Dry Fly Straight Triticale Whiskey

July 7, 2015 Eric Burke

So. Craft whiskey.

I haven’t written about a craft whiskey in a while.

There’s a reason for that. I’ve been burned too often to want to pull the trigger on buying them when I see them in the store. I used to try every whiskey I could get my hands on. Big producers, small producers, bottlers, blenders, it didn’t matter. And I loved the idea of supporting small distilleries with my love and money. But there was a problem.

Out of all the ones I tried, I remember a handful that I really liked. There are very few would I want to spend my money on a second time. I know how the process works. I know that economies of scale play a big part in the “craft price,” but there weren’t many that I felt were…well…good. Much less good enough to justify an inflated price.

So I haven’t picked one up in a while. But I have tried a few at whiskey events, just to know where things are at. And in doing that I found a couple of producers that I felt warrented another look. One of those was Dry Fly Distilling out of Spokane, Washington. I’d heard their name, seen their product on the shelves, even read some reviews. But as I said, I’ve been burned before. I just didn’t want to drop the coin until I could be assured I’d at least be interested by the product. After trying it, I felt it was worth the risk. Especially for one where it was made out of an interesting grain.

Triticale is a hybrid grain. It was bred from wheat and rye in the late 1800s, but, according to wikipedia has only recently been commercially viable as a crop. If you want to know more you can read it yourself (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triticale). But what interested me about it was what it would bring to a whiskey. Would it be anything like other rye or wheat whiskies I’d had? Would it be soft or spicy? Would it be any good?

Dry Fly Straight Triticale Whiskey

Purchase Info: $29.99, 375 mL. Casanova Liquors, Hudson, WI. (It sells for between $39 and $49 for a 750 mL around the Twin Cities.)

Details: 44% ABV. Straight with no age statement so if all the rules were followed we should assume this is at least four years old in new barrels.

Nose: Bubble gum. Banana fruitiness. A light touch of caramel and baking spices.

Mouth: Spicier than I’d expect at 88 proof. A touch solventy at first. Sweet banana bread at the front of the mouth transitions to a nice minty rye spiciness as it moves toward a swallow.

Finish: A tad solventy again on the finish. Sweet and spicy. It fades to a nice bitterness that makes you want another sip.

Thoughts: I’m very pleasantly surprised by this. The more I taste of it, the more I like it. The only knock I have is that solvent note, but it seems to fade fairly fast. I’m guessing that as I finish the bottle it may even disappear. It tastes young, but I really like it. I can’t wait to try more by these guys.

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Woodford Reserve Rye

July 2, 2015 Eric Burke

Back in August 2012 I said the following:

"Overall I liked this whiskey. I didn't care for the price. $100 is a lot for this, but the experience and the satiated curiosity were worth it, even if the whiskey was not. Based on this, if Woodford released a permanent rye in the price range of their original bourbon, I'd give it the occasional look."

I was talking about the Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection New and Aged Cask Ryes that were released in 2011 . I enjoyed the experience of trying the same juice aged in two different types of barrels and I enjoyed the whiskeys. So it was with some interest that I read that Brown Foreman was releasing that rye expression I had asked for.

I read varying comments around the web at the time of the announcement. Most of them were...not positive. But I tried to remind people that Brown-Forman was the company that until recently was producing the very tasty Rittenhouse Rye for Heaven Hill. Even if nothing else about them making it was applicable, at least they knew how to handle rye in such a way it made a tasty whiskey. Didn't seem to help much.

I decided to just wait and see. I knew it would be some time before we got Woodford Rye here in Minnesota. Heck, we've just received the first release in the Old Forester Whiskey Row series (1870). Coincidentally, right around the time the second release hit the stores in Kentucky.

My wait and see approach lasted until business happened to take my wife to Cincinnati. Flying into Cincinnati lands you in Kentucky. In Kentucky fairly close to the Party Source. So I told her that I would be happy to stay at home all alone while she had fun at a conference if she would bring me a few things back. One of those was the Woodford Reserve Rye.

This weekend we decided to taste it.

Woodford Reserve Rye

Purchase Info: $38.99, 750 mL. The Party Source, Bellevue, KY

Details: 45.2% ABV. Batch 002

Nose: Mint, cedar, honey sweetness, black tea

Mouth: Cinnamon and clove, mint, black tea, buckwheat honey.

Finish: Decent length. Cedar, mint, black tea.

Thoughts: I’m very impressed with this rye. It has an interesting depth of flavor while still retaining the standard minty/spicy rye character. It’s tannic, but not overly so. Sweet, but not cloying. Spicy, but not overly hot. Black tea was a bit of a surprise note for me, but it seemed to work well. There are hints of the flavors of the bourbons produced by Old Forester/Woodford Reserve. I’m guessing that is coming from the yeast. Overall, I like this as much as I thought I would. It’s tasty.

Revisiting the Old Grand-Dads

June 30, 2015 Eric Burke

Three bottles of Old Grand-Dad at various proofs

Sometimes circumstances beyond your control put you in a position where you realize: “Hey, I’ve got bottles of three different styles of Old Grand-Dad open.”

Now I know what you’re thinking. “Eric, you’ve limited yourself to enough room for 22 open bottles of American whiskey, why would you have three different styles of Old Grand-Dad open?”

Or at least you would be asking that if this were a local radio commercial. I feel sorry for those guys. I worked with some folks who needed to write or record that stuff at my last job. It’s hard to get something good approved sometimes.

Anyway, it’s still a good question. How on Earth did I end up with this? I do have limited space, it seems odd to devote a little more than one eighth of it to a single brand.

Well, the 80 proof is still left over from the Bottom Shelf Brackets I did in March. It’s almost gone, but still seems to be hanging around. The 114 is one of my favorite sub-$25 dollar bourbons and I pick it up anytime I see it on sale.

And the 100 proof Bonded? Well, I picked it up for the blog, around the time of the label change thinking that a label change might have signified something greater. Reading the folks who also had that thought, made me think that we were all mistaken and that there was little if anything different inside the bottle. So there it sat. Until I realized that for the first time, I actually had all three Old-Grand-Dad’s in the house. Having fallen in love with the 114, I haven’t had Old Grand-Dad Bonded in the house since late 2011/early 2012 and I was curious to revisit it after a span of a few years.

Plus I thought it might be an interesting chance to explore the effects of dilution. Three bottles of supposedly the same bourbon diluted to three different strengths, bottled and given time to mingle. I know there might be barrel choices that influence things, but eh, it’s for fun, not science this time, right?

Three Old Grand-Dads

Purchase info:

80 proof: Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. $13.99 750 mL

100 proof Bonded: Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. $22.99 1 L

114 Proof: Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN. $24.99 750 mL

Nose:

80 proof: Fruity graininess, sweet cinnamon, a hint of mint and some oak

100 proof Bonded: Less pronounced grain, some mint, vanilla and honey sweetness along with oak dryness.

114 proof: Initially very sweet. Some alcohol burn. Mint, toffee, yeasty bread dough.

Thoughts: Very interesting to see what the amount of dilution does to the nose of a whiskey. In this case, the higher the water content, the more pronounced the fruity and grainy notes. As an experiment, I watered down some of the 114 proof to 80. The nose was almost indistinguishable from the bottled 80 proof.

Mouth:

80 proof: Cinnamon gum, mint and oak dryness

100 proof Bonded: Sweet vanilla, oak, baking spices, anise.

114 proof: Hot and sweet, oak, hints of cherries and cocoa.

Finish:

80 proof: Decent length. Sweet and spicy. Lingering oak dries the mouth.

100 proof Bonded: Heat that settles in the chest and stays there a while. Lingering anise. Mouth numbing.

114 proof: Very warm and long lasting. Lingering dry oak.

Thoughts: I’m guessing barrel selection plays as big a part as proof does on the palate with these. For instance the 114 proof watered down to 80 proof just tastes like watered down 114 proof. Overall I like the 100 and 114 proof much more than the 80 proof. The 80 proof is merely meh. There is a smaller difference between the 100 and 114 though, the 114 still reigns as my favorite sub $25 bourbon.

Bourbon Empire: The Past and Future of America's Whiskey by Reid Mitenbuler

June 23, 2015 Eric Burke

Shortest review ever: buy this book.

Can I say more? Of course. I can always say more. Do I need to? Not really. I’ve read a lot of books about bourbon. I’ve got a shelf full of them. Some are fantastic. A couple are really, really bad. Some just spit out the same marketing myths you’ve heard over and over. Some have amazing amounts of original research. Some of them are interesting, but dry. Others are entertaining, but empty of real information.

Bourbon Empire is one of the rare ones that is both entertainingly written and full of interesting information. This was a book that I couldn’t keep to myself. On more than one occasion, I had to stop and read passages aloud to my wife.

The parts that I especially enjoyed were the comparisons between times when a lot of people needed to make money on bourbon in a short period of time. Namely the years right after Prohibition and today. It seems a lot of the same techniques for “quick aging” were tried by post-prohibition distilleries trying to compete with imported stocks of fully matured whiskey as are being touted today by craft distilleries needing to compete with large stocks of fully matured bourbon. I won’t spoil the chapters for you, I really want you to read them yourself.

Most books on bourbon can’t help at least bringing up the mythical origin stories that most bourbon brands insist on surrounding themselves with. Some celebrate them as the honest truth. Others take pride in pointing out that they are damn lies. The difference here is that the myths are celebrated while they are being debunked. They are mentioned. They are poked, prodded and examined from various angles and then they are celebrated for being good, though not true, stories.

So, go out right now to your local bookstore—or if you are like most of America who no longer has one go to Amazon—and buy this book. Reid Mitenbuler has crafted a book that is a pleasure to read and will teach you something to boot. Maybe enjoy it with a nice bourbon.

Oh no, it's Father's Day.

June 18, 2015 Eric Burke

It's almost Father's Day. And, if you're like me, you're thinking to yourself: "oh shit! I forgot to get my dad something!"

Now my dad is a brandy drinker so I am planning to just spend some time with him this weekend and hope I don't come off as cheap. But if your dad is a bourbon fan, the easy answer is that you could always buy him...well...bourbon. Of course, it's entirely possible that you are looking for something a little less boozy for dear old dad on his special day. Something that won't get you in trouble with mom for encouraging him. In such a case, you could give him something that will enhance his bourbon drinking long after that one bottle you thought of giving him would be emptied.

In that case, it just so happens I might have a few ideas for you. As you might have guessed from the number of reviews I post, I tend to have my share of bourbon along with your share and your neighbor's. And I just so happen to have a collection of favorite things that I can easily recommend to you.

First and foremost is glassware. Drinking out of good glassware is key to enjoying your bourbon. I'm not going to say that I haven't had a mini of Jim Beam out of a plastic glass in a hotel room, but it isn't the most pleasurable way to drink it.

If dad is a taster of bourbon, a set of glencairn glasses is key. I got my set of six off of Amazon years ago and have been very happy with them.
Of course, you don't want to taste whiskey all the time, sometimes you just want to drink it. And honestly, a glencairn isn't real easy to drink out of. In such a case, while I do like a nice heavy rocks glass, recently these small snifters have been the go to whenever they're clean. I bought one from Beam and one from A. Smith Bowman.
But if you don't really feel like giving dad something with a logo emblazoned on it, visit a local antique store or an estate sale and look at the glassware. I've gotten some really cool old glasses that I absolutely love that way. One thing those folks from 50-60 years ago knew was drinking and the glasses they used are some of the most comfortable I've held.

But maybe we are getting ahead of ourselves. Dad needs to get the whiskey into the glass somehow, right? And even before he does that, he may even want to do something with it. Maybe make it into a cocktail? So utensils are essential.

Sure dad could pull the cork out with his teeth and just splash some in the glass, but we aren't cowboys. This is the modern age and in the modern age we have things like measuring cups. My favorite is an OXO Stainless Steel one. This is the one I keep next to the bourbon shelf at all times.
And what about that cocktail? If dad is making a whiskey sour, he'll need a lemon juiced. I have about 4 different juicers in the house, but the one I find most convenient is this hand juicer I got at Sur La Table. It's heavy and isn't too expensive. Plus I can just rinse it off when I'm finished. Most of the pulp stays in the lemon half.
If dad is making something like a Manhattan though, he will need a spoon. I don't have a recommendation. I find that the choice of bar spoon is highly personal. Mine was a cheap one, it doesn't have the muddler end that everyone recommends. But it feels right in my hand and glides nicely in the mixing glass.

And once dad has made or poured his drink, it would be nice for him to have something to sit and read. The book I'm reading right now is Bourbon Empire by Reid Mitenbuler. I'll have a real review coming soon, but spoiler alert, I'm really enjoying it.

So if you don't want to get dad bourbon (due to mom's disapproving looks, or because he has so much good stuff you'd never be able to afford to top it) think about some of these other ways to enhance dad's bourbon experiences. Most of these things I like more than some of the bourbons I've reviewed lately.

Jesse James America's Outlaw Bourbon Whiskey

June 16, 2015 Eric Burke

It’s coming up on Father’s Day and I’m reminded of something that my step-father did on one of the many trips my wife and I took to the cabin to spend a holiday with he and my mom.

My step-father is a Jack drinker. He has been for longer than I’ve been alive. He likes a good bourbon, Basil Hayden was an appreciated treat one year for Christmas, but Jack is his go to. Jack on the rocks to be specific.

Well, knowing that my wife and I are bourbon drinkers, my step-father will occasionally stop off to grab a bottle to share on his way up to the cabin. He tries to grab something not Jack when he does this. He finds it to be a bit too expensive unless it is a special occasion. On this particular occasion he grabbed Jesse James Outlaw Bourbon Whiskey. He was pretty proud of the purchase, finding it on sale in the low teens. And as we sat around playing cards, it kept our glasses from going empty.

Jesse James is named in honor of the Old West Outlaw, but it is named after founder Jesse James Dupree of the band Jackyl. (Think early 90s and a chainsaw.) I originally bought it for my Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets back in March, but noticed just before we cracked open the bottles that it didn’t qualify. This bottle, though it is age stated at three years old, was not labeled straight. I have no idea why that is, but it was enough to put it out of contention and back into the closet.

But I’ve been bunkering this whiskey for long enough. It was time to take it out and make room for things that I’d want to bunker. And while we’re at it let’s see if it was the company and the ambiance or the whiskey that kept us filling our glasses that night at the cabin.

Jesse James America's Outlaw Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: $14.98, 750 mL. Ace Spirits, Hopkins MN

Details: 40% ABV, 36 months old.

Nose: Berries, grain, cinnamon and a hint of mint.

Mouth: Thin, cocoa, cherries, hints of baking spices and mint.

Finish: Gentle, dusty cocoa and mint fading to a lingering bitterness.

Thoughts: This reminds me of a cross between Evan Williams and Jack Daniels. It’s too gentle for sipping, so I’m guessing this was intended to be taken as a shot. To be honest, I expected it to be terrible in a glencairn, but it’s not. It’s just kinda meh. I can see why my Jack drinking step-dad liked it.

Ask Arok: Your Questions, My Answers... Tasting Bourbon

June 11, 2015 Eric Burke

A few days ago I got a question from Ray about tasting bourbon.

I found your site and have been reading your blog posts about tasting different bourbons. I'm just getting started out on trying different bourbons and was wondering if you have any tips on how to do a tasting.

I almost always just taste the alcohol and can rarely detect any of the different flavors you list on reviews. I've read up on it and put some Glencairn glasses on my Father's Day list hoping that will help

Do you have any suggestions on what I can try or a site to review to read up on some good tips?

Thanks,

Ray

Now Ray asks a question that all of us have asked at some point in our bourbon journey. "How do these guys find all those flavors?" It's a good question. I get it a lot and I know I asked myself that for quite a while. The short answer is: practice and be mindful.

I know for me when I started tasting bourbons (not just drinking them), I initially found sweet and heat. Then, over time, as I tried more bourbons, I started to make associations. This sweet is more like vanilla, this one is more like brown sugar or maple. This spice numbs my mouth like cloves, that wood tastes like the sawdust I create when I'm chopping wood.

Of course there are some technical tips that will help you find flavors a little easier. Keep your mouth slightly open when you nose to allow the air to travel all over your olfactory system. Conversely, if all you are tasting is heat, try keeping your mouth closed while you taste it to keep the oxygen and alcohol combination from overwhelming your tastebuds. Move it around in your mouth, letting it hit all those tastebuds. You'll hear people talk about chewing on it. That's this part. The other thing you can do if all you taste is heat is to dilute it. You'll find those flavors easier if you aren't burning your tastebuds off. It might help, at first, to find a place where you can concentrate and think about what you're doing.

My process is to work my way into a set of flavors. I first notice, let’s say spice, then I try to figure out what spice I taste. Is it more like cinnamon or cloves or ginger. Is it mouth numbing like cloves? Sharp like ginger? Sometimes it’s nondescript, then you might be stuck with just “baking spices.” And that’s ok. There are no wrong answers. The important thing is to take your time. I’ll spend a half hour just on the nose sometimes trying to figure out all the little nuances. But then sometimes it just jumps out at you. It all depends on the bourbon. I tend to run through a mental list of all the flavors I’ve tried. Non-bourbon flavors. I compare what I smell or taste to what I remember about each flavor. Does it match up? If not I move on to the next.

And here is the interesting thing. What you taste says more about your background than it does about the bourbon. You can only identify what you’ve had so I might say juicyfruit gum, but someone else might say something else entirely. Scent and taste are tied to memory. That’s half the fun.

So if you are like Ray, hang in there if you want to find those flavors. Take your time and most of all be very mindful of what you are smelling and tasting. All the time. Especially when there is no bourbon around. When you are eating a cookie, think about that sweetness or spice. When you walk into the back yard on a hot summer day, think about that warm grassy smell coming from the earth. Rocks, minerals, dried corn, mulch, dirt, the spices in your cupboard. All of these things are sources of inspiration and knowledge. Catalog those scents and flavors in your mind so you can bring them back when you hold that sip in your mouth. As an added bonus, you may find that as you pay more attention to your food and your environment, that you enjoy it more. I know I do.

I guess, this all boils down to a few things: practice, be mindful and most of all have fun. That's the best advice I can give.

Crown Royal Hand Selected Barrel

June 9, 2015 Eric Burke

Are you one of those folks who have decided that Canadian Whisky would be interesting if only it had a bit more oomph? If it were served at a proof above the bare minimum to be called whisky? Some sort of single barrel pick that hadn’t had all the rough edges blended out of it?

Well, this is your lucky day. Crown Royal has recently expanded it’s Hand Selected Barrel program from Texas to the rest of the US. This whisky is released at 51.5% ABV. It’s a Single Barrel release of the Coffey Rye whisky. The Coffey Rye is one of the 50 whiskies that make up the standard Crown Royal blend. It is a Canadian rye (not the same definition as US straight rye) produced on a Coffey still.

Saturday was my lucky day. When I wandered into Ace Spirits, I noticed that they had participated in the Hand-Selected Barrel program. I don’t normally review them this quickly, but I bumped this to the head of the pack, just in case you are local and decide to go get one for yourself. So should you got get one?

Crown Royal Hand Selected Barrel

Purchase info: $64.99, 750 mL. Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN.

Details: 51.5% ABV

Nose: Earthy and sweet. Bubblegum, baking spices and tobacco.

Mouth: Soft and velvety. The proof brings a lot of tingle to this. Baseball card bubble gum, cinnamon, clove, anise, buckwheat honey.

Finish: On the short side of medium. More bubble gum fading to a nice bitterness.

Thoughts: This is a bottle that benefits from air. I tried doing my tasting right away and it was really just heat and bubble gum. I was extremely disappointed in it, especially for what I paid. I did notice that the sample in the store didn’t seem to be quite so one-note. And guessing that the bottle in the store wasn’t freshly opened, I poured myself another sample and then let it sit for an hour or so. After sitting, the nose and the mouth opened up considerably, becoming much more complex. This whisky is a touch hot, though I wouldn’t recommend adding any water. Even a little destroys the mouth feel and really lessens the flavors. Anecdotally, this seems to trend sweet. My wife overheard sales people at the Party Source telling folks that theirs tasted like marshmallows. Mine tastes like old baseball card bubble gum so there is a certain candy theme.

Bottom line: I like it and while it’s interesting to taste a bottle that goes into a major blend, it is really expensive for what it is. I’d be really happy with this at $40, but at $65 I probably won’t be buying it again.

Blog

Dry Fly Straight Triticale Whiskey

Woodford Reserve Rye

Three Old Grand-Dads

Purchase info:

Nose:

Mouth:

Finish:

Jesse James America's Outlaw Bourbon Whiskey

Crown Royal Hand Selected Barrel