Canadian Club Chairman's Select 100% Rye

January 13, 2015 Eric Burke

In early October, Whisky Advocate ran a story by Canadian Whisky expert Davin De Kergommeaux about a new 100% Rye being released by Canadian Club. In the story, Davin mentioned that like many of the 100% Rye Canadian whiskies this was a product of Alberta Distillers. Well, that perked my curiosity. I’ve discovered that I like this particular style of whisky. But then I noticed that it wasn’t being released in the US.

Drat.

So I did what any self respecting man would do. I went online and whined about it. Of course, I expected that next summer when I travel to Canada I would try to bring some home. But still, you always want what you can’t have. And then I was reminded of something. My Canadian friends are amazing people.

See, some time passed. I went to work and back. I bought some Christmas gifts and had them delivered. But one day when I got home from work, I noticed a box on my front step when I didn’t remember ordering anything. Upon opening it, I saw it was an amazing Christmas gift from my friend Rick. Inside were two bottles of Canadian whisky only available in Canada and the little mini I reviewed last week.

One of those whiskies was Canadian Club 100% Rye. Though there isn’t an age statement on the bottle, Davin says it is aged for 7 years. That got me to thinking, this comes from Alberta Distillers. I still have a little of that 1910 rumored to come from there at 12 years old. And after doing a little digging in my samples I found a sample of the Alberta Premium 30 year old. I had to test these next to one another.

This was not a fair test.

In my opinion, it just got better as it got older. The 1910 12 year was better than the Canadian Club, the 30 year was better than the 12. Ok so intuition was correct, but how does it do when it isn’t being unfairly tested. I mean, this is a $25 whisky. It would be extremely unusual if it could hang with $40 and $50 versions.

Canadian Club Chairman’s Select 100% Rye

Purchase Info: A very generous Christmas gift from my friend Rick. Available at LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) for ~$25 Canadian

Details: 40% ABV. Distilled and aged at Alberta Distillers.

Nose: Initial caramel that fades to reveal pine, brown sugar, ethanol, and green cardamom pods

Mouth: Thin. White sugar, spearmint, oak, cinnamon, clove and then caramel as it moves to the back of the mouth.

Finish: Medium length. Warm with lingering spearmint, cinnamon and clove.

Thoughts: This is your classic good, but not great situation. It’s delicate, I get a bit more minty ethanol than I’d like. But the sweetness and spice are decent enough. I feel like there are better options both in the Canadian Whisky and in the Rye realms.

That said, it was fun to taste something that I can’t buy in the US and to share that with friends. Sadly if it was available, I probably wouldn’t find myself buying it very often. There is nothing wrong with this whisky. I mean, I wouldn’t turn down a pour. There just isn’t much that’s drawing me in. It’s good. Not great.

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A new look for an old friend: Wild Turkey Rare Breed (112.8° proof)

January 8, 2015 Eric Burke

Last September my wife and I had the pleasure of meeting Jimmy Russell, Master Distiller of Wild Turkey, while visiting the Wild Turkey visitor center. We wandered in and he was just sitting there chatting with a couple people.

Now to say I’m a fan of his work would be an understatement and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to wander over after the other couple was done with him, congratulate him on 60 years and let him know how much we’ve enjoyed the fruits of that labor. It was a pleasant chat. Lasted about 15 minutes or so. Toward the end of our visit we bought a small bottle and asked if he would sign it for us.

That bottle was one of our favorite go to Wild Turkey products: Rare Breed. It’s one of my wife’s favorite bourbons. So much so that one year her Valentine’s Day present was a bottle of it. Which is a nice present since she’ll share and I enjoy it too.

So with all that said, it was with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that I noticed that there was a new batch out. I love trying new things and previous batches I loved, but when things change…well you never know. If you are looking, the new batch comes with a new label design and a new proof level. 56.4% ABV this time around as compared to 54.1% for the previous batch.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed (112.8° proof)

Purchase info: $33.99 for a 750 mL at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 56.4% ABV, Barrel Proof

Nose: Spearmint, Garden soil, faint lemon zest, cinnamon rolls, leather, vanilla/caramel and oak.

Mouth: Hot. Brown sugar, honey, leather, tobacco, black pepper and a mineral note.

Finish: Long and warm. Leather, brown sugar and that same mineral note.

Thoughts: Because Rare Breed was our favorite Wild Turkey expression, I was a little nervous about the batch change. I needn’t have worried. This is still a rich, complex bourbon that takes a cube or two of ice well and is still a favorite.

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.

Sazerac, Just Remove the Damn Numbers—part 2: Old Charter 8 vs Old Charter 8 year old

December 23, 2014 Eric Burke

Just a little over a year ago, I noticed that of the many bourbons on my shelf, very few were in the sub-$30 range. It wasn’t that I was feeling super-snobbish or extra-sophisticated, but rather that Fall Bourbon Release Season was just wrapping up. Premium, Rare and Super Rare bourbons were all anyone wanted to talk about and I was caught up in the excitement along with everyone else.

It was at about this time that the idea for the Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets popped into my head. I was sick of talking about whiskies that most of us can’t get and thought it was about time to look to the other end of the spectrum. There is a lot of good bourbon in the sub-$20 range, but there is also a lot of crap. I took it upon myself to find those things I’d want on my shelf.

One of the finalists in the competition was Old Charter 8 year. Due to it’s age it was seeded number one in it’s division and ended up coming in second overall. It was just after the competition concluded that I was informed by a reader that the age statement had been removed. It was now just “Old Charter 8.”

To say I was pissed was an understatement. I almost vowed to not buy anymore Sazerac products, but that would have been rash and hard to maintain. I did decide that I wasn’t going to be fooled anymore and that if at all possible I was going to make a more informed decision about which NAS products I was going to spend my money on.

To that end, I explored Very Old Barton 6 year and “6” a few weeks ago in Sazerac, Just Remove the Damn Numbers (part 1). I was pleasantly surprised when I preferred the NAS version. Though the naming still made me upset.

And since we had mistakenly purchased a handle of Old Charter “8” in Louisiana thinking it was the 8 year and had then found a bottle of the 8 year this fall in Kentucky, it was decided that we needed to do another comparison. See if I should still be upset at the change.

Old Charter 8 (NAS)

Purchase info: Less than $25 for a 1.75 Liter at the Wal-Mart in Hammond, LA (my wife picked it up and didn’t save the receipt).

Details: NAS, 40% ABV

Nose: Green pea pods and JuicyFruit gum. There’s a cotton candy sweetness if you can push past the overwhelming pea pods.

Mouth: Uncomplicated. Sweet with cinnamon and cayenne spices. Feels a bit thin in the mouth.

Finish: Bitter and vegetal, though with a warmth that lasts a surprisingly long length of time.

Thoughts: This is definitely definitely definitely of those you don’t want to drink out of a nosing glass. Concentrating those pea pod odors doesn’t make you want to take the sip. It’s better out of a rocks glass, but even then, I’m not a fan. Water doesn’t help, just accenting the undesirable parts and muting the admittedly nice spice and warmth.

Old Charter 8 year old

Purchase info: ~$18 for a 750 mL at Keystone Liquors, Bardstown, KY

Details: Aged 8 years, 40% ABV

Nose: dried corn, ripe fruit, caramel and hints of dried wood.

Mouth: Classic bourbon notes of caramel/vanilla along with some baking spices and a hint of cayenne.

Finish: Tannic bitterness and oak linger

Thoughts: I liked this one. It’s not an outstanding bourbon, but for the price it works well enough.

Unlike it’s corporate cousin Very Old Barton, for Old Charter 8 the NAS release was strikingly inferior to the age-stated product. That pea pod on the nose just made me not want to drink it. If it were a higher proof, I could see it working ok in a cocktail, but as it stands, it just sort of gets pushed around by the other ingredients.

Here’s the verdict. Don’t buy the NAS version. If you happen across the 8 year for a reasonable price? Sure, feel free. Just remember, neither of these are good enough to go hunting for. So don’t go crazy.

A familiar redhead: Maker's Mark

December 16, 2014 Eric Burke

You’re on the road. Traveling. Maybe for work, maybe for pleasure. You’re staying in a hotel. Or maybe visiting a local tavern at the end of a long day.

Looking behind the bar you see a very thin selection. There are a couple of taps that contain Bud Light and some Miller product. But all you really want is a good bourbon. Jim, Jack and a few others are there. But not much else. What do you do?

I’d say in a case like that you look for a familiar redhead. One that, even though it may not be the wildest one out there, has never let you down. I’d look for the nearly ubiquitous Maker’s Mark.

Maker’s Mark

Purchase info: I got this handle as a gift from my daughter but it would run about $40-$50 here in the Twin cities.

Details: 45% ABV

Nose: Honeydew Melon, Peaches. Maple Syrup on French Toast and hints of baking spices.

Mouth: Soft mouthfeel. Melon, dusty oak, caramel/vanilla

Finish: The finish sneaks up on you. Seems soft at first but then settles in your chest for a little while. Notes of melon and a lingering bitterness.

Thoughts: There are people out there who overlook things because they are accessible and popular with the non-geek. In this case, that’s a mistake. This is a great whiskey. It’s soft and fruity. Tasty as hell and you can get it at even the most dive of dive bars. If you can’t trust that the tap lines are clean, get a Maker’s.

"Baby Saz" Sazerac Rye

December 11, 2014 Eric Burke

That is one pretty bottle, isn’t it? Reminds you of the cut glass and etched lettering of those old decanters you find in antique stores or on Those Pre-Pro Whiskey Men. It really is nice looking. It’d look nice on your shelf, looking old and sophisticated.

But what if I told you, you couldn’t have this? That there were going to be places and times when this wouldn’t be available. If you were smart, you’d probably grab a Rittenhouse Rye or maybe a Bulliet. If you were a human on the internet, you’d probably run all around the city you live in and a few of the surrounding ones to go hunting for one.

Well it’s true, it can be hard to find.

WAIT! Don’t go running out to the car or bus yet! Because here is the thing. It depends on where you live and when you are looking. In Minnesota, at this particular point in time, it’s on most store shelves. I recently heard from a guy in Florida that said it was hard to find there. So wait a bit, or look online. Do NOT pay exorbitant sums for this just because it is rare where you live right now. Because, and I’m going to level with you, it’s a good rye but it isn’t a great-ohmygod-I-need-to-get-it-right-now rye.

Here’s a little info. Sazerac Rye is a rye whiskey is produced by, you might have guessed it, the Sazerac Company. It is a non-age stated bottling. (Though if you look on the Sazerac website it’s still listed as six years. Which, while not legally binding, might be close. It is labeled as Straight and doesn’t have an age statement so it’s at least four.) The internet tells me that it is a barely legal rye with a mashbill including 51% rye or thereabouts.

Sazerac Rye

Purchase info: $32.99 at Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN

Details: 45% ABV

Nose: Soapy. Mint. Dried Grass. Cedar underneath.

Mouth: Thin Mouthfeel. Black pepper. Cedar. Mint. Banana candy

Finish: More Cedar and banana that fade to a lingering bitterness

Thoughts: Weird. Banana. This is passable when neat in a Glencairn glass. OK, nothing more. In a rocks glass, I find it better. Still just good, not great. I’ve used it to make a very tasty Sazerac cocktail. Which though it was spicier than with Rittenhouse, wasn’t actually better. If this were around $25 like it was when I first started buying it, I’d recommend it. But after creeping up to about $35, I’m not sure that you wouldn’t be just as happy grabbing one of the more readily available ryes out there. Maybe try one of those Canadian 100% Rye ones. I like it, but not enough to miss it if I can't get it.

Woodford Reserve Master's Collection, Sonoma-Cutrer Finish, Pinot Noir Barrel

December 9, 2014 Eric Burke

I tend to like bourbons that have been finished in some way. Cognac barrel? Port barrel? Yes and yes. Beer barrel? Sure. Second barrels that never contained anything else? Indeed! Staves of other types of wood? Yes sir! Bourbon where they just poured some brandy in? Not bad at all. Not that they are my favorites, but I tend to like them.

Contrary to many opinions out there, I also tend to like Woodford Reserve. It was one of the first bourbons I bought and the first major distillery I visited. It’s pricier than I like, but occasionally I go back to it as I have a bit of a soft spot for it. I especially like to see what they are doing with their yearly Master’s Collection experiments. Even if they aren’t always that good, it’s nice to see people try things.

Based on the above, I was pretty stoked to hear about this year’s version of the Master’s Collection. Pinot Noir casks. At first, it sounded weird to me. Then I noticed the Angel’s Envy in my glass at that very moment. It’s a port (fortified wine) finished bourbon. I remembered that sherry and port are used in finishing many types of whisky all over the world. It seemed less weird after thinking about it. And It had to be better than the Malt whiskeys they released last year…right?

RIGHT?

Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection, Sonoma-Cutrer finish, Pinot Noir Barrel

Purchase Info: $84.99 for a 750 mL at Zipps Liquor, Minneapolis, MN

Details: 45.2% ABV, Bourbon finished in Pinot Noir wine barrels

Nose: An earthy funk, herbal with a hint of smoke, dates and corn silage.

Mouth: Warm. Brown sugar sweetness with an earthy funk that follows the nose by bringing herbal flavors and a hint of corn.

Finish: Some warmth that fades fairly quickly and is replaced by oak and sour cherries.

Thoughts: I’m not a fan. Unlike some of the finished bourbons I’ve had where you barely know they’ve been finished, the wine certainly shows its influence here. The problem is that it basically takes over. There is very little bourbon influence other than heat and proof. It’s interesting, but I wish I had purchased a glass of it instead of a bottle.

As an experiment to minimize the wine influence, I mixed it half and half with some of the Old Forester Birthday Bourbon I had on the shelf. I’d have tried a Regular Woodford or a Double Oaked, but I didn’t have any on hand. It brought back some of the bourbon influence and actually made an enjoyable drink. On a whim, I also tried it half and half with some cheap brandy. This was also better than the Woodford straight, bringing body and sweetness to what was otherwise a brandy that tasted heavily of raisins. In other words, if the Kentucky Bourbon industry wasn’t so afraid of the word blend, they might have been able to release a drinkable product. As it is, I’ll probably buy a bottle of Old Forester Signature and use that $20 bottle to “fix” the $85 one.

Good bourbon at a great value: Four Roses Yellow Label

December 2, 2014 Eric Burke

My wife and I are finally reaching the end of all the Four Roses Single Barrels we bought last year. And we’ve had a good run with them. We did comparisons. We played with blending, even going so far as to try to approximate our own Yellow Label at cask strength. It was a resounding success. That was a great Christmas present we gave ourselves.

It was also over five hundred and fifty dollars. For many people, myself included, this is not a price point you look at lightly. You don’t regularly just walk up, plunk down roughly six hundred dollars and walk away with bourbon. If you do, that’s cool. But, I don’t understand you.

Maybe it’s the fact that I grew up dirt poor in a trailer park that causes me to be always on the lookout for a deal. I’m not cheap, I’ll splurge just like most people. But I want it to be “worth it.” I like value. And finishing that last bit of last year’s splurge got me to thinking about the fact one of the things that drew me to Four Roses in the first place was their entry priced bourbon. The one normally referred to as Yellow Label. And coincidentally one of the best values in bourbon.

Four Roses Yellow Label

Purchase info: $15.99 for a 750 mL at Total Wine in Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Initially: fresh green pea pods. After sitting a bit: delicate floral notes. hints of bubble gum and caramel.

Mouth: Soft in the mouth. Juicyfruit gum, mint, vanilla, ginger and underneath it all is a floral hint of that pea pod from the nose.

Finish: Warm but gentle with a lingering sweetness.

Thoughts: Four Roses likes to tout their bourbon as mellow and this certainly lives up to that billing. Gentle and sweet, this is a conversation bourbon. Meaning that it is a bourbon to have during a conversation, not one that starts one. It’s there for when you want to concentrate on the person you are conversing with, not the bourbon in your glass. I like it a lot and for less than $20 per bottle, it’s a great value.

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