Basil Hayden's Dark Rye

October 31, 2017 Eric Burke

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This is my favorite holiday of the year. I love the spooky theme of all the decorations. I love jack-o-lanterns. I love seeing the little kids in their costumes. And, I love the candy.

Way back in college, I used to love the parties and the costumes too. But these days, I'm more grown up. I sit at home, hand out candy to the few kids brave enough to head around the neighborhood and watch a spooky movie.

You wouldn't think I would be as happy for Halloween to get here as I am. Ignoring the calendar, before Halloween, it's Autumn. And even though I hate winter, I love Autumn. I love the crisp mornings with the hint of a warm afternoon. I love the fact that, on occasion, I can still get away with shorts and a t-shirt while doing lawn work. The idea that even if you get snow, it probably won't last. But after Halloween, it's winter. November in Minnesota means you are more likely to need a snow shovel than you are shorts.

But in spite of all of that. In spite of the fact that it'll feel more like winter tomorrow than it does today, I still love Halloween. It feels good to indulge my inner child for one night and eat pizza, candy and drink some beer.

All of which has nothing to do with tonight's whiskey, Basil Hayden's Dark Rye. Basil Hayden's Dark Rye is the latest in the line of Basil Hayden brand extensions. It is a blend of Straight Rye whiskey from Kentucky, Canadian Rye whisky from Alberta Distillers, and Port. If this tickles a memory for you, that is because Beam already has a similar product on the market in Alberta Rye Dark Batch. That is a blend of Canadian Rye, Bourbon and Sherry. So similar, but not exactly the same. I didn't care for the Dark Batch, let's see how Dark Rye fares.

Basil Hayden's Dark Rye

Purchase info: $44.99 for a 750 mL at Lakeville Liquors, Lakeville, MN

Details: 40% ABV. A blend of Kentucky straight rye, Alberta Distillers Canadian Rye, and Port.

Nose: Strong caramel notes lead off. Baking Spice, citrus, and ripe red fruits follow.

Mouth: Caramel, lots of baking spice, and ripe red fruits.

Finish: Short, but sweet with jammy wine notes dominating.

Thoughts: I'm going to do something I almost never do. This is getting two ratings from me.

Neat: I was ok with it up until the finish. I don't care for most fortified wines outside of a cocktail and the finish being very wine forward was a problem for me. That said, there is nothing wrong with this if you like that sort of thing. So this gets a dislike from me when tasted neat.

Cocktails: Night and day difference. Because of the fortified wine notes, we first used it in a Manhattan. My wife thought it was ok, but I thought it was a little too sweet. Then I tried swapping the Vermouth in the Manhattan for Amaro (Ramazzotti is my house amaro), and it was really quite good. It accentuated the baking spice notes which was quite tasty. So tasty that I've used most of the rest of the bottle in various cocktails. I've personally favored the ones that feature bitter notes to play off of the sweet fortified wine finish. So it gets a like from me for use in cocktails because this has been a go-to for as long as it has been here.

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MB Roland Straight Rye Whiskey

October 26, 2017 Eric Burke

Disclaimer: Paul and Merry Beth of MB Roland are my friends. And in my statement of ethics I promised to disclose when I am reviewing one of my friend’s products and to only review them when it was truly something I really liked. This is one of those times.

At this point, I have been married almost half of my life. And by almost, I mean within a few months or so of half my life. The great thing about hitting a milestone anniversary is that people give you things. In this case, my friends at MB Roland gave me a bottle of their new Straight Rye Whiskey.

This batch of rye is MB Roland's first straight Rye Whiskey. And when I got it, it was damn near fresh from the barrel. One of the cool things about these guys is that they sell all their whiskey at barrel proof so this Rye was dumped and bottled on one day and in my hands the next. That's pretty cool.

This bottle wasn't given to me as a review sample, but since I am always on the lookout for content that I didn't need to buy, I warned them that I might be reviewing it. But, friends or not, I give these things honest reviews. So let's get down to it.

MB Roland Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: This was an anniversary gift from friends. I have no idea what it would cost. I got one of 90 bottles though from this batch if that helps.

Details: Batch 1. Bottle 74 of 90. 54.7% ABV. Mashbill: 68% Rye, 27% White Corn, 5% Malt. Aged in a New Charred oak barrel with a #4 char.

Nose: Anise, clove, brown sugar, unroasted peanuts, mint, and green apple.

Mouth: Brown sugar, mint, and baking spices such as clove and cinnamon.

Finish: Warm and long with lingering notes of mint, anise, and cinnamon. The finish is where the distinctive flavor of the MB Roland white corn note appears.

Thoughts: This is not nearly as hot as you would expect from a roughly 110 proof whiskey to be. It is extremely drinkable neat. So much so that it shocked my wife when I told her what the proof was as we did our tasting. I'm digging this neat, but I also like it in cocktails. I've tried it in a Sazerac, a Manhattan, a variant on a Boulevardier, and a Whiskey Sour. It did well in the Manhattan, the Sazerac and the Boulevardier riff. It wasn't great in the Whiskey Sour though, so if making cocktails with this, I would recommend sticking with cocktails that will play off the anise note in there. Overall, if you have liked other MB Roland whiskeys, you will like this as well.

Early Times Bottled-in-Bond

October 24, 2017 Eric Burke

I am a recovering comic book nerd. I'm not so into the comics themselves these days. Not for any real reason, I just fell out of love with them somewhere during the last 25 years. But I do love the overabundance of comic-inspired entertainment options we have available these days. It reminds me of when I was a teenager when my favorite place was my local comic shop.

I give every superhero movie and tv show a shot. Some I like and some I don't, but I haven't personally reached oversaturation yet. But because there is so much entertainment to be had, I sometimes need to hold off on watching a particular show or movie. Take the one I finished last night, Netflix and Marvel's Iron Fist.

Iron Fist has been out for six months or more now. I started watching it last week. I was a little hesitant to do so since it was almost universally panned by people whose opinion I trust. Like I said, last night I finished it. And I loved it!

It just goes to show that just because you have a notion that you won't like something, it doesn't nessecarily follow that you are correct. You should at least give it a shot if it is something in your wheelhouse.

Kind of like how I was initially a little hesitant to purchase the Early Times Bottled in Bond. I'd had the previous Early Times bourbon release, Early Times 354. And...I didn't like it. But because I'm a firm believer in trying things for myself instead of passing judgment based on my intuition, I bought the Bonded version the first time I saw it. And guess what? I liked it.

Now I just hope that history repeats itself and Justice League is good despite the fact that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was complete crap...

Early Times Bottled-in-Bond

Purchase Info: $21.99 for a one-liter bottle at the Party Source, Bellevue, KY.

Details: 50% ABV. Distilled and bottled at DSP-KY-354 and DSP-KY-414 (I'm assuming distilled at the first and bottled at the second...).

Nose: Coconut, brown sugar and a hint of wintergreen.

Mouth: Brown Sugar, wintergreen, and baking spice.

Finish: Gentle and short with lingering notes of brown sugar and wintergreen.

Thoughts: This is a solid value bourbon. If I had to compare it to something, I'd say that it is of a similar quality to the various Heaven Hill bonded bourbons, though obviously with a different flavor profile. I really like this. I hope that it sticks around as it is nice to have more good bonded options on the market.

Evan Williams Master Blend

October 19, 2017 Eric Burke

I like blending bourbons. I've mentioned that ad nauseam here on the blog. I think that blending what you have on hand to make "new" bourbons is fun and lends variety to the bourbon shelf that isn't always there otherwise.

Blending is an art celebrated by whiskey producers in other countries. Master Blender is an important title, and media outlets interview those that hold it.

Here is the States? Not so much. We assume that a blend means it contains vodka (mostly because American Blended Whiskey is allowed to be blended with vodka) and so, with a few notable exceptions, we rarely talk about blending.

So when I was walking through the liquor store and saw a $50 bourbon, from a large manufacturer, with "blend" in the name...well I had to take a look. It turns out that it was a bourbon that was intended to be an exclusive of the Evan Williams Experience. Due to a quirk in Kentucky law, liquor stores are allowed to order them as well, and this one had.

So what was it? Well, it is a blend of various Evan Williams expressions: Black label, Bottled-in-Bond, 1783, Single Barrel, and 23-year-old. That last one possibly to justify the price, because it is a little pricey. I paid $54 for a bottle that is made up of things that normally cost right around $20. Good thing it was a souvenir. Some people overpay for T-Shirts while on vacation, I overpay for whiskey.

Evan Williams Master Blend

Purchase info: $53.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Westport Whiskey and Wine.

Details: 45% ABV. A blend of 5 Evan Williams products.

Nose: Floral with vanilla, caramel, nutmeg, dried grain, some oak and a hint of soap.

Mouth: Good Spice with nutmeg, vanilla/caramel, dried grain, and oak.

Finish: Nice length with a gentle warmth. Lingering baking spices.

Thoughts: I like this. It is a nice blend that captures the essences of its constituent parts. The grain is there from the younger varieties of Evan Williams, but some of the oak is there as well.

So is it worth the price? Not a chance. Evan Williams Master Blend is an interesting souvenir bottle, but nothing more.

David Nicholson Reserve Bourbon

October 17, 2017 Eric Burke

Sometimes you buy something just because you normally can't. That happened more than once during my last trip to the Party Source in northern Kentucky. In this case, it resulted in me bringing home a bottle of David Nicholson Reserve.

For most of its life, the David Nicholson brand was owned by the Van Winkle family (you've probably heard of them, so I'll quit there). Today the David Nicholson line of bourbons is owned by Luxco and has only limited distribution. According to their website, it is mostly sold in Missouri and Illinois (though I bought mine in Kentucky).

And that brings me back to why it ended up in my shopping cart (yes, I need a cart when I shop for bourbon in Kentucky). Simply put, I'd never had it, I can't get it, and so I wanted it. Plus I'd heard good things about it.

Did the bourbon live up to the kind words I'd read though?

David Nicholson Reserve

Purchase Info: $31.99 for 750 mL bottle at the Party Source, Bellevue, KY.

Details: 50% ABV. Non-age stated.

Nose: Vanilla, dusty, dried grain, and mint plants with soil.

Mouth: Leads off with a nice spice. Mint and more grain follow.

Finish: Medium length with lingering mint and grain.

Thoughts: Taken in a vacuum this is a tasty enough whiskey and is probably worth the $30 or so that you'd pay for it. It reminds me a lot of Evan Williams Bonded, which makes sense since there is a good chance that they came from the same place. Which, of course, means that it is hard to compare this in a vacuum. Evan Williams Bonded is under $20 per liter, which is less than half what this sells for (if you compare price per milliliter). But that said, $30 is still not a terrible price for a decent, if fairly grain forward, bourbon.

Old Forester Statesman

October 12, 2017 Eric Burke

Last night I finally got to see the movie Kingsman: the Golden Circle. It was a minor miracle that it happened. My wife hates almost everything about the movie-going experience. She doesn't like spending the money on a ticket or food. She doesn't like all the other people around. She doesn't want to go during the weekend because it is too crowded and she doesn't want to go during the week because she doesn't want to leave the house after working all day. In fact, just about the only thing she does like is the fact that our local movie theater now has a bar and you can carry the drinks into the showing with you.

I, on the other hand, love going to the movies. So much so that I occasionally go by myself. But I don't go to just any movie. I'm married to an accountant, so if I'm going to spend the money, it has to be a spectacle. It has to be big and loud, with amazing special effects. Most of all it needs to be fun. You will almost never find me watching a depressing drama outside of my house.

The original Kingsman movie was one of the most fun films we'd seen in a while. It was fun, action-packed, and most importantly didn't take itself too seriously. It was fun, and better yet, funny. So when we heard that the sequel had bourbon as a backdrop? Well, that just made it easier for me to convince her to come along.

I won't give any spoilers, but there is a brand of bourbon called Statesman that is featured rather heavily in the movie. It is Old Forester in all but name. (Shoutout to WhiskyCast for an excellent interview with the folks from Old Forester about that.) In fact, as you go through the film, sharp eyed bottle history buffs will find more than one antique Old Forester bottle as set dressing. Is it any good? Yeah, I thought it was just as fun as the first one.

Oh, you meant the bourbon? Well, let's find out!

Old Forester Statesman

Purchase Info: $51.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Party Mart, Louisville, KY.

Details: 47.5% ABV. Non-age stated.

Nose: Caramel, cinnamon, ginger ale, bubble gum.

Mouth: Spicy with ginger and cinnamon spice, sweet vanilla, mint and a touch of astringent oak.

Finish: Medium length with warm spices.

Thoughts: This is another tasty Old Forester product. If you like Old Forester, give this a shot. I like it. I'm not thrilled with the price though. I'm not sure if I would pay $50+ for it again, maybe if I saw it on sale.

Old Forester Single Barrel: Liquor Barn/Forecastle Selection

October 10, 2017 Eric Burke

Today I was up and on the road by 6 am to drive the six hours (each way) to Milwaukee to buy some empty bourbon barrels to use as raw materials for my Etsy store, BourbonGuyGifts.com. It was a fun and tiring day. Tiring because I was driving for about 12 hours. Fun because I got my hands on four great looking empty bourbon barrels and three very pretty wine barrel heads. I didn't plan on getting any wine barrel heads, I mean my store makes things for bourbon lovers. But they were in good shape, very pretty and the price was right. I'm sure I'll be able to figure out something to do with them.

In a way, those wine barrel heads are kind of like the bourbon I'm drinking tonight. When I bought each of them, I was looking for something else. But in each case the price was right so I grabbed them instead.

See, around this time every year I try to get a bottle of Birthday Bourbon for my wife. But at a suggested price of around $80 per bottle, I wasn't trying too hard this year. Instead, when I was down in Kentucky. I grabbed a bottle of Old Forester Single Barrel. It was half the price and every bottle I've picked up has been very good.

This bottle was no exception.

Old Forester Single Barrel: Liquor Barn/Forecastle Selection

Purchase Info: $38.99 for a 750 mL at Liquor Barn Middleton, Louisville, KY.

Details: 45% ABV. Chosen for the 15th Anniversary of the Forecastle Festival. Aged in Warehouse H on Floor 5.

Nose: Sweet with vanilla, mint, and almond.

Mouth: Sweet with a light spice. Notes of vanilla, mint, and almond.

Finish: Nice and spicy with lingering notes of mint and almond.

Thoughts: This is by far the best bottle of Old Forester Single Barrel I've had. I am really digging it. Which is kind of amazing to me since I basically bought it in place of a limited edition that cost twice as much (and which in recent year's has been kind of lackluster, in my view).

Damn. Wish I'd thought of that in the store...I would have bought two and felt justified doing it.

The Bourbon Bar at Kentucky Bourbon Marketplace, Bardstown, Kentucky

October 5, 2017 Eric Burke

Let me tell you. I may have found my new favorite place to grab a drink while attending the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. And I came across it quite by accident.

As you are aware, I visit the Kentucky Bourbon Festival every year. And every year, one of the many things I like to do is visit the lawn area where the distilleries and local craftspeople sell things to the public. I seldom buy anything, but I always like to look. One of the other things I like to do is wander around downtown and see the window displays that the distilleries put into the shop windows. It reminds me of the things that used to happen in the town I grew up in, back before the future happened and people stopped caring what local businesses looked like.

So last year, we were walking between the lawn and 3rd street on one of the warmer days of the week. We decided to check out this store called the Kentucky Bourbon Marketplace. Mostly as a way to hop out of the direct sunlight that was threatening to burn our Northern skin to a crisp. We'd been in there before and knew that in addition to the "souvenir" store and liquor store, there was also a bar in the building. Most of the times I had walked past previously, the bar had been packed, but this time for whatever reason it wasn't and we had the opportunity to stop in for a drink. Weirdly, I knew the bartender...or at least I knew who he was and had interacted with him on previous trips to Bardstown. His name is Don. Longtime readers might remember Don as our first tour guide at the Barton 1792 distillery way back on our first BourbonFest trip in 2012. Don was as good a bartender as he was a tour guide and for most of the same reasons. He's just fun to talk to.

Which means we were extremely happy when we stopped in this year and found that he is still working behind the bar at the Kentucky Bourbon Marketplace. And this time around, after talking to Howard (the owner) and realizing he was just as nice and fun to talk to, I decided to take a few photos and let you guys in on the secret of the place too.

You enter the store from Flaget Street. It is very conveniently located one block north and one block west of the roundabout in the center of Bardstown. If you are in Downtown Bardstown you are only a few minute's walk to it, no matter where you start from.

This is a very small place. There are 8-10 seats at the bar and three tables with 3-4 seats each. There is some standing room. I made use of it on Saturday afternoon of my most recent visit. There is also a patio in the warmer months, as weather allows. But one of the things that makes this a good place to visit is the selection. Every pour is $9 aside from the middle section of the shelves. These ranged from $15 up to $90 (as you might guess, the highest proces went for those in the bags on the top shelf...).

Speaking of selection, this was the bar where I had myself my first taste of the Four Roses Al Young 50th Anniversary Small Batch. It was $15 and it was delicious. I wish I had been able to get a bottle, but I'm happy enough to have tried it in a nice place surrounded by good people.

They also have cocktails. My wife was particularly fond of the Bardstown Bubbler, a house cocktail that won the title of "Official Cocktail of the 2016 Kentucky Bourbon Festival." It has Peach Bitters, Campari, Lemon Juice, Simple Syrup, Buffalo Trace and is topped with sweet Champagne and garnished with a mint sprig. I would, however, avoid their take on the Sazerac. It leaves out the Absinthe and lemon peel and is garnished with an orange peel. So basically, it is a Rye Old Fashioned.

But that aside, every bartender there was fun and interesting to talk to. The drinks were reasonably priced. The atmosphere was friendly and fun. All in all, it was a nice place to pass the afternoon and grab a drink or three.

The Kentucky Bourbon Marketplace is located at 110 West Flaget Ave in Bardstown, Kentucky.

Blog

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Basil Hayden's Dark Rye

MB Roland Rye Whiskey

Early Times Bottled-in-Bond

Evan Williams Master Blend

David Nicholson Reserve

Old Forester Statesman

Old Forester Single Barrel: Liquor Barn/Forecastle Selection