Rebel Yell American Whiskey

May 28, 2015 Eric Burke

This is the second part of a two part post. The first being the story of how I got the bottle and a reminder that you don’t know what’s in a bottle of whiskey until you open it and take a taste.

Well. I’ve spent two weeks with this whiskey. It’s half gone and now I think I can talk about it. I’ve turned the bottle over and over in my hands looking at what is said and what is not said on the label. And I noticed a few things.

The most obvious is that it is a blend of bourbon and rye. The back label says: “Our original, time-honored recipe, perfectly blended with the rebellious spirit of rye.” From that I’m guessing it is the normal Rebel Yell wheated bourbon mixed with rye.
“Distilled and aged in Kentucky and Indiana.” So I’m going out on a pretty sturdy limb and saying that rye is from MGPi.
This is a two-year age-stated whiskey. Remember, that’s the youngest whiskey in the bottle, there might be older whiskey in there. In fact I would guess there is since the flavor has a depth I wouldn’t expect from a two year whiskey.
Though it is two year, nowhere does it say “straight.” We’ve learned from Templeton that you can add minute amounts of flavoring to whiskey that isn’t labeled “straight.” Just throwing that out there. Though it is very possibly not applicable, I get a little nervous when a whiskey doesn’t say straight when it could.

I’m breaking format and telling you my thoughts now since this is such an odd situation. I can find next to nothing about this online aside from the Rebel Yell website, the COLAs and Chuck Cowdery’s blog announcing it back in February. I can’t even tell if it is for sale yet so I have no idea if this is a good value. I’d say if you get it for free in a regifting situation, the value is excellent. If you pay more than $20-25 you are probably over paying. It’s tasty but not on par with many other widely available whiskeys at that price point. Some even sold by Luxco, the company who makes this.

Rebel Yell American Bourbon

Purchase Info: Didn’t I just say I got it in a regifting situation?

Details: A Blend of bourbon and rye whiskey, 45% ABV

Nose: Cedar, mint, white sugar, leather and hints of vanilla

Mouth: Thin in the mouth, but it has a nice tingle to it. Oak, cloves, dark chocolate and a nice earthiness.

Finish: Fades quickly. The mint is back along with chocolate and cedar.

Thoughts: As detailed in the previous post, I went into this expecting something terrible. As such, it exceeded expectations. As a two-year age stated whiskey, I’m very impressed with it’s depth of flavor. Overall, for what it is, this is an impressive whiskey. I just don’t think I’d pay more than $25 for it.

Who knew all you needed to do to make Rebel Yell bourbon drinkable was add some MGP rye? So we've learned that.

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Too many feels and then, eventually, a review of Wathen's Single Barrel

May 26, 2015 Eric Burke

I had a pretty shitty weekend. It was supposed to be good. It was a holiday. I was going to spend time with my family at the family cabin. There would be drinks, cards, a fire, kids, family and friends. Everything was set up to be great. And it started out that way.

Friday morning, I stopped off for a couple growlers of beer to take with us. As I waited for them to be filled, I thought it might be nice to have a touch of bourbon to close each night. So I looked at the bourbon selection and settled on one I hadn’t had before but could blog about. Might as well take one for the team, right?

We were supposed to build a new fire pit over the weekend, but I noticed shortly after pulling in that my mom and step-dad had already finished it. This is going to be a nice weekend, I thought to myself. And so it seemed. That afternoon, we sat around the new fire pit and variously, read a book, played a game, or talked. It was a very nice afternoon. We had nice supper and then ended up playing cards. I broke into the growlers. Everything was going well.

It was a nice slow morning the next day. Relaxing. We ran to town, got supplies and generally enjoyed each other’s company while waiting for the rest of the group to get there. One of the highlights of the weekend was going to be the time I got to spend with my niece and nephew who were coming with my brother and his wife that afternoon.

And everything went well until I noticed how my brother was treating my nephew (well, step-nephew, but I don’t count such things). You see he is on medication for ADHD and is suspected of suffering from depression. He is a rascal, to put it mildly. I identify a lot with what he is going through. I’m also the product of divorced parents. I also had a step-dad who met me while he wasn’t sure how to handle being a parent. I had problems with my mom, my dad, my step-dad, my step-mothers, my grandparents and step-grandparents…I was just generally an angry kid who suffered with undiagnosed depression (it wouldn’t be diagnosed until I was much older and dealing with my own teenager). I saw that I didn’t fit in in most of the “families” I had. Either I was related, but only seen every few months or I wasn’t related and was just another kid hanging about. All except my one set of grandparents. My mother leaned on them so much that my grandfather became sort of a surrogate father to me. He was the one I rebelled against, not my biological father. But he was also the one I looked up to more than anyone else.

I grew up with this hanging over my head for a long time. I was so angry. I was a good kid for the most part, but inside I was searching for why I didn’t belong. I just wanted to feel loved. And if that couldn’t happen, noticed. And when it came time for me to adopt my own daughter, I promised myself that she wouldn’t feel that way. That she would be loved and accepted by the family that I felt, at the time, had never fully accepted me.

Guess what? I failed. I didn’t know how to be a parent at 19. I didn’t know how to take care of a teenager at 29. I didn’t know how to be the parent of a kid going through normal teenage stuff while dealing with the fact that she knew her dad had adopted her. Knowing that in order for that to happen, another man needed to have decided he didn’t want to be her dad. That’s heavy stuff. I wasn’t ready for it. I lashed out like an angry baby and, much like my step-father and I while I was living at home, we never really saw eye to eye. And to top it off, I don't know that parts of my extended family ever fully accepted her as family either. I have a sister I haven't talked to for years over some of her comments.

So now, I see this happening with my nephew who is going through the same things I went through and then also the same things my daughter went through. And enough was enough. My brother is a father of two biological kids and can’t see he isn’t treating them the same way. My mother doesn’t realize that the things she’s saying are being absorbed and internalized by my nephew. On three separate occasions, I stepped in where I probably shouldn’t have (though my sister-in-law thanked me). I became an advocate for my nephew because I hate that I can see the same things that happened to me, and then to my daughter, happen to him. I picked two fights with my brother and one with my mother over it. I spent a lot of time alone in the camper because I was so mad I thought I’d do or say something I’d regret.

It’s a good thing I bought that bourbon. It wasn’t the best bourbon I’d ever had, but it was enough to calm the nerves and let me breathe when I thought I would say something stupid. Nights around the fire may have included more than I should have had, but taking a sip instead of saying something stupid worked ok to keep me sorta talking to my brother.

That bourbon? Wathen’s Single Barrel. Once I got home, I decided to review it and pour a couple samples for my sample library. That finished the bottle off. So, even though the bourbon was a welcome relief to a shitty weekend, how did it fair in the cold light of day?

Wathen’s Single Barrel

Purchase Info: $29.99, 750 mL, Casanova Liquor, Hudson, WI.

Details: Barrel number: 4730. Bottled on July 22, 2014. 47% ABV

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, toasted almonds, faint melon and some oak.

Mouth: Dry woodiness. Hot in the mouth. Caramel, toasted almonds and oak.

Finish: Lingering heat and oak fading to a bitterness that if it were paired with more than just woody flavors would be pleasant.

Thoughts: For me? Meh. I’m not a fan of overly dry, woody bourbons. And to my palate, that’s what this is. It’s more so than I would have expect from an NAS bourbon.

Speaking of NAS, I do have a few beefs with this bourbon. The first being just that. This is an NAS bourbon. But right in the middle of the label is a large “eight” in a a script font. Under that in smaller type is the word “generations.” This subconsciously suggest and eight-year age statement. I know because I had to keep stopping myself from thinking of it as an 8-year old over and over. And I know better. Secondly, I really wish people would use a screw cap. That photo above? That’s the cork. It broke the second time we opened the bottle. Not only is a screw cap going to keep the bourbon inside tastier if it lasts more than a weekend, but it has a much smaller chance of failure.

So your milage may vary, but for me? I won’t be buying this again. Not even to soothe a really shitty weekend that brought back way too many feels.

A new arrival in an old style: Jim Beam Bonded

April 28, 2015 Eric Burke

Bottled in Bond whiskey is an old thing. There are very few brands that weren’t available to your grandfathers that maintain that status. Companies just don’t come out with Bottled in Bond whiskeys very often. And why would they? You have to follow all the rules for a straight whiskey plus you need to have it be at least four years old, exactly 100 proof and the product of one distillery during one distilling season. That limits your flexibility. Most of the time these are no age statement whiskeys and unlike a non-bonded bourbon you can’t make up any shortfall with something a little younger or a little older. They really are a snapshot of what was going on at the distillery at the time they were distilled. Because of this, bonded bourbons are the darlings of the bourbon enthusiast croud. You know what you are getting since the info is right there on the label, they are a decent proof and they are ususally inexpensive.

All of this makes it especially notable that Jim Beam just released a Bottled in Bond bourbon this year. Why go through the extra steps needed just to put those three words on the label for a rather inexpensive release? Especially since unlike many bourbon producers, Beam has two distilleries. I have no answer to that, but I am certainly happy that they did it. It’s like a little present to the whiskey geeks. It’s not quite as inexpensive as other bonded bourbons, but is in the ballpark. If it does well, maybe we’ll see more of them. Of course, if it does too well the next guy might decide to raise the price too.

Jim Beam Bonded

Purchase Info: $21.99, 1 Liter. Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV

Nose: Cinnamon candy, mint, dusty oak and hints of cocoa.

Mouth: This shows its proof with a nice tingle. Initial impression is bready. It’s sweet with mint cocoa and dried corn.

Finish: A warm, medium length finish with hints of dusty oak, cocoa and mint.

Thoughts: While this isn’t a knock-your-socks-off bourbon, it is a nice step up from Jim Beam White Label. I personally like it better than the Black Label as it doesn’t show as much oak. It won’t be my first choice for bonded bourbons, but it is a nice change up.

One little mystery is why Beam left the DSP number off the label. Luckily this mystery seems to have been solved: http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-good-and-not-so-good-of-old-grand.html

Review: Jim Beam Black 8 year old

April 23, 2015 Eric Burke

Today was one of those days where I noticed every step I took. It’s not that I hurt or anything like that. I was just aware of every step. It’s a strange sensation. Noticing things that should be so natural that they are below notice. It happens to me every so often. And of course as soon as I’m aware of it, I inevitably seem to forget how to do it. I trip over nothing and I stumble.

For most of my life, my mother has told me that I’m weird. Growing up in the Upper Midwest where “that’s different” is used as an expression of intense disapproval, being told you are weird is on a whole other level. But I don’t think she ever meant it as a statement of disapproval to me, even though she often used it as an excuse as to why she didn’t like others. To me, it always sounded like there was a bit of wonder in there. Like she couldn’t quite understand where all my odd statements could possibly come from.

I’ve always seemed to look at the world a little differently. It’s either because I’m a designer or it’s the reason why I’m good at it. Sort of a chicken and egg thing there. I notice things and wonder about them. I’m intensely curious. Growing up I wanted to know how things worked and that contnues to this day. I’m constantly taking something apart. I’ve studied history in my spare time for almost a decade because I really want to know why things are the way they are today.

It’s one of the things I like best about whiskey. From the history to the chemistry, there is so much to learn and discover. Even a simple glass of Jim Beam can give you just a little insight into the way a company works and what is going on there. Take the Jim Beam Black that I’m drinking. It’s stated age is 8 years. It was one of the last few on the shelf that still said that. The new ones you buy just say “Extra Aged.” This gives you a little hint that either the 8 year old wasn’t tasting quite up to the profile they wanted, they were running low and needed to be flexible, or they decided to squeeze a little more profit out of the label. It may even be a bit of all three.

In any case it’s interesting to ponder. And at least when I notice things like this I tend to not fall down.

Jim Beam Black

Purchase Info: Total Wine. Burnsville, MN. $16.99 for a 750 mL.

Details: Age Stated 8 years. 43% ABV

Nose: Caramel, cedar, allspice and a faint melon sweetness.

Mouth: Spicy and tingly on entry. Black tea, black pepper, brown sugar, oak, cayenne and toffee.

Finish: Some tingle. Decent length. Black pepper and black tea.

Thoughts: All in all this is a decently put together bourbon. If you are a fan of Jim Beam branded whiskeys you will probably like this a lot. If you aren’t, then you probably won’t. It’s lands right inside the Jim Beam wheelhouse just with more oak. Typically, I’m neither a fan of Jim Beam branded bourbons or ones that show a lot of oak so I fall into the second camp on this one. There’s nothing wrong with it, it just isn’t for me.

A decent value: Ezra B single Barrel

April 9, 2015 Eric Burke

Last year during the 2014 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets, I discovered Ezra Brooks. A bourbon that was one I figured I would buy again. Mostly because it was cheap. A few months later I discovered the Old Ezra 7 year old bourbon. 101 proof and less than $20. So I wouldn’t be buying the regular Ezra Brooks again after all. That itch was about to be scratched by an older and higher proof family member.

But it got me to thinking. If the 7 year old is good, what would the 12 year old taste like? Well, it could be one of two things. Either it is an oakier version of the same product or possibly almost nothing like the other two since all three of these are bourbons sourced by Luxco and are under no obligation to even come from the same manufacturer. Or it could even be both, I guess since Ezra B is a single barrel and there is no reason two barrels need come from the same place…Now I’ve talked myself into nervousness. But there is really only one way to find out for sure and that is to taste it.

Ezra B Single Barrel

Purchase Info: Marketplace Liquors, Savage, MN. $27.99, 750 mL bottle.

Details: Single Barrel. Barrel # 533 Bottled 2/14. Aged 12 years. 49.5% ABV.

Nose: Fruity: apples and berries, coconut and brown sugar.

Mouth: Ginger and clove, honey sweetness and oak.

Finish: Medium-longish with lingering oak and warmth.

Thoughts: This is a 12 year old bourbon for less than $30 where I bought it. It’s tasty with nice oak, a warm finish and it numbs the mouth a little. It’s a good bourbon for a good value. I like it and I’d buy it again. Though I will still buy the 7 year one too since it’s just as good a value and is even cheaper.

Handcrafted? Yes.

April 7, 2015 Eric Burke

In the last few months there has been a lot of news regarding the lawsuits alleging a misuse of the term handcrafted by members of the bourbon producing community. And on the face of it, it almost sounds legit. The lawyer alleges that something can’t be hand made if it is made in a giant computer controlled factory. If you didn’t know anything about whiskey, that argument might make you believe that the lawyer was onto something. To many people, handcrafted means that there is at least a little skill, a bit of human touch involved in making the product. (To others who are a bit more cynical it is a marketing term that has long since lost all meaning to reasonable folks.) So the lawyer tries to convince people that he knows what he is talking about, because computers.

What this lawyer either doesn’t understand or is betting that a judge doesn’t understand is that there is a very large difference between distillate and whiskey. If Jim Beam, Makers or any other bourbon maker were bottling distillate there might be a case to be argued. Might.

You see distillate is a product that could conceivably be very tightly controlled by people who know what they are doing and, yes, with computers. But bourbon is a natural product. It goes into a barrel and sits there for a good long time. And the longer it sits, the more influence the barrel has in the finished product. But just as each tree is different, so too is the infusion of each tree. The bourbon. Because at a basic level that’s all bourbon is. An infusion of charred new oak by a grain based alcohol solvent.

And yet, the bourbon from each batch tastes so close to the same that if you didn’t have them side by side you’d never know the difference. Or for most people, even if you did. So how does that happen? Well, bourbon manufacturers have a tasting panel. It could be one person, it could be many. And they do quality control. They make sure each batch tastes like the reference sample that they are aiming for within tolerances. And if they are off, they fix it by adding another whiskey until it is right.

Let’s look at an illustration. For this example we are going to pretend that oak changes a distillate’s color instead of flavor. Mostly because it is easier to visualize color than flavor.*

We’ve got three barrels we are using to make whiskey. One produces a light orange color, one a pink color and one a teal color. If you mix all of these together in equal amounts you will get a brown color. And so you’ve got your first batch of bourbon.

But then you go to make you second batch and you realize that what came out of the second batch of barrels are not the same colors as the first three barrels. So you need to go find barrels that will make this batch of whiskey as close as you can get to the first batch. In this case what you find is that if you mix a different pink, a lime green and a light purple together you will get a brown that is extremely close to the initial batch. So close you couldn’t tell the difference.

One more example, this time we want to make a lot of whiskey. So once again based on our reference sample, we mix and match until we find that if we take 6.5 parts of light orange, 6.5 parts of pink, 6 parts of teal, 4.5 parts of the other pink, 5 parts of lime green and 5.5 parts of light purple we once again end up with almost the exact same brown as our sample.**

In each of these examples we are trying to match that initial reference sample. And in each case the art, the skill, the human touch comes in while taking the different results you get from many different barrels and mixing them together to get a consistent result that matches the reference. You may argue that distillate can be computer-made in a factory but to me, bourbon qualifies as handcrafted.

The Maker's Mark tasting panel. Shot in September 2014 while on the Beyond the Mark tour.

*They are in mason jars because this idea came from a bourbon 101 presentation I used to do where I would invite volunteers to mix a color based on a reference sample to show this very topic. All of the colored waters were stored in mason jars and that shape just stuck in my mind.

**Don’t believe me? Take the illustrations into photoshop, sample the colors and mix them in the same proportions. It works.

Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2015: The Championship Rounds

April 2, 2015 Eric Burke

They’re here, the Championship rounds. We’ve made it through the opening rounds and tonight we find out who graduates to the Fancy Shelf.

Once again, I am struck by just how good the competition has been. There were plenty of matchups where I actually liked both of the bourbons involved. Obviously one more than the other, but still. There was only one I would absolutely rule out ever buying again and that is the Old Crow. I doubt that I’ll get the OGD 80 again just because its higher proof brothers are still inexpensive and much better. Benchmark, I’d grab this for a cheap everyday whisky on occasion. It’s pleasant enough. And Henry McKenna was a pretty good card-playing bourbon.

Of course now that we are down to four, it is interesting to note that all four are from Heaven Hill and that three of the four are 100 proof or greater. I’d say this means that when it comes to putting out bourbons that both taste good and are good values, Heaven Hill knows what they are doing. It’s interesting to note that they also won last year’s competition.

So here we go. These were tasted blind again. And remember as with last year, these were not formal tasting notes, just impressions to let us decide which one we liked better.

Round 2: Down to Four

Division 1: Fighting Cock vs Evan Williams (Black)

Nose A: Fruity and sweet

Nose B: More vegetal, but otherwise similar

Mouth A: Sweet and spicy with a hint of fruit

Mouth B: Sweet with baking spices but with a vegetal undercurrent

Finish A: Warm and long. nice and spicy

Finish B: Hints of baking spices and oak

Thoughts: A is a much nicer bourbon. It has hints of fruit that really tie it together. B was showing a bit too vegetal in comparison.

Winner: A wins this one hands down. It is Fighting Cock. It really is amazing to me that what I interpreted as oak in Evan Williams last round is showing as vegetal today. That says more about me than the bourbon, but it is still interesting.

Division 2: JW Dant Bottled in Bond vs Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

Nose A: Caramel, hint of spice, slightly fruitier

Nose B: Caramel, hint of spice, slightly drier

Mouth A: Sweet, baking spices, oak

Mouth B: Drier than A, but otherwise very similar.

Finish A: Spicy, baking spices

Finish B: Slightly more oak, but otherwise similar

Thoughts: When you consider that these are both the same distillate, more than likely aged to about the same amount of time and bottled at the same strength, it isn’t too surprising to find out that they are very, very similar.

Winner: Today, the winner is Evan Williams Bottled in Bond. Tomorrow it might be the Dant, it is that close. These will both be on my shelf again. When it comes to buying, I will probably just go with which one the store I’m at carries and which is cheaper if it has both.

Fancy Shelf Championship

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond vs Fighting Cock

Nose A: Fruity and sweet with hints of oak

Nose B: Exactly the same. I can’t tell the difference.

Mouth A: Spicy, sweet and hot.

Mouth B: Spicy, sweet, hot with a little tannic bitterness.

Finish A: Spicy and sweet

Finish B: Spicy and sweet with some lingering oak.

Thoughts: Once again, there is no surprise that these are very similar. Same juice put into the barrel. One aged for an assumed 4+ years, the other for a stated 6 years. One 100 proof, one 103. Very, very similar. And which is better, that will depend on who you ask. Like a touch more wood? Go with B. Like a touch less? Go with A.

Winner: That said, I enjoyed having just a touch more oak so the Fancy Shelf Champion is: B, Fighting Cock.

Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2015: Round 1: Evan Williams Bottled in Bond vs Henry McKenna

March 31, 2015 Eric Burke

Round 1d of the 2015 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets features Number 2 seed Evan Williams Bottled in Bond versus Number 3 seed Henry McKenna.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond is a product of Heaven Hill Brands. This is the Bottled in bond version of the black label version that competed in Round 1b. That means it is 100 proof, over 4 years old and is the product of one distillery in one season. It’s a pretty good snapshot of what was happening at Heaven Hill 4+ years ago. This is one of a batch of Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond products that I’m quite fond of. The others being JW Dant, Old Heaven Hill and Henry McKenna Bottled in Bonds.

Speaking of Henry McKenna the number 3 seed of this contest is the non-bonded version of Henry McKenna. It is also a product of Heaven Hill Brands. I was told by an employee of Heaven Hill once that the juice going into the barrels is the same, but that the main difference between Evan Williams and Henry McKenna is where they are aged. The Henry McKenna being aged on a hillside where it gets a lot of sun where Evan Williams ages more evenly. I’m not sure the veracity of that statement, but it sounds plausible.

These were tasted blind in the following order.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

Purchase info: MGM Wine and Spirits, Burnsville, MN. $17.99, 1 Liter Bottle.

ABV: 50%

Produced by: Heaven Hill Brands

Nose: Fruity and Sweet. Caramel, apple, vanilla, rose petals and just a hint of pea pod.

Mouth: Started with a hint of vegetal pea pod, but that faded quickly to reveal a hot and sweet dram with ginger and toffee.

Finish: Warm and spicy. Fades fairly quickly. Numbs the mouth.

Thoughts: I like this one. That faint vegetal hint aside, this is a good one.

Henry McKenna

Purchase info: Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. $11.99, 750 mL Bottle.

ABV: 40%

Produced by: Heaven Hill Brands

Nose: Floral, caramel and brown sugar.

Mouth: Thin. Warm and dry. Ginger spiciness. Strong oak influence with hints of caramel.

Finish: Nice flavor, but very brief.

Thoughts: It has a nice flavor but is a bit thin and the finish is a bit too brief for me. It makes me think that this might be a great bourbon to cook with though. When you want the bourbon flavors, but not the ethanol ones.

Winner: Evan Williams has a nicer nose, finish and mouthfeel. Henry McKenna has a nicer flavor, but since Evan Williams flavor isn’t that far below I’m giving the nod to Evan Williams Bottled in Bond.

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