A visit to Tattersall Distilling, Northeast Minneapolis.

Cocktails in the Tattersall Distilling Cocktail Room. (Photo Credits: Producer: Sam Kovar. Photographer: Tom Okins.)

Tattersall Distilling Cocktail Room. (Photo Credits: Producer: Sam Kovar. Photographer: Tom Okins.)

Most of the distilleries I’ve been to are just that, distilleries. They might have a sample area or a gift shop where they can interact with the prospective customers. But at the end of the day, they are there to make a product. This is all well and good. But if you are a small operation, you need to get your name out there. You can’t just hope that people will be walking past the shelf and happen to look at your bottle. 

I’ve recently discovered that there is another way to go about it. I recently met a friend for a drink at Tattersall Distilling in Northeast Minneapolis. That’s right, I went to a distillery for a drink. You see, Minnesota recently passed a law allowing distilleries to apply for a license to have a cocktail room on premise. Tattersall was blessed with that all important quality in business—timing—and took full advantage of the new law when they opened. 

The distillery at Tattersall Distilling. (Photo Credits: Producer: Sam Kovar. Photographer: Tom Okins.)

Tattersall was opened by Dan Oskey and Jon Kreidler about a year, year and a half ago. Friends since childhood, the pair decided to make a career change and attended the Michigan State Distilling School. After learning their craft, they got to work getting the distillery up and running. Oskey was a highly renowned bartender, helping to develop the cocktail program at multiple local establishments including The Strip Club in St. Paul. Kreidler was, to quote their website, “a financial wizard.” But it wasn’t just the two of them, drawing on a wealth of talented friends that included marketers, architects, and others, they set out to build not just a distillery, but an experience. 

Tattersall is located in a building with a long history. Built in the 1910s it was a place where they were making the top secret Norden bombsight during World War II. The guard tower still stands above the outdoor patio. With exposed Bethlehem Steel beams, high wood ceilings and concrete floors it was the perfect place to house a distillery and the very cool cocktail room. 

Outside on the patio of Tattersall Distilling. (Photo Credits: Producer: Sam Kovar. Photographer: Tom Okins.)

The cocktail room is the heart of the business. It is a cool, industrial place to grab a high quality craft cocktail made by bartenders poached from some of the top cocktail establishments in the area. Beyond the glass walls is the distillery itself where patrons may occasionally get to watch the products being made on beautiful Vendome stills. 

Though they sell many of their products at local liquors stores and restaurants in Minnesota, the biggest selection is available in the cocktail room itself. It was explained to me this way: the distillery makes all the items that the cocktail room needs. They make gins, vodka, numerous liqueurs and bitters. The notable exception is whiskey. Right now the cocktail room uses a bourbon that is sourced from a distillery in Kentucky and bottled by them for use in their cocktails. 

Barrels aging at Tattersall Distilling. (Photo Credits: Producer: Sam Kovar. Photographer: Tom Okins.)

Don’t be sad though. They have started production on a rye whiskey as well as wheated and rye bourbons. The rye whiskey will be 100% rye using rye grain and rye malt and aged for at least two years. They want to put out a straight product. For the bourbons, though they wouldn’t tell me the ingredient ratios, they did let me know that they are using different malts for both the wheat and the rye bourbons as well as a specialty yeast that was developed in Scotland. Kreidler tells me that the barrels are sourced here in Minnesota and will be aged in “as big of barrels as they can buy, though no smaller than 30 gallons.” 

Tattersall Distilling Chief Officer, Jon Kreidler. (Photo by Eric Burke.)

Overall I like a lot of the things that Tattersall is doing. With the cocktail room, they know where their money is coming from so they won’t have to cut corners and just sell “what they have.” They can take the time to develop products that are innovative, unique, and most importantly good. Knowing that even with their training, they don’t have all the answers, they brought in consultants who did—on every topic from distilling a clean product to how to set up an industrial factory floor. Knowing that the cocktail room was going to be the lifeblood, they hired the best folks they could to make those cocktails and invested in a cool and cozy spot for people to drink them in. 

Overall if you are in the Minneapolis metro area, I’d highly recommend stopping in. I had an Old Fashioned and it was quite good. Tours are given Saturdays.

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JP Wiser's Hopped Whisky

I spend a lot of time reading about whisky. Mostly bourbon, but I branch out in my reading too. I like Rye and Canadian so I read about those as well. A few times a day, I share the ones I find interesting on Twitter. Back in August I read about something interesting that was coming out in Canada. 

I thought a hopped whisky sounded interesting. I know that the most general description of whisky is distilled beer. And I know that certain distillers, like Maker’s Mark, use hops in their yeast. So it didn’t seem like too far of a stretch to see a hop flavor in the whisky itself. If you follow the link above, it sounds like Wiser’s uses the equivalent of dry-hopping a beer (adding the hops after the beer has cooled) to minimize the bitterness hops can provide.

In any case, I assumed that I would put it on the list for the next time I visited Canada and that would be that. But wouldn’t you know it, a friend of mine near Toronto decided it would be fun to send me some to see what my reaction would be. 

JP Wiser’s Hopped whisky

Purchase Info: gift from a Canadian friend, but it sells at the LCBO for $27-$29 Canadian.

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Sweetness and hops combine to resemble nothing less than dry erase markers. After a while I get a lot of cocoa on the nose.

Mouth: Sweet, chocolate, bready. This is a lot like a chocolate stout with no carbonation and a thinner mouthfeel. There is also a touch of maple.

Finish: Gentle warmth with more chocolate.

A Smile because I like this

Thoughts: I like this a lot. Chocolate stout is one of my favorite beer styles and this hits a lot of the same notes. Aside from the carbonation, it’s almost more like drinking a beer than a whisky. Looking forward to trying this in a couple whisky cocktails to see what it does.

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Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, 2015

There is a strange phenomenon I’ve noticed when I discuss tasting notes with people. We will often use the most awful sounding descriptors to mean the most pleasant things. I’m reminded of a tasting that I and a few brand new friends of mine had in my hotel room while I was in Toronto last. The statement of “this reminds me of candle wax, terrific!” was heard. We were drinking some good single malt (yes, even for me such things pop up now and then). I thought it odd, but since I had less enthusiastically decided on band-aids to describe the same note I didn’t feel I should judge. Since that time, I’ve kept my eyes and ears open while on blogs and in discussions and again and again, this same thing happens. 

I say that by way of introducing this year’s Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. I’ve read a lot of descriptions of Old Forester and Woodford Reserve that talk about a “plastic” note or an “artificial” note. They don’t tend to mean this in a good way. Others call it apples, pears, floral or fruity. These are obviously more complementary. It took me until last year to accurately describe what I was sensing. To me it seems like the smell of freshly painted latex paint. And thinking back to that Toronto hotel room, I mean it in a complementary way. Like a freshly painted room can smell fresh and clean, so does Old Forester to me.

In any case, think about this as you read the notes below. I really like this bourbon, but as you read the notes, you might not realize that.

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, 2015 release.

Purchase info:  Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. 750 mL bottle for $74.99.

Details: 50% ABV. 12 year age stated

Nose: Strong latex paint (or whatever you call the typical Brown Forman note) along with some vanilla, mixed berries, caramel and brown sugar.

Mouth: Syrupy mouthfeel. Caramel, brown sugar, baking spices. 

Finish: Sweet with lingering heat, latex paint and fruitiness.

A happy face because I like this one.

Thoughts: If you are an Old Forester fan, Birthday Bourbon seldom disappoints. Its got all the same notes as any Brown Forman bourbon. They are just stronger and more concentrated and it’s older so there is typically more oak. This release is no exception. It’s Old Forester, just more so. I would say that though I think I liked last year’s better, this is still a solid pick should you find it.

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Wild Turkey Rye 101 proof, pre- and post-hiatus comparison

If you are a rye whiskey fan, you were probably pretty sad a couple years ago when it was announced that Wild Turkey Rye 101 was going on hiatus. Wild Turkey always maintained that it was actually a hiatus and not a discontinuation. They urged patience. Or maybe you’d like to take a look at the 81 proof rye or Russell’s Reserve Rye?

Why would you be sad that a fairly low priced rye whiskey was going away however briefly? Well that’s the biggest reason, it was very nicely priced. Add in that it was a tasty “everyday” rye and one of the few ryes on the market that wasn’t just MGP rye in another bottle and you have the full answer. 

About a year after it went away, I was walking through one of my local liquor stores when I saw a single bottle of Wild Turkey 101 Rye sitting there. I was a bit surprised when I saw it sitting there. To say that it immediately went into my shopping basket is an understatement. I got it home and immediately put it into the closet. Fun bit of trivia: this was the first bottle of whiskey that I purchased to put away for a future story. 

Now of course, Wild Turkey 101 Rye is back on the shelves. The price has crept up a little in the interval and the label has been updated, but it is back. Of course, I want to find out how it compares to the pre-hiatus juice. I really want to eliminate any preconceived notions, so let’s go double-blind on this one. 

Wild Turkey Rye 101 proof, pre- and post-hiatus comparison

Purchase info: Pre-hiatus: MGM Liquor and Spirits, 750 mL bottle for $18.99. Post-hiatus: Ace Spirits, 1L bottle for $29.99.

Details: 50.5% ABV

Rye A

Nose: Mint/rosemary, caramel, baking spices and black tea

Mouth: Hot and sweet. Lots of mint with some cookie dough, black tea and baking spices.

Finish: This is a hot finish. One that you just want to breathe in on. Allowing the cool minty air sooth your hot tongue. Lingering mint and sweetness.

Rye B

Nose: More muted than A with spearmint, caramel, dried grasses and green apple.

Mouth: Soft and velvety, mint, pickle juice and baking spices. 

Finish: Short and sweet with cinnamon gum and mint.

Thoughts (Pre-reveal): These are certainly different from one another. Neither are bad. A is more tannic, but also hotter. My wife prefers this one. B has more of the mint/pickle rye flavors that I tend to like. It’s softer and doesn’t show it’s proof as much as A. I like B better. That said, neither of us would turn down a glass of either of these and no matter which is the current release, I’ll be happy to buy another bottle. Before I find out which is which, let me say that I’m glad that even though there was an evolution in flavors during the hiatus, there isn’t a step down in quality. 

A happy face because we both like these.

Thoughts (Post-reveal): Well, my wife is certainly a happy girl. A, the one she liked better, was the current release whereas my preferred dram was B, the pre-hiatus release. I’m not sad, but after sitting on the bottle for almost two years,I will be sure to keep the rest of this bottle for myself and not share. Allowing her the same consideration for the rest of the current release. Thankfully my bottle is still mostly full. Of course once both are gone and replaced with another bottle of the current release we will both be happy.

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A distillery visit and review: Wyoming Whiskey

Kirby, WY. From one end to the other.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect as the van I was driving crested the hill that gave me my first view of Kirby, Wyoming. I had read it was a small town. But even for a guy who spent a good portion of his childhood in a town with no population listed on the sign, Kirby was small. Off in the distance we saw one tall building. “A grain elevator?” I asked my wife.

Kirby, Wyoming is a village with a population just south of 100 people. It’s four block by five block area split in half by the railroad line that runs through the center of town. The roads are gravel. The houses are few. The nearest population center with over 50,000 people is Casper, WY, two and a half hours to the southeast. This is not the type of place that you would expect would be the home of a product that sits on store shelves in roughly half the country.

When I pulled into the parking lot in front of that one tall building (a distillery it turns out, not a grain elevator), I asked Samuel Mead, distiller at Wyoming Whiskey, why Kirby? The answer was simple: his family had a ranch there. It seems that that ranch was what allowed Wyoming Whiskey to go about setting up the distillery, distill product and allow it to age until it was ready to be sold. 

Ask any small distiller what the one thing they wish they had more of and the answer is probably going to be operating capital. A distillery is a huge investment, even after you’ve bought the equipment and gotten it up and running. Aged product takes time. Time where you are not making any money. Having another source of income allowed them to hire Steve Nally, formerly of Maker’s Mark, to come help them get running and as Mead says, “teach us how to make whiskey.” 

Launched in late 2012, Wyoming whiskey met with mixed reviews. Some folks gave it very high marks while others were not so happy with their bottle. When asked about the apparent discrepancy between batches, Mead was honest and told me that their quality control "may not have been the best early on." In an effort to combat this, they have recently hired a well regarded blender to help them out. With recent batches (batch 28 and on) having come under her supervision.  

Wyoming Whiskey, Batch 29. Purchased in Casper, WY at the Liquor Shed

As I was going to be through on a Sunday when the distillery was closed, I set up a tour with Distiller Samuel Mead. Photos follow.

Wyoming Whiskey, Kirby Wyoming. This is the tallest building in Kirby by a long shot.

There is a good reason why this is the tallest building in Kirby. They need it. This is a tall still.

The still is made by Vendome. It was made back when you could contact them and be reasonably sure of not being on an 18 month waiting list.

The back of the still features the cattle brand of the Mead family. I didn't think to ask what the TT stood for.

The still safe also features the brand. But I just put this picture in because I thought it was pretty.

If you look closely at the grain hoppers that feed into the cookers you'll notice that this is a wheated bourbon. 

This empty barrel is waiting to be filled.

Though the info is written on by hand, true to the cattle ranching roots, the barrel's logo is branded on.

When we entered an aging warehouse, I noticed this guy. Barrel number 1.

The last stop on the tour was the bottling line. Empty today as it was a Sunday. While there we got the opportunity to taste the tasty upcoming Cask-Strength Single Barrel release.

Wyoming Whiskey

Purchase Info: $34.99, 750 mL. The Liquor Shed, Casper, WY.

Details: 44% ABV. Batch 29. Bottled on July 31, 2015.

Nose: Caramel, custard and cola with just the barest hints of spice and oak underneath.

Mouth: A nice, but not overpowering, tingle. Sweet cola, vanilla and caramel. Herbal rosemary and mint. A nice biscuity flavor overall.

Finish: Gently warming and of ok length. Lingering herbal and cola flavors.

A smiley face because I like this.

Thoughts: This is certainly not your typical bourbon. And maybe that is why I am liking it so much. In a category that normally differs by degrees of sameness, this is a truly unique product. Wyoming Whisky may have had a rocky start, but if this is any indication of the direction they are headed under their new blender, they are now on the right track.

Because it is quite unique, I'd recommend trying one at a bar should you see it on the shelf. I like it a lot, but your milage may vary.

Want to know if Wyoming Whiskey is available in your state? Lucky for us they had this handy map in the stillhouse.

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Evan Williams Single Barrel, 2006 Vintage

Evan Williams Single Barrel. One of the most inexpensive single barrel bourbons on the market. Because they are released as vintages, trying to hit a slightly different flavor profile each year, it is fair to say that I have liked some more than others. It is also fair to say that for the last three years I’ve been less happy than in the past. So much so that I gave both 2003 and 2004 a solid meh and never even bought the 2005 edition.

But I’m the eternal optimist and it really is hard to pass up at least one bottle each year at the prices it sells for in the Twin Cities market. So when I saw 2006 on the shelf for less than $20, I had to pick it up. 

Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage, 2006

Purchase Info: $19.99, 750 mL bottle. Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 43.3% ABV. Barreled on May 12, 2006. Barrel # 275. Bottled on May 27, 2015

Nose: Caramel, vanilla and juicy fruit gum jump out at me at the first sniff. Under that are subtle hints of allspice, cloves and cayenne. 

Mouth: Syrupy mouthfeel. Sweet with earthy honey and a nice hint of oaky tannins. Mint, cloves and cayenne follow.

Finish: Decent length with a nice warmth that settles in the chest. Minty eucalyptis transistions to a nice tannic dryness to end it all.

A smile because I like this one.

Thoughts: As I stated above. I’m an eteranl optimist. Why else would I keep returning to a well that had seeminly run dry? This year, that optimism has paid off. I really like this one and am already working on my second bottle of it.

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Book Review: Bourbon Curious by Fred Minnick

Disclaimer: I consider Fred Minnick to be a friend and in my statement of ethics I promised to disclose when I am reviewing one of my friend’s products and to only review them when it was truly something I really liked. This is one of those times.

This past February, when I first heard that my friend Fred Minnick was writing another book, I was excited. I preordered the book, knowing nothing about it. Didn’t know the topic, didn’t know the length, intended audience, anything. I preordered the book because I like Fred’s writing style and because I’ve enjoyed his other books immensely.

I ordered it, then I forgot about it. At least until I started seeing reviews pop up online. The reviews were good and so I was excited when it arrived in the Amazon box with a couple other books that I’d ordered. 

My first impression was that the publisher did a nice job on the book. I like hardcover books, but hate the hassle of dust jackets. This had no dust jacket. The cover art was printed on the cover. I opened it up and was immediately hit with the smell of the printed page. Wonderful. I was liking the book already and I hadn’t even started reading it yet.

I wasn’t let down once I did start reading it either. Though this is a book targeted less at the bourbon enthusiast and more at the bourbon novice, I still found a lot of interesting bits to the book. It starts with a breakdown of certain well known bourbon-industry myths. This leads you into a quick overview of bourbon history and politics, both the celebrated and the shameful. 

After we learn a bit about how bourbon as a concept came to be what it is today, we learn about how bourbon as a product comes about. There are two chapters about the ingredients and processes of making bourbon. 

To this point, the first hundred pages or so, the book will be as interesting to enthusiasts as it is to novices. After this though, if you are the type of bourbon geek who already takes notes and has a well developed palate the next hundred of the book may not be targeted at you. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t read it, but since it is more about how to train your palate, the tasting notes may not be up your alley. 

Before you pass this section by though, let me tell you this. The tasting notes are presented in an interesting manner. First they are broken up, not by company or brand but, by what flavor component the author felt was most dominant. After that, tasting notes for specific bourbons are presented along with details about the distillery and distiller that produced it, what the mashbill is, where those grains came from, barrel entry proof, how it was aged, the number of barrels used in a batch and even what filtration method was used. This is a set of geeky tasting notes and they are the part of this section I enjoyed the most. 

The last bit of the book is the appendix. As a history buff, this might be the section I will be referring back to most often. It is a short history of each of the major and many of the smaller bourbon brand names. It makes a wonderful finish to the book. 

A smile face because I really like this.

Throw in a few worksheets, the sidebars with fun tidbits and recipes, and the wonderful photographs and this is a book that is hard not to recommend to bourbon lovers of any experience level. It runs about 230 pages but is a quick and fun read. I finished my copy in about 4 hours or so. MSRP is $22.99, but I preordered mine on Amazon for a price of $11.24. Be sure to shop around.

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The people who keep me company at work: Whisky Podcasts

You may know that my main job is as a freelance designer (ahem...eburkedesign.com). I work on advertisements, direct mail, logos, promotional materials, posters, billboards and much more while standing at a desk just yards from my bed. 

My wife works a real job that pays a regular salary. A job that is nowhere near my bed.

This means that I spend a lot of my time with only dogs for conversation. Needless to say, they don’t talk a lot. And when they do it’s really only to complain that the UPS or FedEx person is here. In my need to add more human voices to my life, I listen to a lot of podcasts. 

podcast cover for WhiskyCast.

If you are a whiskey fan, you’ve surely heard of WhiskyCast. WhiskyCast was the first podcast about whisky I ever listened to, and I’ve been listening for four or five years now. WhiskyCast is hosted by Mark Gillespie. Described as “Cask strength conversation featuring news and interviews from the world of whiskey” Mark delivers just that every week. There is a news segment, a discussion segment and an in-depth segment that features interviews from people involved in all phases of whisky making from all of the whisky-making countries. It is such an interesting podcast that about a year ago my wife started making me wait for her to listen to them. Unfortunately that means I now binge listen to a month’s at a time while in the car with her. But even the older ones cause us to stop every few minutes to discuss what was just said. A 45 minute show may take us an hour and a half to listen to. 

Add in the fact that Mark is just a wonderful guy to listen to (and to talk to should you get the opportunity) and this is a can’t miss podcast for whisky lovers. 

For the longest time that was the end of my whisky podcast list. But recently I was made aware of another whisky podcast.

podcast cover for The Whisky Topic

(Full disclosure, I was made aware of it because Mark Bylok became one of the patrons of bourbonguy.com when I had a Patreon.com campaign going.) The Whisky Topic is a podcast is hosted by Mark Bylok, author of the Whisky Cabinet, and Jamie Johnson who runs a bourbon club in Toronto. Its tagline is “a casual conversation with whisky.” And it is exactly that. It is two friends, occasional guests and whisky. The conversation ranges from whisky topics of the day to whatever the guest is an expert in. 

And they really do have exquisite taste in guests. While I’ve been listening, they’ve had their area’s brand ambassador for Jim Beam, Davin de Kergommeaux, Josh Peters from the Whiskey Jug, author Reid Mitenbuler and…me.

That’s right, I am going to be a guest on this week’s episode. We chat about topics ranging from Templeton Rye to experiments in blending to my favorite “everyday” bourbons and maybe even lying to your doctor. I haven’t heard the final edit yet so I’m hoping they make me sound smart. That episode should be available for download sometime Wednesday. But every one of the five or so I’ve listened to so far have been great. If you are a whiskey lover, this is another one to add to your favorite podcast app.

So, now I have a question for the rest of you. Do you know of any other whiskey shows we should all be listening to? If so leave them in the comments below. I’d love to find a few more. I need all the human voices I can get.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!