Winter Citrus Hot Toddy

My wife has been sick as a dog the past few weeks. At first, she was sick just like any other time, tired, headache, fever, etc. But then, after healing up for a bit, she felt great aside from a sore throat and nagging cough. I tried getting her to go to the doctor for most of a week, but she insisted that she was fine. Finally, after consulting people on the internet and asking for advice on if I was crazy or not, she relented and went to Urgent Care.

Strep. (I'm holding off on the "I Told You So's" until she feels better, or at least until she isn't contagious.)

Now, my wife is the person who asked her oncologist how soon after chemo she could have a whiskey, so you better believe that right after the strep diagnosis came back, she asked the same question. The doc told her that was fine. It wouldn't affect anything if she had whiskey. 

Now while she had been refusing a doctor's care, she was more than happy to accept an old-timey sort of cure for a sore throat. A Hot Toddy. Warmth and honey for the throat and bourbon for the spirit. After a bit of trial and error while waiting for her to go to the doctor, I finally hit upon what I think was the best recipe of the week, and now I'm going to share it with you. 

Winter Citrus Hot Toddy

  • 1.5 Ounce of Bourbon (I used Wild Turkey 101)
  • 1 Ounce of Fresh Mandarin Juice (Cuties, Halos, whatever brand your local grocer carries is fine, you'll probably need the juice of 2-3 fruits)
  • 1 Tablespoon Fresh Grapefruit Juice
  • 1 Tablespoon of Honey
  • 6 shakes of Homemade Orange Bitters
  • 1/4 - 1/2 Cup of Boiling Water

I mix everything else together before adding the water so that it stays nice and hot. 

I originally tried this without the grapefruit juice, and it was way too sweet. Lots of honey and a sweet juice will do that sometimes. After futzing with all the variables for a bit, I decided that everything was fine, it just needed some more complexity. The addition of grapefruit was just the thing to make this something you didn't need to be sick to enjoy.

UPDATE: Because I run out of fruits, sometimes I need to experiment. I only have limes in the house right now and though bourbon and lime aren't the best of friends, rum and limes get along quite nicely. Tonight I found that if you do white rum in the measure above, use lime juice for all of the citrus juice and use 2-3 shakes angostura bitters you get a pleasant daquiri sort of hot toddy. And it is really quite tasty. The point is that this is a pretty flexible recipe and please experiment with it. Booze, citrus, honey and hot water are the necessary elements. Like a sour, just mix and match them until you get something tasty.

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If You've Had... Bulleit Bourbon Edition

My Goodness! I can't believe that it has been almost a year since I last did one of these! I love these posts. They are just the most fun to do the tastings for. And if you like them too, then I have good news: I've got two more for sure on the editorial calendar and another two that will depend on the availability of products. So without further ado, I present the fourth installment of the If You’ve Had… series. 

In case you missed it last time, the setup is like this: "If you've had Whiskey A then Whiskey B is..." hotter, spicier, sweeter, more floral, etc. Each section is written as compared to one of the whiskeys. So if you've had that one, but not the others then that section will be of the most use to you. Remember there are no value judgments here. You get to decide based on what you know of Whiskey A if Whiskey B sounds like something you'd want to try.

Up tonight is the Bulleit Bourbon family. Bulleit Bourbon, Bulleit 10-Year-Old Bourbon, and Bulleit Barrel-Strength Bourbon. 

If you’ve had Bulleit Bourbon then…

Bulleit 10 Year is: less floral and drier on the nose. The mouth has more complex flavor with more peppery heat, baking spice, and cocoa notes. The finish is longer with more baking spice.

Bulleit Barrel-Strength is: similar on the nose though more concentrated while showing more baking spice and oak. It shows more floral notes in the mouth and is hotter due to the higher alcohol content. The finish is longer, warmer and shows more floral and baking spice.

If you’ve had Bulleit 10 Year Old Bourbon then…

Bulleit Bourbon: shows more cinnamon candies and less cocoa on the nose. The mouth is much less floral with a finish that is slightly shorter and less spicy.

Bulleit Barrel-Strength is: sweeter and less floral on the nose but shows more cinnamon. The mouth is sweeter and hotter with less oak presence. The finish is longer and warmer.

If you’ve had Bulleit Barrel Strength Bourbon then…

Bulleit Bourbon is: similar on the nose, though it does show more black tea. The mouth is much less hot, with less spice but seems sweeter because of that. The finish is shorter. 

Bulleit 10 Year is: Oakier on the nose. The mouth has less heat but more oak and cocoa notes. The finish is shorter, with less heat, but is more floral. 

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

Bulleit 10 Year Old & a Rant About Agglomerated Cork

In light of recent allegations made by the daughter of Tom Bulleit of his homophobia and mental and physical abuse toward her, I have made the decision that BourbonGuy.com can no longer endorse products bearing the Bulleit name. An update has been added to reflect this change in policy.

Do you know what I hate?

Agglomerated cork closures on whiskey bottles. Never heard of agglomerated cork? Neither had I until I looked up what the closures made of compressed cork granules were named. But now that I have a fancy name for them, I hate them even more. 

What is agglomerated cork? Well, it's just what I listed above. It's a  closure made out of real cork, except instead of being a solid piece of cork, it's created from the ground up bits that are left over from making a solid piece of cork. Think of it as the particle board of the cork world. It's a bunch of different pieces of cork glued back into a cork shape. 

Now, from my research, there seem to be some really good reasons to use particle cork. It apparently keeps air out a little better than solid cork. And, lo and behold, it is also much cheaper than solid natural cork. Both of these are excellent things. One keeps the whiskey in the bottle in better shape, for a longer time-frame, and the other helps keep the price down.

So why do I hate them so much? Easy. Every broken cork I've ever had to fish out of a bottle of whiskey has been particle cork. For my money, if you have to use a low-cost option, go with a screw cap. I know. I know. It doesn't have the same aesthetics. (And as such it won't help you justify the higher cost you've put on that pretty bottle.) So if a screw cap is out of the question, maybe a synthetic cork? I've had them break as well, but normally it is the glued-on top separating from the closure, not the closure itself breaking in half.

In any case, particle cork is my least favorite closure. And yes, I am geeky enough to have both a favorite and a least favorite closure. But fortunately, as I look at my shelf, I see particle cork is the least well represented, used by only Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, Wild Turkey Rye, a rum, and the three open bottles of various Bulleit expressions on my shelf. Which brings me to the bottle that set off this entire learning experience. 

Bulleit 10-year-old Bourbon

Purchase Info: $42.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN.

Details: 45.6% ABV. Aged ten years. 

Nose: Floral with cotton candy, caramel, and baking spices. 

Mouth: The mouth follows the nose. Floral, caramel, baking spices, cocoa nibs, and oak. 

Finish: Long and warm with lingering floral notes. 

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Thoughts: This is a tasty, though drier, version of Bulleit. It is very floral and tends toward bitter (in a cocoa nib sort of way). This reminds me of some of the blends I came up with while doing my Four Roses blending experiment a while back, which isn't terribly surprising since there is probably a still good proportion of Four Roses juice in here. 

Is this worth twice as much as the regular release of Bulleit. That depends on how you feel about dry and bitter versus sweet bourbons. But personal preference aside, I have to say that in an era of increasing prices and disappearing age statements, it is nice to see a ten-year-old bourbon for under $50.

2019 update:

As stated above I have made the editorial decision that I can no longer endorse or recommend products from the Bulleit family of labels. This is an extension of the policy in my Statement of Ethics where I do not allow homophobic comments. In this case I’d rather not continue to help enrich a man alleged to have physically abused his own daughter over her sexuality. The review has been left intact for transparency’s sake.

Well hey there, bourbon-lover. I just wrote a great big thing about cork yet; I have nothing made from cork for sale over at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Is this some sort of mistake? Did my marketing team miss the boat? No. It just goes to show that I am not driven by advertising. Even when I'm advertising for myself. And that I have no marketing team. Anyway, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com you can head on over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and buy something. It's a great way to make sure I can pay all my bills.

Bulleit Barrel Strength Bourbon

In light of recent allegations made by the daughter of Tom Bulleit of his homophobia and mental and physical abuse toward her, I have made the decision that BourbonGuy.com can no longer endorse products bearing the Bulleit name. An update has been added to reflect this change in policy.

I visit Kentucky, on average, a couple of times a year. Often it isn't the destination, but I find a way to make most of my Eastbound road trips route through it. I'd try to route the other road trips through there as well, but I haven't figured out how to frame the argument that Kentucky really is on the way to Colorado from Minnesota.

Every time I visit Kentucky, I'm struck by the same thought: "How broke would I be if I lived here?" I mean there are bourbon events, bourbon bars, even bourbons that are only available there. If I had all of that around me all the time...

Well, I'd probably still be a hermit. But I do think that my budget for the occasional special bottle or dram would strain a little harder than it does in Minnesota. What, with all the temptation and all. 

I think about things like this, like moving to a warmer climate, a lot at this time of year. Don't get me wrong, all things considered, I like Minnesota. But I hate winter. I mean I really hate it. And when the temperature dips, not just below freezing, but into the sub-zero range it gets a bit rough. (That's somewhere around -20 C for those of you who use that other measuring system). Today I had to bundle into boots, hat, heavy coat and gloves just to get the mail. 

That got me to thinking about one of the Kentucky-only bottles that I'd picked up on my last trip south and I decided it was time to take another look at it.

Bulleit Barrel Strength Bourbon

Purchase info: $48.99 for a 750mL bottle. The Party Source, Bellevue, KY.

Details: 59.6% ABV. Non-age stated. 

Nose: Rich with ripe cherries, cocoa nibs, herbal mint, and oak.

Mouth: Peppery heat with caramel/vanilla, oak, JuicyFruit gum, cloves, mint, and anise. 

Finish: Long and lingering with fruit, mint, cinnamon, and anise. 

Thoughts: This is hands down the best whiskey in the Bulleit family. The more concentrated flavors from the higher proof really shine in the glass. Toss in a price in the $40-50 range and this is a real winner. I can't recommend this enough.

2019 update:

As stated above I have made the editorial decision that I can no longer endorse or recommend products from the Bulleit family of labels. This is an extension of the policy in my Statement of Ethics where I do not allow homophobic comments. In this case I’d rather not continue to help enrich a man alleged to have physically abused his own daughter over her sexuality. The review has been left intact for transparency’s sake.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

Kentucky Gentleman, or "Don't Get Distracted at the Liquor Store"

Sometimes I go into a liquor store, and I know exactly what I want. Other times, I know roughly how much I want to spend. When I visited the Party Source with a fellow blogger back in September, neither of these were true. 

I was in Kentucky to stock up for a few months of blog posts, see some friends and drink some bourbon. And when we made plans to visit the Party Source, I knew I would probably be picking up a few things that I had on the list to bring home. I figured this would be a good time to get some of the non-limited, everyday items out of the way. What I didn't expect to do was get so carried away with tossing things into the cart that I didn't bother to read the labels...either that or I was too busy chatting and wasn't paying close attention. In any case, I found myself with two miniature bottles of Kentucky Gentleman in my cart. 

Now if you know what Kentucky Gentleman is, you are probably wondering what could have caused me to pick that up? To you I will say, please see above. If you don't know what Kentucky Gentleman is, be assured you are not alone. I knew it was a cheap whiskey brand and I knew that it probably wasn't worth buying a full bottle of. 

It turns out that Kentucky Gentleman is not a bourbon. It is: "A Blend of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Spirits from the Finest Grains." In other words, it's bourbon mixed with neutral grain spirits (NGS or as it is more commonly known unfiltered vodka). It's an American-style Blended Whiskey made from 51% three-year-old bourbon and 49% NGS. And to be honest, it's the first one I've reviewed and possibly the first one I've had since I got serious about whiskey. 

So...yay? There's learning to be done here.

Kentucky Gentleman

Purchase info: $0.99 for a 50 mL at the Party Source, Bellevue, KY.

Details: 51% three-year-old bourbon and 49% neutral grain spirits.

Nose: Delicate with light mint and faint baking spices.

Mouth: Flat in the mouth with faint mint and baking spices.

Finish: Short and unbalanced. Medicinal vodka and whiskey notes fight for prominence (and the loser is my mouth).

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Thoughts: So...this is not the worst whiskey I've ever reviewed. That honor still goes to the Hayes Parker Reserve. But this is really close to the worst I've reviewed. To be fair, I'm tasting this neat in a Glencairn, which is just the opposite of what it was intended for, which brings me to my major problem with this whiskey. 

I'm just not sure what it actually is intended for. 

I know that this style of whiskey has long historical roots. I know that it was a way to stretch supplies after prohibition. I know that Seagram's built their business on it. And I know that maybe 40 years ago, people may have hoped it would compete favorably with vodka. 

But today, why does anyone buy this stuff? If I want ok whiskey, I have plenty of ok whiskey to buy, much of it sold at the same price point. If I want vodka, same thing. Hell, if I want something that has just a little more flavor than vodka to put a spin on a vodka cocktail, I can buy plenty of new make spirits. 

I'm sure that this fills a hole for someone, but I think I've learned that there isn't a hole in my life that an American-style Blended Whiskey can fill.

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Heaven Hill Black Label, 80 proof

"Best of the Great Kentucky Bourbons"

I just noticed that's what the neck label says about this bourbon. Oh man! Wouldn't it be a nice surprise if a company was selling their best whiskey for a price an average person could afford? This bottle was $7.99. And before you say I shouldn't expect anything good to come in under ten bucks a bottle, I'll have you know I picked up multiple bottles of the 90 proof, six-year-old Heaven Hill for just a dollar-fifty more. And yeah, I probably shouldn't give any more away on that one since I haven't written that post yet.

What this post is about is the Black Label version of Heaven Hill. Unlike some of its brand-mates, this one is NOT six years old. It is NOT 100 or even 90 proof. It is NOT Bottled in Bond. It is NOT even of an age where they give the age in years. Heaven Hill, Black Label version, is listed as thirty-six months old and bottled at only 80 proof. Needless to say, when I was picking up multiple bottles of Heaven Hill with green and white labels, only one bottle of Black Label came home with me.

Heaven Hill Black Label, 80 proof

Purchase Info: $7.99 for a 750 mL bottle at the Party Source, Bellevue, KY

Details: 40% ABV, three years old.

Nose: Dried grains, mint, orange peel and a hint of oak.

Mouth: Sweet in the mouth. Cinnamon candies, dried grains, and vanilla.

Finish: Short and kind of bitter with lingering dried grains. 

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Thoughts: Very grain forward with an unpleasant finish. Even for less than ten dollars, this is hard to recommend. Especially with the other Heaven Hill products in the general price range. Even with that said, this is only a meh bourbon. I've had plenty I dislike more.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

Rabbit Hole Distilling, Bourbon and Rye

I state in my Statement of Ethics that if I accept a review sample, I will disclose it at the beginning of the article. Rabbit Hole Distilling provided me with two media kits, each with a logo Glencairn glass and a 1.5-ounce sample (one was rye, one bourbon). I'd like to thank them for providing the sample with no strings attached. 

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It's the first post after Christmas, and it's only fitting that I review a couple of whiskeys that I received for free. Both of these are from Rabbit Hole Distilling in Louisville, KY. Since their founding in 2012, they have been using a combination of contract distillation and sourcing to get the liquid for their whiskeys. Contract distillation for their rye and bourbon and sourcing for their "Fingerprint Series." In October 2016, they broke ground for a 20,000 barrel-per-year distillery in Louisville. 

Tonight I'll be looking at their rye whiskey and their bourbon. Both are two years old and were created by a team of distillers. Cameron Tally, formerly of Brown-Forman and Wild Turkey, Larry Ebersold formerly of  Seagram's and Pernod-Ricard, Dave Scheurich, formerly of Brown-Forman and Randy Allender, formerly of Jim Beam. The Rabbit Hole Rye is a 95% rye mash bill, which through me for a loop until I realized that Mr. Ebersold was Master Distiller at the distillery now known as MGPi (which is most well known for the 95% rye whiskey they sell to many producers). The Rabbit Hole Bourbon has a unique mash bill of 70% corn, 10% malted wheat, 10% malted barley and 10% honey malted barley. 

Rabbit Hole Bourbon

Purchase info: I received a review sample, but this is retailing for $41.99 at Total Wine in Louisville, KY.

Details: 47.5% ABV. 2 years old. Aged in #3 char barrels from Kelvin Cooperage. Barrel entry proof was 110° proof. Mash bill of 70% corn, 10% malted wheat, 10% malted barley and 10% honey malted barley.

Nose: Very young and heavy on the grain. Mint and floral notes predominate with cinnamon underneath. 

Mouth: Floral grains, mint, and cinnamon candies. 

Finish: Short to medium with lingering floral grains and cinnamon candies. 

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Thoughts: Due to the intriguing mash bill, this was the whiskey that I was most interested in trying. And while it isn't ready yet, it shows a lot of promise. Give this a few more years in the barrel, and I'll probably be bringing some home with me when I visit Kentucky. For now, though, I'd have a hard time recommending this except as a novelty or if you are a fan of very young bourbons. 

Rabbit Hole Rye Whiskey

Purchase info: I received a review sample, but this is retailing for $49.99 at Total Wine in Louisville, KY.

Details: 47.5% ABV. 2 years old. Aged in #3 char barrels from Kelvin Cooperage. Barrel entry proof was 110° proof. Mash bill of 95% rye, 5% malted barley.

Nose: Mint, cedar, hints of pickle and vanilla.

Mouth: floral mint, cedar, vanilla and baking spices.

Finish: Minty and warm. Of short to medium length. 

Thoughts: Like many rye whiskeys, this shows better at a young age than the bourbon did. It's similar to a young MGPi rye, not surprising due to its mash bill and pedigree. It's still really young, but worth a look if you are a fan of young ryes and are ok with a $50 price tag.

EDIT: an earlier version of this post claimed that the ABV of both whiskies was 95%, I forgot to do math and didn't convert the proof to ABV. That has been corrected.

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Outryder Bottled in Bond and a question on labeling a whiskey "bonded"

I state in my Statement of Ethics that if I accept a review sample, I will disclose it at the beginning of the article. Please consider it disclosed. I’d like to thank Verde Brand Communications for providing this sample to me with no strings attached. 

Do two different types of whiskey represent the same kind of spirit? That is tonight's question. Is a bourbon whiskey and a rye whiskey the same kind of spirit? Or are they both just "whiskey?"

The reason I ask is that as we see new bonded products come onto the market, we need to take a look at what makes a product able to be labeled as Bottled in Bond. We all know the high points: 100 proof, at least four years old, the product of one distilling season. But I once made a poster out of the Bottled in Bond Act. And if that were all it was, I wouldn't have needed to make it two by three feet in size. It's a long act, and it goes into a lot of detail. 

The part of the 1897 Act that peaked my interest was as follows: 

"Provided, That for convenience in such process any number of packages of spirits of the same kind, differing only in proof, but produced at the same distillery by the same distiller, may be mingled together in a cistern provided for that purpose, but nothing herein shall authorize or permit any mingling of different products, or of the same products of different distilling seasons." 

In today's regs, that boils down to the following from Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter I, Subchapter A, Part 5, Subpart D: 

"§5.42   Prohibited practices.
(b) Miscellaneous.
(3) The words “bond”, “bonded”, “bottled in bond”, “aged in bond”, or phrases containing these or synonymous terms, shall not be used on any label or as part of the brand name of domestic distilled spirits unless the distilled spirits are:
(i) Composed of the same kind of spirits produced from the same class of materials;"

So I ask again. Would a mingling of a bourbon with a whiskey with a different majority grain qualify? Or is the interpretation of "spirit" more loosely applied so that the generic term "whiskey" is enough to be eligible? I'm not a lawyer, so I'm going to leave this up to you to decide. Please feel free to leave your opinion in the comments below. I really don't believe that there was any intent to deceive and I applaud people trying to get more bonded products out into the market. I'm just asking the question on whether the labeling was approved appropriately. 
  
But enough about what's on the outside of the bottle, let's talk about what's on the inside. Outryder from Wyoming Whiskey is a blend of Straight whiskeys distilled in November of 2011. One whiskey is a bourbon with a mash bill of 68% corn, 20% winter rye, and 12% malted barley. The second has no majority grain and has a mash bill of 48% winter rye, 40% corn, and 12% malted barley. The suggested retail price is about $55.

Outryder

Purchase info: This sample was provided to me for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $54.99.

Details: 50% ABV. A blend of two different mash bills. One Bourbon, one American Whiskey.

Nose: Reminds me of a Canadian Whiskey. Bubblegum, mint, butterscotch and sawdust. 

Mouth: Follows the nose with bubblegum and mint. This is supported by eucalyptus, black pepper, baking spices and black tea.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Lingering butterscotch, eucalyptus
and spice.

Thoughts: This is pretty good and is worth taking a look at if you see it somewhere. I like it and if I found myself in Wyoming, I could certainly see it coming home with me as a souvenir.

I'm assuming you are done shopping for others at this point. But there is nothing to say that you shouldn't get yourself a little something now that you've spent the last month or more getting things from others. If you are in the market for handcrafted bourbon related items, stop by BourbonGuyGifts.com to see what I've been making lately.