War of the Roses Part Five: Review Four Roses 125th Anniversary Limited Edition Small Batch 2013

November 30, 2013

War of the Roses Part Five: Review Four Roses 125th Anniversary Limited Edition Small Batch 2013

This is part five, the final review of our War of the Roses Holiday Marathon.  If you're just tuning in, rewind to the beginning and start there...

125th Anniversary

And now the one you've been waiting for...

The hype around this bottle has been truly over the top.  Let's put it this way, we read the press release that it was going to hit shelves in a few weeks and began to canvass some local NYC liquor stores.  We got laughs and guffaws right out of the Van Winkle playbook.  That was somewhat unexpected.  Basically every liquor store in NY & NJ was trying to get their hands on this stuff and most were not succeeding.  Our search expanded and eventually we tracked some down in Connecticut.   It was a happy day.

Well, you've been with us all week.  We've covered the long history of Four Roses, the individual development of ten distinct recipes, tasted several of those recipes in their Limited Edition Single Barrels, introduced you to the phenomenon that is big Jim Rutledge, and tasted last year's highly acclaimed LE Small Batch.  It all comes down to this.  So let's get to it!

What Do We Know About This Bottle?

It's bottled at 51.6%, on the lower end of all the Four Roses so far.

It's a blend of three Four Roses batches (2012 was a blend of 4):
An OBSV 18-year (perhaps the same batch that was 17 years old in last years Small Batch??)
An OBSK 13-year (again one year older of one of the same batch from last years.  coincidence?)
An OESK 13-year (ok once again the same choice but one year older)

So at this point it can't be a coincidence.  The only thing that's missing is the younger OBSV (the 2012 contained an 11-year version in addition to the 17).  All the other recipes are the same from last year but one year older.  Now that's not to say necessarily that they're the same batches, but clearly the goal here was to refine the formula and offer a more mature expression.

Tasting Notes

Appearance:  Another rose gold, dark tea blend.

Nose:  First comes dry cracking grain and big spice.  Waves of drying grass, rye, and wild flowers.  There's lots of wood here, big old oak with wood polish.  There isn't a big sweetness here, but there is fruit.  More of a citrus pop with bitter lemon candies and tangerine.

Palate:  The palate follows suit with a very woody and crisp punch.  Ripe oranges, tobacco, and hot ginger in the back of the mouth.  Little bursts of tropical fruit on the tip of the tongue.  And the rich wood / leather comes back to dominate the palate.

Finish:  Perhaps the longest finish of the bunch.  There's smoke and there's a lot of wood.  There is definitely some heat here.  Hotter than a couple of the higher proof bottles, despite it being the oldest and most mature.  Definitely the clearest oak profile and the most dry, crisp, and tight finish.

Review:  The spice and wood are the best of the bunch.  Very refined cracking dry pop of deep oak, tobacco, and sawdust.  It's the most distinctive and the oldest tasting of the line for sure.


The Final Three

Well thanks for spending some of your hard-earned Thanksgiving break with the Beast!  This was our final review, and so now all that's left is to declare a victor.  We can give you a sneak preview.  It's down to three marvelous beasts.  Which will take Gold, Silver, & Bronze?

Contender #1: 2013 LE Single Barrel
The most drinkable at the highest
test, a brilliant effort focusing
on sweetness and smoothness

Contender #2: 2012 LE Small Batch
Balancing the sweetness of the 2013
with a hefty spicy kick and some
gorgeous wood and age
making an appearance.

Contender #3: 125th Anniversary
Small Batch
The most mature, woody, and
refined.  The oldest tasting with
bold leather, spice, and oak.

 Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of War of the Roses!

War of the Roses Part 4: Review of Four Roses 2012 Limited Edition Small Batch

November 29, 2013

War of the Roses Part 4: Review of Four Roses 2012 Limited Edition Small Batch

Thanks for tuning in for part four of our Four Roses holiday marathon.  If you're just joining us, rewind to episode one and start from the beginning...

Small Batch

So the past three reviews have touched on some of the different Four Roses recipes via their Single Barrel expressions, giving us the chance to explore the uniqueness of each taste.  Let's dive a little more deeply into the ten distinct recipes that Four Roses produces.

There are two different proportions of grains used.  The OE mashbill has 75% corn and 20% rye.  The OB mashbill has 60% corn and 35% rye.  Both have 5% malted barley.

There are five different strains of yeast used in the recipes (5 yeasts x 2 mashbills = 10 recipes).  The yeast codes are as follows:
V – Delicate fruity flavor
K – Slight spicy character
O – Robust fruitiness
Q – Floral essence
F – Light herbal essence


Big Jim

Jim Rutledge is the Master Distiller at Four Roses and is the mastermind behind the Small Batch blends.  Jim picks and chooses specific batches of barrels, mixing the above recipes to find the ideal balance of flavor for each years Limited Edition Small Batch release.  Jim's been doing this a long time.  He's been Master Distiller since 1995, but has worked for Four Roses for more than four decades.  We met Jim at an event recently and all we can say is that he's very serious about his whiskey.  





So What Do We Know About This Beast?

It's a combination of four batches: a 17-Year OBSV (that's the fruity, creamy profile), an 11 year version of the same variation, a 12-year OBSK (that's the spiciest recipe), and a 12-year OESK (full-bodied).  It comes in at 55.7%, right in the middle of the 4R proofs that we've been tasting.


Tasting Notes

Appearance:  Rose gold with hints of rust.

Nose:  The first hit is the wood and leather.  Old school men's club chairs with decades of leather polish soaked in.  Hints of maduro cigars.  Next up, baking spices: gingerbread, brown butter, brown sugar melting in batter.  Then the heat: cracking grain over dandelions, chile peppers, and sage.

Palate:  Damn that's tasty.  The big sweetness wraps the tongue and then the oak and spice emerge at the back of the mouth.  Just an incredible balance.  The rich sweetness is there, but instead of an oily texture, it's smack in the middle of the crisp dry wood.

Finish:  There's not a hint of burn on this one.  The warm spirit just floats away on the back of the notes of candy, fresh baked cookies, and at the end... maybe a hint of banana?  

Review:  And absolutely rare experience.  Big, deep, sweet, spicy, as mature tasting as any bourbon we've tried without being over-wooded.  What an incredible holiday treat this bottle is!  Simply extraordinary.  

Tune in tomorrow for the fifth rose, the 2013 Limited Edition Small Batch 125th Anniversary.  

War of the Roses Part 3: Review - Four Roses Limited Edition Single Barrel 2013

November 28, 2013

War of the Roses Part 3: Review - Four Roses Limited Edition Single Barrel 2013

This is part three of our Four Roses marathon.  If you're tuning in for the first time, rewind to the beginning.... 

Git Some

If this series has you pining for some single barrel cask strength Four Roses, KLWines has one available today from their private barrel program.  It's not one of the annual limited edition bottles like the one we're about to review, but hey if we could find more of these we'd be buying them ourselves!  KL's is 53% and 11 years old.  Driscoll describes it as "freakin' P-E-R-F-E-C-T. Big, zippy blasts of cinnamon and wood spice, a solid wave of vanilla that you can ride all the way to the end, and a rich and long finish, with dark red fruits and a hint of banana."  If you pick some up, drop us a line and let us know how it turns out.  It's bound to be a solid buy at $59.99.

A Look Back

Before we dive into tonight's gem (and oh boy it is a gem!!!), we thought we'd take a quick look back at the century-long history of Four Roses through some awesome vintage ads (these are sourced from Four Roses' Year of the Toast).  Don't these sort of make you want to go all Mad Men, suit it up, and go out for cocktails?  

1936

1939

1943

1945

1955

Back to the Present

So what do we know about this 2013 Limited Edition Single Barrel?

It comes in at 59.7%, the highest proof beast yet in our Four Roses lineup.

It's 13 years old, an extra year of aging over the other two we've tasted so far.

It's an OBSK recipe:

O - Originally distilled at Four Roses

B - High-rye recipe:

60% Corn

35% Rye

5% Malted Barley

S - It's a straight bourbon whiskey.

K - The yeast and recipe combination is said to produce a flavor that's "rich in spiciness, with a full body"

Tasting Notes

Appearance:  The darkest yet.  Beautiful burnt orange with highlights of plum.

Nose:  Here we go this is the kind of deep sweet and wonderful nose that make you want to cuddle up inside the glass and float around for hours.  Heavy chocolate, roasted nuts (peanut butter & jelly?), then comes the polished oak and worn leather, and finally some little pops of pineapple and red pepper.

Palate:  The barrel proof flavor comes through big-time with a very deep oily and sweet palate.  Brown butter, apple pie filling, more nutty goodness, chocolate covered orange rind, gingerbread cookies, and some subtle stone fruits. 

Finish:  Even though it's the highest proof, it's incredibly smooth.  Works perfectly with no water without any burn, which is really stunning.  The spices come back out in the finish with cinnamon, clove, allspice, and nutmeg.

Review:  Ok this is the first WOW bottle in the lineup!  The brown butter, chocolate, molasses thing is awesome.  You can really taste the big barrel proof spirit, but it's wrapped in an incredible balance with the sweetness, wood, and spice.  The rich sweet backbone is very unlike the first two single barrels.  The signature spiciness is still there, but this time its more of a minor component against thick sweet butter and wood.  Maybe that extra year made a huge difference!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!   Remember, whiskey is the best way to wash down pumpkin pie!  Tune in tomorrow as we move on to the Four Roses 2012 Limited Edition Small Batch!   /SB

War of the Roses Part 2: Review - Four Roses Limited Edition Single Barrel 2012

November 27, 2013

War of the Roses Part 2: Review - Four Roses Limited Edition Single Barrel 2012

First of all, if you're tuning in to War of the Roses for the first time, rewind and start with yesterday's post introducing the series...

Benching Mariano

Here's a story for you.  Frankfort Distilling Company introduced Four Roses in 1910.  Skipping past Prohibition, by the 1930's it was the top selling bourbon in the United States.  It stayed on the charts for thirty years, remaining the number one bourbon brand in the country through the 1950's.  Seagram had acquired the distillery in 1943.  In the late 50's, despite it being the most widely sold American whiskey ever, Seagram decided to cease production.  That would be like benching Mariano Rivera after he closed out Game 5 of the 2000 World Series.  Blended whiskey was finding its heyday in the '50s and Seagram Whiskey had the bright idea of blending Four Roses with neutral grain spirits to produce what was no doubt a thoroughly vile and undrinkable swill.  This travesty lasted for almost fifty years!  Then at long last in the early 2000's, the distillery changed hands from Seagram to Vivendi to Diageo to Kirin (ownership spanning the globe from Canada to France to Britain to Japan).  Kirin shelved the blended swill and blessedly rededicated the brand to straight bourbon whiskey.  

2012 Limited Edition Single Barrel

Our next all-star is the 2012 Single Barrel (4R12SiB in whiskey-speak).  Or in Pacino's words, "We're just gettin' WARMED UP!"  

So what do we know about this beast?

It's significantly lower proof than the '11: 51.9% (104 proof instead of 118!).

It's also 12 years old, the same as the '11.

The recipe is:

O - Originally distilled at Four Roses

E - The mashbill (recipe) is:

75% Corn
20% Rye
5% Malted Barley

S - It's a Straight Bourbon Whiskey (i.e. aged at least two years in first-fill oak barrels)

K - The specific yeast strain is characterized as "Spicy, Full Body"



Tasting Notes

Appearance:  Somewhere between pale gold and bronze.

Nose:  There's an immediate jump here from 2011.  The raw essences we found in that bottle have come together and become integrated into a cherry honeysuckle flower.  It's a lighter spirit, but even neat with a fair comparison against the 2011 with water, it's obviously more balanced and less hot.

Palate:  Rich and dry, we've got the wood flavors and spices coming out first with cumin, mesquite, and birch bark.  The sweetness is layered underneath like a sweet honey BBQ sauce.

Finish:  A quicker finish than the '11, but again more balanced.  The burn is fading and the sweet flowers are staying longer on the tongue.

Review:  A very enjoyable whiskey.  It's a big spirit, raw in its characters but coming together into a strong and distinctive taste.  We're starting to see a signature here in Four Roses: florals and spice with refined heat, wood, and an undercurrent of sweetness.

Next up, tomorrow is 2013 Single Barrel...   /SB

War of the Roses

November 26, 2013

War of the Roses

We've been wanting to review Four Roses since we started SmokyBeast.  But, being the big fans that we are, we wanted to do something special.  This is something special.

Four Roses Limited Edition Whiskies: Single Barrel 2011, 2012, & 2013;  Small Batch 2012 and 125th Anniversary

The Standard Line

Before we get into all that beautiful whiskey, let's take a step back.  Four Roses offers a line of standard expressions that are widely available, great buys for the money, and well worth your time and interest.  The standard line includes three bourbons:

The Yellow Label is a perfect mixing bourbon that comes in under $20.

The Small Batch, at around $35, is a very nice versatile bottle that fits mixing, rocks, or sipping.

Our favorite of the standard bottles is the Single Barrel, which comes in at 100 proof for around $40.  It's always a great purchase, but particularly the private barrels that are picked up by local liquor stores.  Some of the really excellent ones come at full cask strength, like the one that's available this week from our friends at DrinkUpNy.




Yellow is the New Black

But the real glory comes from Four Roses' Limited Edition releases.  There are two LE releases every year: a Limited Edition Single Barrel in the spring, and a Limited Edition Small Batch every fall.  The Single Barrels are hand-picked treats from Four Roses' vast troves of barrels.  Each release is a specific recipe out of their ten distinct secret bourbon sauces.

As awesome as the LE Single Barrels are, the Limited Edition Small Batch has been the absolute runaway franchise hit.  Four Roses' Master Distiller Jim Rutledge hand picks and blends single barrels together each year to make the LE Small Batch.  Last year's 2012 LE Small Batch won huge acclaim from reviewers.  Based on all that extreme hype, when Four Roses announced that this year's LE Small Batch would be a celebration of the distillery's one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary, people really started to lose their minds.  It rocketed up into the same league as Pappy Van Winkle, jumping off the shelves & being pre-ordered on allocation and selling out before it even arrived.

Twenty Roses Holiday Marathon

So, to kick it up a notch and really get into the holiday spirit, SmokyBeast reached out far and wide into the bourbon cosmos and came up with a lineup of the last five Four Roses Limited Edition releases: The 2011, 2012, and 2013 LE Single Barrels, the legendary 2012 LE Small Batch, AND the newly released and impossible to obtain 2013 125th Anniversary LE Small Batch.

We assembled another crack squad of whiskey heavyweights (building on our posse from the now legendary Michter's tasting), recruited from the far corners of the Metropolitan Tri-State Area with a singular shared mission:  To taste all twenty of these roses and not stop drinking until we had unanimously declared a victor.  The panel consisted of your faithful narrators, hubby & wifey, our resident whiskey historian Joshua "Cap'n Coop" Feldman of Coopered Tot, and the section chief of our single malt & fine food division: the Mistress of Malt, the Babe of Barley, the Islay Gourmet -  Susannah B from What Tastes Good.  Equipped only with our trusty Glencairn crystal, a few rations of pita crisps and tzatziki dip, and facing several hours of high-test cask strength bourbon, we hunkered down and got serious.  For our holiday mini-marathon, we'll be releasing one review each day of Thanksgiving week and dropping the final winner on Sunday.

Part One: Four Roses 2011 Limited Edition Single Barrel

So here we go.  First up is the 2011 Limited Edition Single Barrel.  What do we know about this beast?

It's a cask strength, 58.9% (118 proof!) powerhouse.

The age is 12 Years.

The recipe is OBSQ.  That means:

O - It's distilled originally by Four Roses.

B - The mashbill (recipe) is:
60% Corn
35% Rye
5% Malted Barley

S - It's a straight bourbon.

Q - Refers to the specific yeast strain used.  The Q yeast is described as: Slightly Fruity, Spicy, Medium Body




Tasting Notes

Appearance:  Light copper.

Nose:  There are a lot of herbal / floral notes going on here.  Wet grass and spring daisies, backed by some serious heat: mustard seed, anise, and pink peppercorn.  A few drops of water bring out some sweetness - lemon drops, cherries, and honeycomb.

Palate:  It's a big spirit and needs proper time to open up and a benefits highly from a splash of water.  Once water and bourbon combine and settle we get a rich and spicy blend of chiles, peppers, herbs, and flowers.

Finish:  A long finish for a bourbon led by a warm belly.  A perfect warm up and beginning to our tasting on this cold night.  There is a hefty does of spirit warmth, some medicinal notes of mint and menthol, and a nice combination of the heavy spice and florals.

Review:  A fierce beast.  This is definitely showcasing the spice and balls of Four Roses.

Tune in tomorrow for War of the Roses Part II: 2012 Limited Edition Single Barrel!  /SB

Review: Abraham Bowman Gingerbread Beer Finished Bourbon - Ho Ho Ho, It's Still Summer!

November 19, 2013

Review: Abraham Bowman Gingerbread Beer Finished Bourbon - Ho Ho Ho, It's Still Summer!

Tanning in November

Holy crap, next week is Thanksgiving!  As ridiculous a cliché as it is for everyone to walk around saying how the year has flown by, jeez this year has really flown by!  Maybe having a toddler makes time go by faster.  Pretty soon we'll be saying things like "they grow up so fast!"  Ugg we're old.

Well, we may as well embrace it.  Cook up some hot cocoa, cuddle up under a blanket and...  Oh right, it's SIXTY-FIVE degrees in New York today.  Chalk it up to the sweaty commute, lack of sleep, and the soundtrack from "Elmo's World" echoing in our brains like some kind of Chinese water torture, but we're having a little trouble getting into the holiday spirit.  Maybe a festive whiskey is just the ticket.  Something toasty and sweet, with pumpkin or... gingerbread.  What could be more friggin' festive than gingerbread??

Abraham Bowman

We've been wanting to get our hands on some of the Abraham Bowman Limited Edition Whiskey for some time.  There have been several LE's from Bowman, including a cask strength rye, an 18-year cask strength bourbon, a 17-year monster 73.75% proof cask strength bourbon (affectionately known in the whiskey community as "Haz-Mat"), and a port cask finished bourbon.  The last LE release came out this spring and was called "Last Millennium" since it contained the last two batches of Bowman from the twentieth century - a combination of 14 and 16 year bourbons distilled in 1999.  All of the early limited editions got great marks from whiskey critics, the 18-year bourbon release was probably the most highly acclaimed.

The A. Smith Bowman Distillery is a small operation that is owned by Sazerac Company (owners of Buffalo Trace) but seems to be fairly independent and operating separately and on a smaller scale than BT.  The Bowman family were colonialists.  Colonel Abraham Bowman was one of Washington's top commanders in the Revolutionary War.  His family, including brothers John and George were some of Kentucky's early settlers. His great-grandson Abram Bowman founded the distillery in 1937.  

Gingerbread Beer Finish

The current Abraham Bowman Limited Edition is a "Gingerbread Beer Finished Bourbon".  Barrel trading is a hot trend right now.  We were very happy with Hudson's Maple Cask Rye, which was a barrel swap between Tuthilltown and a maple syrup production company.  Bowman Gingerbread is another barrel swap concept.  It was aged as a traditional bourbon in first-fill charred oak barrels for around seven years.  Those bourbon barrels were then swapped with Hardywood Brewery and used to age its Gingerbread Stout.  The barrels were then returned and the Bowman bourbon was reinserted in them for a second aging process.  The total age on this release is under eight years, with under a year in the swapped barrels, and it's bottled at 45%, 90 proof.

Tasting Notes

Appearance:  Pretty, ain't it?  Very nice Coca-Cola color going on here.  Begging us to crack open the bottle.

Nose:  Hmmm.  Yes on the sweetness and gingerbread, we're getting the baking spices, the graham cracker, the honey and nutmeg.  But there's something off here.  The spirit still smells hot, and the other flavors are floating on top of the heat instead of integrating into it.  It has all the ingredients of a good nose on paper, but we're not digging it.

Palate:  There's a bitterness going on here that shouldn't be an issue at 90 proof.  There are some nice notes, a hint of the brown sugar and vanilla that speaks to quality bourbon, some more of the cinnamon / nutmeg spiciness.   But again there's little balance.  It's just notes of sweetness and spice floating on a hot and immature tasting spirit.

Finish:  Way too much burn going on here for the low proof.  It's just not an enjoyable finish.  Too long to be crisp and too hot to be warm, the finish gives it away.

Review

This bottle retails at around $65.  There isn't a ton of good whiskey at this price point sitting on the shelves right now, but that still doesn't make us like it.  It feels like a gimmick, like trying to use the sweetness from the borrowed barrels to offset a young spirit that's not ready for primetime.  Sadly we're giving this one a SmokyBeast "C+".  There are a lot of better whiskies out there for less money.  This year's Old Forester Birthday Bourbon slaughters it.  For half the price, Elmer T. Lee or Willett Potstill are better choices.  Or if you want something nice, treat yourself, spend a few bucks more, and buy a Michter's 10-year.  Right in the same pocket price-wise is Colonel EH Taylor Single Barrel and/or Barrel Proof which are, frankly, in a different league.

We're sad that our first experience with Bowman wasn't up to snuff, but we're still keen to try some of the earlier limited edition releases.  We haven't met a lot of 18 year cask strength bourbons or ryes that we haven't liked...  Stay tuned for more from Bowman.


Coming up on the Beast...

Stay tuned to SmokyBeast, we have some awesome reviews coming up.  The "SmokyBeast War of the Roses" is in the works, where we do a vertical head-to-head of the Four Roses Limited Edition line including 2011-2013 Single Barrel, 2012 Small Batch, and the brand new 2013 125th Anniversary Small Batch.  That is bound to be one to remember.  And for you peat heads (who have been reluctantly sticking with us through bourbon season), we're getting back on the scotch bandwagon in a huge way.  Stay tuned for our interview with James Wills of Kilchoman Distillery (if you haven't heard the buzz about Kilchoman you've been living under a rock) followed by reviews of their entire line including the first in the world 100% Islay-sourced single malt and the new Loch Gorm sherry cask.

Cheers/SB

Review: Angel's Envy Cask Strength - The First World Class Beast of 2013

November 14, 2013

Review: Angel's Envy Cask Strength - The First World Class Beast of 2013

Angel's Envy

2013 was both a beautiful and a sad year for bourbon.  To the wonder of many and the chagrin of those who enjoyed bourbon's "glut" years before it became a mainstream commodity, the world truly began to embrace American whiskey for the art form that it is.  Brands like Pappy Van Winkle, Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, and A.H. Hirsch Reserve transcended their historical status as consumer products and became some of the most sought after treasures of retail world-wide.  Yes, this means that it's next to impossible to find a bottle of George T. Stagg for Christmas.  But at the same time we believe that this is a good thing for whiskey.  Many more brands are popping up, people are experimenting with all kinds of different production methods, and ultimately this makes us happy.  If one person orders a neat bourbon instead of a rum & Diet Coke, the world is a better place.

It was also a sad year for bourbon.  Two of whiskey's most influential patriarchs left us this year.  Elmer T Lee, Master Distiller at Buffalo Trace passed on in July.  Elmer was one of the men largely responsible for the huge resurgence of the bourbon industry through his focus on single barrel expressions and his dedication to the craft.

Lincoln Henderson was Master Distiller at Brown-Forman for almost forty years.  In 2006 he came out of retirement to create his own brand and Angel's Envy was born.  As whiskey lovers know, the portion of the barrel that evaporates each year as whiskey ages is called the "angel's share".  As the story goes, "After tasting his creation, Lincoln joked that the angels might have wanted a bigger cut. Thus Angel’s Envy was born."  Lincoln passed away this September.  Two weeks earlier he had sampled and approved this second batch of Angel's Envy Cask Strength.  

Tasting Notes

Appearance:  Well-steeped English Breakfast tea.  

Nose:  Superb Vermont ski-lodge french toast with brown butter and fresh maple syrup.  Opens up with a huge dose of vanilla and Skor Bar - toffee and chocolate.  Finishes off with salted cashews and a hint of green chile peppers.  Really the only two noses that are comparable are Pappy Van Winkle 15 and Four Roses Small Batch LE 2012.  So, yeah, pretty high marks.

Body:  Ok, just unreal smoothness for a cask strength.  It's ephemeral on the palate, sort of wisping (can wisp be a verb?) across the tongue.  There's almost a bit of yeastiness, like fresh Italian pasta full of eggs, butter, and flour.  The brown butter and molasses continue with a rich oiliness across the tongue and those little hints of nuts and pepper turning into tiny bursts of warmth across the roof of the mouth.  

Finish:  A short finish typical of good bourbon (good peated scotch is super-long, good bourbon is short and sweet).  Honestly we missed the port barrels until the tiny punches of grapes and stone fruits on the finish.  Zero alcohol burn, but a brilliant warmth building from your belly up through your chest and finally a hint of deep birch smoke through your throat and nose.  

Review

Cut to the chase, it's a world class bourbon.  It's got the sweetness of a Pappy Van Winkle, all molasses and brown sugar.  It's got the richness of the best Four Roses', huge cloves and cinnamon, some hot pepper and a tiny drop of (curry?  mustard?  some of that sweet exotic spice that a better palate than ours would tag immediately).  But truly it's the balance that is striking.  It's sweet just to the point of not being hot, and it's very spicy and rich but not off-putting.  Clearly a mighty spirit, but leaving you with all the candy, spice, and warmth and none of the fire.  And seriously, over 60%?  Are you kidding me???  It's just astounding.  It's got all the smoothness of a top-quality 90 proof bourbon like Pappy Van Winkle 20-year or Eagle Rare 17-Year.  But the strength of the spirit comes through in the warmth of the finish in a big way.

This year's Spirit Journal ranked Angel's Envy Cask Strength as tied for #1 Spirit in the World with Highland Park 25-Year.  We have to agree.  While there have been many outstanding whiskies this year, we haven't found a new breakout hit that has wowed us yet.  This one is so unique, with the port wine cask, the big sweet nose, and the incredibly smooth finish.  There are only a few thousand bottles for the entire country, which means a few hundred for your state if you're lucky.  Good hunting!  /SmokyBeast

Review: Bruichladdich Cuvee 407 PX - Hello, Lover...

November 12, 2013

Review: Bruichladdich Cuvee 407 PX - Hello, Lover...

Sometimes it's hard not to be a bit of a skeptical whisky drinker.  There is a lot out there, and some stuff is better than others. Unfortunately, this habit of ours can get pricey, and nothing is worse than an expensive and disappointing dram.  So admittedly, SB was a little skeptical when trying the Bruichladdich Cuvee 407: PX.  Yes, it's pretty expensive, closing in somewhere around the $200 mark. But call us easy: the color alone had us at hello.   And the description on the bottle refers to "a whisky for when the air is redolent of old leather, cuban tobacco and cedar wood." Talk to me, baby...

Yes, please.

The thing is, I have not been a major 'Laddie' lover in the past.  Don't get me wrong - the Octomore and the Port Charlotte are both solid, but unfortunately for them, Lagavulin has already won my heart many times over in the heavily peated category, to which I will compare all peaty whisky forever.  But this Bruichladdich is  different.  For one, it's not peaty.  This is the standard Bruichladdich 21, which is aged in American oak, but then finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks.  This is a special thing; while you can find lots of whisky that is aged in sherry, the PX sherry is a super added bonus.  I also can't hep but say that I really like the packaging.  I know, I know.  A package does not make the whisky.  But this one is really sleek and modern and clean looking.  So sue me - I'm a bit of a sucker for a nice design. But back to the drink...

As I mentioned before, the color alone is a winner.  Deep and rich and caramel.  By looking at it, you already have high hopes for what you're about to taste.  The first sniff doesn't hurt either.  When you open the bottle, at first it smells like you are opening a bottle of sherry or port.  Once it hits the glass, it opens up a bit more, and you start to get the richness of chocolate, raisins and cherries, and more sweetness and all of the great things you would get in a delicious PX sherry, but a little spicier.  

This is not a smoky beast.  But this is one of the smoothest, most rich and flavorful scotches I've had in a while.  Just for a split second, if you told me I was drinking a very well-aged bordeaux I would have believed you. The sherry is unmistakeable, with the richness and chocolate coming through in the taste.  But there's more - a real spiciness with a bit of caramel and toffee, and more sweetness with almost a fruity note as well.  It finishes with a short yet powerful finish of brown sugar, more fruit and spice, as well as a refined mocha.

In the end, I'm sorry for having doubted you, Bruichladdich Cuvee 407: PX.  You kind of rocked our world.  Could the Cuvee 640: Eroica and Cuvee 382: La Berenice be as good?  Based on the deliciousness of the 407, we are dying to find out!

Happy First Birthday SmokyBeast! - Review: Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2013

November 4, 2013

Happy First Birthday SmokyBeast! - Review: Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2013

Gray Hairs on a Beast

Can you believe it?  SmokyBeast is officially one year old!  Wifey and hubby want to say thank YOU!  Thanks to all of you who have read our boozy meanderings, left us a comment or a few words of encouragement, liked us on Facebook, invited us into your home to share a drink (or from time to time and incredible lineup of drinks!), the amazing professionals who have shared their time in interviews, those of you who have stuck with us from the beginning and those of you reading for the first time.  Thanks to the outrageously talented Asa Davis who illustrated our awesome new logo.  Thanks to all of our new friends in the welcoming world of whiskey (in no particular order) like Josh, Cece, Tristan, Johanne, Allison, Raj, Winston, Joshua, Anthony, Jonathan, Norman & Rob, and many more.  Cheers!  We absolutely love doing this and hope that you stick with us for another year and many more to come.

Happy Birthday to Us!

Ok so what could be more appropriate on our first birthday than Old Forester Birthday Bourbon?  In a bout of serendipity, we finally got our hands on a bottle of this year's juice within a week of our own special b-day post!

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, Distilled 2001 - Bottled 2013

Ain't there just something FESTIVE about this little bad boy?  Maybe it's the colorful seal (it comes in a different color every year) or the squat old-skool bottle, the classic logo or the warm caramel color in the glass...  Whatever it is it just screams "Na na na na na na, they say it's..."

Personal Fav

Ok we like this stuff.  Last year's was great.  It's just so old-timey, so Mad Men meets Boardwalk Empire.  Such sweet vintage goodness.

Some of these old treats (like the bowling pin decanter) are actually worth big bucks these days.

The Old Forester Bowling Pin Decanter

Bordering on Obsession

Ok maybe we REALLY like it.  Ok maybe we kinda like this stuff a little too much.  Maybe we've actually been sort of collecting it dating back a few years.  Every time we drink a bottle, we buy one for the shelf.  Ok maybe this is sort of a problem.  This is our eight year's worth of unopened Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, aka "OFBB".

The "OFBB Shelf" @ SmokyBeast Headquarters - OFBB '06, '07, '08, '09, '10, '11, '12, '13

One day we'll open them all and do an insane mega-birthday tasting.  But not this year.  Sticking with 2013 for now...

Tasting Notes

Nose: Really intense cream soda.  Dr Brown's in the beige can.  Followed up by some rich vanilla, some nice mellow oak, and a little spiciness like maybe Worcestershire sauce.

Palate:  The wood comes through for more of dry spicy kick, it's actually quite light with a nice rye grain flavor and some distinct nuttiness like dry roasted peanuts.

Finish:  Top of the mouth honeyed fruit cake sweetness, very little to no spirit burn.  Not the most remarkable finish, but there's very little wrong with it.  Just a solid well-balanced rich, sweet, and immensely drinkable whiskey.

Review

Frankly, it's the best yet.  There have been some good ones.  2010 got the highest ratings from the community.  It was the woodiest, the most mature tasting for sure.  2007 and 2008 got panned, although they were still pretty tasty in our opinion.  Honestly they've been getting better and better every year.  2012 was the best to date.  2013 is no exception.  It's the richest, the most vanilla and brown sugar, but also the smoothest, the most well-rounded, and the best overall.  It's a little bit more expensive, averaging around $55-$60.  Previous years were in the $40-$45 range.  It's a no-brainer.  If you're lucky enough to find a bottle, don't hesitate to pick it up.  If you do, let us know.  Send a happy birthday cheers to the beast when you crack the bottle!

Sorry for the sobby sentimental post, but y'all have made us really happy this year.  Cheers/SB

Hudson Maple Cask Rye - A Sweet Hometown Beastie

November 1, 2013

Hudson Maple Cask Rye - A Sweet Hometown Beastie

First Impressions

Tuthilltown Distillery & Barrels (www.tuthilltown.com)

We went up to Tuthilltown for a distillery tour a few years ago prior to the sale of the company to William Grant & Sons.  It's a truly hand-crafted spirit, using sustainable, local ingredients, and at the time the operation was not more than a couple of stills located in an old farmhouse.  The barrel aging and bottling were all taking place in that same building.  The setting was perfect, the people were gracious, and it all looked to be going in the right direction.

And the hooch wasn't bad.  The Baby Bourbon was our favorite by a long shot.  We sat at a picnic table overlooking a creak a few hundred feet from the distillery.  We sipped bottles from several different batches and compared the subtle differences.  One of the nice things about small batch distilling is that the batches are not 100% processed and standardized, so you can still taste some variation.  The Baby Bourbon had a nice body to it and some good sweetness, some caky richness around the edges and a little spice.  Some of the batches were a little sweeter, some a touch spicier.

So far so good.  But as the name "Baby Bourbon" foretold, this spirit was young ("aged under four years" according to the bottle) and it was a little hot for a relatively low 46% alcohol.  We enjoyed the bottles we picked up at the distillery.  At the time no one had heard of Hudson Whiskey, and so it was a nice change of pace to break out the handsome apothecary bottles and pour a couple of different batches for guests.  But once those bottles were gone, we didn't find ourselves going out of our way to replace them on the shelf.  You see the rub is that these 375ml half-bottles were $45.  This was a few years ago, and at the time that price point put them in the same league as big boys like George T. Stagg, Van Winkle, Black Maple Hill 21-Year, and others that were readily available at $90-$100.  Tough competition.  Even these days in the height of the bourbon drought, for $90 you can generally find Parker's Heritage or Smooth Ambler aged over 10 years, or cheap but goodies like Old Forester or Weller that are aged 12-years and cost half that amount.


Barrel Buddies

So that's the trade-off with craft distillers, it's expensive to make a product from scratch at small scale and they're competing with much bigger operations that have the time and resources to barrel age their product much longer.  On the other hand, necessity breeds innovation.  Since barrels are expensive, and by law bourbon can only be aged in brand new barrels, Hudson struck a deal with a maple syrup producer called Noble to sell their used bourbon barrels.  Noble was to make a bourbon maple syrup line using those same barrels.  Hudson then had something of an epiphany.  If maple syrup got better when you put it in a bourbon barrel, why not try the other way around?  The concept for Maple Cask Rye was born.  Noble and Tuthilltown started swapping bottles and Hudson Rye was deposited into the old maple syrup barrels for aging.

Tasting Notes

Nose:  Vanilla, chiles, marshmallows.  A healthy dose of char.  A little rubber cement (it's hard to explain but in some whiskies that's a good thing), and some cinnamon, cloves, and black licorice.

Body:  Sweet, rich, spicy, and full-bodied.  You definitely get the hint of maple, but it's not one of these awful sweetened / flavored liqueurs.  This is this real stuff with just a hint of the sweetness and sap of maple.  Very subtle and successfully done.

Finish: Medium length.  Nice round body with no spirit burn.  You can taste the sweetness on your lips and just a hint of campfire smoke drifting up the back of your throat.

Review

They really knocked it out of the park with this one.  This is not a 'flavored whiskey' like the horrendous Red Stag from Jim Beam (which is basically cheap whiskey with sugar and cinnamon dumped in it).  The maple cask picks up flavor from the barrel without adding sweeteners or other unwanted ingredients into the rye.  The result is a really unique taste without nasty artificial flavor.  The maple sweetness nicely cuts out all the alcohol burn, doing great things to a young rye.  This is a great after dinner drink, and a great introductory spirit for people that might be new to rye.  It's also a nice drink for seasoned whiskey fans like your faithful narrators.  It's wonderfully drinkable, and while still a bit on the expensive side, we would definitely replenish this bottle to keep it on shelf after it's finished.  A solid SmokyBeast "B+".  Way to go Tuthilltown, and we're psyched to be able to support a great homegrown product that used some cool innovation to produce a unique new experience.

Enjoy/SB