Abraham Bowman Limited Edition, Port Barrel Finished Bourbon

I have the best wife ever. 

There are a lot of guys that think this. I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one that is correct though. To show you why, I’ll need to take you back in time a couple months to Valentine’s Day. We were on vacation in Virginia, looking to see if it was a place that we might want to move someday. It had snowed the night before and the city’s 18 plow trucks had been out for most of the night trying to make the city streets passable. At least they were until two of them tipped over and they gave up. Being hearty Midwesterners, we were out and about early enough to see that there wasn’t really that much snow and that most of it was already turning to slush. 

With our trip around the city’s neighborhoods done by mid-morning we were left looking for something else to fill the time between lunch and our planned Valentine’s night activities. You know: ordering a local pizza and trying a couple amazing local beers while binge-watching Game of Thrones in the hotel room. (That's what you call romance when you've been married for over 16 years.)

I had made a comment on our drive across Virginia that I wished we had made time to stop into the A. Smith Bowman distillery. It’s owned by Sazerac and is the producer of both the Bowman line of bourbons and Virginia Gentleman. We were sitting down to a nice Valentine’s Day lunch of Popeye’s chicken when my wife proved to me, yet again, that she really is the best wife ever by announcing to me that she was taking me up to the distillery for a tour.

We had a good time talking with the tour guide. He kept describing the place as a “microdistillery,” but when questioned about it he admitted that it was part of Sazerac. We had a nice tasting and we bought some souvenirs to take home, a glass and some barrel char in a bag. No bourbon though. They had bourbon to buy, but it was only their standard release stuff. Back at the VABC in Richmond, I had noticed a bottle of a Bowman Special release and I really wanted that instead. 

Abraham Bowman Limited Edition Port Finished Bourbon

Purchase info: $69.99 at Richmond area VABC

Details: 50% ABV. Distilled March 30, 2001. Bottled August 17, 2013.

Nose: Cherries, a peppery tingle, tobacco and hints of sawn oak

Mouth: Sweet and spicy. Reminds me of my mother’s snickerdoodle cookies. Vanilla, cinnamon and cloves. Cherry preserves.

Finish: Warm and peppery with a smoke and fruitiness that just sort of hangs around.

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Thoughts: This is my first Abraham Bowman limited release and based on this, I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on more. It is a very good whiskey. It’s a bit peppery at bottle strength but a splash of water brings out more brown sugar sweetness. 

On our way back to the hotel after the distillery visit we ran back to the VABC to pick up this bottle even though, round-trip, it was a half-hour out of the way. I really do have the best wife ever.

Review: Jim Beam Signature Craft, Finished with Rare Spanish Brandy

If there is one thing that I’ve learned since falling in love with bourbon, it’s that aesthetics are no indicator of good bourbon. Beautiful bottles can disguise crap whiskey and a garish orange label can hide an overlooked gem.

To some people there is nothing more satisfying than the squeak and pop of a cork being worked out of the neck of a bottle. I’ll admit, I used to love it too. Then of course, I picked up an expensive bottle with a rotted natural cork that broke off in the neck. Getting that out without too much dropping into the bourbon was a bit nerve wracking. Synthetic corks are a nice alternative, but I’ve had more than one where the glue let go and I’m left with a piece of rubber in the neck. Screw tops, while not as aesthetically pleasing, are my closure of choice. Not that I’m going to pass up a bottle based on it’s closure. But I will be a little happier drinking it when I don’t have a split second of worry if I imagine the cork seems a little wiggly.

Just as I’m not a fan of natural corks, it’s also no secret that I am not normally a fan of Jim Beam branded products. I love the higher end products that Beam produces. Booker’s is favorite. If I had to choose a go-to, Knob Creek would be in the conversation. For some reason though, the Beam branded releases normally don’t mesh with my palate. It’s not a judgement thing, just a preference thing.

So when I heard last year that Beam was going to try to bring the Jim Beam brand a bit upmarket with Jim Beam Signature Craft and Jim Beam Single Barrel, I was intrigued. I knew they could make some good whiskey and was hoping that this would be an example of it. Just like I have learned not to judge a bottle by it’s label or closure, I’ve also learned not to judge a bottle by the name it’s released under. 

One day, last winter, I walked into South Lyndale Liquors and noticed that they had the Signature Craft 12 year old and Spanish Brandy finished versions on the shelf. I tried a sample of each and decided that the Spanish Brandy was the one I had the better chance of enjoying. Looking at the bottle I noticed that this wasn’t finished in brandy barrels, but by adding a small amount of brandy to it. 

Jim Beam Signature Craft, Finished with Rare Spanish Brandy

Purchase Info: $39.99 for a 750 mL at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Details: 43% ABV

Nose: Brown sugar, candle wax, pencil shavings and apricot

Mouth: Brown sugar, black pepper, cloves and dried fruit

Finish: Warm, slightly mouth numbing with a lingering spicy sweetness

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Thoughts: When I tell people that I like this one, I get more than a few skeptical looks. It’s no secret that I normally don’t like Jim Beam branded drinks. It’s possible this is the first. To me it hits a lot of the same notes as some of the rums I like. The finish is much nicer than I would have expected from a 43% ABV whiskey.

And, yes it has a lovely screw cap.

Book Review: Punch by David Wondrich

If you grew up in the Upper Midwest, like I did, you may have grown up thinking that punch was kool-aid and fruit juice mixed with lemon-lime soda. It’s what was served in every punch bowl I’d ever seen. Imagine my delight when I learned that punch had a much more grown-up origin.

I started reading this book because I love social gatherings, I love those gatherings to have interesting drinks and I love history. The idea of having a punch party intrigued me. After reading this book I felt certain that I needed to have that party. 

I have a theory that you can learn more about a people by studying what they do for leisure than you can by what they put down in their histories. Histories are full of kings and wars. Leisure for much of history revolved around booze. And along with that history of booze you get trade, society and yes even a bit of war. f that were all that were in this particular book, I would have been content. But I wouldn’t have shared it here. 

This book contains a lot of history, but fully two thirds of that is buried in the 44 recipes for that most social of drinks, Punch. The recipes are separated by ingredient, historical era and location. There are the Arrack Punches from the East India Company, Brandy and Rum Punches from England, Gin Punch, Milk Punch and Punches from the US that morphed into modern cocktails including the ones most intriguing to me, Whiskey Punch. You also get a bit of instruction on preparation and ingredients which is helpful since the original recipes span 400 or so years and at least three systems of measurement (two of which have the same names for differing amounts). And a bit of help sourcing the rarer implements and ingredients. 

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All in all this is a book sure to intrigue the history lover and it’s sure to provide at least one recipe that you’ll want to use at your next gathering of friends. I know I’ll be using at least one.

An interview with Robbie Delaney of Muddy River Distillery & a review of Queen Charlotte's Reserve Carolina Rum

Author’s note: Before I left Muddy River last November, Robbie was generous enough to gift me with two bottles of his product, one each of Carolina Rum and Queen Charlotte's Reserve. I do not normally accept such gifts, but made an exception. Although I do not consider this payment, the FTC does. As such I am disclosing the info now. And though I had tasted all of the products and made judgements about liking or not liking them before I knew the gift was being made, the tasting notes below are from this week. Please use this info to inform the relative accuracy of my thoughts on them.

​Back in November, I stopped for a tour at Muddy River Distillery just outside Charlotte, NC. When I got home, I realized that I really liked talking to Robbie. That's Robbie Delaney. He’s the proprietor, the distiller and the tour guide. I enjoyed our conversation enough that I thought you might enjoy it too. I asked him to answer a few questions for the blog. He was gracious enough to do so and they are below.

So Robbie, tell me a little about yourself. How did you get your start in the spirit business? What made you decide to open a distillery? 

I learned the meaning of hard work growing up on a horse farm in Wake Forest, NC. I became a General Contractor and traveled throughout the southeast working on projects and grew tired of living out of a suitcase. In early 2011 I read an in-flight magazine article about craft distilling. Construction was a little slow and so I gave distilling a shot. I read up and learned how to distill and designed and built Muddy River’s 3 reflux column stills. Everyone thought I was crazy. After getting the federal and state permits and a lot of hard work, Muddy River was the first rum distillery in NC. We began legally distilling in February 2012 and released our first product, Carolina Rum-a silver rum, in September of 2012. With almost 2 years of distilling under our belt, we released Queen Charlotte’s Reserve, an American white oak barrel aged rum, in October 2013. 

What is your specialty?

RUM. Carolina Rum is our smooth, slightly sweet rum and Queen Charlotte’s Reserve is barrel aged at least 8 months in unused American white oak barrels that are charred on the inside.

Is the distillery your full time job now?

Yes, both Caroline and I are full time now. I run the distilling, bottling, and tours. Caroline does sales, marketing, social media, and accounting for the company.

What's a typical day like for you?

An 18 hour day. Not because it has to, but because that’s how we make great liquor. We start by turning the machines on to heat up, run them, then clean and fill for the next day. Our typical activities include making mash, cleaning (the most important job), bottling, making liquor, tours, and a million other activities required of a small business.

So operating your own distillery seems like a cool job. What’s the best part?

People are interested in what I do for a living. It’s a big honor when someone wants to hear about your craft and enjoys drinking your products. We make amazing rums, and that is fulfilling in itself.

Tell me about the biggest challenge you've faced so far.

Properly managing growth. We’re trying to grow modestly, but we have sold out of product a few times.

So you’re trying to make sure you don’t grow too fast?

Yeah, I could spend all my time and marketing efforts trying to sell the first bottle to a million people. But if I can’t sell the second, I’m just a flash in the pan. You need to develop a brand loyalty. And you do that by doing things making a good product. Doing things right. Making small cuts. Using only new barrels. Instead of concentrating on expansion, we focus on selling the second bottle.

Wait, you use new barrels? As a bourbon drinker I’m used to the distillers using new barrels and then selling them to rum distillers, among others.

I buy bourbon spec barrels from the cooperage. And I only use them once. I find that it helps to cut the sweetness a bit. It doesn’t taste like your rum and coke is made with two sweetened products. Not that I would recommend adding Coke to Queen Charlotte’s Reserve.

That’s got to be expensive.

It can be, but if you live frugally, cut costs where you can and then sell it after your done with it, it’s doable. You can make back most of the cost by selling it afterward so you’re just sitting on the investment for eight months to a year. It goes back to growing modestly and making sure you can sell the second bottle.

Anything new on the horizon?

Our next product will most likely be a spiced rum. We have had a lot of people ask for one. We’ve been working on a recipe for a long time, but it has to be great before we put a product on the shelf. We’re still working on perfecting our recipe.

Any advice for readers who might be interested in following in your footsteps?

With the distilling industry growing so quickly, you have to make a top notch product in order to survive. You can sell one bottle, but it has to be good in order to have customers re-buy your product.

Do you offer tours?

Yes! Visit our website to sign up under the “Take a Tour” tab. There is a calendar with all the dates and times tours are offered. www.muddyriverdistillery.com/rumdistillerytour/

In North Carolina you are in ABC stores. Outside of North Carolina, can readers buy your products?

Yes, look and ask for us in the North Carolina section in ABCs, if you don’t see us in the rum section. And we’re in bars and restaurants throughout NC. We are in SC a little bit, but we’re working to keep up with NC and haven’t pushed to spread out much in SC.

Anything else you'd like to plug? Website? Twitter?

Website: www.muddyriverdistillery.com
Facebook: Muddy River Distillery
Twitter: @1stCarolinaRum
Instagram: muddyriverdistillery

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some questions.

Queen Charlotte’s Reserve Carolina Rum

Purchase info: My bottle was a gift from Robbie and Muddy River Distillery, but if you are in North Carolina, you can pick it up at an ABC store for $27.95 as of this writing.

Details: Aged in new charred oak barrels. 42% ABV

Nose: Delicate sweetness. Honey, dried grasses and a hint of smoke.

Mouth: Warm and tingly with a delicate sweetness. Vanilla, baking spices and a hint of mint.

Finish: Warm with a decent length. Fades to a pleasant bitterness.

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Thoughts: I really like this one. This is the first rum I would drink straight. The one I’m tasting tonight was a gift from the distiller, but the next time I’m in North Carolina I’m stocking up.

Review: Rittenhouse Rye Bottled in Bond

I like rye whiskey. It might be my favorite whiskey style, when I’m in certain moods. I tend to really enjoy the pine and pickle juice many ryes bring to the table. I’m one of those guys who loves sipping on the 95% MGPi ryes and the 100% Canadian Ryes. They are just the right change of pace when I’m looking to switch up from bourbon. 

I do not, however, tend to use them in a Sazerac, my favorite rye cocktail. I just can’t seem to get the balance right. Those kinds of ryes bring too much pine to the party. Which is fine, it just means that I also need to keep a rye on hand that brings the classic rye rye flavor profile as well. One that isn’t a pine and pickle juice sort of rye.

Rittenhouse Rye Bottled in Bond is not a pine and pickle juice sort of rye. There are a bunch of others. Baby Sazerac is nice, if you can find it. Wild Turkey Rye 101 is the same. There are others. But I tend to settle on Rittenhouse myself. It’s a decent price. It’s a decent proof. And most importantly, it’s available whenever I go looking for it. 

Rittenhouse Rye Bottled-in-Bond

Purchase Info: $20-$25…I forget at Blue Max, Burnsville, MN

Details: Bottled in Bond, so 50% ABV, D.S.P. KY 354 (Brown-Forman for Heaven Hill)

Nose: fresh cut pine boards, citrus, dried grasses. Toffee-getting stronger the longer it sits.

Mouth: first sip is really hot. Under that is molasses, somehow sweet and bitter at the same time. Ginger, fruit and mint.

Finish: mouth-tingling cinnamon red hot candies with lingering heat and bitterness. Faint pine.

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Thoughts: I like this one, but I usually reserve it for cocktails. It makes a mean sazerac. The proof and spice hold their own against other ingredients. I find it to be a lot like a lovely, really spicy, bourbon. I tend not to sip it neat. Don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly nice for sipping, but if I’m reaching for a rye over a bourbon, I want it to be more rye-ish and less bourbon-ish. For me, the pine and pickle juice of many Canadian or MGPi ryes tend to be farther away from the bourbon flavor profile and what I’m looking for if I’m looking for a change of pace. Very nice though and a great price on it at around $25 (in Minnesota).

Book Review: Craft Cocktails at Home

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How much is a "dash" of bitters? What can I do to turn my tap water into "Magical Alpine Fairy-Water?" A cream whipper is just for making whipped cream, right? These are just a few of the questions that are answered in Craft Cocktails at Home by Kevin Liu. 

I originally picked up this book to answer that very first question above. I was trying to test out various bitters to see which I preferred. I do that. Head-to-head testing seems to be my favorite way to find these things out. But in order for the experiment to make sense, I needed to be consistent in my measures. A quick Google search led me to the Amazon listing forCraft Cocktails at Home. Before I knew it, it was ordered and on its way.

I figured if it could answer that one simple question, there were probably quite a few more that it could answer as well. And though I will probably never find myself making cranberry bubbles to put on top of a cocktail, the fact that I now have a reference as to how to go about doing it fills me with joy.

But the book doesn't just cover how to make drinks to impress your friends. It also covers topics that might make it less likely for you to kill them as well. Things such as shelf-life and preservation. There are also entire sections dedicated to filtering, carbonating, foaming, smoking and, yes, even something as "basic" as building a balanced drink.

I would say that the section on the science of flavor is probably my favorite. Or maybe it's the hacking together useful gadgets sections. Or maybe the part on bitters…

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To say that I enjoyed this book is an understatement. It hit the geeky science side of my personality perfectly and followed it up with some fun DIY hacking. And all in the service of making a fun cocktail. What's not to love?

Purchase Info: $7.88, Amazon.com

James E. Pepper 1776 Straight Rye Whiskey

Last November, when I was in Kentucky, I was looking for something I couldn’t get at home. I stood in the whiskey aisle of Liquor Barn trying to find something that was both normally unavailable to me and affordable. I looked for a while. A long while. My wife was in a hurry to get to the hotel. I wasn’t making her happy with my dawdling.

It didn’t take too much longer for me to finally grab something that I’d heard of, but hadn't had. That something was James E. Pepper 1776 Rye. I’d remembered that I’d heard something about it. Problem was, that I didn’t remember what I’d heard. I thought I remembered something positive. At the very least, I seemed to remember that I hadn’t heard anything bad. 

It turns out I had heard the good things about the 15 year version of the James E. Pepper line. And this was not that. In fact, after I got home, I realized that it claimed to have 95% Rye. So…MGPi. But I tend to like that flavor profile. And it was 100 proof and under $30 so I wasn’t too upset with the pickup.

James E. Pepper 1776 Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase info: ~$28, Liquor Barn, Louisville, KY

Nose: Pine forest and mint. Hints of cherry fruitiness, citrus and tobacco.

Mouth: Thick and oily. Mint. Soap. More cherry hints. Lots of pine and pickle juice.

Finish: More pickle. Warmth that lasts. Mint that lasts even longer.

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Thoughts: I thought the nose was the most interesting part of this one. It’s very nice. I Iiked the whiskey neat, my wife didn’t. Though I will admit, it is a bit one-note. But it made a good Sazerac (which is my go to rye cocktail). In the end, this is basically a higher proof version of Bulleit Rye. It’s a bit sweeter. The flavors are a little bit muddier. If you like that flavor profile and this is sold near you, pick it up (if you don’t like that flavor profile, I’d advise you to skip it). It's a pleasant enough whiskey, but what I really like about it is that the bottler isn’t charging an arm and a leg for something they didn’t produce. MGPi juice gets a poor reputation, not because it is bad, but because people keep trying to pass it off as their own “craft” and charging small producer prices for it. In this case, it’s about the same price as the most widely distributed MGPi (Bulleit) and it’s a higher proof. So that’s a win.

Book Review: Founding Spirits—George Washington and the Beginnings of the American Whiskey Industry

In February, my wife and I made a trip to Virginia to meet some friends, spend some time sightseeing with my uncle and generally check out if I liked the state. One of the sights we saw was George Washington’s home at Mt. Vernon. If you are into early US history, you should check it out. I was there at open and stayed long enough to have a late lunch. In fact for spirits fans if you go in the summer, you can visit the recreation of George Washington’s distillery. If you go in winter, like I did, you can pick up the book about it. Like I did.

Founding Spirits: George Washington and the Beginnings of the American Whiskey Industry

Author: Dennis J. Pogue

Purchase info: $24.95 at the gift shop of George Washington’s Mt. Vernon

This book is a nice overview of the history of the American whiskey industry as seen through the lens of George Washington. As the subtitle states, the book starts with George Washington, giving an overview of his life before, during and after his Presidency. 

In the first part of the book, the author examines Washington’s relationship with “spiritous liquors.” He shows us how Washington, as was the custom at the time, bought votes by supplying alcohol to the voters. How he diligently practiced the customs of hospitality and made sure his guests had something to drink even leaving instructions on what to serve while he was away being President. The book even details Washington’s complicated views on alcohol by telling us how Washington believed in both the “healthsome” benefits of alcohol and recognized the dangers of continual overindulgence. And, of course, the book discusses both the fact that Washington led troops against whiskey distillers who didn’t want to pay their taxes and then opened up one of the largest whiskey distilleries in the early days of the country. Rightly showing that there was no hypocrisy there.

The second part of the book details the business of running Mt. Vernon. Which, to me was made much more interesting by having just visited before reading the book. This portion describes the many ventures that Washington tried to make his lovely plantation profitable, fishing, planting, dairy cattle, milling and, yes, the production of whiskey, rum and brandy. It also talks about Washington’s views on the evils of slavery. It’s a sad thing to say, that in this case, the economics of running a profitable business overcame the fact that he seemed to hate even the idea of slavery. He did eventually free his slaves, but in his will and only after his wife had also died. There is also a brief chapter describing the distillery itself. This includes both historical records and archeological information that the author uncovered while digging at the distillery site.

The third part of the book is the topic of the second part of the subtitle. It is an overview of the history of the whiskey industry from the death of Washington, through Temperance, Prohibition and Repeal, then up to the modern day. It’s mostly things you may have read before if you’ve read books on the subject, but there are a few tidbits in there as well. 

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The book finishes with the story of how the modern rebuilding of the distillery at Mt. Vernon, and it’s whiskey, came to be. Overall, I found the book to be well written and very interesting. It had just the right amount of detail for me. Digging deep for the parts that needed it and speeding past those that didn’t. I liked it a lot and recommend it to fans of American history and the history of American spirits.