Sample Roulette: Vacation Edition

Well, I’m back.

We had an amazing trip. One that was far too full of fun to spend time doing whiskey tastings. Well, almost. I did happen to toss a few blind samples in my bag to try. I was on a fun adventure and these little bottles had the possibility of being very adventurous.

I mean, these were samples that I had poured from 2011 until 2017 during my “hoarding phase” of whiskey fandom. During that time, I kept samples of everything I bought. It didn’t matter if it was a limited edition or a $10 handle. All of them had a sample poured and stashed in a little box. Last year I realized I no longer wanted to keep them and started to drink them. I’d covered the original labels with painters tape in order to make them blind, just because it was more fun that way.

So while we sat in my room that overlooked the shores of Lake Powell, planning the next day’s adventure, we took a little time to have a little whiskey adventure as well. Let’s see what I brought with and if any of it was as good (or as bad) as I remember.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 1:

Nose: Corn, toffee, and a mineral note.

Mouth: Spicy, Cinnamon, Cardamom, and a delicate fruit note.

Finish: Hot and Spicy. Notes of cinnamon and cardamom.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: I really like the spice of this one. My wife doesn't like cardamom so she isn't as big of a fan. That means I will get the rest of this pour. Yay!

Reveal: George Dickel 14-year-old private Select

Post-Reveal Thoughts: The bottle that this sample came from was purchased at a grocery store near New Orleans back in 2014. I remember it being very good and I still found it so. This makes me very excited to crack into the bottle of the 15-year-old Dickel that I found in Colorado on this trip.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 2:

Nose: Floral mint, brown sugar, and cherry.

Mouth: Cherry, brown sugar, cocoa, and nutmeg

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of cherry, nutmeg, and mint.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is really good. I'm feeling like this might be a really good Canadian Whisky. It has a mouthfeel that, while not thin, is on the thinner side. Good sweetness.

Reveal: Jefferson's Presidential Select, 18-year-old

Post-Reveal Thoughts: When I first reviewed this, I wasn’t a fan. I found it too woody and stated I wasn’t a fan of bourbon with an emphasis on wood notes. I guess I have mellowed with age when it comes to that particular flavor note because it didn’t even show up in my notes seven years later when I did this tasting. Interesting.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 3:

Nose: Dried grain and spearmint

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel, dried grain, spearmint, lots of cinnamon, and sugar sweetness.

Finish: Warm, but not too warm. More dried grain and cinnamon.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is pretty meh. Probably won't be finishing this one. Vacation is too short to spend time on meh whiskey.

Reveal: Old Fitzgerald Prime.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I don’t have much to add to that statement. I put this one away back in 2014 and gave it a meh then. I still think it’s pretty meh.

I always find this to be a fun exercise. You never know when you are going to put something truly terrible in your mouth and it makes every pour a little more exciting when the product is good. And this round we got two likes and a meh. Not bad for three shots in the dark.

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Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Whisky: Distiller's Edition 92 Proof

I am so excited. Tomorrow I get to pick up my 10-year-old niece so that Wednesday we can head off on her “Yay! You are 10!” trip. My wife and I did this for my brother’s oldest child when he turned 10 and have plans to do it for his youngest too. But this time around we are taking his middle child, and only girl. Our goal with this is to take the kids someplace where their parents can’t or won’t take them. To broaden their experiences and get them out of the small town they live in (because the small town I grew up in, and that my family still lives in, has quite a “small town attitude” if you know what I mean). And aside from giving them valuable life experiences as they are finally old enough to begin to comprehend it, the trip makes them feel special and grown-up. Plus we spoil them, of course, because that is what Aunts and Uncles are for.

A couple years ago, we asked her to pick where she wanted to go. At first she wanted to go to the ocean. Then the mountains. Finally she settled on the desert. Growing up in Northern Wisconsin, she has no idea why a trip to the desert in summer isn’t the greatest plan. But if the point is to go somewhere to broaden your experiences, going from an overabundance of water to a scarcity of it will be a good experience. So we are taking a trip to Utah to experience the National Parks, National Monuments, and National Recreation Areas.

It will be our first vacation since 2019 and we are super excited about it. But what does that have to do with the Catoctin Creek Whiskey up in the photo above? Absolutely nothing. I’m too excited about vacation to process much else. But that said, here is what the distillery has to say about the product:

Only one in every ten barrels gets selected to be in the Roundstone Rye "92 Proof" whisky. This whisky is the culmination of several years of planning. "For a few years now, we've been putting whisky away for storage," remarked Becky Harris, Chief Distiller and President of Catoctin Creek Distilling Company. "We pulled some of the more interesting barrels from the back of the barn and decided to release these at a higher proof: a whisky specially curated for flavor, while still being remarkably smooth, as is our existing 80 proof Roundstone."

A few notes on it. This is a 100% Rye Mash whiskey. Usually, that means I won’t care for it as I’m not really a fan of the flavor that malted rye brings to a drink. This is non-chill filtered which seems to be a trend lately. One I am enjoying seeing. Also, this is a single barrel product so my notes and yours may differ.

Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Whisky: Distiller's Edition 92 Proof

Purchase Info: $50.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.40

Details: 46% ABV. Non-chill filtered. 100% Rye Mash. Single Barrel # 1894

Nose: Cinnamon, mint, nutmeg, and red fruit.

Mouth: Spicy with strong notes of nutmeg and cinnamon. Herbal mint and red fruit.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Strong notes of spearmint and nutmeg.

Thoughts: If you are a fan of nutmeg, you will really like this one. I happen to be a nutmeg fan and was very pleasantly surprised to find nutmeg as the dominant note throughout the tasting experience. This worked well in a rye cocktail. I tried it in a Sazerac and it performed very nicely. I'm a fan and will probably be giving some of their other products a try in the near future.

Did you notice that this came out a day early? That is because BourbonGuy.com will be on vacation until June 28th. Regular posts will resume at that time. I’ll be traveling with a 10-year-old girl, who I adore. But she is still a 10-year-old girl so wish me luck.

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Old Overholt 114 proof

Old Overholt and Old GrandDad live in the same space in my mind. If you asked me to describe a hypothetical Old GrandDad Rye, it would be Old Overholt. They are both BeamSuntory brands that were purchased back when Beam swallowed National Distillers back in the 1980s. They were both pretty well ignored for a very long time with only sporadic marketing pushes. Both of the standard releases were 80 proof and bottom-shelf. Though Old GrandDad had a bonded release. Eventually, Old Overholt did as well. And for both of them, the Bonded was hands down better than the standard release.

Until very recently, one difference between the two was that Old GrandDad also had fan-favorite Old GrandDad 114. Something that until a couple of months ago, Old Overholt did not have. But now in addition to the new 114° proof release, Old Overholt Rye is getting a well-deserved push from owner BeamSuntory. The branding has been updated for the entire line. And even more exciting, the standard release got a proof bump from 80° proof to 86° proof.

Old Overholt used to be something that was easy to ignore. The 80 proof was a meh at best. After tasting all three over the weekend (114, Bonded, and the new 86° proof) I have to say I like where the brand is heading.

Old Overholt 114 proof

Purchase Info: $32.99 per bottle for a 750mL bottle, Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN

Price per Drink (50mL): $2.20

Details: 4 years old. 57% ABV. Non-chill filtered.

Nose: Mint, savory herbs, vanilla, cherry.

Mouth: Starts with a nice spicy heat. Cinnamon, mint, weak black tea, and a touch of lemon zest.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium length. Lingering notes of cinnamon and mint.

Thoughts: I really like this one. It is warm and spicy with a nice finish. Sippable neat, even at 114° proof. I didn't care for it in rye cocktails, but it added a nice spice to traditional bourbon cocktails. All in all, this is a very tasty whiskey.

Comparison to Bonded: The noses are basically identical. 114 is hotter and spicier on the mouth, the Bonded is sweeter. Both very good though.

Comparison to 86 proof: The noses are similar with 114 just being "more so." There is a big difference on the mouths, as you might have guessed. 114 is thicker in mouthfeel. It is warmer and spicier in the mouth, with more concentrated flavors. The new 86° proof is better than I remember the old 80° proof being, but it doesn't hold a candle to its higher proof siblings.

UPDATE: This post originally stated that the new 86° proof version had received an age bump because I’m a dumbass who apparently overlooks big BOLD type stating the words “THREE YEARS OLD” while looking for tiny type that says 36 months. Lol. Anyway that’s been fixed now.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

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Larceny Barrel Proof, B521

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

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I am smoking a couple Waygu Ribeye steaks tonight so you better believe that I’m going to be making this quick. They are on the smoker right now and I am keeping one eye on the probe temp as I type this. I got them online, the company had sponsored a barbecue YouTube channel I enjoy watching and I wanted to support him and I wanted to try these crazy expensive steaks.

I’ve found over the last couple years, that while I don’t mind splurging on the occasional overpriced whiskey (because they are almost always overpriced compared to how they taste), i’d much rather splurge on a novel food experience.

This may have contributed to my expanding waistline…

But in any case, I’d much rather sit down to a nice meal than I would sit down to a nice bourbon these days. Some of that is because I’m a pretty good cook so even a nice meal is usually cheaper because I’m making it at home. But most of the switch is my growing disillusionment with high-priced Limited Edition bourbons. If I ever give up this site, I’ll probably be hard pressed to justify the expense. Especially when there are things like Maker’s Mark 101, Knob Creek 12-year-old, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, and Larceny Barrel Proof that are available in my market from $35-$65. Even Booker’s is pushing the price limit of what I’d like to spend on bourbon these days.

And good for the companies that can get that kind of cash for their products. I wish them the best. But eventually I’ll give this up and will be voting with my dollar like the rest of you and I won’t feel like I need to buy these overpriced bottles to help others decide whether they should pass or splurge on them. I’ll be splurging on the best sub-$60/$70 bottles I can find, with most purchases coming in the $20 to $40 range.

Luckily, I’ll still be happy to buy bottles of tonight’s whiskey. At a suggested retail price of about $50, it has a pretty good price on it if you can find it.

Larceny Barrel Proof, B521

Purchase info: This was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $49.99.

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 60.5%

Nose: Caramel, vanilla, mint/eucalyptus, and a dusty cocoa note.

Mouth: Thick and rich with caramel, cinnamon, nutmeg, and chocolate.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium. Lingering notes of nutmeg, vanilla, and oak.

Comparison to A121: Very similar on the nose. These are both fairly spice forward, but A121 is a bit sweeter and hotter in the mouth. But, honestly, there are only minor differences between these two batches.

Thoughts: I really liked batch A121, so I'm pretty happy with this batch as well. There is a bit more caramel and a bit less chocolate, but I really like both of those flavor notes so I'd be hard-pressed to pick one over the other. In fact, when tasting notes were done, I just mixed them together. Spoiler alert: it was still really good.

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Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch Bourbon, 90 proof

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

I’ve been having a rare string of good luck when it comes to timing lately. I recently upgraded my tired 2015 MacBook Pro to one of the colorful new iMacs. In the process, I got a much larger internal hard drive, allowing me to free up an external hard drive. Not 30 minutes after that external drive was reformatted and freed up for use, I got a notification that my aging backup drive had just failed. I'll never be happy a drive failed, but the timing of that failure saved me days of waiting for an Amazon shipment to bring me a new hard drive. I’d been planning to fill the newly free drive with the contents of a different rickety old hard drive and usually, I’d have had the failure right after I’d spent hours copying that data over.

And the other example of my good timing is exemplified by tonight’s bourbon review. Quite a while ago, I got a reader request for an If You’ve Had… post centered around the various forms of Evan Williams. I started planning this post back in December, but one thing led to another and I finally had it scheduled to be published this week. 

Well, until this bottle of Evan Williams 1783 arrived on my doorstep from Heaven Hill. At first, I was pleased because I’d get updated packaging for the article’s photo. But then, as I read the press release, I noticed that the revamping extended to the whiskey inside the bottle as well. What used to be 86° proof was now 90° proof. I like seeing proof bumps for low-proof whiskeys so I figured a full review was in order. Especially since I haven’t done a full review on the expression since 2013. 

Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch Bourbon, 90 proof

Purchase Info: This bottle was supplied by the distillery for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $19.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50ml): $1.33

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Like the smell of the Angel's Share in a rick house. There is wood, caramel, vanilla, and nutmeg.

Mouth: Sweet and bursting with baking spices. Strong cinnamon and nutmeg notes hit first, followed by caramel, tangy fruit, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Lingering notes of cinnamon candies, oak, and mint.

Comparison with the 86° proof it replaced: The 86° proof version shows a few more dried grain notes on the nose. The mouth is thinner on the 86° proof version and once again shows more grain at that dilution level.

Thoughts: This is a better bourbon at 90° proof than it was at 86° proof. The added dilution of the previous 86° proof (small as it is) really seems to have dropped the richness of the bourbon. The 90° proof is brighter and richer in flavor and shows much less grain in the mouth.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

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Leopold Bros. Bottled in Bond Bourbon

I just cannot be trusted on my own. Not three hours after my wife left to care for her mother during cataract surgery, I was trying to bandage my own finger after needing to do a little minor surgery of my own. While trying to pick up something from the kitchen counter, I somehow got a fingerful of wood shoved under the nail on my right forefinger. Getting the wood out involved prying on my fingernail and cutting it way too far down until I could grab it with tweezers. Needless to say, it is hard to type with a bandaged and sore finger. Luckily for me, the company website has a lot of things to say about what makes their Bottled in Bond bourbon interesting. So I hope you’ll forgive me if I let them do the talking tonight.

• 50% ABV / 100 Proof

• 64% Corn

• 21% Malted Barley

• 15% Abruzzi Heritage Rye

• Open fermentation in wooden tanks with both house-cultured and indigenous yeast strains. Pot distilled and unfiltered.

• Aged five years in new American white oak charred barrels on earthen floors in the distillery's unheated dunnage-style bonded warehouse.

• First release: 2020

• Availability: Year-round

• Available bottle size: 750ml

Leopold Bros. Bottled in Bond Bourbon

Purchase Info: $62.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.20

Details: 5 years old. 50% ABV. DSP-CO-15014. Mash bill: 64% corn, 21% malted barley, 15% rye. Uses both cultured and indigenous wild yeasts in fermentation.

Nose: Grain forward with nutty Wheaties cereal notes along with dried grass and a faint note of wintergreen.

Mouth: Spicy with ginger and cinnamon. Wheaties cereal and wintergreen.

Finish: Medium length and heat. Very nutty finish. More of those Wheaties cereal notes with some cinnamon.

Thoughts: This is a very nutty bourbon. I'm guessing that is from the high quantity of malted barley. I like this. My wife is less enthusiastic but doesn't hate it. This is certainly not your stereotypical bourbon and that's probably the point.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

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Obtainium Light Whiskey - Zipp's Liquor pick

You have the recommendation of a very good friend to thank for tonight’s whiskey. Because, when he recommended it I knew nothing about the brand and i would have looked right past a bottle with Light Whiskey emblazoned crossed the label. Luckily for me, I trust this guy’s taste in whiskey and immediately ran out and bought a bottle.

Now why would I have walked past a light whiskey? What even is a light whiskey? Well, let’s consult the Code of Federal Regulations/Standards of Identity and see what they have to say.

(3) “Light whisky” is whisky produced in the United States at more than 160° proof, on or after January 26, 1968, and stored in used or uncharred new oak containers; and also includes mixtures of such whiskies. If “light whisky” is mixed with less than 20 percent of straight whisky on a proof gallon basis, the mixture shall be designated “blended light whisky” (light whisky—a blend).

So in essence, light whiskey distillate is made from a grain mash and is somewhere between straight whiskey (distilled lower than 160° proof) and neutral grain (distilled at 190° proof). There is some grain flavor left in it, but not as much as you’d have in a bourbon. Which is why I probably would have passed this by. I like flavor. It is one of the reasons I like bourbon and rye more than vodka.

So what do we know about this particular light whiskey?

Well the brand name is Obtainium, a new label here in Minnesota. Obtainium is a line of sourced whiskey from the Cat’s Eye Distillery in Bettendorf, Iowa, one of the five Quad Cities that span the Iowa/Illinois border (yes, there are 5 cities in the Quad Cities…I’d make an Iowa joke, but I’ll just leave it at that). In any case, these guys seem to be doing the sourced whiskey thing right. Printed right on the side of the bottle is “Distilled on 12/13/2006 by Lawrenceberg Distillers Indiana.” It isn’t very often that you see a sourced whiskey call out their supplier. And I, for one, really appreciate that. So since LDI was the former name of MGP, we know that this is a 14 year old MGP Light Whiskey. And because we know that, we know that the mash bill is 99% corn and 1% malted barley. We also know that this bottling doesn’t have the up to 19% straight whiskey blended into it as this particular bottling was a store single barrel pick by Zipps Liquors in Minneapolis.

So, a 14-year-old single barrel MGP whiskey at barrel strength? I’m very glad that i got this recommendation.

Obtainium Light Whiskey-Zipps Liquor Pick

Purchase Info: $54.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Zipps Liquor, Minneapolis, MN.

Price per Drink (50mL): $3.67

Details: 69.7% ABV. 14 years old. Barrel#: SC-00094. Distilled by Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (now MGP) on 12/13/2006. Bottled on 2/5/2021.

Nose: Beautifully sweet toffee and chocolate.

Mouth: Hot and sweet. Toffee, chocolate, nuts and nutmeg.

Finish: Hot and long. The heat fades quickly though leaving behind notes of nutmeg, ginger, mint and toffee.

Thoughts: I really, really like this. It reminds me of some of the really good Canadian whiskies that I've had. It is super sweet and dangerously drinkable when served neat. A little water brings out even more sweetness and lowered the heat levels a bit. I'm going to have to take a look at some of the other offerings from this brand. Stay tuned.

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Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Cedar Ridge Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon

It has been two thousand, eight hundred and twenty-two days since I last reviewed anything from Cedar Ridge Distillery in Iowa. At the time it was a single barrel of their bourbon. This time around, I found a Bottled-in-Bond version of their bourbon. I disliked that first bourbon so much, that this is honestly the first whiskey of theirs to pass my lips since that bottle was emptied. Here are my thoughts from the 2013 review:

I'm not a fan of this bourbon. It misses almost all the notes I look for in a bourbon. It has almost no vanilla or caramel and very little spice. It does showcase the corn very well. And maybe being from the middle of corn country, that's the point.

I know that I didn’t care for the barrel of bourbon that my previous bottle came from, but I had readers comment that they had mixed results with theirs. Some they loved and others they really did not like. This being a batched product gives me hope that the product is better than it was almost 7 years ago (well, 8 if you go by the purchase date of my previous bottle). Well that and they’ve had 7-8 more years to build their craft. And since they’ve only been around 16 years, a decent portion of the time they’ve been open has happened since they sold me that first bottle. All that is to say that I had a good feeling that I would like the bottle I purchased.

I mean, why would I have purchased it otherwise?

Cedar Ridge Bottled-in-Bond

Purchase Info: $48.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Atomic Liquors, Eagan, MN

Price per Drink (50mL): $3.27

Details: 50% ABV. DSP-IA-15001. Release 2.

Nose: Dried corn, raisin, cinnamon, vanilla, and mint.

Mouth: Sweet custard on entry tranistioning to a spicy cinnamon, dried fruit, corn, mint and black tea.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Lingering notes of cinnamon, black tea, and dried fruits.

Thoughts: I like this, though it tastes kinda young, even at four years old. I will say it is a lot better than that bourbon I bought 8 years ago. I'm not a huge fan of the raisin/dried fruit notes in here. But luckily for me, that note is much more pronounced in a Glencairn than it is in my usual rocks glass. I’m not sure if I would buy this again. Not sure I like it at a $50 level, but it does make it more likely that I will be giving other whiskeys of theirs a look in the future. I’m raising the rating on Cedar Ridge Bourbon from a dislike to a like.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

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