Whiskey House

October 27, 2015

Whiskey House

We recently got invited to a private whiskey tasting at Manhattan's swanky Core Club.  "Whiskey House" is the creation of Rob Levin, a friend of ours from some epic whiskey nights and the former publisher of New York Enterprise Report.


The premise: An up-scale venue for networking among professionals who happen to also be whiskey aficionados.  Core Club offered a tasteful modernist setting with room for private conversation or hobnobbing with the group.

Norm spins a yarn over a glass of malt.

The subject: a tasting of the current line of independent bottlings from Gordon & MacPhail.  Chris Riesbeck was on hand from G&M to catch us up on the in's and out's of this year's barrel picks. 

Macallan 18-Year

Macallan 18-Year 1995: Though obviously here at SmokyBeast we're more into the outrageous firebomb side of malt whisky, it's hard to go wrong with a nice old Macallan. This one had the signature silky smooth Macallan glow with an emphasis on little hints of pepper, tobacco, leather, and a little sweet island fruitiness.

Caol Ila Cask Strength

Caol Ila Cask Strength 2004: We'd already tried this one, but what a mighty beast it is!  Caol Ila really shines at this young age of nine years at its full 59%. It's full of roast nuts, rolling with phenolic peat smoke, and layering in richness of honey and orange candies. The smoke absorbs the high ABV wonderfully and the result is a powerful, tasty, and warm whisky.

Mortlach 25

Mortlach 25: The surprise of the night was the chance to taste the new Mortlach 25 Year release. Mortlach came out of relative obscurity having been one of the principal blended components of Johnny Walker. It's all the rage right now and with good reason.  The 25-year was very subtle yet flavorful leading with baking spices, oozing into a warm chocolaty place, and closing with some interesting pepper and wood notes. We'd really need a full bottle to properly evaluate this one - good thing Whiskey House offers preferred prices to its members! 

Shopping cart

The Skinny: Robert is a buddy of ours and so we're not doing any type of impartial review here. But if you are looking for a high-end club to join, bring clients, enjoy a whiskey, and get to hang out in some of NYC's exclusive spots, Whiskey House does a classy job.  Thanks Rob and everyone and see you soon!  

Rob and the Whiskey House crew
Cheers/SB
Talisker Distiller's Edition 1992

October 19, 2015

Talisker Distiller's Edition 1992



Spotted this gem on a shelf in a liquor store in Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago and grabbed it for $72.  These older brown label Talisker Distiller's Edition bottles are usually good. This one, distilled in 1992 and bottled in 2005 was a particularly nice example. It was the first year they started doing the second maturation in Amoroso sherry casks and it's no surprise they stuck with this technique and are still using it today.


Tasting Notes


Nose:  Very red wine sort of nose.  Blind I might have mistaken this for one of the wacky Glenmo barrel finishes. There's very little of the trademark Talisker salty sea air.  But there's a whole lot of rancio in it's place!  It's very bright and tangy with medium alcohol present and the sweet and ripe smell of berries and rose water.

Palate: We're moving into an orange marmalade thing on the palate and the medium mouthfeel is driving the jammy point home.

Finish: The finish is sort of unremarkable if well-balanced. The smoke does make an appearance.  You don't really taste it, but it floats in at the end and leaves you with some of that classic Talisker pepper and 'day-after-beach-bonfire' sensation.


Review

These brown Talisker Distiller's bottles are a cool find.  They're still around, and aren't marked up or anything the way errant bottles of bourbon tend to be these days. This one was really a treat. Very big sherry influence for a Talisker and the salt and hints of smoke were buried deep in there.  Considering that the bottle is already gone, we'd say it was popular with the troops!

Cheers/SB

P.S. any requests for our next reviews?  Y'all have been pretty quiet lately, let us know what's popping!
NASA Liquor Smooth Ambler Single Barrel #1409

October 12, 2015

NASA Liquor Smooth Ambler Single Barrel #1409

Ok, Ok...

We're a little obsessed with these Smooth Ambler private barrels.  Are y'all tired of hearing about them?  Let us know and we will cease and desist.  Otherwise, as you can tell from the photo, we've got like three more to review we haven't even opened yet, including the brand new 10-year single barrel rye that you could only at the distillery in the eight hours it took to sell out.  Damn, this is getting silly.


Anyway batter up this private barrel bourbon from NASA Liquors.


Their last bottle was pretty stellar.  If you don't feel like reading the whole review (or to refresh your memory) here was our first note:
Wicked crisp punchy bourbon with a lot of hay and cinnamon in the nose, nice uppercut of charred oak, and a little backdrop of chocolate covered peanuts.
So here we go, aw yeah, Alex Le and the rest of our boys down in Houston at NASA Liquor are at it again with another Smooth Ambler Single Barrel Bourbon.  This time it's Barrel #1409, a 9-Year bourbon coming in at 53.3% ABV.  This one is a lower proof than the last monster 119.8 proofer.  Can it hold up in the flavor department?



Tasting Notes

Nose:  Smells pretty fuckin' good.  Big vanilla, cinnamon, raw pipe tobacco, leather polish, lemongrass.  It's rich, it's spicy, it's sweet, very nice.

Palate:  Awesome baking spice mashup. Brown butter, lemon pound cake, hints of mint.

Finish:  Really balanced.  Sweet, spicy, rich and smooth.  This is a badass mofo.  


Review

Now, for an ounce of sanity, we're not saying this is a 95-point whiskey that's on par with some 20 year Stitzel-Weller trophy bottle. It's not. And it's not trying to be. What this bottle is is a totally fantastic everyday drinker. Will it crush Pappy Van Winkle 20-year? No. Will it crush just about any bottle you can find on the shelf of a liquor store today, including many that are double the price? Yes. Yes it will.

Is it just perception? How can Smooth Ambler be this good, when we know it's just the same mass produced Indiana whiskey you get in every bottle on the shelf? Well, undoubtedly it's the taste of really good pickers like NASA who get the chance to go through many different barrels and pick the winner. And it's the no-fuss-no-muss production technique of John Little cranking this stuff out at cask strength without chill-filtration or other common mass production tactics.  

In any case, this bottle is a treat. Should we compare it to the first NASA release? That one was really special and had a little more chocolate sauce to it than this one. Maybe we give the first bottle the slight edge. But this one definitely does not disappoint and you're pretty psyched if you're drinking either of these.  (Or their 4 Roses pick for that matter!).

Cheers Alex & everyone at NASA, keep up the great work.  /SB


This bottle of whiskey comes with a free kick in the nuts from John Little - (Review SFWTC SAOS 10-Year Bourbon)

October 2, 2015

This bottle of whiskey comes with a free kick in the nuts from John Little - (Review SFWTC SAOS 10-Year Bourbon)

SFWTC

If you're in the Bay Area and you like whiskey, chances are you've heard of San Francisco Wine Trading Company.  If you haven't, go.  Now.  It's got the best selection for miles in every direction. They also choose some awesome private bottles. We loved their Willett private barrels from a couple of years back. Now they're part of the Smooth Ambler Old Scout barreling program, and you know we're kind of into that (read: OBSESSED).


More SAOS please!

Fred Tocchini heads up the spirits operation at SFWTC and needless to say when he asked us if we could review his new SAOS pick, we were more than happy to oblige.  This one is a 10-Year Bourbon, coming in at 104.8 proof.  That's actually pretty low for the single barrels that Ambler's been putting out.

Just to recap why we love Smooth Ambler, they put out these bottles uncut and with the most minimal amount of filtering. It's MGP/LDI sauce, so in theory it shouldn't be that different from many of the off-the-shelf bourbons you can pick up in the store.  Then again, it's not that easy to find a 10-year age-stated, single barrel, cask strength bourbon these days. Add the cask selection from a palate like Fred's and we suspected we might be pleasantly surprised.



Tasting Notes

Nose: Creamy lemon sherbet, rose petals, potpourri. A little sweet corn and bubble gum. Wait, HUH? We thought SAOS barrel picks all had a high-rye mashbill.  This noses just like a Four Roses OESO barrel: sweet, creamy high-corn, low-rye recipe.  What gives?

SmokyBeast: Hey Fred, what was the mashbill on this bottle again?
Fred: 60% corn, 36% rye, 4% malt.
SB: Really?
Fred: Yup.
SB: Huh.

Palate: Wicked smooth, a little malty, very little spice. Some char comes out and a little punch from the full-test spirit. But overall we're still in this high corn mode here without the massive spice we get from most of these SAOS bourbons.

Finish: We're back in this citrus ice cream thing, like a lemon cookie / vanilla ice cream sandwich. Extremely smooth and round, amazing palatable at full strength with no irrigation.

Verification

Ok this is weird. Is it possible, however unlikely that Fred got the recipe wrong? We knew that SA did bottle some low-rye barrels in the past. Just for the hell of it, we figured we'd trust yet verify.

SmokyBeast: Hey John. Was curious if you could tell me the mashbill on this bottle: San Fran Wine Trading Company SOAS 10-Year Bourbon, Barrel #1182?
JohnLittle: 60% corn, 36% rye, 4% malt.
SB: Wow, could have sworn it was a low-rye thnx!
JL: No problem. is it good?
SB: Yeah it's very good, but super mellow, tastes like a 4R OExx bottle, very light and creamy.
JL: Nice. Sounds delicious.
SB: Yeah, indeed. But we have come to love the big spicy ball-kickers you've been putting out.
JL: I can come kick you in the balls while you are drinking it.

And there you go. So for a limited time, John has agreed to provide a free kick in the nuts with every bottle. Get it while it lasts.

Swimming

Just for kicks, we thought we'd try this one with some water and see how it swims. What's really interesting is that with a teaspoon of water, the spice really opens up. The citrus and cream are still there but more of the richness comes out and we get some of that good baking spice that was missing neat. 

Review

Seriously though this is a delicious bottle and very unusual for a cask strength high-rye bourbon.  If you get the chance to try it, jump on it, and add a little water to see if you have the same experience we did.  Thanks Fred and John for pairing up on another winner.  

Cheers/SB