Ask Arok: Does Luxco have aging warehouses?

December 10, 2015 Eric Burke

@mindtron asked on twitter:

@arok this is super inside baseball, but do you know if Luxco have their own warehouses? asking as I just opened the 7yr and I wondered if it was barrels meant for EC12 that started getting too oaky when young.

The 7 year he was referencing is one of my favorite value bourbons Old Ezra 101 7 year shown above.

Now I love geeky inside-baseball questions and, to be honest, on this one I had no idea. As with all the best questions, this is a question I had never even thought to ask before. So I reached out to my PR contact at Luxco and asked them. I also reached out to a couple other bloggers that I thought might have an answer just in case they declined to answer.

As it stands they were happy to answer this one:

“Our bourbons are not aged by Luxco; they are aged at the source where Luxco contracts.”

This answer was later corroborated by Josh Wright of SipologyBlog and Chuck Cowdery.

So on to the second part. Of course it is impossible to get know for sure, but it’s an open secret in the bourbon community that at least some of the juice for Ezra Brooks comes from Heaven Hill. And so it stands to reason that barrels that were aging a bit too quickly to make it to 12 years for Elijah Craig, might be sold off to someone who would be happy to use them in a 7 year old bourbon.

Do you have a bourbon question you'd like answered? Just get in contact with me using one of the icons in the sidebar to submit one. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll try to find it from someone who does.

UPDATE: the day after I wrote this, we received the news that Luxco was planning a distillery in Bardstown. I'm assuming there will be aging facilities there.

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Whiskey: An American Pictorial History by Oscar Getz

December 8, 2015 Eric Burke

A while back, I wrote a post about the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History in Bardstown, KY. In doing research for that post, I stumbled upon the information that Mr. Getz, aside from being an avid collector of whiskey historical memorabilia, also wrote a book on whiskey history as well.

Having stumbled upon that information just as the the monthly patron donations hit, I immediately decided to use that month’s proceeds to purchase the book should I be able to find it. It turns out that it I didn’t have to look too hard. Though the book is long out of print, there are plenty of used copies for sale on the Amazon Marketplace. And so, not knowing exactly what I would get, I placed the order and waited.

Whiskey: An American Pictorial History

by Oscar Getz

Based upon the title, I expected this book to be made up almost entirely of pictures. I expected that most of those pictures would be from Mr. Getz’s collection, the seed of the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History in Bardstown, KY. I half expected that most of the images would be of things I remembered seeing from the museum.

I was both right and wrong. There are images of items that I’ve seen in the museum and many of the images are of items from Mr. Getz’s collection. But contrary to my expectations this book is not as image heavy as the title would lead you to believe. Now don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of images, but many, if not most, of them are images of documents. Within it’s pages are an amazing collection of letters, laws, newspaper pages, liquor licenses and advertisements from Colonial times through the mid-1970s.

Like other books on American whiskey history, this one starts with the pilgrims, retelling legends that in many of us learned in elementary school. It talks about the intertwined nature of taverns, liquor and the early United States. It touches on George Washington, Hamilton, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Civil War before ending it’s narrative with Prohibition.

But though it hits all the same notes as many other books, I found this book to be interesting for the parts it includes that many others don’t. There is a chapter on Abraham Lincoln and his tavern. There is a chapter on mail-order whiskey marketing. And the book ends with a chapter on a subject that reads as a personal one for Mr. Getz, the economic and social contributions of the liquor industry.

This final chapter details a history of charitable contributions, the many ways that states used their liquor tax revenue in the 1970s and a plea that the distilling industry devote itself to helping end teenage consumption as well as drinking and driving. Though this chapter was not written as a history, almost forty years on, it provides some interesting insights.

Overall if you happen to see this book somewhere, I’d recommend picking it up. Though the text can be dry and hard to read at times, the information and documents contained in it’s pages are worth the effort.

Old Forester "75th Anniversary of Repeal" gift set

December 3, 2015 Eric Burke

Seventy-second Congress of the United States of America
At the Second Session,

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, the fifth
day of December, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-two.

Joint Resolution
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is hereby proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by conventions in three-fourths of the several States:

“Article

“Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

“Sec. 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

“Sec. 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.”

On December 5th, 1933 Utah voted to pass the 21st Amendment, becoming the 36th and deciding state to do so. On that day the Prohibition was officially ended.

75 years later, the Brown-Forman company put out a special gift set of Old Forester to commemorate the passage of the 21st Amendment. Included in the box was a bottle of 100 proof Old Forester in 375 mL flask shaped bottle with an old timey looking label design, an etched Glencairn glass and a replica of the 21st Amendment.

7 years later, I picked up the gift set at a charity auction during the Kentucky Bourbon Festival for roughly $90. If I was just buying bourbon, I would have horribly over paid. It’s not very old or special, but I was supporting a museum I really enjoy attending (that doesn’t charge people to get in) with my purchase. I paid a relatively low sum to help keep the doors open and the lights on while getting a tiny piece of history back in return. Seems like a fair deal.

Old Forester 100° (circa 2008) “75th Anniversary of Repeal” gift set

Purchase info: ~$90 at the Master Distiller’s Auction to support the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History, Bardstown, KY.

Details: 50% ABV

Nose: Sweet and fruity with brown sugar and apricot layered over the top of the typical “Brown Forman” latex paint note.

Mouth: Spicy with a nice tingle to the mouth. Ginger, oak, vanilla and caramel.

Finish: warm ginger and molasses linger.

Thoughts: I like it. But I’m a fan of Old Forester so that doesn’t surprise me. But there is something that does surprise me. I used to love the Old Forester Signature (100 proof). I recommended it to everyone. But then about a year and a half ago, after not buying it for a while, I got around to reviewing it and found it immensely bitter. This made me sad. So now, I get to taste something from seven years ago and I didn’t find that bitterness. In fact, it tastes just like I remember. So somewhere along the way something happened to Old Forester’s 100 proof expression and like most things in whiskey these days, it wasn’t for the better. Which is too bad.

Anyway, this is what I’ll be celebrating Repeal Day with on Saturday, hope you have something just as fun.

Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof

December 1, 2015 Eric Burke

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. It's the stereotypical favorite whiskey of motorcycle gang toughs doing shots in a dusty roadside joint and the on-stage bottle for the manliest of the rock & roll set. Still, it’s a gentle whiskey. A gentle whiskey with a pop culture presence that most brands would kill for. It’s the largest selling American Whiskey in the world. And…

And it’s not very good. Is it terrible? No. I’ve had much worse. But it isn’t good by a long stretch.

One thing it does have going for it, if you are into this sort of thing, is that mixes well with cola. I think that might be one of the reasons it’s in every bar in North America. It’s easier to say a “Jack and Coke” than “whiskey and Coke” or “bourbon and Coke.” When people specify a brand of liquor, bars tend to keep it on hand. Even if it’s just so they can upcharge them for it.

A couple of years ago when I reviewed Jack Daniel’s I found it disappointing. It was gentle and sweet. But that’s all it was. At the time I wondered to myself what it might be like if it were a little less gentle. As it stands, there is more water in a bottle of Jack Daniel’s than there is whiskey. What might it be like if there were less water? Or none at all?

Well Brown-Foreman, producers of Jack Daniel’s, must have read my mind because a few months ago they released a Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof brand extension. I’d had my eye on it for a while and finally decided to pull the trigger.

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof

Purchase info: $55.99, 750 mL bottle. Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 65.05% ABV. Rick No: R-32. Barrel No: 15-4923. Bottling Date: 9-9-15.

Nose: Dusty oak, cinnamon and raw almond with a bit of fruitiness underneath.

Mouth: Sweet, hot and spicy. Cinnamon, cloves, maple and brown sugar play nicely with a tasty nuttiness.

Finish: Very long and warm. lingering heat and sweet maple nuttiness.

With water: Not as hot, sweeter and more pronounced fruitiness.

Thoughts: This is really good. Much more so than I would have expected. I think this is well worth the $55 I paid for it. Especially at barrel strength. I’m loving this one.

Happy Thanksgiving! Have some mulled cider with bourbon.

November 24, 2015 Eric Burke

The ingredients for a tasty mulled cider.

As it is Thanksgiving this week in the US, I would like to take a moment to thank every one of you who read this blog on a regular basis. It's heartening to find that there are people out there who find what I have to say interesting.

I would especially like to thank those of you who have opened your wallets and signed up to support my writing financially. I am humbled that there are people out there who find enough value in what I write that they have decided to give a little of that value back. Although freelancing is a more than full-time gig on many occasions, your generosity has made me carve out the time—sometimes late at night just before bed—to make sure I am keeping up on the writing you are paying for. Without those nudges, there would have been many times where I would have skipped a post or two in favor of a little sleep. In fact if any reader enjoys the blog appearing on a regular basis, it's the patrons you have to thank for it.

And as it is Thanksgiving and you will hopefully be spending time with your family later this week, I have a tasty recipe to share that will hopefully keep things a little tastier. This can be made non-alcoholic if you have kids around. But it is very tasty in its more grown-up condition. I make enough for my wife and I using a small crock-pot, but if you have more people sharing, just add more cider to a larger crockpot.

Mulled Hard Cider with Bourbon

Cinnamon Stick, 1 stick or 1 tsp Cinnamon chunks
Whole Cloves, 1 tsp
White Cardamom Pods, about 15-20 cracked
Coriander, 1 tsp
Star Anise, 1 whole
Lemon Zest
2 Bottles of a sweeter hard cider (dry ciders, like the ones I make don't work as well for this. I found Angry Orchard's regular cider worked pretty well) if making a kid-friendly version use a good apple juice here.

Dump all of that in your crockpot and let cook on low for at least three hours. You don't want to let it boil. I've gone as long as six hours without any ill effects and I assume you could go longer.

After you pour your cup, add anywhere from a tablespoon to an ounce of bourbon, I used Wild Turkey 101. Obviously skip this step if you are making it for the kiddies. I've made both the hard cider and the apple juice versions and like them both. I hope you like them too.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I will be taking the day off to spend with my own family on Thursday so see you all next week.

James E. Pepper 1776 Brown Ale, aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels

November 19, 2015 Eric Burke

James E Pepper Ale. Brown Ale aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels.

There is a store in Wisconsin that on certain days, probably get’s more business from Minnesota than it does from locals. I will admit to being one of many Minnesotans who likes buying a beer or whiskey from a store on whichever day I happen to be at it. Unfortunately, many stores in the state of Minnesota don’t feel it is in their best interest to serve their customers on the days the customers want to be served, preferring instead to lobby against changing a law who’s time has long passed it by.

See, in Minnesota, it is illegal for a liquor store to be open on Sunday’s regardless of the fact that it is one of the two busiest shopping days of the week. Many liquor stores prefer it that way. Why? you might ask. Well the thought is that they will make as many sales if they are open 6 days a week as if they are open 7 days a week. Plus they won’t have to pay anyone on that seventh day. It doesn’t matter what the customers overwhelmingly want. And sadly, politicians in Minnesota are just like they are everywhere else. People that pay, get the votes in the legislature and those who don’t, get the shaft.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, its two largest population centers are also on the border with a state who is more than happy to take the tax dollars on Sunday. There are 4.14 million people in the two largest population centers in Minnesota. There are 5.5 million in the state. And though people might not drive an extra hour to get a beer, many places in the Twin Cities metro are about a half hour apart meaning over 40% of the the population of the state* could conceivably make a run for the border while on regular shopping trips without going very far out of the way. Sending tax dollars out of state.

All because some store owners would rather enshrine their dislike of competition in law instead of giving customers what they want. It’s one of the reasons I try to choose places like Ace Spirits who would be open on Sunday if the law would let them. Plus, since I visit family in Wisconsin quite often on Sundays, the purchases I might have made in Minnesota are made at Casanova Liquors in Hudson, just before I hit the border.

One of the things I found on a Wisconsin trip this summer was 1776 Brown Ale, aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels. I held it in the closet until the weather was right for a barrel-aged ale and here it is.

James E. Pepper 1776 Brown Ale, aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels

Purchase Info: Casanova Liquors, Hudson, WI. I didn’t keep a receipt for this one, but it was roughly $10 for a bomber.

Details: Brown ale aged in rye whiskey barrels. 10.4% ABV. Brewed and bottled by Georgetown Trading Co., Sterling, VA.

Nose: Bready and vineous.

Mouth: Sweet caramel layered over typical bready brown ale notes. After a few sips you start tasting the spiciness of the rye.

Thoughts: This is sweet, but not as sweet as most barrel aged beers I’ve had. Whether that is due to the use of rye barrels or from a quirk of the aging process, I have no idea. I like the spiciness in the back of the mouth though. If you like barrel-aged beers, certainly check this out. If it were available in Minnesota, I would definitely pick up another bottle…just not on a Sunday.

*figuring that half of the population of the metro area of the Twin Cities and all of the population of Duluth could make Wisconsin part of their Sunday shopping trips without going too much out of their way. Yes, I get that socioeconomic factors might drop this down quite a bit, but even half of that would be still be 20% of the state population…

James E. Pepper 1776 Straight Bourbon Whiskey

November 17, 2015 Eric Burke

I’m a bit odd when it comes to places. Certain ones just make me a bit uncomfortable. And I’m not talking high crime areas either. As an example, the small town my wife is from happened to be on the route that my father took when he picked me up to spend a weekend with him. I always hated that town, specifically one end of the town. I just always got a creepy-crawly feeling whenever we’d drive through.

I get a similar feeling when I drive through Indianapolis. I often joke to my wife as we drive through that I don’t quite believe that it exists. That maybe it is just a giant hallucination we’ve all bought into. There does’t seem to be any reason why it is in the particular location it’s in other than someone pointed to a map and said “that looks like the middle.” (Exaggerating for effect, but read for yourself.) In any case, I get that same creepy-crawly feeling whenever we drive through Indianapolis. As if my body just doesn’t want to be there. And since it is pretty much the only thing worth noting on a drive through Indiana, by extension, I tend to not like Indiana. At least not to drive through.

Which brings me to my main point. I’m about to say something that to some folks will be controversial. Even though I tend to not like driving through Indiana, I do tend to like whiskey from Indiana. Specifically I tend to like products that come from the MGP distillery in Lawrenceburg, IN. I seldom like the (probably fake or at least borrowed) histories that come along with the whiskeys, but unfortunately few folks are willing to let the whiskey inside the bottle be the draw. Which is too bad, those that do tend to do well with them especially when they have a little age on them. High West and Smooth Ambler come to mind.

So it was with interest that I noticed the “Aged 6 Years” on the front label and the “Distilled in Indiana” on the back label when I picked up a bottle of James E. Pepper 1776 bourbon to review.

James E. Pepper 1776 Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: $35.99 for a 750 mL bottle. Casanova Liquors, Hudson, WI.

Details: Distilled in Indiana. Stated age: 6 years. 46% ABV.

Nose: Dessert-like with baking spices and brown sugar.

Mouth: Mouth follows the nose with more baking spices, toffee and brown sugar but with the addition of what can only be described as eucalyptus.

Finish: Sweet with a gentle burn. Lingering baking spices.

Thoughts: MGP makes very good bourbon. This is no exception. Six years old, 90+ proof, for about $35? Yes all around. I’d recommend this one and will be happy to pick up another if it is similarly priced.

Head to head: 1792 vs 1792 store pick

November 12, 2015 Eric Burke

Single Barrel Select sticker on 1792 bottle

When you buy as much whiskey as I do, there will be times when you have multiples of a product. Either because you were afraid it would be out of stock soon, it was on sale with a deal too good to pass up or because you just felt like treating yourself and buying it.

Yes. I have a bit of a shopping problem.

In any case I recently ended up doing exactly that last thing on the list. I was in the store, looking to grab a six pack of beer to serve with the pizza I was making for Friday night, when I noticed a rack of 1792 bourbon in the corner with a big sign at the top proclaiming it to be $23.99. When I got over there, I also noticed that it had a sticker on it proclaiming it to be a “Single Barrel Select” that had been selected for my local liquor store. (Yes, it says selected for, not by.)

A long time ago, I picked up a store selection of 1792 to compare to the base release and found almost no difference between the two. Frankly, I expected the same this time around, but it was a good price and, dang it, I wanted to treat myself. So I picked it up even knowing I had a bottle in the closet at home that I acquired at the Master Distiller’s Auction in Bardstown. But, trying them side-by-side, I was pleasantly surprised. The difference wasn’t huge, but it was big enough to be discernible.

This is why I love whiskey. This sort of thing is so much fun!

1792 Bourbon: Regular Release vs Store Single Barrel (MGM Wine & Spirits)

Regular Release:

Purchase Info: ~$20, 750 mL bottle. Master Distiller’s Auction, Kentucky Bourbon Festival.

Details: 46.85% ABV

Nose: Spearmint, pear, cinnamon and oak.

Mouth: Soft mouthfeel with a lot of heat. Black pepper, mint, caramel/vanilla and oak.

Finish: Hot and on the short side of medium. Lingering mint and black pepper.

MGM Wine and Spirits Single Barrel Select:

Purchase Info: $23.99, 750 mL bottle. MGM Wine and Spirits, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 46.85% ABV

Nose: Wet rock, soap, fruit, vanilla, oak and hints of mint.

Mouth: Not as hot and sweeter than the regular release with brown sugar and a generic fruitiness added to the black pepper, mint and oak of the regular release.

Finish: Warm, but on the short side with a lingering sweet fruitiness.

Thoughts: This is what I want when I grab a store pick and do a head-to-head. This is certainly within the 1792 flavor profile, but there are enough differences for me to notice. Actually, I could wish this was the profile of the regular release. Though it is good, I hesitate to buy 1792 normally because I like my bourbon a little on the sweet side with a little less heat than your normal 1792 brings along with it. This is slightly milder, and I think that for me it is just about perfect for that flavor profile.

I completely recommend that you do this experiment yourself if you get the opportunity. Buy a store pick (doesn’t have to be 1792), but grab the regular one too should you have the opportunity. Compare them. Decide which you like better. Figure out why. Because the list of variables here will be smaller, this experiment will go a long way toward helping you decide the sorts of things you like. And heck, it’s just plain fun.