Review: Knob Creek Rye

February 19, 2015 Eric Burke

In my life, I’ve had two amazing Manhattans. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a bunch of good ones, but amazing ones seem to be rare. For the first, I was out with some friends from work, the boss was there, so it turned into a brainstorming session. The drink was made with Booker’s. It was rich, well balanced and wonderful. Wonderful in spite of working after hours.

The second was just the opposite. I was out with a friend. We work together, but it’s a rare treat to be out having a drink with him. We were having a beer while chatting. I ordered some food. He did the same. It was good. About halfway through my Mac and Cheese, I noticed a cocktail menu nearby. After looking, I ordered a Manhattan. The bartender asked what whiskey I wanted in it. I looked up at the shelf and told him.

“Nice,” he said. Even though I already knew it was a good choice, I still felt slightly better about it when the bartender agreed. It is really amazing what a little affirmation from a stranger will do.

So we sat there, chatting. My friend with his beer and me with my Manhattan. We did the normal things. Bitched about work. Told gossip. Talked about our kids. it was fun. One of the nicest times I’ve had out with a friend.

Good conversation, good company, rich Mac and Cheese and a drink. To be honest, that drink would have been good even if it had been made with Cabin Still. The fact that I chose Knob Creek Rye just bumped it into the amazing realm. Good company will raise a mediocre drink to good and a good one to amazing.

Knob Creek Rye

Purchase Info: $31.99 for a 750 mL at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV, “patiently aged”

Nose: Dried Apricot, black pepper, clove, cherry, almond, and strong oak with a touch of vanilla.

Mouth: Dry and spicy. Black pepper, mint, cherry and almonds mix with herbal oaky notes.

Finish: Dry with mint, cherry/almonds, herbs and occasional brief flashes of pickle.

Thoughts: I’m conflicted. I want to say I like this a lot, because I do. But I’m thinking I like it better in a cocktail than on its own. When neat, it is almost too herbal. But as a part of a cocktail that exact same flavor works extremely well. Especially when mixed with a vermouth other herbal infused liqueur.

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The cookie made me do it: Chocolate and Chai infused Rye Whiskey Liqueur

February 12, 2015 Eric Burke

I have a new way of drinking my tea.

“Your tea?” You may ask.

Well, yes. But I wouldn’t bring it up if it weren’t pertinent.

Every Christmas one of my coworkers makes a chocolate chai cookie. It is delightful and honestly one of the highlights of the holiday season. The first time I tried it, I thought to myself that it would feel even more decadent if it were also alcoholic. So I set out to figure out how to create it.

Being me, I have a lot of whiskey on hand. Some of it amazingly high proof (high proof being better for infusing than low proof, think the difference between making tea using hot water and cold water). So having a lot of suitable whiskey on hand, I decided that it would need a whiskey base. But bourbon or rye? I ended up choosing rye for two reasons. One, I had a high proof rye that was a bit young that I wasn’t enjoying neat. And two, I thought rye flavors would play nicely with the chocolate I was planning on using.

So I started with 1.5 cups of Rye whiskey, I used Willett distilled 2 year old rye because it was really high proof and relatively replaceable. You never know what is going to come of infusing so using something that you can't buy again isn't recommended. I added 4.5 tablespoons of loose chai tea blend to an infusing bag and let that steep for two hours. Buy a good loose tea (not powder) that you'd like to drink on it's own. I bought Reena's Chai from local tea vendor TeaSource.

The chai infused rye was really spicy and very bitter at this point. It might have worked nice in a cocktail as a substitute for bitters...I might need to remember that idea. After removing the tea, I added the cacao nibs. About half a cup. I then let that sit for three days.

After three days, strain out the cacao nibs. Let it drain really well. Between the tea, the nibs and the tastings, I lost about half a cup of liquid by this point even though I thought I was squeezing everything really well. If you taste again at this point you will be convinced that what we have made is a bitter mess. A high proof bitter mess that's also really spicy. Think of it, tea and unsweetened chocolate. Yeah. Come to think of it, maybe this would make a better bitters...

So what counteracts bitterness? SUGAR!!! (though a little salt wouldn't have hurt either, but I just thought of that...) I dissolved half a cup of organic sugar into 3/8 of a cup of water. By my back-of-a-napkin calculations, this should bring it down below 80 proof, a nice gentle spot for a liqueur. Add that to the infused whiskey, give it a shake and you get a nice frothy liquid in your jar.

But one thing was missing. The taste is right, the smell is right, but the mouth feel is off. This is a chai tea inspired drink, even if it did travel down the inspiration road through cookie town. One of the best ways to enjoy chai is with milk. And so I tried that. I went 2 ounces of the liqueur and 1 ounce of the milk.

It was very good. Creamy, chocolaty, spicy. Not too sweet but sweet enough to bring out the flavors of all the ingredients. I think this one is a winner.

Chocolate and Chai Rye whiskey liqueur

1.5 cups rye whiskey (the high the proof the better)
4.5 tbsp loose chai blend tea
0.5 cup Cacao nibs
0.5 cup sugar
.375 cup water

An every day favorite: Wild Turkey 101 proof bourbon

February 10, 2015 Eric Burke

Want to make a friend who doesn’t drink bourbon wonder what you’re up to? Walk up to the bar with him and after he places his order, order a Wild Turkey. For good or ill, Wild Turkey has a reputation. A reputation as the drink of choice for those who care more about getting fucked up than for good taste.

Maybe it harkens back to being the drink of choice for Hunter S. Thompson (kids, ask your parents). Maybe it's the numerous appearances in the hands of tough guys on tv and in the movies going back 40 years or more. Or maybe it’s just that as many other bourbon brands were dropping their proof to 86 or 80, Wild Turkey sat firm at 101. It’s a reputation that those who sell Wild Turkey have been happy to exploit with advertising campaigns such as the infamous “Give ‘em the Bird” campaign from a few years ago.

But all that said, there’s a little secret hiding behind that reputation. And that's that it’s largely undeserved. Wild Turkey might be the softest, most complex bourbon you can find in it’s proof and price range. It’s sweet, spicy and well aged. It’s a damn good bourbon. And as it was one of the first that I purchased as I started my bourbon journey, it’s partially responsible for turning me on to bourbon in the first place.

Wild Turkey 101 proof Bourbon

Purchase Info: $21.99 for a 750mL at Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN

Details: 50.5% ABV

Nose: Citrus oils, bubble gum, brown sugar, allspice.

Mouth: Velvety mouthfeel. Sweet. Caramel, ginger, citrus and a nice bit of oak.

Finish: Long and warm. Sweet ginger and a lively tingle dance across the tongue after you swallow.

Thoughts: You’d be hard pressed to find a more complex bourbon for under $25 than the 101 proof version of Wild Turkey. It’s sweet, spicy and full flavored with a nice nose and a lovely finish. It’s proof and price make it versatile enough to hold it’s own in a cocktail or while cooking and tasty enough that you can enjoy it neat as well. This is one of my every day favorites and I try to always have one on the shelf.

Like the fire of 1,000 suns, it's a very hot Stagg Jr. Mmmmm...tasty, tasty suns.

January 29, 2015 Eric Burke

I walked into the liquor store to get a bottle of wine for the pizza sauce I was making that night.

“Hi Eric.” I heard from behind the counter. I looked over startled. I didn’t ever talk to anyone here, how did they know my name?

When I looked over, I noticed that it was the former manager of one of the liquor stores I used to frequent all the time, but that I hadn’t been to since their bourbon selection sort of fell off.

“Oh, hi!” I barely got out before heading down to the wine section. I knew I needed to get that before I got distracted by bourbon. This guy had a tendency to do that to me.

After getting up to the counter, we made small talk for a bit before he let me know “I have a bottle of Stagg Jr. in the office. It’s not going to hit the shelf, if you’re interested.”

…blink…

Well, this was unexpected. Did I want it? Good question. I was having some well documented personal difficulties with Sazerac’s labeling. But this wasn’t an offending product. And I’d heard good things.

“How much?” I asked expecting a fairly outrageous price.

“About $48”

“Yes.” I answered, barely letting him finish.

This, kids, is why it pays to build relationships that span the course of several years with your local liquor store.

And so a trip for a $9 bottle of wine turned into a $63 stop after taxes. Honestly, I don’t even know why my wife lets me go to stores by myself anymore. I do have a history of randomly walking out having spent 700-1000% of what my plan was. In any case, I plan to start frequenting this store a little more.

Stagg Jr.

Purchase info: $47.99 for a 750 mL at Marketplace Liquors, Savage, MN

Details: 64.35% ABV

Nose: Lots of ethanol on this. Floral, red berries, mint, bubblegum, sourdough and a faint odor of old barn.

Mouth: Very hot and sweet. Caramel, mint, leather, tobacco, cayenne pepper.

Finish: Warm, long and drying. Leather and black pepper.

Thoughts: This is way too hot for me to enjoy neat. I don’t like my bourbon to cause pain. Let’s add some water to bring this down to about 100° proof.

Nose: Really tames the ethanol. Brown sugar is abundant, caramel and vanilla too. Floral notes are still there along with the bubble gum. There is now a bready note as well.

Mouth: The fire has been muted, though not extinguished. There is a nice tingle now. It’s still sweet with caramel but the lack of fire allows a fruity note to appear. Mint and cayenne are still there. Tobacco and leather have been replaced by a nice oak flavor.

Finish: nice and warm with lingering oak.

Thoughts: Wow. Now that I can taste something other than fire, I really like this. It’s sweet and fruity but nicely balanced with spice and oak. If you can find it for less than 1.5 times the price of regular Buffalo Trace, pounce on it. It’s worth the slight premium to gain the ability to dilute it to your preferred strength.

W.L. Weller 12 year old

January 22, 2015 Eric Burke

Looking for a good, easy-to-find bourbon that won’t cost you an arm and a leg?

Oh, you are? Shit. Well this isn’t it.

Once upon a time you could get a bottle of W.L. Weller 12 year old bourbon easily and for a decent price. Not in Minnesota, I’ve never seen it here. But in areas where it was distributed, it was just…there. Sitting on the shelf. Historically, running somewhere between $20 and $30.

Anecdotally it seems this is no longer the case. Weller 12 has fallen victim to the frenzy over it’s higher-priced corporate cousin and is out of stock basically everywhere I look online. Looking on wine-searcher.com (which lists historical price averages going back to 2007), I see they are claiming the current average price to be $59. In fact, five of the seven listings they show are $89 or over.

I have some advice. Don’t pay this much for this bourbon. Settle down, take a breath and realize that while this is decent, it isn’t earth-shatteringly so. If you want a wheated bourbon, get a different Weller, a Larceny or even a Maker’s Mark. If you want a 12 year old bourbon go with Elijah Craig. If you are only looking at this because it is supposed to be like (that other bourbon that will not be named)?

Well, there’s no hope for you. You, I give permission to go pay $90+ because you’re going to do it anyway. Just remember if this is the only reason you want Weller 12, your reasoning is flawed. This is not that. It’s failed at that already. Didn’t make the cut. Tasted different enough to not be chosen.

So now that the rant is over, is the bourbon any good?

W.L. Weller 12 Year Old bourbon

Purchase info: $29.99 for a 750 mL at Dorignac’s Food Center, Metairie, LA

Details: 45% ABV, Aged 12 years

Nose: Cherry preserves, oak, clove, ginger, cotton candy

Mouth: Hot. Bubble gum, clove, black pepper, mint

Finish: Nice and warm with a decent length. Nutty, mint oak, baking spices.

Thoughts: This is a decent bourbon. I don’t prefer wheated bourbons so I normally choose something else when this is on my shelf. But if you are a fan of wheaters and run across it and the price is somewhere in the ballpark of MSRP, it’s a good one to pick up. I normally do. And provided the price is right I’ll probably continue to do so.

Highwood Ninety 20 Year Old

January 20, 2015 Eric Burke

Due north of Glacier National Park (and basically due south of Calgary) sits High River, Alberta. Wikipedia tells me that it’s a town of about 13,000 people. So roughly six times the size of the town I grew up in. In the whisky world it’s best known for being the home of Highwood Distillers. Who, outside of Canada is best know for losing some of their bottled whisky when the Highwood River (and other area rivers) flooded and the town was evacuated.

Before tonight I only dimly remembered all of that. What I did remember was that my friend Rick thought enough of this whisky to send it to me as an alternative to the Canadian Club Rye in that massive whisky box he sent me.

My research tells me this is 100% corn and the bottle tells me that it is aged for 20 years.

Highwood Ninety 20 year old

Purchase Info: Another gift from a friend. (Available at LCBO for $50 Canadian for 750 mL)

Details: 45% ABV. 20 years old.

Nose: Thick, rich butterscotch. Corn silage, dried orange peal, maple

Mouth: Werther’s Original candy, cloves, orange and a nice peppery tingle.

Finish: Long and warm with lingering sweetness and cloves.

Thoughts: This is a very sweet whisky. But it has a really nice tingle to go along with it. And it’s a tingle, not a burn. This feels sophisticated. It knows what it is and doesn’t need to punch you in the mouth. It’s just darn good.

Angel's Envy Head-to-Head-to-Head review

January 15, 2015 Eric Burke

I used to have this impression of Angel’s Envy that it was a non-bourbon drinker’s bourbon. I’m not sure where that came from. Maybe it was the exquisitely designed bottle with angel wings on the back and on the bottom of the cork. Maybe it was the angel-winged ladies I saw working in an Angel’s Envy popup bar at BourbonFest. Maybe it was that the first time I had it, it was so light and sweet that it didn’t really taste like bourbon.

Of course, I’d tried it after a full plate of barbecue so…yeah.

In the intervening time since my first taste of the product, I’ve come to respect the company more than my first impressions would have hinted at. The Hendersons are active on forums and blogs and seem like stand-up guys. Never claiming to have made the whiskey just letting you know that they finished it in other barrels and blended it. On top of that I’ve had a few more glasses of the whisky and ended up with a different impression than that first one with the burned out palate.

Now you might ask why I would go back to try again when I was a bit turned off by it to begin with. I’d like to say that it was due to fairness and such. But to be honest, in an indirect way it was that oh-so-pretty bottle that brought it back into my life. My mother-in-law likes to buy me bourbon. But she doesn’t know anything about bourbon so she grabs the prettiest bottle she can find. Twice that has been Angel’s Envy. The first bottle she gave us wasn’t to my tastes. My wife liked it well enough that when I saw that a store just across the Wisconsin border from us had a private selection, I picked it up for her.

I liked that one. A lot. So when mom-in-law got us another bottle this year, I was kind of excited. Then I tasted it…suddenly less excited. I couldn’t understand what was going on. I looked and it turns out to be the exact same batch as the first one she got us. That got me to thinking. I needed to find another batch and see what’s up here. And that brings us to today.

Angel’s Envy Head-to-Head-to-Head Review

These are listed in the order I was exposed to them.

Batch 7N

Purchase Info: A gift from my mother-in-law.

Details: 43.3% ABV. Batch 7N, bottle 2331. Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Port Wine Barrels.

Nose: Banana Bread, oak, caramel, faint nutmeg.

Mouth: Sweet. Oak, mint, cinnamon, green pea pods.

Finish: Gentle. Lingering bitterness, mint and more pea pods.

Thoughts: Not a ton of flavor, delicate. I’m not a huge fan of this one. The pea pod thing just isn’t for me. If this were my only exposure to the brand my main thought would be vegetal and not good.

Batch C1

Purchase Info: $41.99 for a 750 mL from Chicone’s Liquor Mart, Hudson, WI

Details: 43.3% ABV. Batch C1 (Chicone’s Private Selection). Bottle 86. Blend Percentages 20% A, 50% B, 30% C. Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Port Wine Barrels.

Nose: Sweet apple, anise, cinnamon, oak

Mouth: Mint, cinnamon, baked apple, nutmeg.

Finish: Warm. Long. Lingering baking spices and bitterness.

Thoughts: This is nice. It’s fruity warm and spicy. I’d buy a second bottle if I went back and they still had one.

Batch 8S

Purchase Info: $44.99 for a 750 mL at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 43.3% ABV. Batch 8S, bottle 1071. Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Port Wine Barrels.

Nose: Floral, caramel, red berries, clove, spearmint leaves.

Mouth: Nice tingle, peppery. Cloves, cayenne, whole grain bread, mint and a touch of caramel.

Finish: Mint, black pepper, cloves and more floral notes which transition to a lingering bitterness.

Thoughts: Nice full flavor. Good balance between spice and mint with neither being dominant. Just a hint of sweetness. This is a good batch. I like it.

Comparison Thoughts: The store pick (C1) is my favorite of the bunch with Batch 8S coming in a close second. C1 has a fuller mouth feel and a baking spice focus. 8S continues on the spice train but has a bit more mint. 7N is kind of a train wreck. It tastes vegetal. Not a flavor I care for.

Batch variation aside, I think I like Angel’s Envy more than other wine-finished whiskies. The port influence is subtler and better integrated into the bourbon than the others I’ve had.

A gift from a friend: Canadian Club, Classic 12

January 6, 2015 Eric Burke

Friends. Friends are great things to have. Friends are there to console you when you are sad. Celebrate with you when you are happy. They know to spend time with you when you are lonely and when to stay away when you need space. Friends pay attention to you, your needs and your wants. Sometimes, friends even give you gifts.

It was almost a month ago now that I was whining on twitter about really wanting to try a certain 100% Rye whisky that appeared only in the Canadian marketplace. It was about two weeks later that a surprise Christmas gift from a Canadian friend showed up on my doorstep. Inside that were three whiskies. Two only available in Canada and this one, Canadian Club Classic 12 which is available in vast quantities in Minnesota. Available, yet somehow neither my wife nor I had never tried it.

When you look on the store shelf, the bottle looks remarkably like the Canadian Club Sherry Cask that we explored a while back. Maybe this was the source of my overlooking it for so long. It’s either that or even after all the experience that tells me otherwise, maybe I still suffer from a hint of a bias against inexpensive Canadian whisky due to past experiences from younger days. If that’s the case, shame on me. Especially since I even kinda enjoyed the regular Canadian Club.

So let’s see if this is one that should have stayed overlooked or if there has been a great value just sitting there waiting for us to find it.

Canadian Club Classic 12

Purchase info: Gift, though it is available for around $18 for a 750 mL in Minnesota

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Cedar and butterscotch initially. After a bit, pencil shavings and brief hints of cinnamon and acetone are added.

Mouth: Rich butterscotch, honey, black pepper, baking spices and vanilla cake.

Finish: Lingering warmth with butterscotch, black pepper and vanilla cake.

Thoughts: If, like me, you like rich sweet whiskies, this is for you. It’s inexpensive, sweet, and has a much nicer finish than I am used to from an 80 proof Canadian whisky. I may have received this small bottle as a gift, but I’m certainly going to be buying a big bottle soon.

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