SmokyBeast: February 2015

February 24, 2015

SMOKEHEAD SKULL! Oh yeah that's actually what it's called...

POWERFUL, PEATY, SMOKY, OUTRAGEOUS, BOISTEROUS, DEEP, RICH, INTENSE...

These are words written in bone on a human skull with plumes of smoke pouring off of it. Oh yeah, that's some serious beastly marketing madness right there. We dig it.

What is it?

Smokehead is an independent Islay bottling from Ian Macleod Distillers. Despite the name, Ian Macleod is not a distillery, rather an importer who supplies a range of spirits to European supermarkets. There's not a lot of information given, such as no age statement on the bottle, and no clue as to the actual distillery except that it's Islay. Most people seem to think it's a young Ardbeg which sounds about right.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Good & smoky. Nice coastal smoke like a young and fiery Ardbeg or Laphroaig. A lot of salt. Some little chocolates, chocolate covered peanuts maybe. Little bit of wood and tiny bit of leather.

Palate: Smoky, but overall pretty light with a thin mouthfeel.

Finish: Drifting, light to medium smoke, no burn, generally a nice finish.

Also makes a pretty sweet Les Paul...

Review

Great bottle, good whisky. We share a soft spot for smoke heads. This one comes in around $50 which may be a little high considering that Ardbeg 10 is around the same price, and it's... well... ten years old. But hey this is a fun little whiskey that comes in a bad-ass bottle in a sweet tube and will impress your friends. Like for example, if someone gave Mr. & Mrs. SmokyBeast a bottle of this, or better yet a bottle of their "extra black" 18 Year, we'd be very happy. The more smoking skulls on the shelf at our place the better.

February 18, 2015

Single Cask Nation Catoctin Creek Rye

Our friends at The Jewish Whisky Company have been dropping single cask releases left and right (their whiskey club is called "Single Cask Nation" after all!), so when they put out an original American rye whiskey, we figured we'd do a review.

Catoctin Creek

Catoctin Creek appears to be a legitimate craft distiller. In other words, they're not bottling factory-produced whiskey and putting a fancy label on it. (There's nothing wrong with that as long as you're honest about it, which many so called "craft distillers" are not.) They have built their own distillery in Northern Virginia and have chosen to produce organic spirits, an expensive and risky proposition. But all that being said, it's all about the taste isn't it? So let's try it!

Catoctin Creek 2-Year Single Barrel Rye

Nose: Luden's Cherry Cough Drops, some tree bark, orange peel, and cinnamon. Pretty impressive nose, we'd never guess this was a 2-year rye...

Palate: Nice rich mouthfeel, some little pops of sweetness. A nice spicy rye base with some interesting notes from the whine finish of green grapes and sweet lemon. We'd say that this was a good palate "for a two year", but you know what? It's just good, period!

Finish: The sweetness from the wine plays off against the hot cask strength rye nicely. We normally don't care for fancy finished on rye, since they tend to get rubbery and overly sweet. But this one is a really nice little package. We'll say that the youth of this barrel shows up in the finish, but it's still impressive and very drinkable. This one's a winner.

Review

Very nice job from Catoctin Creek & a great pick from Single Cask Nation. We'd never guess this was such a young rye, and it really holds up to many older whiskies. We're looking forward to seeing what comes out of this interesting distillery over the years. We hope they're saving a good bit of product for older releases down the road!

February 15, 2015

Birthday Bourbon Bonanza Finale! OFBB 2014

It's finally here, the long awaited finale of the Old Forester Birthday Bourbon Bonanza. Man there were a lot of these little squat bad-boys to review :). See folks, this is all the hard work that goes into whiskey blogging. Drinking nine years worth of bourbon in a row!

So far the 2013 and the 2006 have been our big favorites. Can the latest release, the 2014 best the best? Let's crack her open!

Tasting Notes

Nose: Big nose on this one and the most minty so far. There's some spirit fire here and also some spice with cinnamon and cayenne pepper. A lot of heat in the nose, some oak, altogether a rye-focused spicy hot nose.

Palate/Finish: Nice and round on the tongue, but finishes off flat and a little weak. More burn but less richness than the 2013.

Review

Well the 2014 was ok, but definitely not our favorite. The winners are, in this order (drumroll please):

Most favorite: OFBB 2013
Second: OFBB 2006
Third: OFBB 2012
Fourth: OFBB 2010

Thanks for sticking with us! Phew, maybe a scotch next week... Cheers/SB

February 14, 2015

Birthday Bonanza Part 9: OFBB 2013

We're in the home stretch! The Birthday Bourbon Bonanza seems to have literally occupied fourteen years of our lives. But we're almost there. Today is the 2013, then the 2014 and we're in the clear (well at least until this fall when the 2015 edition comes out!). We've almost cleared the table!

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2013

Tasting Notes

Nose: Just like we remembered it! Intense Dr. Brown's Cream Soda followed up by some rich vanilla, gentle wood, spice, mint, cocoa, and bbq sauce.

Palate: Nice woody taste with more of the spice coming through. Yes, we remember thinking dry roasted peanuts last time and they're back.

Finish: Nice and smooth, rich, and sweet. Finishes with more bbq sauce, chocolate, oak, and honey. Really lovely this one.

Review: This one's so nice, we think it's the best of the stack so far. The 2006 is close, but they definitely got it right in 2013!

Can the 2014 take the cake? Tune in for the final installment of Birthday Bourbon insanity!

February 11, 2015

Birthday Bourbon Bonanza Part 7: OFBB 2012

Ok, we had to take a long weekend away from our Birthday Bourbon Bonanza. It can only be your birthday for so many days in a row! But we're back. And back in style!

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2012

Nose: Mmmm, they really nailed it with this one. Big brown butter, sweet vanilla, rye spice, and it has that sadle leather / old mature wood thing going on that puts it over the top.

Palate: Nice crisp taste with a good middle thick mouthfeel and a nice balance. Finished bright and short with some spirit warmth and a nice integration of different layers happening. Still a little bitterness but overall either our favorite so far, or maybe tied with the 2006.

Review: We remember being really excited when we first tasted this back in 2012, and trying it again did not disappoint. It's a great drink. Nothing mind-altering, but everything you look for in a straight ahead bourbon. This is what Birthday Bourbon should be, none of the hype and hysteria of a Pappy or a Stagg, just a solid bottle for when you want to treat yourself to something a little special.

Cheers/SB

February 9, 2015

Birthday Bourbon Bonanza Part 6 - OFBB 2011

Hail, snow, & sleet in Manhattan today. Nice time to hunker down with yet another Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. We started last week with 2006, and now we're all the way up to 2011!

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2011

Funky French Toast

Nose: This one is best described as "funky french toast". Let's see if we can explain that better: brown butter, maple syrup, and some fish teriyaki. That may be the most absurd tasting note ever, but that's what we get off the nose on this guy, and it all comes together rather nicely.

Palate: The sweet and savory notes come together pretty well in the palate. And some new notes emerge of wood, sweets and spice. The finish is quite dry and ends very bitter.

Review: All in all it's similar to the 2010 but we liked it a little bit more. None of these so far have been as good as the 2006, but we're getting closer.

We're getting through these nicely, moving through the right side of the OFBB table!

February 7, 2015

Birthday Bourbon Bonanza Part 5: OFBB 2010

The Old Forester Birthday Bourbon Bonanza rages on! Still with us? You rock! (Also sorry to break it to you, but you're a whiskey nerd).

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2010

Tasting Notes

Nose: Straight up black licorice on this one. Mike & Ike's. Wood and herbals like fresh tarragon, black pepper, and fennel seed.

Palate/Finish: Very spicy and a little bitter, but thoroughly enjoyable. Short finish with punchy rye notes, some nice spirit warmth, and nice oak.

Review

This one's a winner, nice punchy oak opening up with some complexity. Not a legendary bourbon, but we could see why when this came out at around $40 it blew some minds. A very nice pick up if you can still find it.

We're getting close, only four years of BB to go. What are you doing this weekend? Cheers/SB

February 6, 2015

Birthday Bourbon Bonanza Part 4: OFBB 2009

We're on to part four of our redonkulous Old Forester Birthday Bourbon marathon. Thanks for playing along out there!

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2009

Tasting Notes

Nose: Big improvement on the '08 with an emphasis on char here. Sandalwood and bbq coals, some burnt orange peels and fruit cake.

Palate/Finish: Continuing with the nice char/campfire theme on this one: bbq sauce, chili peppers, stewed tomatoes. Then some subtle citrus hints. Finally a rich finish with vanilla, baking spices, and a nice savory flavor. Lots of char through to the end.

Review: We still like the '06 the best so far, but this is number two. It's not quite as rich, but it has a really great barrel char character. Fans of heavily charred barrels will really dig this one.

Stay tuned, we're keeping it going tomorrow with '10!

February 5, 2015

Birthday Bourbon Bonanza Part 3: OFBB2008

Day three of the Birthday Bourbon Bonanza is upon us! Gonna drink Bacardi like it's your... (never mind).

Moving right along across our OFBB shelf, we're now on to the 2008 Birthday Bourbon (back shelf second from the left...)

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2008

Tasting Notes

Nose: There's way less going on here than the first two. While the 06 was a big rich pool of nice, and the 2007 was a dry and crisp woody treat, this one kind of smells like a typical mid-shelf bottle. There's a lot more alcohol heat, not a lot of wood, and a little bit of sweetness, but nothing coming out in terms of discernible aromas.

Body/Finish: Again this is a big step back from the others. It doesn't have the richness of the 06 nor the smoothness of the 07. It's thin and hot at the same time with a lot of sourness and burn on the finish.

Review

Sadly this was our least favorite of the entire tasting. We'd have to give this one something in the low 70's, a SmokyBeast "C-". It's just hot and bitter and not really doing anything for us. It's not swill, but it's not any kind of premium quality whiskey either... Stay tuned, it gets better we promise!

Next up 2009. /SB

February 4, 2015

Birthday Bourbon Bonanza Part 2: OFBB 2007

The insane Birthday Bourbon Bonanza continues...

Today we're moving on to the Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2007. Let's take this squat beauty for a spin, shall we?

Tasting Notes

Nose: As soon as we open the bottle the reaction is "Wow, it's amazing how different two bottles of whiskey can be from the same distillery with the same recipe, proof, and age!" The 2007 smells nothing like the '06. It's got lots more wood, and comes of much more punchy and dry. Peanut butter, garden herbs, fresh cream. It's missing the sweetness, richness, and vanilla that are going on in the '06.

Body/Finish: It's more balanced yet thinner than the '06 on the palate as well. It's smoother and less hot, but somehow doesn't leave as much of an impression.

Review: The 2007 OFBB release was highly praised in the industry. It won American Whiskey of the Year by Malt Advocate that year. We can see why. It's technically very impressive. It's very smooth and woody, and well balanced. But for us it wasn't anything to write home about. The mouthfeel was pretty thin and it didn't have a lot of big flavor. If you like dry and woody, this may be the one for you. We prefer the '06 (and stay tuned because we really prefer some of the later ones!).

Tomorrow we're on to 2008. Cheers/SB

February 3, 2015

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon Bonanza

The Birthday Bonanza Begins!

Our dedicated fans may remember that we're big fans of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. As a matter of fact we were sitting on a shelf of it at SmokyBeast headquarters...

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, or OFBB for whiskey geeks, is a yearly release from Brown Forman dedicated to its original founder George Gavin Brown. You can read all about George and the history of the brand in our previous review. It's distilled on George's birthday, September 1st, and bottled at 12 Years old at 97 proof. Each year comes in a nifty little squat bottle with a different color tax strip and label.

While these little guys did look awful pretty on the shelf, whisky is meant to be drunk not admired, so we figured why not pop them all at once? Here we go starting off with the top left, 2006 bottle.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Cherry pie. We don't think we've ever used that exact term before, but yes this is sweet cherry pie! (queue Warrant hair rock). After that there are walnuts, and some "men's club leather". Good nose.

Palate/finish: Warm and chewy with cinnamon (Red Hot candies?). There's a healthy dose of oak and a nice sweet molasses finish.

Overall: This one is a tad harsh for 97 proof, but it does have a lot of character, richness, a little sweet, and a lot of wood. We would give this one an 85, or a solid SmokyBeast "B". It's a real whiskey drinkers' whiskey and not difficult to polish off in an evening along with some good conversation and a bbq rib or ten.

Tune in tomorrow for OFBB07!

Cheers/SB

Pages