Kentucky Bourbon Festival: Ticketed Events

September 25, 2014 Eric Burke

Paul Tomaszewski of MB Roland Distillery signing the Louisville Slugger made famous on WhiskyCast — Paul Tomaszewski of MB Roland Distillery signing the Louisville Slugger made famous on WhiskyCast

While at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival I like to attend some of the ticketed events. As the tickets to some of these are expensive, I aim to attend three each time. This year I attended Kentucky Bourbon All-Star Sampler™, Let's Talk Bourbon™, and the ARCO Speakeasy.

Chris Morris, Master Distiller at Woodford Reserve, pouring a couple Old Foresters at the All-Star Sampler™.

Kentucky Bourbon All-Star Sampler™

Picture it: a large open room that looks like it could house a small manufactuing company inside it. Down the center of the room is a large table heaped with food. Scattered around the room are tables and barrels with lighted tops for you to eat that food. All around the exterior of the room are small bars pouring spirits for you to taste.

Sounds like a nice place to be right? Well for $50 per person you could be there. And as far as I’m concerned, you probably should. It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to shake hands with and be poured a drink by the likes of Jimmy Russell, Chris Morris or Jim Rutledge. I met up with a few friends, both old and new, while there and had a great time. Most of the distilleries were pouring their standard line up. Jim Beam had their Small Batch Collection, Heaven Hill was pushing Evan Williams, Woodford Reserve had both Woodford and Old Forester there. I was especially interested in what some of the craft folks were doing though. MB Roland from south-western Kentucky had their bourbon and Black Patch Whiskey available to try. Old Pogue had Five Fathers Pure Malt Rye to be sampled. Limestone Branch debuted their aged product, Precinct No. 6 at the event. There was also a brandy from Copper and Kings in Louisville that wasn’t too bad.

All in all it was a great evening and it made me very happy I decided to go back again this time.

Let's Talk Bourbon™

The ticket is $30. For that you get breakfast, should you want it. You get cocktails, both with breakfast and after the event. You get a gift, this year a Four Roses branded Tervis glass. Plus, to top it off, you get to listen to Jim Rutledge talk about how bourbon is made and answer any questions the audience might have about it for about two hours. There is no event I can reccomend more than this one. This is my favorite event. I try to be early and get into the front row because I like to take notes, even thought the base presentation might be the same, the questions and tangents are always different and very informative.

The ARCO Speakeasy

This was an event that I almost did not go to. I hadn’t planned to do anything on Saturday night because I was supposed to be up at 6am Sunday morning to drive 13 hours home. I was talked into it by my friends at MB Roland. And boy am I glad I was. This was a very fun event put on by the members of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour. They each made a cocktail or two and you got to drink them. The best part, of course was that almost everyone was dressed in Prohibition-era costume. The people watching was fantastic. The cocktails weren’t bad either.

It’s $50 or $100 per person depending on if you considered yourself a VIP or not. I did not. The event happens at the same time as The Great Kentucky Bourbon Tasting and Gala™ which is a black-tie event for $150 per person. Too rich and too fancy for my blood. The Speakeasy was just right. I didn’t have to dress up too much (I didn’t have a costume so I just dressed nicely and didn’t feel out of place) and it was a third of the price. I mean, that money could be spent on bourbon (and was). Plus I met and talked to a lot of great folks that are part of the Craft Trail while enjoying drinks showcasing some of their products. All in all it was worth needing extra coffee for the drive home the next morning.

A Visit to the 2014 Kentucky Bourbon Festival

September 23, 2014 Eric Burke

For the last 23 years the city of Bardstown, Kentucky has held it’s annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival in September. It’s a celebration of the town’s unique position in the heart of Bourbon Country and a way to celebrate one of the area’s major industries.

This year was my second time attending the festival and I may have had even more fun this time than I did the first. The festival starts on Tuesday with an event or two each day. It isn’t until Friday, though where things really kick into high gear. The festival itself mainly centers around Spalding Hall, the home to the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History.

The lawn out front is covered with a variety of exhibitors from local charities and small craftspeople to the heavy hitters of the bourbon industry, distilleries and cooperage. The distilleries have extremely nice, but small and temporary, branded buildings that are set up as extensions of their gift shops. Sans alcohol, of course. The cooperage and the rest of the exhibitors were in tents. I wandered around, bought a few things from a charity, but otherwise just enjoyed the people and the surroundings.

Behind Spalding Hall were the food trucks and the Barrel Rolling. I’ll admit, last time I was there, I didn’t really understand this event. After talking with a few people and reading up on it between then and now, I have a better feel for it. It’s basically a bunch of people who are very good at what they do for a living, showing off and competing with their colleagues. All in all a fun event to watch, though I feel for them since the sun was really hot and those barrels looked extremely heavy.

The museum itself is one of those places that when you first walk in, you aren’t sure if you want to keep going. This is an old building and the exhibits have been there for a while. But, let me tell you, it is well worth a stop. There are so many old bottles, advertising and bits of memorabilia that a whisky/history geek like me is in heaven. Aside from that, on Saturday the museum is the setting for the Master Distiller’s Auction. I attended this mostly because a friend told that it would be interesting. He wasn’t wrong. We wandered in and got a number. I gave it to my wife who is much more responsible than I. There were a few things that we bid on, but nothing that ended up finishing in our budget. There were some really cool old whiskies, such as a prohibition-era bottle of Golden Wedding bourbon. It ended up just under selling for around $800. Of course, the highest prices went for the signed bottles of Pappy. (The 23 was $2100, but all were $500 or over.) I really found the event fascinating. I’ve never watched so many people so casually spend that much money. Luckily, it was for a good cause as the proceeds go to help fund the museum.

Of course, there were a lot more events. Some of which cost money, like the Speakeasy, The Gala or the All-Star Sampler. Some were free, like the barrel making demonstrations, the Ballon Glow and the art exhibits. But my favorite part was the people. I met some new friends, many people that I’d talked to online for just about forever and hung out with some friends I’d met previously. I think as I go more, this part will grow to overshadow all the official events.

If you are a bourbon lover and haven’t been, I’d highly recommend it.

Bourbon News: Margie Samuels to be Inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame

September 11, 2014 Eric Burke

I'm not normally the type of writer who just passes along press releases. I prefer telling stories. But in this case I'm going to do it for a couple of reasons. One is that it I think this is a pretty cool story. It's nice to see people who are due recognition get it, especially when they happen to be female in a stereotypically male industry.

I say stereotypical because woman have always played a big part in the whiskey industry. Fred Minnick's great book—Whiskey Women: The Untold Story About How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch & Irish Whiskey—showed us that woman are a big part of the history of whiskey.

In this case, the person being honored is Margie Samuels of Maker's Mark fame. The story goes that the entire Maker's brand was built on her ideas. The red wax? Margie. The distinctive and beautiful look of the distillery? Margie. Heck, they say even the name was her idea.

So like I said, I think this is a pretty good story and you can read the press release here:

The other reason I feel ok passing this along is purely selfish. I'm going on vacation. I'll be in Kentucky next week visiting bars, distilleries and events. I'll be finishing the week with the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. If you are in the area and you see me out and about be sure to say hi!

Willett Family Estate Bottled Bourbon, 13 year

September 9, 2014 Eric Burke

Willett. If you are a fan of American Whiskey, you've probably heard this name.

It doesn't matter if you're a relative newcomer impressed with the distinctive still-shaped bottle of the Willett Pot Still Reserve or a seasoned veteran of the whiskey world who has found a love for the understatedly elegant label of the Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel series. Once you learn of Willett, they are someone that you keep an eye on.

Until relatively recently, Willett wasn't a distiller. They were what has come to be called a Non-Distiller Producer (NDP) And no, contrary to what you might read, this isn't a bad thing. When they are honest about it, NDPs provide a nice service by bringing to light excess bourbon that might otherwise just be blended away. In the case of Willett, they buy whiskey, age it until ready and sell it to us. This is basically humanitarianism at it’s best.

I say Willett wasn't a distillery because in addition to their amazing ability consistently find/buy/age products that are some of the best on huge market, they now distill their own as well. But that is a topic for a future post. Suffice it to say for now they the people in charge of Willett have some of the best palates in the business and every time I see one of their Family Estate Bottled products I stop, look, walk past, turn around, look some more and almost always end up buying one.

Recently, I finished a bottle of 13 year Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Bourbon that a friend brought back for me from the distillery gift shop. It was…well, let’s just see how it was.

Willett Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Bourbon

Purchase info: ~$120-130 for a 750 mL at the Distillery Gift Shop.

Details: 61% ABV, 13 years old, Barrel #383, Purple foil on the neck.

Nose: Silage/corn initially with hints of pickle. After sitting a bit: warm peach cobbler and caramel.

Mouth: Sweet and tingly. Baked apple with cinnamon. Hints of hot chocolate. Strong oak.

Finish: long and hot. Cinnamon, hot cocoa and lingering oak.

Thoughts: I love this. It is easily in the conversation for a top five bourbon for me. It’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s exactly what I look for in a bourbon. Here’s my advice to you. If you visit Willett, just buy the most expensive bottle you can afford, but don’t feel bad about not buying a more expensive one. I’ve liked every one I’ve gotten there no matter what I’ve spent and have never regretted the purchase.

Finding an I.W. Harper dusty while antiquing

August 26, 2014 Eric Burke

It was a Sunday afternoon in early April. My wife had recently purchased an old Beam decanter for me. Something about it had made me excited to see what else was out there and it was easy for her to talk me into going with her when she decided to visit a few antique stores. I like the consignment style stores. The ones where a person rents a space and fills it full of their old crap. I don’t find many bargains that way, but I do see more things that I remember from my own childhood. And that’s fun.

As I wandered around this particular store, I saw some cool things. I saw a couple Ezra Brooks decanters from the 60s. A bear and a Native American. I didn’t pull the trigger on either since the labels were peeling off and in that condition I didn’t feel like paying that much for what was just a curiosity to me. I saw a NDP decanter of an old Minnesota Gopher mascot in a football helmet. It was probably from about the same time. And since I’m a huge Gopher football fan, I was tempted…until I saw it was over $100. That made me much less excited even though it looked as if it may have still been sealed.

Sealed and full of bourbon most likely contaminated by high levels of lead. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t buy it, I would probably have given myself lead poisoning since I doubt I’d have had the willpower to leave it sealed. I’m more curious than that fabled cat.

But one thing did catch my eye. It was just about halfway down the center aisle, all the way down on the bottom shelf. It was a tax stamp on a mini bottle. Even though my knees hate it when I do this, I got down and took a look. It was a bottle of Canadian Club and it said 1962 on the tax stamp. Even better it was full and the seal hadn’t been broken. There were other bottles down there too. The other sealed one was a miniature of IW Harper. It was missing the tax stamp, but the seal was unbroken and the bottle was full. And best of all, both were under five dollars each. So I grabbed them. I wandered around for a little bit but didn’t see anything else I felt like buying, paid my bill and wandered out.

I wondered a bit at the legality of selling them. I doubted the antique store had a liquor license. Plus it was a Sunday and there are no spirits sales on a Sunday. But since I got something cool and I didn’t see a boatload of cops standing there, I decided to tamp down the curiosity and think about things that were a little more important. Like how long it would take to get home and crack it open.

But I waited a bit. The next week was the season premiere of Mad Men and since Don’s favorite drink is Canadian Club and since it was from just about the right time period, I decided to drink that during the premiere. It was good, though it was so floral that I found it a bit like drinking perfume. The IW Harper though, sat on my shelf for a while. I wanted to look into it a little bit and see if I could find out anymore about it. Specifically: “What is this?” and “how old is this thing?”

The first thing I learned is that currently IW Harper is owned by Diageo and isn’t sold in the US anymore. And hasn’t been for a while. Ok so, at least the 80s. Cool. No bar code and no metric units so that pushed the youngest it could be back into the mid to late 70s. I did a bunch of searching of old ads and the earliest I could find that label used was in a 1970 ad. The next oldest ad I could find was from 1965 and had a slightly different label featured. So roughly early to mid-1970s. At that time it was owned by Schenley. That was close enough for my curiosity now I just needed to open it.

But I waited. And waited. It got shoved behind some other samples I had and so I forgot about it. Until I found it this weekend, decided that enough was enough, and cracked it open.

IW Harper Gold Medal Bourbon (roughly mid 1970s)

Purchase info: an antique store $3.99 for a 1/10th pint

Details: 6 years old and 86 proof (no ABV listed so I deviate from my standard even though I know it would be 43%)

Nose: Started out very floral. Dark brown sugar, baking apples, allspice, cardamom and a sharp wood note. After sitting a bit it settled into a general fruity candy.

Mouth: Nice thick mouthfeel. Floral again with more dark brown sugar. Spicy with allspice and cinnamon. Oak and caramel as it moves back in the mouth.

Finish: Long and warm with lingering floral hints.

Thoughts: I just wish there were more. Sweet, spicy, rich and floral sum this up nicely. The color is even beautiful. It is a joy to look at, smell and taste. Just yum.

Maker's 46: an easily found "step-up"

August 19, 2014 Eric Burke

It’s coming up on autumn again. Apples, pumpkins, football and of course, fall bourbon release season. Authors will be lining up all the free samples they received from various PR firms and distilleries to tell you about all those special, rare, and limited bourbons that you will never see, sniff or taste.

You know: the “best they’ve ever tasted” and the kind of bourbon where “if you see this buy two.” Of course it’s only the best until the next one and you’ll never see one much less two unless you get really lucky or you’ve got an in with someone. But though you can help it along, you can’t plan luck. And if you don’t already have an in with someone, you are unlikely to make one by the time you need it.

So what is there to do? Aside from getting sad and bitter at the idea of all those tasty treats that you won’t be tasting, that is.

Simple. Go to your favorite liquor store. Walk up to the bourbon shelves. Open your eyes. (That last bit will be easier if you’d closed them at some point, but I’d hate to recommend unsafe behavior like walking around a crowded store with your eyes closed.) Now look at the shelf. Odds are there is something really good right in front of your nose.

Wild Turkey, Knob Creek, Four Roses, Maker’s Mark, Elijah Craig and Evan Williams are all solid choices that not only won’t break the bank, but I guarantee that at least one of these is available at every liquor store in the country. And if you are looking for a step up each has one. Rare Breed, Booker’s, Four Roses Single Barrel, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, Evan Williams Single Barrel and Maker’s 46.

I’ll admit. If given the choice between a wheated bourbon (one that uses wheat instead of rye as it’s secondary grain) and a rye bourbon, I’ll normally choose the rye. I find many wheated bourbons to be sharp and more bitter than I’d like. But an exception to that is Maker’s Mark. I’ve always been a fan of Maker’s. So much so, that before I started this blog I became an Ambassador and got my name on a barrel. So when they came out with a second bourbon (already about 4 years ago now…wow) I was excited to try it.

And I liked it. I liked it so much that it got put on that magical mental list of ones I would buy again after I got through trying all the ones I wanted to try. The unfortunate thing was that the second list got bigger faster than I could buy bottles and so I never got around to buying another bottle of Maker’s 46. Well, at least not until I saw it on sale at Total Wine, remembered that long ago list, realized how long it had languished there and decided to pull the trigger.

Maker’s 46

Purchase info: $28.99 for a 750mL at Total Wine, Roseville, MN (on sale)

Details: 47% ABV

Nose: Continually changing. Starts with fermented grain, changes to distinct cinnamon and apricot before settling into a nice generically fruity oakiness.

Mouth: Slightly thick mouthfeel. Peppery, candy sweet and fruity with baking spices.

Finish: Nice and long with lingering baking spices and a faint smokey oak bitterness

Thoughts: I’m still a fan of this one. It’s like a spicy candy. And that makes me happy.

Old Ezra: 7 years + 101 proof + $16=Great value

August 5, 2014 Eric Burke

It was back near the beginning of the year that I conceived of the idea to honor the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament by having a bracket-style taste-off of cheap bourbons with the twin goals of a) finding a diamond in the rough and b) getting a series of blog posts with minimal output of dollars.

I like dollars and prefer to keep them for myself, which was sort of the basis of both goals.

During that time, I realized that while I found no real diamonds, I did find a really small sapphire and more than one really nice cubic zirconia that smelled and tasted almost…like…the real thing…

I think I lost track of my metaphor there somewhere. Any way, I found a couple of really good values that I would be happy to have on the shelf at any time. One of which was Ezra Brooks. A decent bourbon, not top shelf, but a good mixer and an ok sipper in a pinch.

Fast forward to about a month ago. As I left my latest dentist appointment, I decided that it would be a mighty fine idea to stop into the liquor store that is just down the street. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, I was just trying to wait for the traffic (and the numbness in my face) to subside. As I was wandering around, I noticed a bottle that I hadn’t seen before. Old Ezra 7 year, 101 proof. I’d heard of it while I was doing my research for the Ezra Brooks bracket. A lot of people seemed to like it. And as I hadn’t seen it in Minnesota previously, I picked it up.

Old Ezra, Aged 7 Years, 101 proof

Purchase info: $15.99 for a 750mL @ The Cellars Wine & Spirits, Eagan, MN

Details: 7 years old, 50.5% ABV

Nose: Soapy citrus, clove and cinnamon. Transitions to pear and an earthy buckwheat honey

Mouth: Classic Bourbon notes (caramel, vanilla, honey, spice) along with pear and, strangely, bubblegum

Finish: Bubblegum (specifically the slightly cardboard tasting stuff that came in baseball card packs when I was a kid) along with lingering allspice and honey.

Thoughts: This is not a $30 bourbon, but for $16 this is a fantastic value and will have a place on my shelf for as long as the price is right. Good for cocktails, infusing and even more than it’s black label (and lower proof) sibling, it’ll work neat for those situations where you don’t feel like analyzing your whiskey.

My personal search for the next great Four Roses Small Batch recipe

July 31, 2014 Eric Burke

I did something rather drastic last night. I started the night with ten different single barrel bottles of Four Roses Bourbon on the shelf and I ended the night with four different small batch editions of Four Roses bourbon.

As I reached the halfway point of the bottles I reviewed last spring and started to get a hankering for something a little different, I realized that I was going to these bottles less and less. It’s not that there was anything wrong with them, but 7.5 liters of anything is going to get just a little old after a while.

But then, I got a great idea. Inspired by a guy I know from twitter, I decided to start mixing them together to see if I could find the world’s next great small batch recipe. I was lucky on this one, every bottle was great on it’s own so I wasn’t trying to hide anything. Instead I was trying to tease out something that was more than the sum of its parts.

Not knowing where to start, I started with like yeast codes in equal amounts. I tried OESF and OBSF first and that was pretty good. Then I tried OESQ and OBSQ…that was terrible. I added an equal amount of OESF though and it was amazing. Something about that OESF caused all sorts of magic to happen.

Blend One: OESQ + OBSQ + OESF

Details: 57.5% ABV

Nose: Starts with pear and citrus. Moves to strong oak. then settles into a buttery caramel.

Mouth: Buttery caramel and vanilla anlong with an herbal spiciness. Almost basil.

Finish: Herbal with a hint of sweetness and a lot of spice. Nice and long.

Thoughts: Considering this was a desperate attempt to salvage a bad tasting mixture, it rocks my world that it ended up so good. I love that it takes three that many people react poorly to and turned them into something wonderful.

After that second experiment I decided that I needed to approach this from a different angle. I tried pairing like with like. Four Roses says that Q yeast is floral and so I tried pairing those with a fruity OBSV. It was ok, not great. I tried pairing OBSF and OBSQ. All my notes say for this one is: No. I tried opposites. OBSV and OBSK, fruity with spicy. That was pretty good, not awesome.

I tried a few more ways without hitting anything great. As I was getting close to giving up, I remembered that I have a bunch of empty Limited Edition Small Batch bottles right there. And they have the recipe on them. First I tried recreating the 2009 that I loved so much. Two-thirds OBSK with one-third OESO. My notes for that say “Super Yum.” I tried the 2013 recipe, equal parts OBSV, OESK and OBSK. Same thing.

Blend Two: OBSV + OESK + OBSK (Replica 2013 LE SB)

Details: 58.0% ABV

Nose: Very clean smelling, like a after a fresh rain. Ripe cherries, cinnamon candies and oak.

Mouth: Chewy caramel, citrus and a big load of spices: ginger, cinnamon, clove, etc.

Finish: oak, lingering bitterness and a long warmth

Thoughts: While I can’t say for certain that this is as good as the 2013 LE SB (literally, I refuse to crack my reference samples right now) it is amazingly good in it’s own right.

Inspired, I jumped back into it. OBSO + OESK + OESQ. Spicy, creamy, super yum! OBSO + OESF + OESK + OBSF? Amazing! Finally I decided to try the big one. All ten. It’d take a lot of measuing small amounts. Especially if I wasn’t going to end up with a pitcher full. Well, guess what? Now I want a cask strength Yellow Label released. It’s simply amazing what all those flavors do with one another.

Blend Three: All Ten (Cask Strength Yellow Label?)

Details: 56.2% ABV

Nose: Ripe cherries, pear, allspice and black pepper.

Mouth: very supple mouthfeel. Sweet. Juicyfruit gum, oak and a tasty floral note.

Finish: Lingering floral flavors and a nice long heat.

Thoughts: I liked this one so much I took a little of each bottle and made my own 750 mL bottle of it.

And that’s what gave me the idea to start consolidating into various blends. I looked up the label for the 2014 Limited Small Batch and made one of those, came to about half a bottle. I made about 3/4 of a bottle of the Spicy, creamy, super yum I mentioned above. And then I was left with four heels. Having decided I wanted the shelf space I just mixed them together. While they didn’t turn out to be a super yum, the combination of one part OBSF, one part OESV, three parts OBSQ and two parts OESO was tasty enough. Especially since the recipe was a completely random event.

Did I find the next great Small Batch recipe? Maybe I did. Maybe I've just had a lot of fun. Since I started playing with blending the Four Roses, I’ve tried blending other things. I’ve been desperately trying to mix something with the Rebel Yell that will make it something I can swallow without dumping the rest of the glass out. No go. I’ve mixed bourbon with Brenne. That was pretty damn tasty. I’ve done a few other things too that I now can’t remember. It opened my eyes up to another fun part of having so many open whiskies. If I look at them as the components of recipes, I have an almost infinte number of combinations to explore.

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