SmokyBeast: December 2014

December 29, 2014

Alpop Ward Selection #1 - Eagle Rare 10 Year Single Barrel

Feeling all rosy from our Christmas charity work with the Orphan Barrels, we wanted to break out a very special New Year's review.

Alpop Private Selection Eagle Rare

Courage. Leadership. Survival. Heroism. Devotion. Character

These are words written on a tag on the side of this bottle of bourbon.

Tasting Notes

Nose: A ton of mint for a bourbon, floating on sweet corn, charred pork fat, banana nut muffins, oak, saddle leather, and orange peels.

Palate: Light on the tongue with a lot of sweet citrus, bitter cherry candy, and vanilla.

Finish: Short clean finish with just the right amount of spirit warmth, a touch of campfire smoke, and a little olive oil and chili pepper wafting up the throat/nose.

Review

A veritable masterpiece of barrel selection. Good luck getting your hands on one of these extremely limited edition Alpop single barrels. If you do you've got something to celebrate in 2015! :)

Cheers, happy healthy new year! /Mr & Mrs Beast

December 24, 2014

Christmas Orphans Part III - Old Blowhard

Here's the final installment of our "What's Christmas without some grubby Orphans?" special... We're giving Diageo's bastard stepchildren "The Orphan Barrels" a shot at redemption. Call it a foster home, a last shot at adoption from the liquor store orphanage.

Well so far all the hate for Orphan Barrels seems to be a bit overblown. True, Diageo made some dubious claims in marketing these bottles. Clearly tens of thousands of bottles worth of old bourbon didn't just "turn up" in one of their warehouses. Obviously the shady ploy of dropping the Stitzel-Weller name really rubbed people the wrong way. And the hokey names with old-timey packaging aren't doing them any favors either. But so far we've tasted Barterhouse and Rhetoric and as far as the actual whiskey, they've both been pretty tasty.

We liked Barterhouse a lot more than Rhetoric, but both were 20 year bourbon with pretty good flavor, at a very reasonable price in today's market of around $80 retail. Today we get to try the oldest orphan, the 26 year Old Blowhard. This one is sourced from Heaven Hill's Old Bernheim Distillery, which has been the source of some of our favorite juice. Old Blowhard comes in around $150 retail, so we're hoping for a real knockout.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Big difference on the nose between this one and the other two. It's quite woody and punchy with a lot of spice, dried orange peels, tobacco, oak oak oak.

Palate: It's definitely dry and sort of musty. It's got a lot of spice: pepper, cloves, some black licorice, and a little beef jerky.

Finish: It sort of dies on the finish. It's big and cracking and woody but then it just kind of fizzles out and ends a little sour and short.

Review

We're conflicted on this one. It's good. Definitely not slumming it drinking a glass of the Old Blow. And it's a pretty rare opportunity to drink 26 year old bourbon. So on that front it's kind of a treat. But then there's the negatives: At $150 it's definitely not a knockout. As a matter of fact on sheer taste, put this guy next to Elijah Craig Barrel Proof or a nice Willett private barrel and it pales in comparison. It sort of tastes like there were a lot of flaws in this old stock and they had to go through a lot of filtering, down-proofing, and barrel mixing to get it to be drinkable. And that robs it of its character.

So, listen, if you're into trying different things, sharing nice bottles with friends, and you're not too concerned with price, pick up a bottle of the Blowhard. It's a cool experience and definitely interesting to try as a bourbon drinker. On the other hand if you're looking for the best drink for your money, definitely skip it. Try and grab a glass at a bar if you're curious but don't bring home a bottle. At the price point and relative age, we definitely give points to Elijah Craig 23 year at $200.

Cheers & Merry Christmas! /SB

December 21, 2014

Orphan Barrels Part Two - Rhetoric 20 Year Bourbon

The Orphans Part II

Ok so last week we introduced the Orphan Barrels series. We were feeling the Christmas spirit and wanted to give a second chance to these often abused and rarely loved bottles. First of all, to clear the air, Tiny Tim is not an orphan, nor is he a chimney sweep. We were actually thinking about Marry Poppins:

Today's foster home audition: Rhetoric.

Tasting Notes

Nose: A little flat this one. Doesn't have the spice of fruitiness of the Barterhouse. It's more woody, but not a whole lot of complexity on the nose.

Palate: The palate is... palatable? It's not bad, just doesn't have a lot going on. More wood, a little sweetness on the corners, maybe a little butterscotch. Just not a banger.

Finish: There's really not much of a finish at all, which means no burn, which isn't bad, but also not a lot of lingering flavor.

Review

We're just not feeling this one. Sorry orphan #2, back to the orphanage. It's totally drinkable, smooth, and there's nothing 'bad' about it. But it feels like all the character and taste has been mixed, filtered, and processed out of this one.

Tune in next time for the big 26 year Old Blowhard.

Cheers/SB

December 15, 2014

What's a Christmas Story without some Orphans???

"Oh Please, Mr. Scrooge..."

What, you may ask, is Christmas time without some good old fashioned orphans? Not much! We couldn't agree more. Whether it's a stodgy British chimney sweep like Tiny Tim (ok technically not an orphan nor a chimney sweep thanks Billy Abbot), or a curly haired Annie mopping the floor in a red dress, it just don't feel like the holidays without some dirty orphans. So heading into Christmas week, we figured we're review the orphans of the bourbon world.

Diageo's "Orphan Barrels" fit the bill on two levels. First of all there's the marketing hype that Diageo crafted in releasing this line. Diageo bought the famous Stitzel-Weller Distillery which has been silent in terms of actually producing whiskey since the early 1990's, but was responsible for some of the greatest names in bourbon from Van Winkle to Old Fitzgerald to William Larue Weller. Earlier this year they started to release some interesting press hinting that old barrels of bourbon had been discovered in one of Stitzel-Weller's rickhouses. This is from the Kentucky Herald:

"What they turned up at the old Stitzel-Weller rickhouses in Kentucky... were a few dozen barrels of great whiskey that have been bottled as distinct releases. The first two — Barterhouse, a 20-year-old bourbon, and Old Blowhard, a 26-year-old bourbon — hit the market this month in limited quantities."

Barterhouse, Rhetoric, and Old Blowhard - The Orphan Barrels

Holy Crap, 20+ Year Old Stitzel-Weller??

Even your hardened, cynical narrators here at the beast got really excited for a minute. Diageo was releasing old stocks of Stitzel-Weller, with 20 - 26 year age statements, for $80-$150/bottle? Where do we sign up?? It seemed too good to be true.

And of course it was. As people started to ask questions about these newly adopted orphans, it became obvious that they couldn't have come from Stitzel Weller. Stitzel was famous for their wheated bourbon, and none of these were "wheaters". Besides, even Pappy Van Winkle had to stop using Stitzel bourbon since there were no remaining stocks. Surely they'd get first dibs if there were enough barrels left for a public release.

Eventually Diageo came out of the closet about the source of this juice. It's all Heaven Hill. Old Blowhard came from their Old Bernheim distillery, and Barterhouse comes from New Bernheim. Rhetoric appears to be a mix of the two.

Bah Humbug!

Well this really pissed people off. Bourbon folks are a proud group and they have very little tolerance for malfeasance, particularly when it comes to milking the reputation of their heroes at Stitzel. In some peoples minds it was like trying to pass off some new Disney musical as a forgotten Shakespeare masterpiece. There were some tough words. There was an entire blog post written by the venerable Chuck Cowdery with the headline "Orphan Barrel Project Shows Diageo Disrespects American Whiskey". Ok Chuck, how do you really feel? :)

Well we're going to try not to let all the controversy distract us. It's not that often that you get to go out and buy 20+ year bourbon off the shelf, let alone for a decent price. And we know that Heaven Hill makes some delicious bourbon (see Elijah Craig, Willett, Parker's Heritage Collection, etc). So in the spirit of Christmas, we're giving these orphans a chance at happiness and doing a fair review of what's inside the bottle. Just call us Daddy Warbucks.

Barterhouse 20-Year Kentucky Bourbon

Nose: Really good nose on this guy. Brown butter, peanuts, honey, like a Planter's Peanut Bar. Then it moves to some deep wood and some little pops of citrus fruit.

Palate: A little bit thin on the palate, but nice and sweet, staying with wood and sweets.

Finish: Very nice woody crisp finish. Very very smooth but still has a little punch so that the finish lingers a bit on the tongue and nose.

Review

While a few more points on the proof might have made this an absolute home run, it's still a damn good dram. We were not at all disappointed by the purchase and actually picked up a second bottle for a spare. Granted, if you have a cabinet full of old Pappy Van Winkle from Stitzel Weller, it ain't that. It ain't close to that. But in today's market it's no slouch. If they'd just taken it easy on the irresistible urge to use that Stitzel-Weller name in their marketing, we think people might have really liked this one.

Stay tuned for orphan #2, Rhetoric 20-Year. Bet your bottom dollar that...

Cheers/SB

December 2, 2014

There's Pappy, and then there's PAPPY! (Review 1959-1966 Old Fitzgerald BIB)

(This post is dedicated to Josh Feldman at CooperedTot. You can find a much more informative review here.)

....

Now understand, we pride ourselves on keeping a fair amount of redonkulous booty on hand at SmokyBeast headquarters (stuff... like... this). But once in a while one of our associates drops in, fresh from high seas adventure, and unpacks an otherworldly treasure. This is such a tale...

High up in the loftiest tower of Riverside Castle, your faithful hubby and wifey - Duke & Dutchess Smoky von Beast - were wiling away the afternoon enjoying some Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year. From the deep fog of the Hudson emerged the slowly waving Jolly Roger of Cap'n Coops pirate ship Beelzebub's Fanny Pack.

"Land Ho!" cried Coop as he dropped anchor, gripped dagger in teeth, and leapt up onto a thick hemp rope to swing through our third floor window. "I've got me a live one!" Affixed to his baggy pantaloons with a sailor's knot was a velvet sack about fourteen inches long and six around.

"Afternoon, Coop!" We exchanged pleasantries (as pleasant as you can be with a savage pirate) and offered him a glass of our Pappy 15.

"Look here me' Beasties, there's Pappy, and then there's PAPPY!" Coop exclaimed. "You see there's the stuff that's named after Pappy. And then there's the stuff that Pappy made with his own hands. That there you're drinking is the former." And out from his velvet sack he pulled his dusty treasure. "This here? This be the latter!"

Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond distilled 1959 - bottled 1966

Of course Stitzel-Weller was Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle Sr.'s prized distillery, and Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond was his brand of choice. You can just tell from the care that went into that label that this brand meant something special to Pappy. He passed away in 1965, so this would presumably have been made during some of his last active years at the distillery and bottled one year after his death.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Holy God, the wood and wheat just go on for miles. Super clean, sweet, and dry nose that just begs for a sip. Extremely rich vanilla, leather, pipe tobacco, and sweet cherries.

Palate: Wow it's got so much character, so much wood and sweet molasses and good old mature leathery richness, but at the same time it's so alive! Bright and punchy and not at all tired.

Finish: Finishing with candied oranges and cherries. The wood floating out over the spice and rich sweet wheaty bourbon. Just amazing.

Conclusion

You know sometimes you look at all this whiskey and you just think "is it all hype?" "Is the crazy rare sought after stuff really that much better, or does it all taste pretty much the same?" Then you taste something like this and you just realize, YES! It is totally 100% different from anything you can go to the store and buy today. As Josh says in his post, it's a masterpiece. Pure and simple masterpiece. Thanks buddy for giving us a taste!

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