SmokyBeast: January 2014

January 22, 2014

Review: Michter's 10 Year Rye - A Mysterious, and Solemn Beast

Ok, first of all an apology. We're sorry. Deeply, truly sorry. Well, not that sorry. We're sorry because this is going to be another "listen to how great this bottle is, too bad you're never going to be able to taste it." We know, we've been doing a lot of those lately. Between the Black Maple Hill single barrels & WL Weller 19 last week, the Fantasy Bourbon Tournament, the AH Hirsch, and the vintage Pappy Van Winkles, we realize that we've been less than helpful and more in the realm of teasing, tantalizing, and downright rudely gloating about some of the gems we've been drinking this winter. We're doing it again aren't we? Sorry. But not that sorry. Anyway we promise that we'll be covering some much more attainable and practical whiskeys in the very near future. There are some great new releases on the shelf right now and we have some exciting reviews coming up. For now...

A friend of SmokyBeast found this bottle hiding away at a liquor store and was kind enough to trade it to us for a couple of other gems that we were willing to sacrifice. This was a favorite of ours a few years ago when it was widely available, but sadly has been discontinued and is next to impossible to find these days. If you do find one, buy it. If you find two, but us one (as if you're doing us any favors after that intro paragraph...) It's ok, you'll want to drink both anyway.

Michter's 10-Year Rye

Michter's has some haters. You see, the real Michter's was legendary hooch that was distilled in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania - the same distillery as the holy grail of bourbon: AH Hirsch Reserve. Today's Michter's brand preserves only the name, acting as an independent bottler of bourbons and ryes from unnamed sources. This could be seen as a shady move, like if Ferrari stopped making cars and started putting their hood ornaments on Hondas. Some purists just can't get past this marketing move and boycott all modern-day Michter's. We've never thought of ourselves as purists though, and if the stuff still tastes good, who really cares where it comes from anyway?

Far from it, hubby and wifey are admitted modern-day Michter's buffs. Wifey got all patriotic on US*1 Rye, and hubby went on record saying that Michter's 10-Year was his favorite everyday bourbon. (Yeah sure, we'd both drink SW Pappy and AH Hirsch all day if that was an option, but favorite everyday sauce is still a pretty strong vote). We even went as far as going back through the history of Michter's 10-Year barrels in a blind taste test to see if what they're making today measures up to past releases. So yeah, we're into it.

Tasting Notes

Appearance: No, that bottle's not tinted, and doesn't employ any of the modern-day tricks like coloring the inside of the back label black. It's a beautiful lush ruby color with highlights of hazel.

Nose: First up is deep vanilla beans, mocha, and melting butter. Very warm and inviting aroma that melds into all the things we like: oak and leather, and - characteristic of a rye - sort of a final crack to the nose of spices and grain.

Palate: The body is thick. You can tell this by just swirling the rye in the glass and watching the thick bands of liquid roll down the side. And you can tell as soon as you take a drop - it fills your mouth with flavor and viscosity with just a small sip. The sweetness is less apparent on the tongue with a spicy and firm taste: herbal/botanicals like thyme and caraway, mint and and menthol, and a hefty dose of crushed pepper.

Finish: It's right in the pocket at 93 proof with a gorgeous finish. The sweetness of the nose returns a bit for a great balance with the dominant wood and spice, preserving a spirit warmth without any raw alcohol burn.

Conclusion

Is it perfect? No. It's not the best rye we've ever had. The vintage Rittenhouse was better. Some of the very mature Willetts are superior as well. But if we had the chance to buy this at the original price of around $80, we'd buy a case right now without hesitation. It's just so drinkable. Could it in fact be older than ten years? We think that's likely. Sadly, unlike Michter's 10 Year Bourbon, which is still widely available, there was a much smaller amount of 10 Year Rye released. The bourbon has barrel numbers that go from number, letter - dash - number (i.e. 7k-3) to four numbers (2339) to the recent codes like 13G153. As far as we know, only the first codes of ryes exist. If anyone has seen a bottle of 10-year rye with a different type of code than number, letter, number, let us know. So we shed a tear because this rescued dusty treasure will probably be our last taste of an awesome former love.

But let the conclusion be such: Michter's put out a new release of this ASAP!! You've got some fans desperately running dry and jonez'ing for a new supply!

Has anyone got Michter's 10-Year rye in their liquor cabinet? Did anyone enjoy this beast back in the day when it was on the shelves? Let us know what you think.

Cheers/SB

January 16, 2014

Review: The Exclusive Malts Laphroaig 2005 8-Year - A Young Fiery Beast from Islay

The standard Laphroaig 10-Year has always been a pretty good standby when something better isn’t available. It’s super peaty, pretty affordable, and more or less available anywhere you can get a drink (at least it is in New York City). The truth is, and as our faithful readers know, Lagavulin 16-Year is our holy grail to which all peaty scotches will be forever compared. Laphroaig has never quite floated our boat the way The Mighty Lag does.

But young, head-strong peaty malts are very trendy right now. When we interviewed James Wells from Kilchoman Distillery, he opined that older scotch loses the boldness and strength of the peat and his favorites were younger fresher bottlings, particularly young Laphroaigs. So when we came across The Exclusive Malts Laphroaig 2005 8 Year, we thought we'd dive in for a fierce, peaty "slap your ass and call you Sally" experience.

There’s not a lot written about this special batch. The Exclusive Malts are bottled by an outfit called Creative Whisky Company who do a whole range single barrels bottled at cask strength and aged in a variety of different types of casks, depending on the line. KL Wines has this bottle in stock at the moment for $79.99, which is a reasonably good buy for a cask strength Islay, even if it's a couple of years younger than 10-Year. And hey, what's good enough for Prince Charles should be good enough for the beast right?

Tasting Notes

Appearance: It’s light. Like, Bud Light light.

Nose: Holy mother peater. You already know what you’re getting yourself into when you give this one a whiff. There’s no mistaking the peat here, but you also get a little green apple, leather, musk.

Body: Again with the leather, but also a bit of tobacco in there too. Maybe a hit of sweetness, like apricot, but smoky enough that you almost feel like you are smoking a cigar at the same time – as far as we’re concerned, this is not a bad thing. This is not the smoothest drink ever, but like the Laphroaig 10 year, it serves its purpose.

Finish: Just like our previous reviews on Laphroiag, this one’s a bit of a burner. Adding 2 drops of water opens it up a bit, but it’s still pretty intense on the way down. There’s something at the end that gives the impression of almonds and rosemary. Aromatic, but subtly so.

The Verdict

This definitely did reverse some of our indifference to Laphroaig, but we’re still not totally sold. It's got some of that young peat magic that pops the mind in all kinds of interesting directions. But our favorites are still the elder, wiser bottles where the burn has turned to warmth and the peat has settled into an old dependable friend rather than a young hothead. Some of the youngins like Kilchoman seem to have found a formula to combine the rawness with a roundness and smoothness that we're not getting in this bottle.

If you're a Laphroaig fan, you'll definitely want to check out The Exclusive Malt 2005. It's different and it's a chance to experience a single barrel cask strength version of the distillery at a reasonable price, which is not so easy to come by.

Cheers/SB

January 7, 2014

BeastMasters Volume 1, Part 3 - Review of Black Maple Hill Single Barrel 11-Year, 14-Year, and W.L. Weller 19-Year

This is part three & the conclusion of the first volume of BeastMasters - our tour of private whiskey collections (aka what may have been the best night of our lives, whiskey-wise anyway).

Volume 1 features Jonathan Colton, part-time globetrotting secret service agent, fluent in eighteen languages including Jive, voted 2009's Best in Leather Pants by Teen World Magazine, and amateur bourbon collector. In part 1 and part 2, Jonathan toured us through some of the most sought-after bourbons in his private collection: AH Hirsch Family Reserve, and the original Stitzel-Weller bottlings of Pappy Van Winkle 15, 20, and 23-Year. To finish off the night, Jon pulled out another trio of greatest hits bourbons which we'll cover today.

Señor Colton, BeastMaster

First Up...

Black Maple Hill Single Barrel 11-Year and 14-Year

First up are two magnificent extinct beasts, Black Maple Hill Single Barrel 11-Year and 14-Year. Last year we reviewed the currently available Black Maple Hill Small Batch. It's good, actually it's one of wifey's favorite everyday bourbons. But it's not legendary good. On the other hand, the single barrels they put out five to ten years go ARE legendary. Way legendary. Hobbits write songs about them. Teenagers put glam shots up on their bedroom walls. Hall of Fame type legendary.

The Black Maple Hill single barrel line included bourbon aged 11, 14, 16, 20, and 21 years, and rye aged 18 and 23 years. (If we missed any, please let us know!). There isn't a ton of information about the order and dates of the releases, however the word on the street is that the early batches from around 2000-2003 bottled in Lawrenceburg, KY were sourced and bottled by Julian Van Winkle. The later batches, bottled in Bardstown, KY, were sourced from Heaven Hill / Kentucky Bourbon Distillers. Production on all the age-stated BMH ended around 2009. A bit of research turned up this (unverified, but seemingly legitimate) comment from Julian Van Winkle:

"I indeed bottled this whiskey over the last few years for a distributor in California... It was my Van Winkle whiskey under abother label. The ages bottled were 14, 16, 18 & even some 20-year. There was alos a rye whiskey which was mine. All the Van Winkle whiskey would have been in bottled dislaying the "Bottled in Lawrenceburg,KY" address. Since I now do all my bottling at Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, the Califonia distributor is now buying his whiskey and having the bottling done in Bardstown at KY Bourbon Distillers....
All the Van Winkle bourbons that I bottled in Lawrenceburg, KY were distilled for me at our old distillery here in Louisville, Stitzel-Weller. So the Black Maple Hill whiskey I bottled for CA Vineyards was the same as Van Winkle bourbon. I only aged and bottled my bourbon in Lawrenceburg, no distillation there. I imagine the new Black Maple Hill bottled in Bardstown was distilled by Heaven Hill, although I'm not sure as I have not tasted the whiskey." (from http://www.myspeakerscorner.com/forum/spawn.php?qv=1&fn=6&tid=40857)

Black Maple Hill 11-Year Single Barrel Cask 307

Black Maple Hill 11-Year Single Barrel

Nose: This one really jumps out at you with a fresh, fruity, sweet nose. Red grapes (not like the sherry notes from the cask, but fresh cut grapes), crisp apples, honey and citrus.

Palate: Extremely clean, the fruits continue for an immensely drinkable light body. Adding to the fruits are some rich nougat/caramel/milk chocolate flavors.

Finish: Short and sweet this is a punchy, fruity little gem.

Review: An awesome example of how barrel choice can be just as important if not more important than age. At only 11 years, this blows away many of the 12 year bourbons on the market today. Considering the original retail price was around $40 we certainly wish we'd stashed away a few cases when such things were possible. Ah those were the days!

Black Maple Hill 14-Year Single Barrel Cask 147

Black Maple Hill 14-Year Single Barrel

Nose: Very subtle nose yet complex in all its different elements. The same fruits (red grapes & crisp green apples) from the 11-Year are here, but there is a whole other level of sophistication with a much more noticeable oak, some chocolate and baking spices (brown butter, brown sugar, flour, cornstarch), and little pops of hot pepper. We're getting excited.

Palate: This one is just a knock out. Admittedly we'd had a lot to drink at this point! But this still shone through as one of the best bourbons of the night. It had that same ethereal float-across-the-palate texture as the Hirsch 16, and it shared a lot of the warmth and beauty of the Stitzel-Weller Pappy Van Winkle 20-Year.

Finish: Glowing, smooth but warm, cocoa, fresh fruit, and wood finish. Incredibly flavorful at the low proof this is just a stunner. Maybe some oxidation / several years in an open bottle had some impact here as well. it just had that warm and cozy feeling, like an old lover.

Review: In order of the preference, we're going AH Hirsch #1, SW Pappy 20 #2, and BMH 14 as #3 for best of the night. So yes, very high marks indeed.

W. L. Weller 19-Year (2002)

William Larue Weller is now part of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, alongside George T. Stagg, Eagle Rare 17-Year, Sazerac 18-Year and Thomas Handy Rye. These gorgeous bottles are released every year around the holidays, but they're on the "impossible to find" list along with Pappy Van Winkle.

Since 2005, William Larue Weller has been bottled at barrel proof (120-135 proof), and is aged around 12 years. This leads to some "love it or hate it" opinions from the community. Buffalo Trace offers "WL Weller" in a Special Reserve (90-proof), Antique 107-proof, and 12-Year varieties. These bottles are increasingly hard to find, but they're all in the $20-$35 range. Some argue that William Larue Weller is just a cask-strength version of WL Weller 12-Year and not worth the premium price tag. Many swear that mixing Weller 12-Year with Weller Antique 107 tastes the same if not better than WLW (don't worry, we're planning a future post putting this theory to the test). For now, we don't agree with the skeptics. All the releases of William Larue Weller that we've tasted have been awesome and in a different class from WL Weller.

But that's all just background. Back in 2000-2002, W.L. Weller 19-Year was a completely different beast. This was pure Stitzel-Weller juice, boasting the original wheated recipe, aged to perfection over almost two decades and bottled at a ridiculously drinkable 90 proof without losing a lot of flavor. This bottle, distilled in 1993 and bottled in 2002, is tremendously sought-after and was an amazingly tasty treat.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Very rich, pipe (not cigar) smoke, heavy spice, tons more leather and dark mahogany wood.,

Palate: It's very smooth but still has a seriously robust spirit warmth (interesting how the two can go together). Something like burned tree back (char), dark chocolate w/ pepper flakes.

Finish: Very smooth and sweet finish with sweet warmth and a wonderful integration of flavors. This was another superstar and a great way to end the night.

Well that does it for our first round of BeastMaster - private collectors. Thanks again to Jonathon for a rare look at some awesome bourbon glut. You can catch Volume 2 - a tour through vintage Rittenhouse Ryes (21, 23, 25 year) and a sneak peak at 2013's Pappy Van Winkle 20-Year here. Stay tuned for more BeastMasters private collection tours this year.

Cheers/SB

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