Updated Statement of Ethics

As discussed last week, the time has come to figure out a solution to the fact that whiskey has gotten expensive enough that I can't keep going the way I have been. I received a lot of lovely notes both in the comments and via other means. The gist of most of them was that a big majority of you do not have an objection to reviewers accepting review samples if the trust is there and that I have sufficiently built up that trust already. 

Other comments said they would be ok with ads, the issue for me is that ads are ugly and more importantly, they don't pay very well. I think I am already making more from my patrons than I would via ads. I love my patrons. I hope more of you will consider signing up!* The more of you there are, the more I often I will create the "bonus content" that they get.

To that end I've made a couple changes to the Statement of Ethics for the site. The changes are in bold-italic type below. I still plan to buy most of what I review, but will no longer feel that I shouldn't take samples if offered. I will still disclose that acceptance. Both because it is the right thing to do and because I don't want to get fined by the FTC. I love going on distillery tours and will pay for those that I go on. If however I see a good article coming out of it, I have no qualms setting up a private visit.

That's it. I still believe in transparency. I will still end up buying most of what I review, but since the policy has changed, I thought it would be a good idea to call out the changes.

This is document will be kept up to date. Things will be added to as things come up. Edits will be made if circumstances change.

  1. I do not accept advertising. 
  2. I will not allow a comment that disparages women, men, minority groups, or homosexuals (or anyone else for that matter). I will not allow xenophobic or racist comments on the site.
  3. I try to buy a lot of what I review, but will accept review samples.
  4. If I do accept a review sample, I will disclose it at the beginning of the article.
  5. When I visit a distillery or whiskey event, I pay for my ticket and take the same tours everyone else can. If this is ever not the case, such as a Media Event or a “Sneak Peak,” I will disclose that fact at the beginning of the article. This does not mean I won't set up a private tour/visit if the distillery agrees and it will make a good article.
  6. There are spirits industry people who I consider friends. If I ever review one of their products, I will disclose that fact at the beginning of the article. 
  7. Beyond the sample policy above, I do not accept trips, gifts, or other compensation in return for posts or reviews.
  8. Though I try very hard to get my facts straight, errors happen. If I make a factual error in an article, I will happily update it if notified and will make note of the change at the end of the article.
  9. In return for the above, I ask that you respect the license that the reviews/posts/images were released under. I release all works on this site under a creative commons license unless otherwise noted. This means you are basically free to do whatever you want with them provided you do two things: use it for non-commercial purposes and give credit back to the site/leave on the watermark. Commercial uses are anything that make money such as a blog that accepts advertising or a presentation that people pay to attend, etc. If you want to use it for purposes outside the license, just send me an email and we'll work something out. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

If you have any questions, click the contact icons in the main navigation to get a hold of me via email or your favorite social medium.

*At the time of this post I was running a campaign on Patreon.com, that campaign has since been disabled. BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

My Wandering Eye: Mount Gay Barbados Rum: Black Barrel

As we all know, Bourbon prices are creeping up. So much so that even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. There was a time when Cognac in a snifter was visual shorthand for rich luxury. But these days a $50 750 ml bottle of Cognac or Armagnac doesn’t sound outrageous next to a $50 Old Forester 1870 or a $50 375 mL of the Jim Beam Harvest collection. As a response to this, my eye has started wandering down other aisles of the liquor store just to see what I thought price had kept me from checking out.

When my eye first wandered down the rum aisle, I found an inexpensive rum that sadly tasted like an inexpensive rum. After checking in with a friend of mine who is a rum aficionado with what I should be looking at for a rum that might appeal to a bourbon drinker he quickly told me about the Mount Gay Black Barrel. 

By a strange coincidence my wife, who was unaware of the previously mentioned conversation, was looking for a gift for me. She was talking with one of the employees at my local liquor store. The guy is pretty knowledgable and so she asked him what she should pick up for a bourbon drinker who was looking to branch out. He recommended the Mount Gay Black Barrel and so she bought it.

Well that was enough for me. The question was asked twice, to two very different people, and the answer was the same both times. I had to try it and I had to share the findings. 

Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum

Purchase Info: ~$35 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 43% ABV, Bottle number: AZ 86491

Nose: Molasses, caramel, wood and hints of banana

Mouth: This tastes like a soft, warm ginger/molasses cookie in a glass. Ginger spice, molasses, sweetness and yum.

Finish: Continues the mouth. Fades gently.

 smile since I really like this

Thoughts: This is really tasty. I wouldn’t call it a bourbon replacement—if I want a bourbon I won’t reach for this—but if I’m not feeling particularly specific on what I’m looking for then this will certainly be in the conversation. It tastes like one of my favorite cookies without being too sweet about it. Big fan of this one.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

My Wandering Eye: Korbel 12, a Twelve-Year Old California Brandy

Quite a while ago, a friend of mine gave me an unmarked sample and asked my wife and I to try it and report back. Assuming it was a whiskey sample, we went ahead and tried it, found we really liked it and told him so. When we asked him what kind of whiskey it was, he got a smirk on his face and told us that it wasn’t whiskey, it was brandy. In fact, it was an expression from a brandy producer that I had been vocally dismissive of. 

My father, like most of his fellow residents of Wisconsin, loves Korbel brandy. At one point it seems, fully one third of the bottles of Korbel produced ended up in the state (only a case or so of those going to my father’s place). And being the whiskey snob I was, I couldn’t understand why one would drink brandy when they had the opportunity to drink whiskey. Especially the regular expression that was usual in my father’s house.

So when my friend told me the mystery sample was a 12 year old expression from Korbel, I was pretty shocked. I mean, I had no idea that such a thing was produced. Which goes to show the value of a blind tasting. All my preconceived notions of what is good and what isn’t fell away and only the liquid was left. And my, what a liquid it was.

When we started discussing the My Wandering Eye… series, my friend mentioned that the store he got it from still had a few bottles. Needless to say, I ran up the next day and bought one. 

In case you’re new to the series, let me recap. Bourbon prices are creeping up. So much so that even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. A $50 750 ml bottle of Cognac or Armagnac doesn’t sound outrageous next to a $50 Old Forester 1870 or a $50 375 mL of the Jim Beam Harvest collection. As a response to this, my eye has started wandering down other aisles of the liquor store.

Korbel 12 Year Old California Brandy

Purchase info: ~$40 for a 750mL bottle, Top Valu Liquor, Columbia Heights, MN.

Details: 12 years old, 40% ABV

Nose: Fruity and floral. Apples, brown sugar and oak. It reminds me of a richer and fuller Woodford Reserve nose.

Mouth: Lively tingle on the tongue and floral. Brown sugar, figs, allspice and oak.

Finish: Warm and of medium length with lingering sweet figs.

Thoughts: Let’s just put it this way. This was the first non-whiskey to get a home on my American Whiskey shelf. That is the shelf I go to the most and this deserved a place where I would reach for it often. It is rich, sweet and hits all the same notes I look for in a bourbon. 

Even at only 80 proof, it has enough heat and flavor to impress while drinking neat. Something most whiskeys can’t do these days. I’d say that at right around $40, it is as good or better than many bourbons of comparable price. This is what I was hoping for when I started this series.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

My Wandering Eye: Pyrat XO Reserve Rum

I hate winter. I make no secret of this. And today we are in the middle of receiving our first big snowstorm of the year. Which, if forced to be honest about it, is quite nice because it is actually really late for a first major snowfall of the year.

Because I’ve been a fan of rum drinks for most of my drinking life, one of the traditions I have is to drink rum drinks on the night of a large snow storm. It’s my way of giving the storm the middle finger and enjoying something that reminds me a little more of summer. It is only fitting that tonight My Wandering Eye wanders over to rum. 

As I discussed in the intro to this series, regular bourbon prices are creeping up. Limited editions are selling at retail for insane prices. And I’m getting a bit sick of it. My eye is wandering. I need to find things that can get me excited about spirits and not break the bank.

This was the first rum I bought for this series. I had an entire list of things that I had tried before, liked and wanted to review. But as often happens when I am in the liquor store, a sale caught my eye. I had a bottle in my hand (I’ll save which for when I actually pick it up) when I saw a stack of Pyrat XO Reserve Rum at the end cap. It was on sale for $19.99 down from $33.99. Figuring that was a decent deal, I put down the bottle in my hands to save a little money. After all wanting to save money was one of the reasons my eye started wandering in the first place.

From what I can tell online, Pyrat XO Reserve Rum is a blend of about 9 different rums, sourced from around the Caribbean, ranging from as young as two years old to as old as 15. Maybe. No one is saying for sure. After blending, they are aged further and then hand bottled in Guyana. 

Pyrat XO Reserve Rum

Purchase Info: Purchased on sale at Blue Max in Burnsville, MN for $19.99 for a 750 mL bottle. 

Details: Bottled in Guyana. Bottle # 3535790. 40% ABV

Nose: Sweet. Molasses and ginger with a warm earthy note underneath.

Mouth: Very sweet. Cola, citrus, mint and baking spices. 

Finish: Short and sweet with lingering cola and mint. 

A Smile because I like this just fine.

Thoughts: Very tasty. This is a little too sweet for me to drink neat, but I find I like it just fine with a splash of bitters and a little ice. Though it isn’t a whiskey replacement, it does just fine as an ingredient in even a simple cocktail.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

My Wandering Eye: Gamle Ode Holiday Aquavit on Rye

Disclaimer: I consider Mike McCarron of Gamle Ode to be my friend and in my statement of ethics I promised to disclose when I am reviewing one of my friend’s products and to only review them when it was truly something I really liked. This is one of those times. He also keeps me well supplied with Aquavit so I should also note that this bottle was free.

As I discussed in the intro to this series, bourbon prices are creeping up. Limited editions are selling at retail for insane prices. And I’m getting a bit sick of it. My eye is wandering. I need to find things that I can get me excited about spirits and not break the bank. So when my friend Mike McCarron of Gamle Ode spirits invited me to have a drink with him and try his new Limited Edition Aquavit, I knew I needed to take a look.

Holiday on Rye is a version of his normal Holiday Aquavit but aged for 18 months in used rye whiskey barrels instead of his usual used wine barrels. It was also bottled with a nice proof bump clocking in at 50.24% ABV as opposed to the 42% of the original. Holiday Aquavit normally sells for $28-$30. Here in the Twin Cities Limited Edition Holiday on Rye is retailing for the very non-insane price of $30-$35.

So you may be asking yourself, “What is aquavit anyway?” That is a good question and before I jump straight into my review I should probably answer that for you. Like gin, aquavit is neutral spirit infused with herbal flavors. In the case of gin, the base flavor is juniper berries. In aquavit’s case it is caraway. And like gin, you are allowed to use more than just the base flavor. In the case of Holiday Aquavit and Holiday on Rye, caraway is joined by dill, juniper, orange peels, mint and allspice. Unlike a sweet and spicy bourbon, this is a savory drink.

Gamle Ode Holiday Aquavit on Rye Whiskey Barrels

Purchase info: This bottle was kindly given to me by the owner of Gamle Ode. In the Twin cities, I’m seeing it online in the $30-$35 range for a 750 mL.

Details: Bottle 425 of 426, 50.24% ABV. 

Nose: Mint, dill, juniper and citrus.

Mouth: Delicate on entry with a sweet spice that sneaks up on you as it moves back. Bright and energetic. 

Finish: Lingering flavors of mint, dill and citrus. 

A smile because I like this.

Thoughts: I like this a lot. Yes, it is produced by a friend of mine, but I can easily say that it is worth a look if you are in a market where it is sold. It is bright and energetic on the palate, probably from 18 months spent in rye whiskey barrels, and the infused flavors are amazingly well integrated. This is a savory treat for lovers of unique flavors.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

My Wandering Eye

Gather round, young fellers and listen to Old Man Arok tell a story of how it used to be back in my day…

I bought my first bottle of Willet Single Barrel for around $40. It was a six year old and was quite tasty. The last one I bought was about $120 and was eight years old. I bought my first bottle of Four Roses Mariage for roughly $80, I bought my most recent Four Roses Limited Small Batch for, coincidentally, also around $120. I bought my last two bottles of Elijah Craig 18 year old for $45 each. So far, I’ve refused to pay the $129 that Total Wine wants for it right now. I’ve bought two bottles of and even recommended a bottle of Wild Turkey that I paid $180 for at the distillery and $130 in a store. 

I remember, not too long ago, when I would have to think about if I really wanted to spend $40 on a bottle of bourbon. I would wonder if it was really worth that much. I remember thinking to myself “wow! an $85 bottle of bourbon, I wonder what that tastes like?” (In fact I tweeted about it in April of ’08 if anyone has followed me that long.) Today, the average price of just the open bourbons on my shelf is around $64. Thank goodness for Heaven Hill and their range of bonded bourbons to pull that average down or it would be much higher.

And yes, this might be an old man yelling at a cloud, but to me this is a problem. I’m finding it harder and harder to justify dropping $50-$60 on a bourbon that doesn’t blow my mind. I’m realizing that I’m ok with getting a very nice bourbon for $20-$40 and occasionally getting a mind blowing bourbon for somewhere in the $100 range. 

Bourbon, as a category has seen its prices rise and that is ok. But you know what? As I see that average price rise, it starts to look an awful lot like the prices of other aged spirits and my eye starts to wander. I see the price of the $30 bottle of armagnac that I got my Dad for Christmas and it seems pretty good now. (Tastes pretty good too.) The $50 bottle of Cognac I got him last year seems more reasonable as well. I see the price of an 20 year old bottle of rum and I notice it is much less than many 8-12 year old bourbons at the same store. 

So in this BourbonGuy’s mind, the time has come to branch out a bit. On Thursday, I’m starting a new series on the blog called My Wandering Eye. I’m going to start to make a pass though the non-bourbon sections of the liquor stores when I go to pick up bourbon. If I find something that sounds interesting, I’ll pass it along. They will all be from the perspective of someone who basically only drinks bourbon. Some I will like and many I probably will not. But hopefully they will all be interesting. 

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

James E. Pepper 1776 Brown Ale, aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels

There is a store in Wisconsin that on certain days, probably get’s more business from Minnesota than it does from locals. I will admit to being one of many Minnesotans who likes buying a beer or whiskey from a store on whichever day I happen to be at it. Unfortunately, many stores in the state of Minnesota don’t feel it is in their best interest to serve their customers on the days the customers want to be served, preferring instead to lobby against changing a law who’s time has long passed it by.

See, in Minnesota, it is illegal for a liquor store to be open on Sunday’s regardless of the fact that it is one of the two busiest shopping days of the week. Many liquor stores prefer it that way. Why? you might ask. Well the thought is that they will make as many sales if they are open 6 days a week as if they are open 7 days a week. Plus they won’t have to pay anyone on that seventh day. It doesn’t matter what the customers overwhelmingly want. And sadly, politicians in Minnesota are just like they are everywhere else. People that pay, get the votes in the legislature and those who don’t, get the shaft.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, its two largest population centers are also on the border with a state who is more than happy to take the tax dollars on Sunday. There are 4.14 million people in the two largest population centers in Minnesota. There are 5.5 million in the state. And though people might not drive an extra hour to get a beer, many places in the Twin Cities metro are about a half hour apart meaning over 40% of the the population of the state* could conceivably make a run for the border while on regular shopping trips without going very far out of the way. Sending tax dollars out of state.

All because some store owners would rather enshrine their dislike of competition in law instead of giving customers what they want. It’s one of the reasons I try to choose places like Ace Spirits who would be open on Sunday if the law would let them. Plus, since I visit family in Wisconsin quite often on Sundays, the purchases I might have made in Minnesota are made at Casanova Liquors in Hudson, just before I hit the border. 

One of the things I found on a Wisconsin trip this summer was 1776 Brown Ale, aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels. I held it in the closet until the weather was right for a barrel-aged ale and here it is.

James E. Pepper 1776 Brown Ale, aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels

Purchase Info: Casanova Liquors, Hudson, WI. I didn’t keep a receipt for this one, but it was roughly $10 for a bomber.

Details: Brown ale aged in rye whiskey barrels. 10.4% ABV. Brewed and bottled by Georgetown Trading Co., Sterling, VA.

Nose: Bready and vineous.

Mouth: Sweet caramel layered over typical bready brown ale notes. After a few sips you start tasting the spiciness of the rye.

Thoughts: This is sweet, but not as sweet as most barrel aged beers I’ve had. Whether that is due to the use of rye barrels or from a quirk of the aging process, I have no idea. I like the spiciness in the back of the mouth though. If you like barrel-aged beers, certainly check this out. If it were available in Minnesota, I would definitely pick up another bottle…just not on a Sunday.

*figuring that half of the population of the metro area of the Twin Cities and all of the population of Duluth could make Wisconsin part of their Sunday shopping trips without going too much out of their way. Yes, I get that socioeconomic factors might drop this down quite a bit, but even half of that would be still be 20% of the state population…

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

Bourbontucky on DirecTV

Do you have DirecTV? Can you get it? Do you have a friend who has it who would be willing to let you camp out on their couch for an hour and a half? You might want to look into it.

DirecTV recently produced a bourbon documentary and is currently showing it on the Audience channel (channel 239). I watched it this past weekend and it is well worth watching. 

The show is roughly divided into three parts.

Part one is all about the bourbon. The history, the distilleries. There are interviews with about every distiller you’d want to hear. It has Jimmy Russell, Fred Noe, Jim Rutledge, Harlen Wheatly, and Chris Morris. They talk to corn farmers, coopers and still makers. You see beautiful video of bourbon in glasses, production floors, aging warehouses, and corn falling through a grate. You learn about the yeast, the fermentation, the stills, bottling and some history. In depth looks at Woodford Reserve, Buffalo Trace, Four Roses and Makers Mark are interspersed with stories from Jimmy Russell, Fred Noe and Jim Rutledge. We learn why Four Roses will not put out a flavored bourbon and how Jimmy Russell used to keep an eye on Fred Noe while on the road. The highlight of this section was footage of the Heaven Hill fire. This is something you hear about every time you go to Kentucky, but which I’ve never seen footage of. Video of rivers of fire running downhill into buildings. Stories of cooperation and genuine love. Horrific and beautiful at the same time.

Part two is about other people in Kentucky who are making money off of bourbon. A Louisville bar owner tells you about Beam decanters. Specifically mentioning one that I happen to have. A chef in Louisville talks about how he collaborated with Jefferson’s to make a bourbon. Bourbon Barrel foods is mentioned. Wes Henderson from Angel’s Envy talks about finishing and blending. DISCUS and Bourbon Women help to transition to part three.

Part three is all about bars and retailers across the country. This is the part you can fast forward through. Every interview was about as follows: "We couldn’t give this stuff away ten years ago, now we charge way too much for you to try it. We like bourbon. Yay bourbon." It comes from retailers in DC, bars in LA and hipsters in Brooklyn. 

Part four is about the consumers…oh wait. Nope. This is the documentary's major failing. While everyone interviewed was a fan of bourbon, none were people who weren’t also advertising their business where they make money off of bourbon. It would have been nice to hear from fans of the product who have nothing invested but love. 

Overall, if you can, I’d recommend pouring a good bourbon and figuring out a way to watch this one. It looks like it is currently showing on DirecTV On-Demand or on Audience (Channel 239) on February 9.