From the BourbonGuy Archives: Whiskey Party Lights

Yep, you guessed it. I am still under the weather. I’ve been on the couch watching a lot of movies while trying to stop coughing. The cough is bad enough that it feels like my skull is trying to force its way out of my forehead. It’s sucked. But, I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of thinking. And one of the things I’ve been thinking about is updating the set Whiskey Party Lights that I originally made almost a decade ago.

Since I’ll probably be revisiting that this summer, I thought I’d refresh my memory of how I did it the first time. And heck since I’m too sick to write much anyway, I might as well share it with you folks too. It really is a fun project…though looking back on it, I think I was a little risky with the drill press. Probably best to build a jig for that first so you don’t get your fingers caught in the bit. I’ll share the revamped version in the next couple of months when it is completed. Lots of testing to do first.

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I like camping. If you do it right, it’s a nice way to have a glass of bourbon around a campfire. If you do it wrong, it’s a nice way to have a sore back every morning. I used to prefer camping the wrong way. I slept in tents for years. Then I realized that I could still have the campfire, but sleep in a bed.

I recently bought a camper. Now I camp the right way. All the bourbon, none of the sore back.

When you buy a camper, strange things go though your mind. Things like: “I need all new utensils to eat with. The ones in my house aren’t nearly good enough to take outside.” And: “I think I should buy a truck.” And: “Boy, wouldn’t it be nice to hang lights from an awning.”

I had all of these thoughts at one point or another. Some I acted on, others I didn’t. One I acted on was the awning lights. I looked at a bunch of places to see if there was anything fun to be found. Guess what? There wasn’t. I mean some people like flamingos enough to hang them from an awning. Others like toy cars. But I’m a bit judgemental. And I assume others are too. If I was going to be judged for something, it should at least be something I liked. And so Whiskey Party Lights were born.

Here’s how I did it:

Step One: Gather all the minis you’ve been hoarding. I needed 50. (If you are a collector, turn back now. You might find this disturbing.)

Step Two: Drill holes in the caps. I found the easiest way to drill some test holes in some test caps and find the one that fits best. You’ll want the fit to be snug so the bottle doesn’t fall off of your light. For my lights, I needed a 25/64” hole. NOTE: Don’t even try this without a drill press. I do not want to hear reports of someone slipping with a handheld drill and destroying something important—furniture, fingers, etc.

(Editor’s Note from 2023…also build a jig to hold the bottles. I’ve since realized that this is still a little too dangerous.)

Step Three: Spray paint with clear paint. I tried about three different kinds and ended up using Krylon ColorMaster Acrylic Crystal Clear. Not only does it provide water restistance to those with paper labels, but it gives the bottles a frosted finish. This helps to difuse the light a bit and allows the bottles to act more like light bulbs. If you use Maker’s Mark, you may want to tape off the wax if you don’t want it frosted.

Step Four: Let dry. The paint I used took about an hour until it was able to be handled.

Step Five: Fit the bulbs into the caps. I used bottles with both metal and plastic caps. If I were to do it over, I would choose the plastic. The metal is thin and bends. So if you have a cool old dusty you want to use, you’ll need an alternate method of support. I used craft wire to wrap around the neck and hooked it over the wires. I did find that many bottles with metal caps would accept plastic so that is an alternative as well.

Step Six: Hang them up! I bought stainless steel party light hangers from Amazon. They have a clip on one end and a hook on the other. Now you're ready to sit under the glow of 50 LED whiskey lights, drink a bourbon and start on the next set.

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From the BourbonGuy Archives: Bourbon and Beer Chili

So, my wife caught something on the airplane back from her trip last week and was nice enough to share it with the group. As such, I am digging back into the archives and resurfacing an article published way back in 2017. Since she was nice enough to share her cold, I will be nice enough to share her award-winning chili recipe. Enjoy! (Ignore the 2017 weather report, though the description of the cold is still spot on.)

It's a cold, damp, and rainy spring day outside today. The kind of day that I know is necessary for a lush green summer but still not the type of day that is all that fun to live through. Especially when you are sick with a cold. I have the kind of cold that affects the upper respiratory. So, of course, that means no fun tastings either. 

But wait! There is one thing that would be perfect on a day like today, a big bowl of Chili. I talked to my wife about it and she was gracious enough to share her secret and award-winning (office chili cook-off winner is an award, right?) recipe with you fine folks.

Bourbon and Beer Chili

Ingredients

• 1 bottle of beer – Heavy stouts or hoppy IPAs both work nicely, Stouts make for a sweeter finished product.

• 4 oz of bourbon – Make it something you like to drink. We use Old Grand-Dad 114 or Wild Turkey 101. The sweeter the bourbon, the sweeter the chili will be.

• 1 pound of stew meat – we use beef or venison

• 1 pound of Italian sausage

• 1 large onion chopped

• 4 cloves of minced garlic

• 12-ounce can of tomato paste

• 2 – 15-ounce cans of tomato sauce

• 2 cups of beef stock

• 2 cans of chili beans (We use 1 spicy Bush’s and 1 of the Black chili beans)

• ½ cup brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon of Cocoa powder

• 2 tablespoons Chili powder (or more to taste)

• 1 tablespoon of Mexican Oregano

• 1 teaspoon ground Cayenne pepper

• 2 Dried Chipotle and 1 Dried Serrano Peppers – chopped or otherwise broken up. (We grow our peppers. Then we dry and smoke the jalapenos into chipotles or just dry the serranos.)

Instructions

• Start boiling the beer and bourbon in an 8-quart stock pot.

• In a large skillet, brown the meat. It helps to do the Italian sausage first and then the stew meat. Add to the pot.

• Brown the onions and garlic in the skillet you used for the meat. Add butter or oil if needed. Add to the pot.

• Add the rest of the ingredients. Feel free to add any other spices you like in Chili.

• Heat until boiling and then simmer for at least a half hour for the flavors to meld.

• This is better reheated the next day so prepare it the day before.

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New Riff Straight Malted Rye Whiskey

So last week my wife left me…Shit that sounds bad. Let’s try this again.

Last week my wife took a trip to visit a long-time friend and help her out with a fan convention that her friend was putting on. I was left alone to pretend to be a bachelor. I had big plans of eating lots of junk food, watching a lot of movies, just really learning into the whole I don’t have to be a responsible adult thing.

And it turns out that I wasn’t. Responsible that is. Because I ended up mistaking just how long a container of leftovers had been in the fridge, giving myself what seems to be a mild case of food poisoning. It’s been fun. I felt like I was prepping for a colonoscopy at one point. Now I’m just hanging around feeling nauseated and trying hard not to do anything that will upset that. The upside is that I did get to watch a lot of movies once the pups I was watching went home. I just had to do it while laying down and with frequent pausing.

All of that is to say, this is to explain why there wasn’t a post on Tuesday and why this post will be mostly quoting from the website of tonight’s whiskey.

New Riff Distilling is pleased to introduce a new, regular extension to their award winning lineup: New Riff Straight Malted Rye Whiskey Bottled in Bond Without Chill Filtration. This style of whiskey is made of 100% malted rye grain, which is quite rare, even in today’s craft distilling scene. Malted rye is rye grain that has undergone the process of malting. When you malt a grain you alter and, arguably, improve and refine its flavor. That’s exactly what’s happened here, as the typically spicy flavor of rye becomes polished, refined, and subtle.

New Riff Malted Rye is elegant. Graceful. It presents plenty of spice but in a much more sophisticated fashion than our standard 95% rye. It actually makes more sense to us to think of it as a malted whiskey first, and a rye whiskey second. At a generous six years old, our New Riff Malted Rye Bottled in Bond Without Chill Filtration is the oldest New Riff whiskey yet released, and will remain at six years as something of an exclamation point atop our standard portfolio.

Now, if you’ve been around a while, you will know that I don’t usually like whiskey with malted rye in it. Much less one that is 100% malted rye. But I also have yet to find a New Riff whiskey that I didn’t like so I figured that if anyone was going to make a malted rye whiskey that I liked, it would be them. So I bought it. Let’s see how it tastes.

New Riff Kentucky Straight Malted Rye Whiskey

Purchase info: $60.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.07

Details: Bottled in Bond. 50% ABV. Six years old. Mash bill consists of 100% malted rye. Non-Chill Filtered.

Nose: Wintergreen, plum, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Mouth: Thick and sweet with spicy cinnamon, wintergreen, and baked fruit.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Notes of cedar, plum, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: Well, shit! This is damn good! If you'd handed it to me blind, I wouldn't have guessed that this was a rye until the finish when the cedar notes arrive. The mouth is thick, sweet, and rich, which isn't something I usually find in rye whiskey. Especially at less than barrel-proof. I guess my initial thought was correct when I speculated that New Riff would be the most likely to be able to put out a malted rye whiskey that I'd enjoy. And on top of that it makes a damn fine Old Fashioned. This one is certainly worth a look.

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Penelope Barrel Strength Bourbon, Batch 14

This is part two of a two-part series on Penelope Bourbon and their recent purchase by MGP. On Tuesday we talked about Penelope Bourbon and why they are currently in the news. Today, we are going to take it easy and jump right into the tasting notes. We are coming up on a holiday weekend after all and I’m sure you are all busy.

In backup, this bourbon is very similar to the 80° proof Four Grain. It is still blended from three different bourbons from MGP. The final composite “mash bill” percentages work out a little differently at 74% Corn, 16% Wheat, 7% Rye and 3% Malted Barely. Guessing that is due to a slightly higher percentage of the MGP Wheated bourbon being used in this one. The proof is obviously different, what with it being barrel strength. The batch I’m looking at is batch 14 and that has a proof of 112° proof. This batch has also been aged for 4 years instead of 26 months.

On Tuesday, I said the following about the 80° proof version:

Thoughts: This is a well crafted bourbon. I can see why MGP would want to pick this brand up, especially since it seems like the blender is staying on. That said, I doubt I will be picking it up again. For almost $40, I want more than "26 months" in the barrel and 80° proof. Hopefully the new owners will adjust the price -to-value ratio a bit, though I'm realistic enough to have my doubts. That said, in a vacuum, it's a tasty bourbon... as long as you are the one buying.

So now that my two largest issues with the bourbon have been addressed, let’s see how it tastes.

Penelope Barrel Strength Bourbon, Batch 14

Purchase Info: $63.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.27

Details: 4 years old. 56% ABV. Batch 14. Blend of three bourbon mash bills combining to the ratio 74% Corn, 16% Wheat, 7% Rye, and 3% Malted Barley. Barrels have a #4 char, the heads have #2 char. Non-chill filtered.

Nose: Milk chocolate, red fruits, and caramel.

Mouth: Sweet with vanilla and chocolate, spicy cinnamon, and strawberry jam.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Notes of caramel, raspberry jam, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: Wow! What a step up from the 80° proof version. The nose is like a delicious dessert. That continues into the mouth with chocolate and a delightful jammy note. And then it continues again with a sweet and spicy finish. I'm actually shocked at how good this is. I'm going to keep an eye out for another bottle from this batch for the ol' whiskey closet. I really like this one.

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Penelope Four Grain Bourbon

So the big news in the whiskey world over the last few weeks is that MGP is buying another of their customers. This is a trend for them. They started the entire customer facing push by buying the George Remus brand a few years ago. Then they bought an entire liquor producer in Luxco. I’m sure there have been others, but the one we are focused on today is Penelope Bourbon. According to MGP, the acquisition is part of their “premiumization strategy.”

Started in 2018 by Mike Paladino and his wife Kerry, along with their friend Danny Police, Penelope was named after Mike and Kerry’s baby girl. Along the way, their MGP sourced bourbon has won quite a few awards over the years. Which it should, MGP makes damn fine bourbon. The big news these days is that the founders are now about $100 Million richer than they were back in 2018. I’ll let the MGP PR folks tell the tale. They get paid more to write than I do, might as well let them do it.

MGP Ingredients, Inc. (Nasdaq: MGPI), a leading provider of distilled spirits, branded spirits, and food ingredient solutions, today announced that its Luxco, Inc. subsidiary has reached a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the equity of Penelope Bourbon LLC (“Penelope Bourbon” or “Penelope”) and its related assets. Founded in 2018, Penelope Bourbon is a family and founder-owned and operated American Whiskey company with a diverse portfolio of high-quality whiskeys in the premium-plus price tiers.  The acquisition includes all intellectual property and inventory of bottled product, as well as Penelope’s aging whiskey inventory on a debt-and-cash-free basis. The upfront consideration is $105.0 million in cash to be paid at closing, with further potential earn-out contingent consideration of up to a maximum cash payout of $110.8 million measured through December 31, 2025 if certain performance conditions are met, reflecting the brand’s current growth potential.

Not going to lie…since MGP was the one making the whiskey, this seems like an awful lot to pay for a few labels. But heck, that’s why I am a dog sitter who writes about whiskey for free and not someone who has the extra cash to acquire a bourbon company, right?

So based on the fact that this news was big enough to even land in Chuck Cowdery’s latest newsletter, I decided to go pick up a couple of these oh so prettily named bourbons. I do love the name Penelope, after all. Up first is the “affordable” option. The 80° proof Four Grain Bourbon. Penelope blends three different bourbon mash bills from MGP to form their bourbons. They don’t say but based on the math, I’d guess it includes one of the “ryed” bourbon recipes, the 45% wheat recipe, and maybe the 99% corn recipe? No idea but they say that the final mash bill of this one is 75% corn, 15% wheat, 7% rye, and 3% malted barley. So based on the math I think we can eliminate MGP’s 49% malted barley bourbon.

In any case, let’s get to why we are here. How does this hundred million dollar baby taste?

Penelope Four Grain Bourbon

Purchase Info: $38.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.60

Details: Blend of three bourbon mash bills combining to the ratio 75% Corn, 15% Wheat, 7% Rye, and 3% Malted Barley. Barrels have a #4 char, the heads have #2 char. Non-chill filtered. 40% ABV. 26 months old.

Nose: Grain-forward, vanilla sugar, mint, and nutmeg.

Mouth: Thin and gentle with just enough spice to keep you interested. Notes of nutmeg, almond, and a touch of mint and orange zest.

Finish: Gentle and on the shorter side of medium length. Light notes of cinnamon, bitter citrus, and oak.

Thoughts: This is a well crafted bourbon. I can see why MGP would want to pick this brand up, especially since it seems like the blender is staying on. That said, I doubt I will be picking it up again. For almost $40, I want more than "26 months" in the barrel and 80° proof. Hopefully the new owners will adjust the price -to-value ratio a bit, though I'm realistic enough to have my doubts. That said, in a vacuum, it's a tasty bourbon... as long as you are the one buying.

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Blood Oath Pact 9

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Lux Row for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

In previous years, I’ve shared my love of many of Lux Row Master Distiller John Rempe’s creations, including many of the Blood Oath series. They are always one-time recipes. Most of them have included some sort of finished bourbon in the blend. This time they are using Oloroso Sherry casks, which I usually don’t care for. Sherry will often overpower the bourbon. The thing that I think may save this is that, from my reading, only one of the bourbons used in the blend is finished in the sherry cask.

Anyway, let’s hear what Lux Row has to say about all of this.

Blood Oath Pact 9 combines some of the finest extra-aged bourbons Rempe could find, including a 16-year ryed bourbon and a 12-year ryed bourbon, as well as a 7-year ryed bourbon finished in Oloroso Sherry casks from the Sherry Triangle region in southwest Spain. These casks impart unique woody and ripe-fruit aromas and flavors to make Blood Oath Pact 9 a memorable pour. “Blood Oath Pact 9 contains three great bourbons, and the Oloroso Sherry cask finish has resulted in a deep, dark amber liquid with long legs,” said Rempe. “The Oloroso Sherry casks also bring out tasting notes of sweet sherry with hints of ripe fruit on the nose, as well as flavor notes highlighted by ripe fruits including figs, plums and raisins, with notes of molasses, chocolate and tobacco. This bourbon also provides a long-lasting finish characterized by fruit notes and complemented by hints of spicy oak. I’m proud to share Blood Oath Pact 9 with bourbon lovers.”

So let’s see how this one tastes, shall we?

Blood Oath Pact 9 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $129.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $8.67

Details: 49.3% ABV. Blend of three bourbons: a 16-year, a 12-year, and a 7- year that was finished in Oloroso Sherry casks.

Nose: Brown sugar, red fruit, spearmint, chocolate, vanilla, and honey.

Mouth: Dry and spicy with notes of dark chocolate, cinnamon, red fruits, and toffee.

Finish: Medium length and warm with notes of Cinnamon gum, dark chocolate, and red fruits.

Thoughts: This is very good. From the nose, I expected it to be sweet, so the dryness in the mouth was pleasantly surprising. I'm really a fan of the chocolate and cinnamon gum combo on the finish as well. I like it. Even though the price went up $10 this year, my very frugal accountant of a wife declared that she'd gladly pay the suggested retail if we found it. So interpret that how you will.

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A Couple of Ginger Drinks: Stone's Original Ginger Wine and Domaine de Canton

My mother is a big fan of ginger. She eats candied ginger as a snack, loves spicy ginger ales (one of her favorites is spicy enough that it is marketed more as a mixer than as a drink in it’s own right), and back when she was young she was known for her love of ginger brandy liqueur. These days, ginger brandy has apparently grown hard to find in the area I grew up in. As such, she makes a point of trying to find a bottle when she comes to visit.

Well, last weekend was one of those visits. We were at Total Wine when she stopped to see what they had. They had exactly one, and the guy that was working stopped her from putting it in the cart with the unsolicited advice, “I can’t let you buy that. It tastes like hand sanitizer.” So he took the time to listen to what she was looking for and pointed her to Stone’s Original Ginger Wine.

Now I also like ginger, not quite to the same extent as my mother, but it is high on the list of flavors that I enjoy. So as we were in the ginger section of Total Wine’s liqueur section, I took the opportunity to grab a bottle of Domain de Canton Ginger Liqueur. I’d noticed it way back when I started writing about spirits and then pretty much forgot about it for a decade or more. But “when in Rome,” as they say.

So hang on, folks. We are stepping out of our normal comfort zone tonight. Let’s look at a couple of alcoholic ginger drinks.

Stone’s Original Ginger

We might as well try the one that was recommended first. From what I can tell online, Stone’s Original Ginger is a fortified wine made of grape wine, neutral spirits, and ginger. It claims to be a Product of England, but the company’s website is Australian. Not sure what is going on there, but I’m not thinking too hard about it. There are drinks to be consumed.

Purchase Info: $12.49 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 ml): $0.83

Details: 13.5% ABV

Nose: Canned peaches, ginger, and a touch of citrus.

Mouth: Candied raisin, lemon, and after a moment in the mouth, you start to get a bit of heat and ginger flavor.

Finish: Gentle with notes of raisin and ginger. Not much heat.

Thoughts: Honestly, I thought that there would be more "punch" to this based on the ginger name. It's pleasant enough neat, but nothing to write home about. However, it really shines as a cocktail ingredient. I tried three from their website, and I’m a big fan of all three.

Southern Star

• 2 oz Bourbon

• 1 oz Stone’s Original Ginger

• 0.5 oz Sweet Vermouth

• Stir ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Strain into a glass with fresh ice.

Stone and Gavel

• 3 oz Stone’s Original Ginger

• 1 oz Funky white rum

• Pour over crushed ice, stir, and serve.

The Dragon Slayer

• 1 oz Stone’s Original Ginger

• 1 oz Gin

• 0.5 oz honey syrup

• 2 oz hard cider

These are all delicious. The Southern Star is a lot like a Manhattan, but there are more layers of flavor. The Stone and Gavel is what I’m drinking right now. It is my favorite of the three and reminds me of a Dark and Stormy with less ginger “punch” but more nuanced flavors. The Dragon Slayer was interesting. I used a local dry hard cider, and it really brought the apple notes to the forefront.

Domaine de Canton

Now onto one that landed in my cart from pure curiosity. Domaine de Canton is a ginger liqueur imported from France by Heaven Hill in Bardstown, KY. Here is what they have to say about it:

Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur was inspired by the French tradition in which sweet and fresh elixirs were fortified by fine eaux de vie and cognac. Spicy and aromatic elixirs became popular with the French during the time of colonial Indochine. Domaine de Canton is inspired by the subtle spiciness of the baby ginger grown locally in modern day Indochine. The result is a recipe which evokes an era of tropical romance and continental sophistication that is both elegant and timeless.

Purchase Info: $21.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.47

Details: 28% ABV

Nose: Ginger and lemon

Mouth: Thick and syrupy with honey, lemon, and ginger.

Finish: Spicy ginger for a long time.

Thoughts: This tastes exactly like I would have guessed a ginger liqueur would taste. It is very sweet and has powerful ginger notes that are nicely supported by a lemon note. I like it, and I’ll be keeping this on hand. It works very nicely in cocktails, especially ones where you pair it with citrus. I particularly liked the Gold Rush and the Ginger Collins from the product's neck tag. See below:

The Gold Rush

• 1.5 oz bourbon

• 1 oz Domaine de Canton

• 0.5 oz lemon juice

• Shake with ice and strain into a glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Ginger Collins

• 1.5 oz London Dry Gin

• 0.75 oz Domaine de Canton

• 0.5 oz lemon juice

• 3 oz Sparkling Water

• Shake all but soda and strain into a glass over ice. Top with sparkling water. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Both of these are great as described above, but on The Gold Rush, I’d personally use a higher percentage of the Domaine de Canton to get even more ginger flavor. The Ginger Collins is a spicier and sweeter version of my favorite deck drink, the Gin Rickey. It makes a nice change of pace if I have a hankering for switching things up but still want a floral and refreshing long drink.

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Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, B523

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

There was a time when Elijah Craig had a twelve-year age statement. Eventually, Heaven Hill decided to retire that age statement to give themselves more flexibility to blend it to taste rather than age. At the time, I was upset, but looking back on the decision from the future, I think Heaven Hill made the right choice in reserving that twelve-year age statement for the barrel-proof version of Elijah Craig. We discussed this in detail back in January.

Well, that age statement is currently no more. As of B523, they have removed the standard 12-year-old age statement in favor of a “per batch” age statement. If you frequently perform searches of the TTB’s COLA database, you may have seen this coming as I did. I’ve got at least one extra bottle of C922 stashed away for the future, just in case things take a turn for the worse with this change. For the time being, however, this seems to be another change in the name of flexibility instead of the “we are running out of stocks! Quick, make it younger!” changes of the early- to mid-2010s. In fact, they have already announced that next quarter’s release will be in the thirteen-year-old range. Here’s what Heaven Hill has to say about the change:

Starting with the enclosed B523 expression, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof will now be barreled in small batches with varying age statements. Each batch of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof will have its own unique taste profile and proof, as in years past, and now a unique age statement that will retain the extra-aged characteristic the brand is known for. All other qualities of the series remain the same - non-chill-filtered and uncut to preserve all the natural esters and taste components from the barrels to the bottle. The variance in proof, and now age, from batch to batch is an exercise for true whiskey aficionados to experience the consistency in quality across the series while allowing for the unique intricacies of each batch to pull forward.

Each face label will detail the lowest age of the barrel within the batch, as legally required. The transition of the age from the side to the face label will also show more transparent details down to the month, regardless of how large or small the quantity of the lowest aged barrels in that edition. Batches will be determined to taste and quality by the master tasting team – Master Distiller Conor O’Driscoll, Master Taster Tawnie Gootee and Vice President of New Product Development and Quality Assurance Chris Briney. This change allows for a true small batch selection process to happen, selecting the best extra-aged stocks that make for phenomenal taste experiences.

Ok. Now onto the most important part: how does it taste?

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, B523

Purchase Info: This sample was provided at no cost for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $69.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.67

Details: Age: 11 years, 5 months. 62.1% ABV.

Nose: Oak, caramel, cinnamon.

Mouth: Very hot in the mouth. Oak, apple, caramel, cinnamon red-hot candies, and ginger.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of apple, ginger, caramel, and oak on the finish.

Comparison to A123: The noses are similar, though A123 is sweeter. The mouth on B523 is much hotter, spicier, and more oak-forward.

Thoughts: This release screams for water, the addition of which not only tames the heat but allows it to sit in your mouth long enough to get flavors other than "HOT!" out of it. Let's just say that after this, my palate is blown out. If I was going to choose between this release and the last, A123 wins hands down. A123 was a very good batch, so it was a good send-off for the 12-year age statement. That said, if you are ok adding ice or water to it, B523 is still pretty tasty. I found it impossible to drink neat (and to be honest, you probably shouldn’t be drinking 120+ proof whiskey neat anyway).

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