Two Stars Bourbon

August 18, 2015 Eric Burke

Here we have a bourbon that I have made fun of every time I walked though the bourbon section of Total Wine. I mean it’s hard not to.

“Only two stars? Wow, don’t set your sights too high there.”

“Two stars? Wait, is this an actual honest bourbon label?”

“Two Stars. Because four stars costs too damn much and you wouldn’t appreciate them anyway.”

Stuff like that. But in my never ending quest to find bourbon diamonds in the rough, I finally decided to take the leap and buy it. Before I did though, I picked up the bottle and took a hard look at what I was buying.

First off, it looks like the same bottle that Weller and Very Old Barton come in. I’ve seen other store brands made by Sazerac that use that same bottle so that was something. Second it is an 86 proof, straight bourbon with no age statement. So that means it is at least four years old. Seems ok so far.

Made by Clear Spring Distilling Co. in Louisville. I admit this through me for a loop at first, but a quick search lead me to this: Clear Springs Distilling Company???. And then the COLA. Yep, it seems that Clear Springs is an assumed business name that Sazerac uses to make house brands.

The bourbon at least stood a shot of being ok, so I picked it up. Unlike normal, immediately upon returning home I opened it and took a sniff straight from the top of the bottle. I was really leery of this one for some reason, maybe it was the name. It smelled ok, so I splashed a little in a glass and took a sip…and was shocked at how not terrible it was.

Two Stars Handcrafted Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: $17.99, 750 mL. Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 43% ABV. Produced by at the Barton distillery by Sazerac.

Nose: Caramel, vanilla, cinnamon gum, mint.

Mouth: Starts with a nice spicy tingle that dances across my tongue. Cinnamon and cloves. Dry, with more than a touch of oak.

Finish: Lingering tingle in the mouth, dry with mint and oak.

Thoughts: Well, this certainly lives up to it’s name. I don’t care if Total Wine claims it is named for the municipal flag of Louisville, this seems to have been named with it’s mark of quality built in. It is not a four-star bourbon. It is however a very solid two-star. It works well as a mixer and can even function neat in a pinch. It’s not a bad price either at less than $20 for a 750 mL.

Overall, keeping all that in mind, I’d recommend giving this one a shot. You might like it and if the worst that happens is that you are left with a bottle to use for making cocktails, that isn’t so bad either.

UPDATE: A previous version of this story incorrectly hypothesized that this bourbon might have been produced at Buffalo Trace. They have reached out to inform me that it is instead made at the company's Barton Distillery in Bardstown, KY. The story has been updated to reflect that change.

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New Riff's New Make from a Rye Mash

August 11, 2015 Eric Burke

Whiskey distilled from a Rye Mash, by New Make Distilling, Newport, KY

There was a time, not too long ago, that the Party Source in Bellevue, KY was a whiskey geek’s heaven. An online store that had practically everything and who would ship it right to your door. Unfortunately those days are over. A few years ago, Kentucky passed a law outlawing shipping by liquor stores and in the intervening years, the Party Source has started to come back down to earth.

Don’t get me wrong, they are still a good liquor store, but unless you are going through Cincinnati, they are pretty far from your standard-fare bourbon tourism.

This however might be changing if you are a fan of touring craft distilleries. A few years ago, the owner of the Party Source seems to have gotten the bug to move from retailer to producer and built the New Riff distillery. Right in the Party Source parking lot. (If you are wondering about the three-tier system ramifications, he sold the Party Source to the employees, making it an Employee-Owned company.) He hired Larry Ebersold, former Master Distiller at (the distillery now known as) MGPi as a consultant and got down to business. So now, you can go on a distillery tour and get some shopping done all in the same trip.

And given the intertwined history of these two companies, it’s not too surprising to find that New Riff New Make is available at the Party Source. The only surprise is the price. Craft distillers often need to charge aged whiskey prices for unaged whiskey just to keep the lights on. In this case the 375 mL bottle I bought was only $15. Not too bad at all. The only question remaining is if it is any good.

New Riff New Make distilled from a Rye Mash

Purchase Info: $14.99, 375 mL bottle. The Party Source, Bellevue, KY

Details: 45% ABV. Distilled from a Rye mash. Positioned as a vodka alternative on the neck hanger.

Nose: Buttery. Hard butterscotch candies. Faint mint underneath.

Mouth: White sugar sweetness. Buttery toffee, grapefruit pith and mint.

Finish: Not hot but it has some lingering ethanol flavors. Mint, dill and bitter grapefruit are there too.

Thoughts: I certainly wouldn’t sit down to a glass of this served neat, but then again I wouldn’t do that with a glass of vodka either. I’m going to guess that neat is not the way this was intended to be consumed. And as such, I’m looking forward to making cocktails with it. So much so, that I moved it out of the whiskey room and into my cocktail-making cabinet.

Overall not a bad product as is, and I am certainly going to want to grab a bottle when it has spent it’s four years in wood. For now though, unless you like new make (or are just curious like I was) I'd give this a pass. I am impressed enough with it though, that next time I’m through Cincinnati, I hope to grab a tour on my way to do a little shopping.

Revisiting the Old Grand-Dads

June 30, 2015 Eric Burke

Three bottles of Old Grand-Dad at various proofs

Sometimes circumstances beyond your control put you in a position where you realize: “Hey, I’ve got bottles of three different styles of Old Grand-Dad open.”

Now I know what you’re thinking. “Eric, you’ve limited yourself to enough room for 22 open bottles of American whiskey, why would you have three different styles of Old Grand-Dad open?”

Or at least you would be asking that if this were a local radio commercial. I feel sorry for those guys. I worked with some folks who needed to write or record that stuff at my last job. It’s hard to get something good approved sometimes.

Anyway, it’s still a good question. How on Earth did I end up with this? I do have limited space, it seems odd to devote a little more than one eighth of it to a single brand.

Well, the 80 proof is still left over from the Bottom Shelf Brackets I did in March. It’s almost gone, but still seems to be hanging around. The 114 is one of my favorite sub-$25 dollar bourbons and I pick it up anytime I see it on sale.

And the 100 proof Bonded? Well, I picked it up for the blog, around the time of the label change thinking that a label change might have signified something greater. Reading the folks who also had that thought, made me think that we were all mistaken and that there was little if anything different inside the bottle. So there it sat. Until I realized that for the first time, I actually had all three Old-Grand-Dad’s in the house. Having fallen in love with the 114, I haven’t had Old Grand-Dad Bonded in the house since late 2011/early 2012 and I was curious to revisit it after a span of a few years.

Plus I thought it might be an interesting chance to explore the effects of dilution. Three bottles of supposedly the same bourbon diluted to three different strengths, bottled and given time to mingle. I know there might be barrel choices that influence things, but eh, it’s for fun, not science this time, right?

Three Old Grand-Dads

Purchase info:

80 proof: Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. $13.99 750 mL

100 proof Bonded: Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. $22.99 1 L

114 Proof: Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. $24.99 750 mL

Nose:

80 proof: Fruity graininess, sweet cinnamon, a hint of mint and some oak

100 proof Bonded: Less pronounced grain, some mint, vanilla and honey sweetness along with oak dryness.

114 proof: Initially very sweet. Some alcohol burn. Mint, toffee, yeasty bread dough.

Thoughts: Very interesting to see what the amount of dilution does to the nose of a whiskey. In this case, the higher the water content, the more pronounced the fruity and grainy notes. As an experiment, I watered down some of the 114 proof to 80. The nose was almost indistinguishable from the bottled 80 proof.

Mouth:

80 proof: Cinnamon gum, mint and oak dryness

100 proof Bonded: Sweet vanilla, oak, baking spices, anise.

114 proof: Hot and sweet, oak, hints of cherries and cocoa.

Finish:

80 proof: Decent length. Sweet and spicy. Lingering oak dries the mouth.

100 proof Bonded: Heat that settles in the chest and stays there a while. Lingering anise. Mouth numbing.

114 proof: Very warm and long lasting. Lingering dry oak.

Thoughts: I’m guessing barrel selection plays as big a part as proof does on the palate with these. For instance the 114 proof watered down to 80 proof just tastes like watered down 114 proof. Overall I like the 100 and 114 proof much more than the 80 proof. The 80 proof is merely meh. There is a smaller difference between the 100 and 114 though, the 114 still reigns as my favorite sub $25 bourbon.

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.

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.

Don't Know What You Got: Jim Beam Rye

March 12, 2015 Eric Burke

For a while after moving to Minnesota, I worked as a camera salesman at Circuit City, a big box electronic store. I worked there part-time for a little extra money during the fall and into the holidays. It was an ok job as part-time retail jobs go, but once I was offered a full-time position as a designer at a local ad agency, I left that job behind as quickly as I could.

Being a dedicated Amazon shopper, I didn’t really think about Circuit City again until I heard it was closing a few years later. By this point, I had moved on to yet another design job, but still sort of fondly remembered the time I spent there helping people to pick out gifts for their kids or parents. So I decided to stop in one more time before they were gone for good. The store was having a liquidation sale by this point, selling everything off the shelves for deep discounts and then selling the shelves. In a wonderful example of Minnesotan passive-aggressiveness, the store’s music system was playing Cinderella’s Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone) on an endless loop.

I was a little sad to see it go, until I realized that the reason it was leaving was that it really wasn’t very good. Nobody went there anymore because there really was no reason to do so. Even the deeply discounted items were more expensive than Amazon’s regular price. So after spending a few minutes looking around, I left. I go to that building all the time now. It’s a Trader Joe’s and a Total Wine and it’s a block from where I work.

Recently it was announced that Jim Beam Rye (the yellow labeled one) was being discontinued. It was going to be replaced by Jim Beam Pre-Prohibition Style Rye. According to BeamSuntory PR, this is basically a new label and a higher proof.

Now, I never thought much about Jim Beam Rye. It was always there, in it’s faded looking yellow bottle. But I never really thought much about picking up a bottle. Once in a while I’d order it at a bar, but only if there wasn’t anything better.

It was relatively cheap. I liked other stuff better. And there we stood…until the discontinuation announcement. Suddenly I wanted to buy a bottle “for old times’ sake.” I drank that first pour and then I remembered why I never really wanted to buy it. It wasn’t very good. My guess is there weren’t a lot of people buying it because there was no reason to do so. People who knew better, knew better and those that didn’t wanted something that cost more and and came in a pretty bottle.

So don’t be sad that it's going away. Be happy that the repackaging comes with a proof bump, a name change and even a prettier bottle.

Jim Beam Rye (yellow label)

Purchase Info: $17.99, 750 mL, Total Wine & More, Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: pencil shavings, spearmint leaves, chamomile

Mouth: Thin. Grassy. Chamomile and mint with just a hint of a burn.

Finish: Slight lingering tingle in the mouth that fades quickly to be replaced by chamomile and a slight bitterness.

Thoughts: Meh. Just meh. It isn’t bad. In fact, if you love chamomile tea, you may love this. But much like chamomile, it isn’t very interesting and might even help you to sleep.

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