Just A Bunch of Things I Found on Vacation

I am an impulse buyer. Sure, I can make it through a grocery checkout line without buying a candy bar. But it isn’t likely that I will leave a liquor store, festival or distillery without buying at least something. Here are a few of the ones I picked up last month while visiting Tennessee and Kentucky. Even though some of them travelled almost as far as I did to get there.

Lincoln County Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup

Until my teenage years, we never bought syrup. My family made it. We tapped the trees and boiled the sap into syrup. But then we had a fire and the sugar shack we boiled sap in burned down. And since it was a collaboration between my grandparents and one of their cousins, the shack never got replaced. My brother has decided to carry on the tradition though, in order to teach his kids. I however buy mine from a 92-year-old lady who has been making it forever.

So, one could say that I am quite the connoisseur of maple syrup. Either that or you could say that I’ve been spoiled by amazing maple syrup my entire life. And I’m pretty biased. I really do think that the best maple syrup comes from the upper midwest. Fight me Canada. That said, I do like trying new things and so when I saw Lincoln County Reserve selling Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, I knew that a bottle would be coming home with me. And funny thing, that syrup was made in Wisconsin. Merrill, Wisconsin, a city of fewer than 10,000 people and an innumerable number of maple trees. This bourbon was aged in 10 gallon used bourbon barrels from Distillery 291 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

But is it any good? In a word, yes! It’s buttery with a nice bourbon flavor. The bourbon is not overpowering bringing a lot of brown sugar and caramel notes. It has a great mouthfeel, nice and thick. And let me tell you, it is amazing on French Toast and sausage. Highly recommended.

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Freddie's Old Fashioned Root Beer

Let me tell you about my college life. I had a wife, a kid, a job, and a major that was deceptively time-consuming. You might think that a fine art degree would be a cakewalk, but at least at the university I went to, you’d be wrong. Multiple all-nighters per week were extremely common as, due to our finances, I tried to fit a five-year plan for college into as few quarters as possible. One way we saved money was by renting an old farmhouse about a half-hour outside of town. Honestly, it was a pretty nice place. It was maintained by the local student-housing property management company. Meaning it was not maintained at all except by the elderly owner who was paying the property management company to, supposedly, do all of that for him.

Anyway, this farm was near a very small village of about 800 people. There was one grocery store, though it didn’t carry much. But one thing it did carry was Dr. McGillicuddy’s Root Beer Soda. I had no idea that the liqueur brand had lent its name to a soda, but every time I went to that tiny store for something, a bottle of that root beer came out with me. Eventually, I finished college, moved, and couldn’t find anywhere that carried the stuff. Until I first visited the Buffalo Trace Distillery. Apparently, Sazerac was the producer of that root beer, and one of the few places it could be purchased was at the distillery. I was super happy to pick up a six-pack every time I visited.

In 2019, Sazerac rebranded that root beer after beloved tour guide Freddie Johnson. He is a great guy and this is a great root beer. So I think it is a great match. But how does it taste? Caramel at first, followed by wintergreen. Unlike some root beers, the wintergreen is not overpowering though. This is subtle. After that is vanilla. The vanilla lasts long after you swallow. The thing that makes this so good is how well-balanced these flavors are. They're melded together so well that it is hard to tell where one ends and another begins. It has a nice creamy mouthfeel as well. This is my favorite root beer. A good part of that is nostalgia, but let an old man have that, ok?

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MB Roland Kentucky Dark Cherry Moonshine

This was a gift from my friends at MB Roland, but I found a great use for it so I wanted to share. Thought I’d mention that since everything else on this post was purchased.

The folks at MB Roland are some of the nicest people I’ve met. And one side effect of them being so nice, I gave their whiskey a try shortly after they opened. That whiskey was the start of my personal whiskey journey. So I guess what I’m saying is that if you enjoy reading BourbonGuy.com, on some level you have them to thank.

We visited them while on vacation, spent the afternoon just hanging out, and since they are good friends we were given a bottle of MB Roland Dark Cherry Moonshine. Something we hadn’t tried before. I’m a big fan of this in cocktails. Especially this Cherry Manhattan from FoodandWine.com. Scroll down the page, it’s worth it. But since this could be consumed alone, let’s give it the ol’ tasting notes treatment.

Ripe, dark cherries on the nose. The month is sweet with a strong, natural dark cherry flavor. No artificial flavors or cough syrup flavors here. Very little alcohol flavor so be careful drinking neat if you really love cherries. Works great in cocktails like the one above. I could also see this playing nicely with lime juice in a cocktail or even a highball. It does need to be refrigerated after opening, but a little fridge space is a small price to pay for delicious cocktails.

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Old Forester Oleo-Saccharum Lemon Oil Syrup

I first heard about Oleo Saccharum in David Wonderich’s book Punch. I reviewed it here. Spoiler, I really liked it. It’s basically sugar and lemon peels left together until the sugar draws the lemon oils out of the peels and dissolves in it, creating a syrup. Easy to do, if a little time-consuming. So it was with interest that I saw this little bottle of premade Oleo-Saccharum at the Old Forester Distillery Gift Shop in Louisville, KY. I was staying in the Whiskey Row Lofts which are basically upstairs and had the thought that I might make a few cocktails with it. I did not and so it came home with me.

But what did I think of it once I did open it? It has a strong lemon nose. It’s very sweet and lemony on the mouth when you taste it by itself. It does really well in the champagne cocktail on the bottle (1 oz bourbon, 0.5 oz syrup, 4.5 oz brut sparkling wine, ice, lemon twist). It’s good, but at the end of the day, a lemon oleo-saccharum is too easy to make for me to buy this again. Especially since you use a quarter of the bottle for one cocktail. Maybe if I was on the road, travelling. But not for home use.

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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.

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, posters, and more.

Nooku Bourbon Cream

It’s been a weird week here in Minnesota. There has been smoke in the air from Canadian wildfires causing air quality and air quality warnings as I’ve never seen before in the state of Minnesota. The smoke was thick in the air. So thick that it impaired visibility and carried the smell of the fires as you breathed it in. It was so bad, that even spending as little time outdoors as possible, I was still dealing with respiratory issues. As such, I decided to pivot away from the tasting I had been planning to do this past weekend toward a couple of small cans I had in my fridge from my recent trip shopping trip in Colorado. I figured it might be best to take a look at something that I wouldn’t be drinking from a nosing glass. Just in case the old sniffer was acting up.

I grabbed these as I was walking toward the checkout at Hazel’s Beverage World in Boulder, Colorado. I hadn’t really been in the market for a Cream Liqueur, but something about the tiny little can, and the fact that one was coffee-flavored, piqued my interest. I figured that for four bucks, I could indulge that curiosity. Might be good in coffee one morning while on vacation. And while I never had the chance to have it in my coffee while on vacation, I did get that opportunity this past weekend as I hid inside from the air outside.

Nooku Bourbon Creme uses two ingredients: dairy cream and Bourbon. In this case, two-year-old, high-malt bourbon from Old Elk. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the coffee version uses some sort of coffee flavor on top of that (not much of one though since it literally says that on the can). And while I haven’t had Old Elk Bourbon, I haven’t heard great things about it. Even so, I was curious to give this a try. I tried each of them straight and then added a healthy amount to an afternoon cup of coffee, just to see if my hunch on these was correct.

Nooku Bourbon Cream

Purchase Info: $3.98 for a 100 mL can at Hazel’s Beverage World, Boulder, CO.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.99

Details: 17% ABV. "Bourbon Whiskey with Real Dairy Cream"

Mouth: Thick, velvety, and sweet. Notes of cinnamon, caramel, and dairy.

Finish: Not much to speak of, as expected.

Thoughts: It's a bit like drinking coffee creamer. I’m not getting a lot of “bourbon” notes in it though. Speaking of that, it works pretty well in coffee. If you take your coffee with creamer, that is. In this case, I liked it about half and half. So make that coffee hot.

Nooku Bourbon Cream, Cold Brew Coffee

Purchase Info: $3.98 for a 100 mL can at Hazel’s Beverage World, Boulder, CO.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.99

Details: 17% ABV. "Bourbon Whiskey with Fresh Dairy Cream and Natural Coffee Flavors"

Mouth: Thick and sweet. Notes of cinnamon, chocolate, coffee, and dairy.

Finish: Chocolate Milk.

Thoughts: This is better than the regular version. And it also tastes good with coffee, even more so than the original. Personally I like my coffee black, so I’d probably prefer just a shot of bourbon instead of the cream if I felt the need to spike my coffee. Neither of them are particularly to my tastes when tasted alone either, but they aren't bad for what they are. That said, I can see a lot of people liking this.

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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.

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, posters, and more.

Tattersall Distilling Pre-Made Cocktails

It is May and I am officially “almost ready” to put the shovel away and bring out the deck furniture. It isn’t quite planting season here in Minnesota, at least not for things that can’t handle frost. But we are getting oh, so close. My wife has her greenhouse up and the plants are at least outside, albeit with a heater to keep them warm at night.

We are so close to travel season too. Well for me at least. I try to take two vacations per year. One is to Kentucky in September. The other varies. Sometimes I escape the winter cold in February. Sometimes I head to the beach. And other times I do something crazy like visit the desert in the summer. That’s what is planned for this summer. I take all of my nieces and nephews on a road trip of their choosing when they turn 7. My niece however has had to wait until she was 10 due to a combination of her family being busy, my finances and then Covid. But this year, now that we are both vaccinated, we head to Utah to show her something new. It should be a great time.

Once we get through Iowa and Nebraska.

In any case, when you are traveling to places off of the beaten path, getting a good cocktail can be challenging. I’ll often just pick up a bottle of bourbon somewhere and call it good. But if I wanted something a little more complex, my options would be limited to what I wanted to bring with. Do I want to bring three bottles along to make a Manhattan? Probably not. But I could be convinced to grab a few small bottles of a pre-made cocktail to throw in the suitcase?

Well that just depends on how good the cocktail is.

Tattersall Distilling Pre-Made Old Fashioned

Purchase Price: $4.99 for a 100 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.50

Nose: Malted rye, dried fruits and spices.

Mouth: Sweet with a nice thick mouthfeel. Dried fruit notes are the star of the show here and are supported by the baking spice notes of the bitters.

Finish: Sweet with notes of cherry and baking spices.

Tattersall Distilling Pre-Made Manhattan

Purchase Price: $4.99 for a 100 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.50

Nose: Delicate with notes of brown sugar and baking spice.

Mouth: Baking spices, dried fruit and brown sugar.

Finish: Notes of cherry, baking spices, and vermouth. After a bit, a menthol note appears.

Thoughts: Both of these are very good. I think half the fun of drinking cocktails at home is making the cocktails, but if I was traveling I'd happily grab a few of these to toss in the suitcase. They would make a wonderful nightcap after a day of driving, exploring, or hiking. This is something I may have to consider for that upcoming summer trip.

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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.

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.

Fire Department Coffee: Spirit Infused Coffee

I’d like to thank the folks at Fire Department Coffee for providing these free media samples with no strings attached.

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I don’t have to tell you that it has been cold lately. Places that seldom get snow are just getting dumped on, and…well…it’s been cold enough here to freeze bourbon. Literally, I have an entire post about how I froze bourbon out on my deck from the last time it was this cold.

I hate the cold. I really hate the cold. And the past couple of weeks have been brutal. But I am very thankful that, aside from when I need to usher dogs in and out to go potty, I don’t need to go outside. I can just sit in my chair with a cup of coffee each morning and watch the temps slowly climb to negative ten Fahrenheit throughout the course of the day.

Speaking of coffee, I love coffee. It is probably the thing I love most in the world—the one thing I love more than bourbon, barbecue, or pizza. Well, except my wife, of course (I don’t want to be dodging any shoes when she proofreads this). If I had to give up every vice, I could unless they included coffee. I would rather become a vegetarian teetotaler than give up coffee. There is a reason the support link above says “Buy Me a Cup of Coffee” and not “Buy Me a Bourbon.”

And it just so happens that I received an email a few weeks ago that combined two of my favorite beverages. Bourbon and coffee. It was from Fire Department Coffee, and they wanted to send me samples of a couple of their “Spirit Infused Coffees.” I was a little hesitant at first. I’m very particular about my coffee. I’ve been getting my coffee from the same small roaster in Montana since 2006, and no matter what else I’ve tried, I have had no desire to change that. And normally, I’m not too fond of flavored coffee. It tends to get sweet and overpowering, completely obscuring the coffee part of the coffee, which is the part I love. (I feel the same way about most flavored bourbons.)

Before we get too far into the weeds, though, let’s find out a little about Fire Department Coffee. Their website says the following:

Fire Dept. Coffee is a veteran-owned business and certified by the National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA), we're dedicated to providing great-tasting coffee to people everywhere. Every order is freshly roasted in Rockford, Illinois, by a dedicated team of firefighters, first responders, and coffee connoisseurs.

Inspired by the vital role that coffee plays in helping firefighters stay alert and energized through long shifts, Fire Dept. Coffee was founded in 2016. Founder and CEO Luke Schneider is a full-time firefighter/paramedic and a U.S. Navy veteran who teamed up with firefighter/paramedic Jason Patton who is also a full-time firefighter and VP for Fire Department Coffee.

Fire Department Coffee is run by active and retired firefighters, including our operations officer and chief coffee roaster.

Along with providing a growing selection of incredible coffee — including its signature spirit-infused roasts — Fire Dept. Coffee also supports heroes in need through the Fire Dept. Coffee Foundation. Ten percent of net proceeds are donated to help provide essential resources and assistance to first responders who have been injured on the job, mentally or physically, or who are facing other serious health challenges.

Seems like a good operation. So let’s talk about the coffee. I made each of these the same way I make the coffee that I drink every day. I ground the beans and made a 14 cup pot. Yes. I actually prefer automatic drip coffee to any of the other methods of brewing it. (It might be because I learned to drink coffee to stay awake while working the third-shift at a small-town gas station with few customers.) Let’s see if it was any good.

Fire Department Coffee: Vanilla Bean Bourbon Infused Coffee

Purchase Info: This was graciously provided to me for review purposes. The regular price is $19.99 for a 12 oz bag.

Nose: Subtle vanilla pairs nicely with nutty chocolate notes.

Mouth: Slightly sweet with vanilla and spirit notes layered over a coffee base.

Thoughts: This literally tastes like when you make a coffee drink with whiskey. I was afraid that the vanilla or bourbon would be overpowering. Instead, it strikes the perfect balance between coffee and boozy coffee. I will have no trouble finishing this bag. It reminds me of camping with family and having a little "spiked" coffee to wake up and shake off a fun night around the fire. Don't let it cool too much, though. The flavoring gets overpowering if it cools in the cup.

Fire Department Coffee: Black Cherry Bourbon Infused Coffee

Purchase Info: This was graciously provided to me for review purposes. The regular price is $19.99 for a 12 oz bag.

Nose: Roasted nuts with vanilla, caramel, and a light fruitiness.

Mouth: Spirit notes dominate initially but fade in intensity as you consume more of the cup, allowing the fruity and chocolaty coffee notes to come more to the forefront.

Thoughts: I like the vanilla better, but not by much. These are both good. Speaking as a coffee purist (not even cream or sugar are allowed in my coffee), these are probably the only flavored-coffees I've had that I actually liked. In both of them, the spirit notes are the larger portion of the "flavorings" than the vanilla or cherry, and I think that was a wise choice as the others could easily overpower the coffee.

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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.

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.

Kentucky Bourbon Festival 2020 (virtual edition)

I am not going to lie. I honestly did not expect to be writing about the Kentucky Bourbon Festival this year. Mostly because it didn’t happen, at least not in the traditional sense. But since nothing in 2020 is has happened as tradition dictates, why should the festival be any different?

And let me be clear. I would not have attended a traditional festival this year even had it happened. I try not to leave the house these days, much less travel across the country. But in any case, the folks running the BourbonFest wisely decided not to tempt any of us and gave us a “Virtual” festival instead.

And, honestly? I was pretty impressed. Every evening I was sitting in my living room, feet up, bourbon at hand, and watching each new video as it premiered on YouTube. There were a few clunkers, but I really enjoyed the videos they put out for the most part.

I thought writer Steve Coomes was a great host. I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting him, but I’ve read a lot of his work. He had an easy rapport with all of his guests, and skillfully led the conversations and interviews.

The topics covered were interesting. There were cocktail classes, cooking shows, a five-part series on the making of bourbon, and conversations with bourbon royalty such as Fred Noe, Eddie Russell, and Bill Samuels Jr. I think the most informative part was the series on bourbon making. The series included episodes about fermentation, distillation, aging, rick houses, and blending…err…mingling (since Four Roses was there). The most entertaining show featured Fred Noe, Eddie Russell, and their sons talking about the adventures they’ve had while promoting their brands. About the only ones I didn’t enjoy were those about collecting. But then again, working on a freelancers budget doesn’t make me the target market for videos about spending a ton of money on rare whiskey.

Overall though, I really enjoyed myself. And here’s the crazy thing, last year, my wife and I had decided that maybe we were done going to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. It had gotten stale for us and the changes weren’t really helping. We’d planned on probably not attending this year even before the pandemic hit, maybe just head down a different week. But, watching these videos made me miss it as nothing else could. I really like Bardstown. And I love the way the community gathers to celebrate their local industry. It a fun time. So I’m happy I took the time to watch the virtual festival this year.

Visit the Kentucky Bourbon Festival YouTube Channel and you can watch them too.

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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.

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.

Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week and Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Cocktail Syrup

The cocktail syrup reviewed below was provided by Heaven Hill as part of a media kit announcing Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week. Also included was branded merchandise which I will be holding onto for a future giveaway. These were provided with no strings attached.

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I’ll admit it. I’m late to letting folks know about this. In fact, I’d missed the press release when this was announced and only found out about it when a media kit arrived on my doorstep. I don’t normally reprint Press Releases, but I’ll be quoting the included Press Release below as I think that the cause they are promoting is a good one.

Dear Friend of Heaven Hill Distillery,

Welcome to the inaugural Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week. While we knew the original concept for this week would be great, as 2020 morphed into a banner year of unprecedented times we quickly understood the greater impact we could have on the hospitality industry. Many of our friends and family in this community have felt the effects of COVID-19, so to support them we have committed to raising up to $100,000 for the Restaurant Workers' Community Foundation from this week's events.

You'll see some familiar faces on our schedule at OldFashionedWeek.com, where you can register for events or donate. The event lineup includes 'Old Fashioned Bar Trivia' with Heaven Hill Distillery Ambassadors Bernie Lubbers and Jack Choate, 'The Art of Crafting Ice' with Portland-based bartender and author Jeffrey Morgenthaler, and ‘Elevating Your Home Bar’ with Devin Kennedy, bartender at Pouring Ribbons.

Chef Richard Blais headlines the week as host of an "Old Fashioned Cocktail Hour" on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Included in this media kit are several items to assist in your preparation of an Elijah Craig Old Fashioned, as well as other necessary cocktail accessories for your home bar. The Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Syrup was specifically formulated to highlight the flavor profile of Elijah Craig Bourbon within this classic cocktail. Starting at 8 p.m. eastern time, Chef Blais will take you through a night of discovering the Greatness Within® the hospitality community as he shares recipes, tips and tricks, and Q & A sessions with special guests. This live event will be available on OldFashionedWeek.com, as well as streamed on Elijah Craig's YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Join us as we raise a glass to celebrating one great cocktail for an even greater cause through Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week.

Though my own businesses have suffered throughout the pandemic, I know that there are others out there that have it worse than I do. I still have the income to pay the bills and even buy whiskey. Many, especially in the hospitality industry do not. If you have the means, please join me in helping out by making a donation to the Restaurant Workers Community foundation at OldFashionedWeek.com.

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Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Cocktail Syrup

Purchase Info: This was graciously provided as part of a media kit. Pricing was not included but a google search showed it selling online for about $12.

Details: 4.06% ABV. 40 calories per 0.5 fl. oz.

Mouth: Orange, lemon, ginger, cinnamon, and a bitter note.

In an Old Fashioned: (I followed the recipe on the bottle of 2 oz Elijah Craig to 1 tablespoon of syrup in an ice-filled glass garnished with a cocktail cherry.) Sweet, cinnamon, ginger, Vanilla, mint. As they stated, it plays nicely with Elijah Craig in an old fashioned.

Thoughts: I like but don’t love this. It makes a sweeter Old fashioned than I, personally, care for. But then my favorite Non-Alcoholic drinks are black coffee and soda water with bitters in it. The flavors pair very nicely with Elijah Craig, so if you like a sweet Old Fashioned and don't feel like making a batch of simple syrup, then this is the perfect option for you. I probably wouldn't buy it for my home bar due to the sweetness level, but I can certainly see a place for it for those with a sweet tooth. Or for those who need to make a batch of Old Fashioneds for a gathering... Once we can have gatherings again.

Though when we can have gatherings again, I’ll probably be heading to a bar to have my favorite bartenders make it for me. And tip them generously for their work.

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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.

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.

Lyre's American Malt and Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative

Have you ever thought to yourself “Man, I could really enjoy a whiskey cocktail right now, but I don’t feel like drinking?”

I haven’t either, when I don’t feel like drinking but don’t want something sweet, I shake some bitters into soda water and call it good. When I feel like a cocktail, I have a cocktail. But I am apparently out of touch with trends these days because I’m hearing more and more people talk about mocktails (a name I seriously hate) and even alcohol-free bars. I’ve even started seeing bottles of “Whiskey Alternative” on the shelf of my local liquor store.

Now, I like to think I have an open mind. And when I don’t exactly understand something, I like to learn more about it. And being the curious fellow that I am, I took it upon myself to find out a little more about why I might want a “Zero-Proof Whiskey Alternative” and if there is any room for them in my life. So I bought the bottle at my local liquor store which happened to be from Ritual Zero-Proof. They make a whiskey alternative and a gin alternative. And because I like to be thorough, I ordered a bottle of Lyre’s American Malt as well. I’d been seeing mentions of Lyre’s since the end of last year and I was genuinely curious about them.

I tasted each of these neat (not how they were intended to be served) so that I could get a handle on their flavors. I also used each of these in a variety of cocktails. I made each into a Manhattan (using actual vermouth and bitters), a sour, and a highball with Q ginger ale and a squeeze of lime.

Lyre's American Malt

Purchase Info: $35.99 plus shipping for a 700 mL bottle from the company website.

Nose: Molasses, caramel, ginger

Mouth: Very thin, no body to the mouthfeel. Weak iced tea notes.

Finish: Ginger, cinnamon, molasses, weak iced tea.

Thoughts: This smells and tastes way more like a rum than a whiskey. Those molasses notes are very prominent. Obviously this wasn't meant to be a sipping drink and it isn't. It doesn't taste bad for what it is.

Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative

Purchase Info: $21.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Nose: Smoke, bubblegum, apple

Mouth: Smoke, hot pepper, and weak green tea.

Finish: Hot pepper spice and smoke.

Thoughts: Ever been sick after eating a spicy meal? This tastes like that with a healthy dose of smoke thrown in.

Manhattan:

Lyre's kinda gets lost among the other ingredients. Orange and vermouth with a hint of molasses.

Ritual does not get lost, but that’s a problem since it tastes so bad that I was hoping the vermouth and orange would help hide it.

Sour:

Lyre's kinda tastes like a lemonade. Not too bad, might be good sparkling.

Ritual tastes more like a cocktail but the hot pepper flavor comes through too much for me.

Ginger Ale Highball:

Lyre's actually isn't bad at all. the molasses notes pair very nicely with the ginger ale. This would be my favorite of the six cocktails we made today.

Ritual once again suffers from the notes of raw hot peppers. Of the cocktail I've tried Ritual in today, the ginger ale highball is the best, but I'd still rather just have the ginger ale.

Thoughts:

I was genuinely curious about these. The Lyre's especially since they make an entire line of spirit alternatives. And truthfully, the Lyre’s American Malt wasn't bad. I could wish for a bit more spice to it, but bitters will help with that. If you are in the market for a "whiskey" with no alcohol you could do worse.

Speaking of worse, there is the Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative. This tastes like no whiskey I've ever had except maybe the Dickel/Tabasco thing. I think they were trying to hit the burn of a whiskey by using the hot peppers but it didn't land. At all. I'll probably just dump this one. I do not even remotely like it.

So do I have a place in my life for these? Probably not. Like I said earlier, I get more enjoyment and variety out of a couple of dashes of bitters in my soda water than I did from either of these. It’s easier too. Honestly, I think that the non-aged spirit alternatives from these brands might work better. Anything that is based on an infusion in spirit form, like gin or some of the liqueurs, might actually be ok since you could follow the same process to make these. Trying to hit the flavor profile of an oak barrel with spices seems to be a dicey proposition at best.

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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.

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.

Bourbon Gouda from Cheese Brothers, Inc.

Bourbon and cheese are two of my favorite things. And if I had to choose only one, it would probably be cheese. I love cheese of all kinds. Everything from 15-year-old sharp cheddar to crumbly, stinky blue, to process cheese food. I love it all.

And before you get on me for including process cheese food, remember I grew up poor enough to stand in line for free government cheese. You develop a taste for things after you have enough of it. Besides, there isn’t a burger or a grilled cheese sandwich that can’t be made better with the addition of a little melty American Cheese. (I tend to use both process cheese and a blend of Cheddar, and Monterey Jack for both if I have the opportunity…I like my cheeseburgers cheesy and that American really helps get the other cheeses melting.) I’ve even made my own process cheese out of an eight-year cheddar and this recipe from Serious Eats. I’ve made my own fresh mozzarella too, but that doesn’t make as good of a story.

As you might have noticed, when I get geeky about something, I tend to get really geeky about something. That said, one thing I never did geek out about was combining bourbon and cheese. To be honest, it never occurred to me to combine the two before consuming them. I’ve had plenty of cheeses with bourbon and plenty of bourbons with cheese. But only once before have I had a cheese that has bourbon as one of its ingredients. And I really liked it. When we saw that a cheese company headquartered in my wife’s hometown was selling a Bourbon Gouda as well, well we had to try that one too.

Cheese Bros. Inc. is a company created by a pair of friends with cheese in their genes. The story starts over 100 years ago with a Swiss immigrant to the US. He settled in Northwestern Wisconsin and started making cheese. Eventually, his family sold the business to a large international dairy firm. Apparently, the family couldn’t quite get cheese out of their blood as not one, but two further cheese businesses were formed by the descendants. One became the largest producer of Italian-style cheeses in the country (and employer of many of my family members at one time or another). And the other is Cheese Bros, Inc.

Cheese Bros. Inc. is a small firm that sells cheeses sourced from all over Wisconsin. Their store is located in the Mall of America, where I discovered them. Interesting to me that they started just a few miles from where I started and I found them at their store just a few miles from where am now. Of course, you don’t need to live in any of the places I have lived to enjoy their cheeses. They have a website that will ship it to where you happen to be from.

I’m a big fan of the smoked provolone and the eight-year-old cheddar. Let’s see how I feel about their Bourbon Gouda.

Cheese Bros. Bourbon Gouda

Purchase Info: $5.99 from the Cheese Bros. website.

Nose: Buttery with a hint of smoke and bourbon.

Mouth: Buttery and sweet with subtly smoky, bourbon notes on the "finish."

Thoughts: This tastes great on a cracker and pairs amazingly with Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond. I think I like this one more than the Red Apple one I reviewed earlier.

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