% ABV (100 proof)

Age: 7 years, 2 months

Mashbill: Reportedly Buffalo Trace Mashbill No. 2 (high rye)

Color:  Sweet Tea

Nose: Pronounced wood but balanced by toasted marshmallow, maple syrup, and 'Nilla wafers. There is a lot of alcohol on the nose, even after considerable air time.

Palate:  Dry and oak forward, but there is some sweetness to help keep the wood in check. The toasted marshmallow is in the background along with clove and white pepper. 

Finish: Medium length, dry finish that leaves the clove and pepper on the tongue.

Overall:  B

This is a nice enough bourbon, though a bit dry for my taste. It is not an oak bomb, to be sure, but there are several bourbons for half the price that I would prefer. I suppose that in today's market, all you have to do is call something a "limited edition" or "special release" and you can charge $70+ for it. Oh well, I guess I can't blame them when people like me buy these whiskies before they even hit the shelves.

Bourbon Review: Barterhouse and Old Blowhard

Capitalizing on the global frenzy for extra-aged bourbon, whiskey juggernaut Diageo recently began releasing products under a fictitious moniker called the Orphan Barrel Whiskey Distilling Co. The idea with these releases is that Diageo will put out whiskies from its many operating and shuttered distilleries under different labels within the Orphan Barrel series. Among others, the company owns the famous Stitzel-Weller distillery, which is now shuttered but houses a ton of aging product, as well as the George Dickel distillery in Tennessee. 

The first two releases in the Orphan Barrel series are the 20 year old Barterhouse and the 26 year old Old Blowhard, both of which are Kentucky straight bourbons. They both have the same mashbill - 86% corn, 6% rye, 8% barley - which means they were probably destined originally for the Berheim brands Old Charter or I.W. Harper.

The presentation on these bourbons is really nice. The Barterhouse bottle features a sly fox that has apparently just made a deal. Old Blowhard has a nautical themed label with a whale spouting water. I will say that in today's environment of ever-climbing prices, both of these whiskies are very reasonably priced for their ages.

Now, to the important stuff.

Barterhouse

Price: $75
Proof: 45.1% (90.2 proof)
Age:  20 years
Mashbill: 86% corn, 6% rye, 8% barley
Color: Deep Amber

Nose: Pleasantly toasted grain with milk chocolate and nuts (like Derby pie). 
Palate: The burnt edges of a brownie pan.  The chocolate sweetness is balanced out by just the right amount of oak.  I would not have guessed this was 20 years old.
Finish: Sweet and pleasant fading into soft, dry oak.

Overall: B+

Old Blowhard

Price: $150

Proof: 45.35% (90.7 proof)

Age: 26 years

Mashbill: 86% corn, 6% rye, 8% barley

Color: Copper

Nose: The age is apparent right off the bat. Loads of polished wood with faint hints of vanilla and cinnamon spice.

Palate: Very creamy. Heath bar and vanilla custard quickly gives way to dry pencil shavings.

Finish: Long and warming but dominated by bitter wood.

Overall: C

The Barterhouse wins in a landslide. Old Blowhard has the better mouthfeel of the two but is much too woody. Barterhouse, while light, is a nicely balanced whiskey.  It isn't overly complex by any means, but for half the price, I'd buy two of these before springing for the Old Blowhard. 

Tasting 3 Versions of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof

Heaven Hill released Elijah Craig Barrel Proof last year, which was lauded by pretty much everyone, even ordinarily tough critics like Sku. There have now been three retail versions of this barrel strength and non-chill-filtered bourbon, and nearly everyone agrees that the first batch (134.2 Proof) has been the best of the three. I've already been through one of those and recently cracked my second.

Prior to the retail release last year, I acquired two other rarer versions of barrel proof Elijah Craig. The first is a 127.6 proof single barrel bottle I picked up at the distillery for a hefty price (nearly twice that of the retail release). The second was part of of a barrel purchase I was involved in with the Georgia Bourbon Society. That barrel, which was 15 years old at the time it was selected, was dubbed the "Amnesia Barrel" because it took so long for Heaven Hill to bottle it that we nearly forgot about it. At bottling, the Amnesia Barrel was a month shy of 16 years old, making it truly one of a kind. (Heaven Hill barely let us do this, and I'd be surprised if anyone else has a barrel proof Elijah Craig private selection, much less one this old.)

The first batch of the ECBP has long since been drunk or stashed away for safe keeping, and the other two single barrels are not available for purchase. That makes these reviews generally worthless to 99.9% of the folks that might read this. Take heart, though, because Heaven Hill plans to release barrel proof Elijah Craig periodically, which will likely have a good bit in common with these bourbons. 

Retail Bottling (Batch 1)

Price: $40
Proof: 67.1% ABV (134.2 Proof)

Age: 12 Years
Color: Very Dark Brown (like Coca-Cola)

Nose: Sweet candies (think, Smarties) that I absolutely love in bourbon and old polished oak in perfect balance.
Palate: Loads of oak at full strength, but it is balanced by some brown sugar sweetness and red hot candies. With water, the oak subsides some and some caramel and vanilla come out to join the red hots. 
Finish: A full 40 seconds after a small full strength sip, the sweetness is still on my tongue. The finish becomes a bit shorter with water. 

Overall: A- 

Heaven Hill Gift Shop Barrel Strength

Single Barrel

Price: $75 (that is not a typo)
Proof: 63.8% ABV (127.6 Proof)

Age: 12 Years
Color: Dark Amber

Nose: Really nice. Cigar box wood with more candy sweetness (Sweet Tarts this time) and vanilla.
Palate: Black cherries and vanilla and spicy cinnamon at full strength. Water brings out more candy sweetness. 
Finish: Moderate in length and woodier and less sweet than the nose and palate would suggest. Water makes the finish longer and sweeter with a touch of lingering bitterness from the wood and a bit of classic Heaven Hill mintiness I don't get from the other two.

Overall: B+

Georgia Bourbon Society 

"Amnesia Barrel"

Price: $39 
Proof: 64% ABV (128 Proof)

Age: 15 years, 11 months
Color: Deep Amber (Grade B Maple Syrup)

Nose: Kiln dried wood, leather, and tobacco with subtle butterscotch and cherry cough drops. 
Palate: The wood is turned up to 11 on this one. At full strength, the tannic oak is at the forefront with some cherry and cinnamon underneath. With water, the wood subsides in a major way, and a touch of vanilla and caramel come through.
Finish: Very, very long and warm at full strength with lingering bitterness from the wood. With water, the finish becomes a bit more medicinal.

Overall: C+

Conclusions

Tasting these side by side was an eye opening experience, which made me really appreciate retail Batch 1 in a way I had not previously. The amount of oak in Batch 1 would ordinarily overpower a whiskey, but Heaven Hill's blenders managed to balance that woodiness with incredible candy sweetness. The gift shop single barrel had a lot of those same candy flavors, but lacked the depth, punch and finish that the retail bottle had. As for the Amnesia Barrel, I've really enjoyed this whiskey to date, but it falls way short head to head with the other two. This is a great example of older not always being better. If only Heaven Hill had bottled it closer to 15 years! 

Whiskey Review: Wild Turkey American Spirit

Wild Turkey American Spirit is a limited edition 15 year old bottled-in-bond bourbon released in 2007. There were 12,000 bottles released, and I found one of these in the wild a couple years back at the original $100 price tag. Generally, I am skeptical of Wild Turkey's limited releases, most of which have been fair at best. This one, however, was widely regarded as one of the best (the Tribute being the other), and I keep hoping to taste something from Wild Turkey that comes anywhere close to the 1980s 12 year old split label bottling I've had. My brother and I opened this bottle last Thanksgiving, and I haven't revisited it since. Before I finish it, here is the review for posterity's sake.

Price: $100(ish)

Proof: 50% ABV (100 Proof)

Age: 15 Years

Mashbill: 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% barley.

Color: Dark amber

Nose: Classic bourbon profile. Maple, roasted pecans, stewed cherries, leather, and vanilla . A pleasant mustiness like the smell of old library books.

Palate: Lovely oily quality. Rich corn sweetness at the front with toffee pudding and cinnamon spice, which gives way to loads of dry oak and pepper.

Finish: Dry and warm. Although the finish is long, there is very little sweetness that lingers. A little spearmint at the end.

Overall: B+

American Spirit is not overly complex, but it is a really good sipper. There isn't quite enough sweetness to match the wood, but until Wild Turkey decides to quit screwing around and release a 12 year old bourbon domestically, this is about as good of a Wild Turkey as you'll find. Sadly, that says a lot about the quality of the whiskey Wild Turkey is putting out these days.

Irish Whiskey Showdown: Powers John's Lane vs. Redbreast Cask Strength

Today we compare two of the most well received Irish whiskies available in the states, Powers John's Lane and Redbreast 12 Cask Strength. Both are 12 year old single (pure) pot still whiskies made by Irish Distillers at the Midleton Distillery. Both are matured in a combination of ex-bourbon barrels and Oloroso sherry casks. Both are non chill filtered. With all of these similarities, I was really interested to taste them side by side.

First, a little history. Irish Distillers has a great comeback story. By the late 1960s, demand for Irish whiskey was nearly non-existent. In order to survive, the John Jameson & Son, Powers & Sons, and the Cork Distillery Co. merged in 1966 to create Irish Distillers. The old distilleries were closed and operations were consolidated a facility in Midleton (Cork County), where the New Midleton Distillery was built in 1975. The company was purchased by Pernot-Ricard in 1988. Today, Irish whiskey is the fastest growing whiskey category in the U.S. market, and Midleton produces many of the most highly regarded whiskies within that category, including Redbreast, Powers, and the Green and Yellow Spots. (Yellow Spot is not yet available in the U.S.)

The Redbreast Cask Strength and the Powers John's Lane are single pot still (f/k/a pure pot still) whiskies, meaning they are distilled from a combination of malted and unmalted barley (single malt scotch uses only malted barley) and in a copper pot still rather than a column still. The pot still is known for imparting round and creamy quality that I really enjoy.

Okay, enough history. Let's taste 'em.

Whiskey Review: Rittenhouse Rye Bottled in Bond (DSP-KY-1)

So why review a whiskey that everyone already knows and loves? Because the Rittenhouse in stores now is completely different whiskey than the stuff that was on shelves a few months ago. After Brad Kaplan of Thirsty South (a great blog) joked Monday night on Twitter about the whiskey-geekiness of comparing the new DSP-1 Ritt to the old DSP-354 stuff, I figured I owed it to my inner geek to take a closer look.

A little background: Rittenhouse is a Heaven Hill brand that was distilled at the old Heaven Hill Distillery (DSP-KY-31) until November 1996 when the place was destroyed by fire. After the fire, the company bought and relocated to the old Bernheim Distillery (DSP-KY-1) but did not produce any rye there until 2008, which is what is now hitting the shelves. The Ritt we've been buying for the last several years was distilled for Heaven Hill at Brown-Forman's Early Times facility (DSP-KY-354).

So, what's the difference? Potentially a lot. It is true that the Brown-Forman and Heaven Hill whiskies were both distilled with the same mashbill, yeast, and under the same conditions. Whiskey is a strange thing, though. Each distillery has its own distinct characteristics, and the differences can be quite noticeable. See, e.g., Buffalo Trace distilled Pappy Van Winkle.

So, how is the new stuff?

Whiskey Wednesday: Berkshire Mountain Distillers Terrapin Cask Finished Bourbon

Following up on Monday's post about craft whiskey, today's review is of the Berkshire Mountain Distillers Cask Finished Bourbon. BMD partnered with craft breweries around the country to create unique versions of their bourbon aged in recently emptied beer barrels. This particular 600 bottle Georgia-only release is a collaboration with Athens, Georgia brewery Terrapin Beer Co. The bourbon was finished in barrels that previously held Terrapin's Barrel-Aged Monk's Revenge, a hopped Belgian triple aged in Cabernet barrels. So to recap, this is bourbon that was finished in a beer barrel that used to hold wine.

Read my review after the jump.