High West Master Class Plus a Review of High West Double Rye

April 16, 2015 Eric Burke

High West Distillery is a company that gets a lot of love from whiskey geeks, myself included. They are located in Park City, Utah. Though they do distill some of their own stuff, they’ve really made their reputation on the ability to obtain interesting spirits and then blending them together to make something even more interesting.

So it was with real interest that I attended the master class Whiskey: An Organoleptic Journey at Sunday’s Whiskey on Ice Festival. The class was lead by Brendan Coyle, Lead Distiller at High West. During the class he discussed the whiskey making process in great detail. Everything from sourcing the grain down to bottling the finished product.

The coolest part of the class was that it wasn’t just “first you mill, then you mash, then you ferment.” Instead he went into great detail about how and why you might want to do things a certain way and how it would affect the finished product. For example: He didn’t just say you mill the grain, but showed a diagram of a hammer mill and described the relative courseness of the resulting flour. And why you’d want to mill at the speed you do so you don’t risk scorching.

Plus I really liked the dive into the science behind the processes. Things like why you might want a little bit of bacterial fermentation to go along with your yeast fermentation (complexity). The differences between the grain-in method of fermentation that American whiskey typically uses and the grain-out method used in making malt whiskey and why those methods are used (ease of filtration). Or why you would want to make your cuts at certain times and a bit of how you’d know when those are (taste/aroma + proof measurements).

And of course he went over distillation and aging. Each of these were illustrated with a small taste of whiskey. We tasted six whiskeys* during the course of the class. First were two silver whiskeys Western Oat and OMG Pure Rye. After that were four aged blends: Double Rye, Rendezvous Rye, Campfire and the newly-reintroduced Bourye. I enjoyed all of them on some level except the Campfire. It tasted a bit too much like it’s namesake for me.

All in all, if you get a chance to see one of Brendan Coyle’s talks, do it. My only regret is that it only lasted an hour. I could easily have sat through one twice as long.

High West Double Rye

Purchase Info: $32.99. 750 mL. Casanova Liquors, Hudson, WI (on a Sunday, out of state, for those who are watching Minnesota politics)

Details: 46% ABV. Batch# 14E20. Bottle# 3488. Blend of two straight rye whiskeys: a 2 year old 95% MGP rye and a 16 year old 53% Barton rye.

Nose: Mint, cedar, bubblegum, clove and licorice.

Mouth: Spicy. Toffee, mint, clove and licorice.

Finish: Mint, cedar and a nice lingering warmth

Thoughts: When I tried this side-by-side with the Rendezvous Rye during the class, I noticed that this one had much more of the typical “MGP” character. Which is perfect for me, because I really like that. It has more complexity than your typical MGP bottling though due to the addition of the much older Barton rye. This is a nice sipper with plenty of heat and at $30-$40 the price is right too. I like this. It’s an easy one to recommend.

*If you want info an any of these whiskeys visit www.highwest.com. The other cool thing about High West is how transparent they are about the details of their whiskeys. They will tell you what makes up each blend and we even got to see what proof the tails were cut at for the stuff they distilled during the presentation.

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A new event in town: Whiskey on Ice

April 14, 2015 Eric Burke

Sunday I attended Whiskey on Ice, the first whiskey festival to call the state of Minnesota home. The goal of the festival is admirable. Minnesota is seen as a small market for many whiskey companies. We don’t get what a lot of other states do. The premise was that if we had our very own whiskey festival, maybe companies outside of Canada would think about distributing their products to us. Now, I have no idea if it will help us get larger allocations of hard to find whiskeys, but I figure it can’t hurt. So now that my body has stopped punishing me for attending, let me tell you a little about my experience there.

Whiskey on Ice was held in the Depot in downtown Minneapolis. The Depot is a combination hotel and ice rink/event center that is housed in a historic train depot. It is a beautiful space with high ceilings, ample underground parking and easy access to that all-important lifeblood of the economy: coffee. For this event, the fact that there are two hotels attached to it was a serious safety bonus.

The event featured five master classes and “the grand tasting.” If you wanted to spend the extra cash on it, there was also a VIP hour ahead of the tasting where you could taste even more whiskeys surrounded by fewer crowds. And of course there was whiskey. A lot of whiskey. I was told it was a fairly pedestrian pouring list, but I was satisfied.

There were two concurrent sets of master classes. The first of which started at 1:30 pm. I attended one being held by High West’s head distiller. Ordinarily, 1:30 is a little early for me to be tasting whiskey so luckily it got into all sorts of sciency goodness that made me forget about how early it was. After the class was over, it was a half hour wait or so for the opening of the VIP session of the “Grand Tasting.”

The Whiskey on Ice Grand Tasting at the ice rink in The Depot, Minneapolis. Yes. In the winter you can skate here. — The Whiskey on Ice Grand Tasting at the ice rink in The Depot, Minneapolis. Yes. In the winter you can skate here.

Bagpipes. Why does there always have to be fucking bagpipes?

This really was worth the price of admission. Tickets were limited to 150 and there were only about 60 or so tables so it was easy to find one where you could talk to the brand representative or in the case of the smaller distilleries, the owner or distiller. I was able to taste a few things that I really liked which I’d never purchase for myself due to a combination of price (Jack Daniels Sinatra), availability (Compass Box Hedonism Quindecimus) and rarity (Kilbeggan 18 year old). Of course just as valuable to me are the things that I tasted during this time that I didn’t like and now do not need to spend the money on (GlenDronach 21 year Parliament, Kavalan Vunho Barrique and the Hudson Whiskey range).

Directly after the Grand Tasting VIP hour I attended the other of the master classes I attended. This was an entertaining look at the products of Jim Beam with American Whiskey Ambassador Adam Harris. Once again, we got to taste things that haven’t made it to Minnesota yet such as the Harvest Collection, Distiller’s Masterpiece and Old Tub. The Old Tub was brought along as a bit of fun since it is only available at the distillery. It also is either not very good or really suffered from being tasted last. The Harvest Collection I found a bit surprising. All of them were interesting though none were fantastic. And I was about to be fine with the fact that they weren’t available here. Then I decided to try an experiment. I mixed them all together. Now that I enjoyed. Either that or it benefited from being used to get the taste of Old Tub out of my mouth.

And after this class we wandered back into the tasting hall. This was a mistake. I met up with another local blogger and we sort of made the rounds. After a bit of time I found myself dumping less and less as I got more and more invested in the various conversations we were having…

And now we come to the part where I re-establish the fact that I am a big advocate for moderation in drinking. I highly advise it. And I can’t stress it enough: you do not want to be in the shape I was in after that festival. Next year, I’ll probably just skip the main tasting and only go to the VIP session and the classes. Also I’ll drink lots of water, eat the food and always, always remember to dump. Though my hotel got both channels, I still haven’t seen Game of Thrones or Mad Men from Sunday. Thank goodness for my DVR.

A decent value: Ezra B single Barrel

April 9, 2015 Eric Burke

Last year during the 2014 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets, I discovered Ezra Brooks. A bourbon that was one I figured I would buy again. Mostly because it was cheap. A few months later I discovered the Old Ezra 7 year old bourbon. 101 proof and less than $20. So I wouldn’t be buying the regular Ezra Brooks again after all. That itch was about to be scratched by an older and higher proof family member.

But it got me to thinking. If the 7 year old is good, what would the 12 year old taste like? Well, it could be one of two things. Either it is an oakier version of the same product or possibly almost nothing like the other two since all three of these are bourbons sourced by Luxco and are under no obligation to even come from the same manufacturer. Or it could even be both, I guess since Ezra B is a single barrel and there is no reason two barrels need come from the same place…Now I’ve talked myself into nervousness. But there is really only one way to find out for sure and that is to taste it.

Ezra B Single Barrel

Purchase Info: Marketplace Liquors, Savage, MN. $27.99, 750 mL bottle.

Details: Single Barrel. Barrel # 533 Bottled 2/14. Aged 12 years. 49.5% ABV.

Nose: Fruity: apples and berries, coconut and brown sugar.

Mouth: Ginger and clove, honey sweetness and oak.

Finish: Medium-longish with lingering oak and warmth.

Thoughts: This is a 12 year old bourbon for less than $30 where I bought it. It’s tasty with nice oak, a warm finish and it numbs the mouth a little. It’s a good bourbon for a good value. I like it and I’d buy it again. Though I will still buy the 7 year one too since it’s just as good a value and is even cheaper.

Handcrafted? Yes.

April 7, 2015 Eric Burke

In the last few months there has been a lot of news regarding the lawsuits alleging a misuse of the term handcrafted by members of the bourbon producing community. And on the face of it, it almost sounds legit. The lawyer alleges that something can’t be hand made if it is made in a giant computer controlled factory. If you didn’t know anything about whiskey, that argument might make you believe that the lawyer was onto something. To many people, handcrafted means that there is at least a little skill, a bit of human touch involved in making the product. (To others who are a bit more cynical it is a marketing term that has long since lost all meaning to reasonable folks.) So the lawyer tries to convince people that he knows what he is talking about, because computers.

What this lawyer either doesn’t understand or is betting that a judge doesn’t understand is that there is a very large difference between distillate and whiskey. If Jim Beam, Makers or any other bourbon maker were bottling distillate there might be a case to be argued. Might.

You see distillate is a product that could conceivably be very tightly controlled by people who know what they are doing and, yes, with computers. But bourbon is a natural product. It goes into a barrel and sits there for a good long time. And the longer it sits, the more influence the barrel has in the finished product. But just as each tree is different, so too is the infusion of each tree. The bourbon. Because at a basic level that’s all bourbon is. An infusion of charred new oak by a grain based alcohol solvent.

And yet, the bourbon from each batch tastes so close to the same that if you didn’t have them side by side you’d never know the difference. Or for most people, even if you did. So how does that happen? Well, bourbon manufacturers have a tasting panel. It could be one person, it could be many. And they do quality control. They make sure each batch tastes like the reference sample that they are aiming for within tolerances. And if they are off, they fix it by adding another whiskey until it is right.

Let’s look at an illustration. For this example we are going to pretend that oak changes a distillate’s color instead of flavor. Mostly because it is easier to visualize color than flavor.*

We’ve got three barrels we are using to make whiskey. One produces a light orange color, one a pink color and one a teal color. If you mix all of these together in equal amounts you will get a brown color. And so you’ve got your first batch of bourbon.

But then you go to make you second batch and you realize that what came out of the second batch of barrels are not the same colors as the first three barrels. So you need to go find barrels that will make this batch of whiskey as close as you can get to the first batch. In this case what you find is that if you mix a different pink, a lime green and a light purple together you will get a brown that is extremely close to the initial batch. So close you couldn’t tell the difference.

One more example, this time we want to make a lot of whiskey. So once again based on our reference sample, we mix and match until we find that if we take 6.5 parts of light orange, 6.5 parts of pink, 6 parts of teal, 4.5 parts of the other pink, 5 parts of lime green and 5.5 parts of light purple we once again end up with almost the exact same brown as our sample.**

In each of these examples we are trying to match that initial reference sample. And in each case the art, the skill, the human touch comes in while taking the different results you get from many different barrels and mixing them together to get a consistent result that matches the reference. You may argue that distillate can be computer-made in a factory but to me, bourbon qualifies as handcrafted.

The Maker's Mark tasting panel. Shot in September 2014 while on the Beyond the Mark tour.

*They are in mason jars because this idea came from a bourbon 101 presentation I used to do where I would invite volunteers to mix a color based on a reference sample to show this very topic. All of the colored waters were stored in mason jars and that shape just stuck in my mind.

**Don’t believe me? Take the illustrations into photoshop, sample the colors and mix them in the same proportions. It works.

Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2015: The Championship Rounds

April 2, 2015 Eric Burke

They’re here, the Championship rounds. We’ve made it through the opening rounds and tonight we find out who graduates to the Fancy Shelf.

Once again, I am struck by just how good the competition has been. There were plenty of matchups where I actually liked both of the bourbons involved. Obviously one more than the other, but still. There was only one I would absolutely rule out ever buying again and that is the Old Crow. I doubt that I’ll get the OGD 80 again just because its higher proof brothers are still inexpensive and much better. Benchmark, I’d grab this for a cheap everyday whisky on occasion. It’s pleasant enough. And Henry McKenna was a pretty good card-playing bourbon.

Of course now that we are down to four, it is interesting to note that all four are from Heaven Hill and that three of the four are 100 proof or greater. I’d say this means that when it comes to putting out bourbons that both taste good and are good values, Heaven Hill knows what they are doing. It’s interesting to note that they also won last year’s competition.

So here we go. These were tasted blind again. And remember as with last year, these were not formal tasting notes, just impressions to let us decide which one we liked better.

Round 2: Down to Four

Division 1: Fighting Cock vs Evan Williams (Black)

Nose A: Fruity and sweet

Nose B: More vegetal, but otherwise similar

Mouth A: Sweet and spicy with a hint of fruit

Mouth B: Sweet with baking spices but with a vegetal undercurrent

Finish A: Warm and long. nice and spicy

Finish B: Hints of baking spices and oak

Thoughts: A is a much nicer bourbon. It has hints of fruit that really tie it together. B was showing a bit too vegetal in comparison.

Winner: A wins this one hands down. It is Fighting Cock. It really is amazing to me that what I interpreted as oak in Evan Williams last round is showing as vegetal today. That says more about me than the bourbon, but it is still interesting.

Division 2: JW Dant Bottled in Bond vs Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

Nose A: Caramel, hint of spice, slightly fruitier

Nose B: Caramel, hint of spice, slightly drier

Mouth A: Sweet, baking spices, oak

Mouth B: Drier than A, but otherwise very similar.

Finish A: Spicy, baking spices

Finish B: Slightly more oak, but otherwise similar

Thoughts: When you consider that these are both the same distillate, more than likely aged to about the same amount of time and bottled at the same strength, it isn’t too surprising to find out that they are very, very similar.

Winner: Today, the winner is Evan Williams Bottled in Bond. Tomorrow it might be the Dant, it is that close. These will both be on my shelf again. When it comes to buying, I will probably just go with which one the store I’m at carries and which is cheaper if it has both.

Fancy Shelf Championship

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond vs Fighting Cock

Nose A: Fruity and sweet with hints of oak

Nose B: Exactly the same. I can’t tell the difference.

Mouth A: Spicy, sweet and hot.

Mouth B: Spicy, sweet, hot with a little tannic bitterness.

Finish A: Spicy and sweet

Finish B: Spicy and sweet with some lingering oak.

Thoughts: Once again, there is no surprise that these are very similar. Same juice put into the barrel. One aged for an assumed 4+ years, the other for a stated 6 years. One 100 proof, one 103. Very, very similar. And which is better, that will depend on who you ask. Like a touch more wood? Go with B. Like a touch less? Go with A.

Winner: That said, I enjoyed having just a touch more oak so the Fancy Shelf Champion is: B, Fighting Cock.

Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2015: Round 1: Evan Williams Bottled in Bond vs Henry McKenna

March 31, 2015 Eric Burke

Round 1d of the 2015 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets features Number 2 seed Evan Williams Bottled in Bond versus Number 3 seed Henry McKenna.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond is a product of Heaven Hill Brands. This is the Bottled in bond version of the black label version that competed in Round 1b. That means it is 100 proof, over 4 years old and is the product of one distillery in one season. It’s a pretty good snapshot of what was happening at Heaven Hill 4+ years ago. This is one of a batch of Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond products that I’m quite fond of. The others being JW Dant, Old Heaven Hill and Henry McKenna Bottled in Bonds.

Speaking of Henry McKenna the number 3 seed of this contest is the non-bonded version of Henry McKenna. It is also a product of Heaven Hill Brands. I was told by an employee of Heaven Hill once that the juice going into the barrels is the same, but that the main difference between Evan Williams and Henry McKenna is where they are aged. The Henry McKenna being aged on a hillside where it gets a lot of sun where Evan Williams ages more evenly. I’m not sure the veracity of that statement, but it sounds plausible.

These were tasted blind in the following order.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

Purchase info: MGM Wine and Spirits, Burnsville, MN. $17.99, 1 Liter Bottle.

ABV: 50%

Produced by: Heaven Hill Brands

Nose: Fruity and Sweet. Caramel, apple, vanilla, rose petals and just a hint of pea pod.

Mouth: Started with a hint of vegetal pea pod, but that faded quickly to reveal a hot and sweet dram with ginger and toffee.

Finish: Warm and spicy. Fades fairly quickly. Numbs the mouth.

Thoughts: I like this one. That faint vegetal hint aside, this is a good one.

Henry McKenna

Purchase info: Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. $11.99, 750 mL Bottle.

ABV: 40%

Produced by: Heaven Hill Brands

Nose: Floral, caramel and brown sugar.

Mouth: Thin. Warm and dry. Ginger spiciness. Strong oak influence with hints of caramel.

Finish: Nice flavor, but very brief.

Thoughts: It has a nice flavor but is a bit thin and the finish is a bit too brief for me. It makes me think that this might be a great bourbon to cook with though. When you want the bourbon flavors, but not the ethanol ones.

Winner: Evan Williams has a nicer nose, finish and mouthfeel. Henry McKenna has a nicer flavor, but since Evan Williams flavor isn’t that far below I’m giving the nod to Evan Williams Bottled in Bond.

Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2015, Round 1: JW Dant Bottled in Bond vs Old Crow

March 26, 2015 Eric Burke

Round 1c of the 2015 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets features Number 1 seed, and last year’s winner JW Dant Bottled in bond versus Number 4 seed Old Crow.

JW Dant Bottled in Bond is a product of Heaven Hill Brands. It was initially chosen as a part of last year’s competition where it eked out a split decision victory over Sazerac’s Old Charter (8 year old). This year it is back to defend it’s crown against new competition. Can it become a two time winner?

Old Crow is a product of BeamSuntory and, like it’s Beam stable-mate Old Grand-Dad, was once a label produced by National Distillers. Unlike Old Grand-Dad, Old Crow was converted over to the standard Beam recipe and has languished there ever since. It normally lives a full and uneventful life as many a bar’s well whiskey, being mixed into drinks that no one cares enough about to specify a brand or being shot by frat boys who are “tougher” than those who just want Fireball.

These were tasted blind in the following order.

JW Dant Bottled in Bond

Purchase Info: Blue Max Liquors, Burnsville, MN. $15.99 for a 1 liter bottle

Stated Age: NAS (Assumed 4+ years)

ABV: 50%

Produced by: Heaven Hill

Nose: Fruity, cinnamon and cocoa powder to start. Followed by a strong caramel candy note.

Mouth: Sweet and hot with caramel, cocoa and sharp oak tannins..

Finish: Warm and sweet with nice length and lingering oak.

Thoughts: The nose on this one is fabulous. The rest was fine, but a bit of a let down after the show the nose put on for us.

Old Crow

Purchase Info: Blue Max Liquors, Burnsville, MN. $10.94 for a 1 liter bottle

Stated Age: Aged “for a full 3 years”

ABV: 40%

Produced by: Jim Beam

Nose: Initially: barn. After that passed, grain, mint and baking spices.

Mouth: Silage, baking spices and a hint of mint. But mostly silage.

Finish: Mild warmth, black pepper and more silage.

Thoughts: My first nose of the glass was: “Holy shit! That smells like a barn. Not an old barn, but one currently holding cattle.” Luckily it faded quickly. Water helps this one, but only because it dilutes the silage. You might want to stick to mixing this one…maybe on the rocks…nah, skip the intermediary and just dump it out. In the toilet. It really is too bad that Beam let this fall on such hard times. It might have been kinder to put it out of its misery.

Winner: JW Dant Bottled in Bond wins this one hands down. And not by default. It actually had things going for it as opposed to just being not-Old-Crow. The nose was fantastic. The rest was ok too. For Old Crow…yeah I have nothing nice to say. When it starts with barn and goes downhill? Yeah. just pass on this one. At just north of $10 per liter this is actually overpriced. When we revealed which was which neither of us were surprised to see which was Dant and which was Old Crow.

Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets 2015, Round 1: Evan Williams vs. Old Grand-Dad (80 proof)

March 24, 2015 Eric Burke

Round 1b of the 2015 Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets features Number 2 seed Evan Williams versus Number 3 seed Old Grand-Dad (80 proof).

Evan Williams is a product of Heaven Hill Brands. You’ve probably seen it. It’s available almost everywhere. It’s the third-best selling American Whiskey. It also tends to look more than a little like the first best-selling American Whiskey: Jack Daniels so you will be forgiven if you didn’t notice it hiding down on the lower shelves. But unlike Jack Daniels, this is one bottle worth paying attention to. Though uninteresting, it is tasty and can be had for south of $15 per liter here in Minnesota.

Old Grand-Dad is produced by BeamSuntory. Though it’s part of Jim Beam, it has a higher rye content in it’s mashbill than the standard Beam recipe because of it’s heritage as part of the former National Distillers group of labels. There are 4 labels produced using this juice. Old Grand-Dad 114 proof, Old Grand-Dad Bonded, Old Grand-Dad 80 proof and Basil Hayden. Basil Hayden is also 80 proof. I’ve had the other three. I’ve liked them all. I’ve never had OGD 80 proof and have been looking forward to this round so that I could try it.

These were tasted blind in the following order.

Old Grand-Dad (80 proof)

Purchase Info: Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. $13.99 750 mL

Stated Age: NAS (Assumed 4+ years)

ABV: 40%

Produced by: Jim Beam

Nose: Dried Grain/silage, cinnamon gum, oak and a hint of leather.

Mouth: Sweeter than I expected from the nose, but very hot as well. The cinnamon gum is there from the nose as well as the silage.

Finish: Hot and sweet with lingering oak and more silage.

Thoughts: Hot as this is, don’t try adding water. Water destroys this one. To be honest, I’m shocked by how little I like this one considering how much I like its higher proof brothers.

Evan Williams

Purchase Info: MGM Wine & Spirits, Burnsville, MN $12.47 for a 1L

Stated Age: NAS (Assumed 4+ years)

ABV: 43%

Produced by: Heaven Hill

Nose: Caramel corn, dusty old wood, baking spices.

Mouth: Sweet and soft. Baking spices, molasses and oak tannins.

Finish: There is a little heat, but it fades quickly. Lingering oak. Beyond that there isn’t much here.

Thoughts: In the past, I’ve described this as a “card-playing bourbon.” Tasty, but not very interesting. I stand by that here. Also, adding water seems to have little effect on this one.

Winner: Of the two, the Old Grand-Dad was certainly more interesting. There isn’t much going on with Evan Williams. That said, OGD does have a very unappealing silage flavor that is hard to get past. For a “tasting” in a Glencairn, I’d rather have interesting Old Grand-Dad, but as I will be merely “drinking” these from this point on, I have to give the win to Evan Williams.

Blog

High West Double Rye

Ezra B Single Barrel

Round 2: Down to Four

Fancy Shelf Championship

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

Henry McKenna

JW Dant Bottled in Bond

Old Crow

Old Grand-Dad (80 proof)

Evan Williams