The Whiskey Mafia

Singapore's GrandeWhiskey Museum

2025-03-29T07:40:00.001-04:00

By John DeMarco -

Exploring The Grand Whisky Museum in Singapore

Singapore is home to many unique experiences, but for whisky lovers, The Grand Whisky Museum is a must-visit. Whether you’re a seasoned enthusiast or just someone who enjoys the history of whisky, this place offers an incredible deep dive into the world of rare and vintage spirits.

A Beautifully Designed Space

From the moment you step inside, the museum’s layout invites you to sit, relax, and enjoy a pour. The space is thoughtfully designed to showcase whisky’s rich history while providing a welcoming atmosphere for visitors.

I signed up for the Introduction to Whiskies tour, which is the entry-level experience and typically lasts about an hour. However, since I was the only person there that morning, I ended up spending nearly three hours in the museum—almost two of those inside The Vault, the heart of the collection.

Inside The Vault: A Whisky Lover’s Dream

The Whisky Museum Vault houses over 7,000 rare and vintage bottles, along with some extraordinary Cognac and Champagne selections. It also holds two Guinness World Records—one for the most expensive collection of whisky and another for the most expensive bottle of whisky.

Unfortunately, photographs and videos are not allowed inside the vault, but that only adds to the sense of exclusivity. Seeing so many rare and unique bottles in person was incredible. The collection is valued at over $100 million, and while many bottles are purely for display, several are available for purchase—if you’re ready to spend big. One of the more “affordable” options was a 40-year-old Ghost Distillery bottle priced at over $3,000.

Some of the most impressive things I saw in the vault included:

Dozens of rare 50-year age statement single malts
Over 50 bottles from 1965, spanning more than a dozen distilleries
The oldest age-statement offerings from iconic distilleries like Macallan, Bowmore, Highland Park, and Dalmore
Nearly the entire Macallan Fine & Rare Collection—though notably missing the legendary Macallan 1926
The Macallan 81-year-old bottle, a true piece of whisky history
An extensive Japanese whisky collection, showcasing some of the rarest releases

I won’t spoil the surprise of every bottle inside, but let’s just say that for whisky lovers, it’s a jaw-dropping experience.

The Tour and Tasting Experience

While my tour guide was knowledgeable about the museum and collection, they were relatively new to whisky itself, so many of my questions went unanswered. That said, I fully acknowledge that I signed up for the Introduction to Whiskies tour, which is designed for those newer to whisky. If you’re looking for a more advanced experience, I’d recommend one of the higher-tier tastings. The 2 top ambassadors are both incredible with decades of experience and whisky knowledge and will make sure to book with one of them next time just through what I have heard and read up on about them.

For my next visit, I plan to return for either the Influence of Casks or Depth of Whiskies tasting, which should offer a deeper dive into whisky’s complexities.

The Bar: A Whisky Haven

Beyond the tour and vault, The Grand Whisky Museum also features an extensive bar with a highly skilled staff ready to guide you through their vast selection. You don’t need to take a tour to stop in for a drink or flight—though I highly recommend scheduling a tasting in advance to get the full experience.

No surprise that the bar has a fantastic selection of whiskies from which you can choose. You can create your own flight or tasting with nearly any bottle they offer—the only limit is your budget. Whether you’re looking for a rare dram or just a casual pour, the bar is worth a visit on its own.

Final Thoughts: A Must-Visit for Whisky Enthusiasts

The Grand Whisky Museum is a destination for anyone who enjoys a good scotch or simply appreciates whisky’s rich history. Whether you go for the vault, the tasting experiences, or just a casual drink at the bar, there’s something here for every level of whisky enthusiast.

If I lived in Singapore, I would absolutely join their membership club, even at a lower level. They offer exclusive tastings, special offerings, and other member-only benefits, making it a great option for locals or frequent visitors.

This visit was just the beginning for me. I’ll definitely be back to explore the Influence of Casks or Depth of Whiskies experiences on a future trip. If you find yourself in Singapore and love whisky, put this place at the top of your list—you won’t regret it.

Ironton Distillery Tasting Flight

2024-01-21T16:51:00.003-05:00

While visiting Denver in November, we made a stop at Ironton Distillery and Crafthouse, located in the River North Art district (RiNo) close to a number of breweries including Blue Moon, Left Hand Brewing and Black Shirt Brewing Company, making it the perfect kickoff for a Saturday evening pub crawl. In addition to a deep line of craft distilled spirits, woman-owned Ironton Distillery features a two full kitchens with a menu including wood fired pizza and has an excellent dog friendly outdoor patio.

In addition to a deep line of whiskies, they also make a rum and a variety of botanical spirits, including gin, aquavit, genievre, and absinthe. They naturally also make a vodka as ell and a handful of liqueurs.

When we arrived there was a drag show taking place in the bar area, and a pretty good crowd taking in the hilarity but the afternoon show was winding down, so we decided to take a seat on the patio and enjoy the abnormally warm weather. My son ordered an old fashioned, and I picked out a flight including the distillery's three core straight whiskies in addition to two limited release pours, a Coffee Cask Single Malt and a Veteran Bourbon.

Ironton Distillery Tasting Flight

The distillery uses three custom hybrid pot/column stills nicknamed Karl (stripping), Margo (spirit), and Tamilla (botanical) for its spirits, ages them in a relatively light char 2 53 gallon barrel, and bottles all of them at 86 proof. Grains are sourced locally and milled on-site.

Colorado Straight Rye Malt Whiskey

An undisclosed blend of Colorado Pale and Chocolate Rye Malts and malted barley. Aged at least two years in 53 gallon new American white oak barrels. 86 Proof

Nose: Grass, vanilla, malt
Palate: Malt, grain, black pepper
Finish: Pepper, vanilla

Ironton Straight Single Malt

Made from locally sourced roasted malt barley. Aged at lease 2 years in char 2 new American White Oak Barrels. 86 proof.

Nose: Floral, vanilla
Palate: Toffee, nutmeg, caramel, stewed fruits
Finish: Leather, caramel

Ironton Straight Bourbon

Undisclosed four grain mask bill of "red, white and blue" red wheat, malted rye, malted barley, and heirloom Colorado blue corn. Aged a minimum of two years in 53 gallon new charred American oak barrels.

Nose: Vanilla, cookies
Palate: vanilla, wheat bread, citrus
Finish: licorice, light pepper

Ironton Coffee Cask Single Malt

This now sold-out single malt whiskey was finished in a used whiskey barrel that was used to age coffee beans and cold brew by Bluegrass Coffee, a local Denver coffee house.

Nose: Coffee, cocoa
Palate: Coffee, cocoa, vanilla
Finish: leather, coffee

Ironton "Veteran" Bourbon:

This single barrel selection was hand selected by the group Warriors & Whiskey a group of veteran whiskey enthusiasts, with proceeds donated to the American Warrior Foundation. Uses the same grain bill as Ironton's straight bourbon.

Nose: caramel, citrus, oak
Palate: caramel, pepper, dark red fruit
Finish: pepper, leather, oak

What I Took Home, And What I Wish I Had...

I usually call this paragraph "closing thoughts," but it almost always features the bottle I took home from the distillery, so let's just call it what it is! This time, I brought home the Coffee Cask Single Malt, partly because it was a limited release, and partly because it was one of the best coffee-based whiskey expressions I have ever tried. I really enjoy having a pour now and then with a nice sweet dessert after dinner. While preparing for this article, I noticed it has long since sold out, but I have been thinking on my next trip back I might pick up the straight rye, which offers an interesting twist on the traditional rye profile by using all malted grains. If you're in the area, definitely stop in!

Distillery 291 Flagship Bourbon and Rye Flight

2024-01-13T15:34:00.000-05:00

When I was in Colorado for Thanksgiving, we made a trip down to Colorado Springs to see the Garden of the Gods and Distillery 291, an award winning Colorado bourbon distillery that now boasts a line of 12 Colorado whiskies.

Distillery 291 was founded by Michael Myers (no, not that one), a native of the American southeast who lived in Georgia and the legendary whiskey producing state of Tennessee as a youth. Myers had a passion for the Old West and wanted to produce the sort of whiskey that an old west bartender might slam down on the bar when you said "give me a whiskey!" He built his first still with copper plates he had once used for photography, and 12 years later 291 Colorado Whiskey is still producing spirits by hand in locally made copper pot stills.

Craft distilleries are constantly trying to find new ways to produce a drinkable bourbon in less time, and Distillery 291 is no exception. All of the spirits I tried were straight whiskies aged a minimum of two years, but they were also all aged in 10 gallon barrels, which provides more surface area for the volume and speeds up the maturation process a bit, at least from the perspective of the contribution of the oak.

While smaller barrels are fairly common in the craft distilling industry, what is not common is their unique finishing process, which uses #3 charred aspen staves for a week. This definitely seems to help take some of the grain forwardness out of an otherwise young spirit, although it does have an interesting funk of its own.

Distillery 291 Flagship Bourbon and Rye Tasting Notes

Character is all around the 291 tasting room, starting with glassware made from the bottoms of 291's bottles and rough hewn tables made from cable reels. Ordered a flight of the four core whiskies: Small Batch Bourbon, Barrel Proof Bourbon, Small Batch Rye, and Barrel Proof Rye.

The bartender brought each spirit to the table one at a time and poured it for me, sharing the distillery's tasting notes and the mash bill and proof of each spirit as I tasted the lineup. This is a bit of a different experience than I am used to, and it did make it a little harder to compare spirits to each other, but the experience was pleasurable and it did allow me to ask several questions along the way.

Distillery 291 Small Batch Bourbon

Mash bill of 80% corn, 19% malted rye and 1% malted barley. Aged in #3 char, 10 gallon American white oak barrels for two years. Finished with #3 char aspen staves for one week. 100 proof.

Nose: green apple, grain, vanilla
Palate: Caramel, dark cherry, leather
Finish: Long. Black pepper and cherry, grain

Distillery 291 Barrel Proof Bourbon

Mash bill of 80% corn, 19% malted rye and 1% malted barley. Aged in #3 char, 10 gallon American white oak barrels for two years. Finished with #3 char aspen staves for one week. 126.8 proof.

Nose: caramel, vanilla
Palate: caramel, leather, cherry
Finish: pepper, caramel, cherry, wood

Distillery 291 Small Batch Rye

Mash bill of 61% malted rye, 39% corn. Aged in #3 char, 10 gallon American white oak barrels for two years. Finished with #3 char aspen staves for one week. 100 proof.

Nose: Wintergreen, fresh cut grass
Palate: White peppercorn, grain, leather
Finish: Mild, light pepper and grain moderate length

Distillery 291Cask Strength Rye

Mash bill of 61% malted rye, 39% corn. Aged in #3 char, 10 gallon American white oak barrels for two years. Finished with #3 char aspen staves for one week. 128.1 proof.

Nose: Butterscotch, grain, oak
Palate: Coffee, dark chocolate, butterscotch, pepper
Finish: Pepper, leather, spearmint

Closing thoughts on my visit to Distillery 291

I ended up bringing home a bottle of the Small Batch Bourbon, but I could have been happy with any of the bottles I tried. If you're in Colorado springs, its definitely worth stopping in to the distillery to taste some of these spirits yourself. Next time I'm in the area, I'd like to sample some of the special releases, of which there were several available when I was in.

I'd also encourage you to check out the Garden of the Gods, which is one of the most beautiful natural stone formations I have seen in my travels and well worth navigating the large crowd of visitors.

Exploring American Single Pot Still Whiskey at Talnua Distillery

2023-12-06T17:00:00.024-05:00

I discovered Talnua Distillery somewhat by happenstance while visiting breweries in Avada, Colorado with my sons. We stopped in for a visit, and I quickly learned that I had stumbled upon the first American single pot still whiskey distiller, which began producing its malt whiskey in 2019.

Talnua produces a core lineup of four pot still whiskies as well as some special releases, one of which I got to sample while I was there. In addition, they produce a clear and a barrel rested gin of the genever style, meaning its base is unaged white whiskey, rather than vodka.

We hadn't planned on a tour, so we settled in for a cocktail and a tasting flight in the distillery's cozy tasting room and viewed the gleaming copper pot stills from a distance through glass. More on my flight in a minute, but first, a little background on the spirit:

What Is Single Pot Still Whiskey?

Pot still whiskies were first created in Ireland, and must contain a minimum of 30% malted barley and 30% un-malted barley, with all of the bottle's contents being produced in pot stills at a single distillery (but not necessarily a single still.) The remaining 20% can be made up of other cereal grains such as oats, rye, and wheat, with any other grain making up no more than 5% of the overall mash bill. With that said, today's most popular brands have a mash bill of 50% malted barley and 50% un-malted barley. Talnua distullery is no exception to this.

The inclusion of un-malted barley in the mash produces a whiskey with a thicker, more oily mouth feel than single malt whiskey.

A Brief History of Single Pot Still Whiskey

Pot still whiskey was first produced in Ireland in the late 1700's a a way of avoiding the Malt Tax of 1785, by reducing the volume of malted barley used in the distillation process. Pot still whiskey exploded in popularity and continued to grow even after the Malt Tax was repealed in 1855.

At one time, pot still whiskey was the most popular form of whiskey in the world making up as much as 80% of the world's whiskey supply in the late 1800's and was popular throughout the British Empire and here in the United States, so much so that if you asked for "whiskey" without being specific in many bars here in the United States in the 1800's, chances are you might have received a pour of Irish pot still whiskey rather than bourbon or rye.

Pot Still whiskey fell from popularity suddenly in the early 20th century, this fall was brought on by a trade war with Great Britain in the wake of Irish independence and exacerbated by taxation and the widespread wars of the early 20th century. By 1980, the only pot still whiskies in widespread production were the Irish whiskies Redbreast and Green Spot, with the former briefly at some risk of disappearing as well.

Talnua Distillery Pot Still Whiskey Tasting Notes

I began my exploration of Talnua's American single pot still whiskey with their "core four," the Heritage Selection Small Batch, the Continuum Cask, the Bourbon Cask and Stave, and the Virgin White Oak. Later, I added the Olde Saint's Keep special release and the distillery's two gin selections. Each whiskey expression adds its own unique twist to the base pot still whiskey, leveraging different aging techniques, cooperage and blending.

Heritage Selection Whiskey

Blend of locally produced American pot still whiskey and grain whiskey distilled in Ireland and aged in Colorado with second fill American oak barrels. Pot still whiskey has a mash bill of 50% malted barley and 50% un-malted barley and is triple distilled in copper pot stills. Aged a minimum of 18 months. 86 proof.

Nose: Vanilla, honeysuckle
Palate: light bodied, vanilla and toffee
Finish: malt, toasted sugar

Continuum Cask Whiskey

The Continuum Cask expression is an American pot still whiskey with a mash bill of 50% malted barley and 50% un-malted barley, triple distilled in copper pot stills and aged a minimum of 18 months in new charred white oak casks. The whiskey is then vatted into a solera inspired cask which is never fully emptied. Over time, the average age of whiskey in the continuum should increase, yielding a richer flavor. 86 proof.

Nose: Vanilla, white pepper, grain
Palate: Sweet, slightly fruity, malt
Finish: White pepper, nutmeg

Bourbon Cask and Stave

The Bourbon Cask and Stave expression is an American pot still whiskey with a mash bill of 50% malted barley and 50% un-malted barley, triple distilled in copper pot stills and aged a minimum of 3 years in ex-bourbon barrels. New charred white oak staves are introduced to the barrel from the beginning of the aging process, enhancing the exposure to charred wood even though the cooperage is used. 86 proof.

Nose: vanilla, oak
Palate: honey, pears, grain
Finish: pepper, malt

Virgin White Oak Cask Whiskey

The Virgin White Oak expression is an American pot still whiskey with a mash bill of 50% malted barley and 50% un-malted barley, triple distilled in copper pot stills and aged a minimum of 3 years in new charred white oak barrels. 86 proof.

Nose: Baking spice, oak
Palate: caramel, allspice, spicy, lightly sweet
Finish: long. barrel char, pepper

Olde Saint’s Keep Whiskey

Olde Saint's Keep was a 1000 bottle limited release American pot still whiskey with a mash bill of 50% malted barley and 50% un-malted barley, triple distilled in copper pot stills. Finished in cognac and madeira barrels.

Nose: stone fruit, vanilla, malt
Palate: maple, plum, cinnamon, strawberry jam, butter
Finsih: white pepper, toffee

Overall Impressions of Talnua American Pot Still Whiskey

I was quite impressed with all of the American pot still Whiskey I tasted. The standout was far and away the Olde Saint's Keep, which had sadly sold out for bottle sales long before our visit. I ended up picking up one of my other favorites, the Continuum Cask, as well as a Virgin White Oak for a friend back home who really enjoys pot still whiskey. Next time I'm in the area, I'll probably add the bourbon Cask & Stave to my collection.

I also sampled the distillery's gin (genever) and barrel rested gin. Both were very good. While I did not keep detailed tasting notes I will say that Talnua's gin appears to be a more straightforward than some other craft distilleries, emphasizing traditional juniper botanicals rather than other herbs.

My son, who was with me for the visit, had a lemon espresso old fashioned which he offered me a taste of. This was a truly delicious cocktail that I would gladly order myself on a future visit.

Overall, our visit to Talnua was true serendipity, and I am glad we stopped in!

Cheers!

-Trevor

Tasting Flight and Cocktails as The Reserve by Old Elk

2023-11-21T12:15:00.001-05:00

When Dan and I hosted a Whiskey University Bourbon 201 class at The Portland Regency last spring, we met Meranne Behrends and her team from Words from the Woods, a Portland based marketing agency that represents Old Elk. When I knew I would be in Colorado, I reached out to Meranne to see if she could connect me with someone from Old Elk for a possible meeting or tour there. While no one was available at the time, they did encourage me to stop by The Reserve by Old Elk in Fort Collins for a tasting flight with Billye, the lead bartender there.

The Reserve is a distillery tasting room with a full cocktail menu, which means that all of the cocktails are made with Old Elk's own spirits and liqueurs (so you won't get a classic Manhattan, but you can get a really interesting riff on one.) Billye's shift hadn't started when we arrived, but that didn't prevent use from getting set up with a tasting flight.

When Billye arrived, she made us several really nice cocktails, including The Reserve's signature Smoked Honey Old Fashioned, which she very graciously made on camera for us!

Old Elk Master's Blend Series Tasting Flight

For my tasting flight, I ordered the Old Elk Master's Blend tasting flight, which featured the Old Elk Four Grain Bourbon, which I have previously tasted, but not reviewed. It also featured Old Elk's Rum Cask Finished Rye, which I was really excited to try since I have come to really enjoy this particular finish on a rye from a few others I have tried. Old Elk's did not disappoint! I also added the straight rye to the flight so I could contrast it with the finished version.

Let's get to the notes, shall we?

Old Elk Double Wheat

Blend of Old Elk Straight Wheat Whiskey and Old Elk Straight Wheated Bourbon which I have previously reviewed. Mash bill 25% corn, 71.5% Wheat, and 3.5% malted barley. 107.1 proof. NAS but aged a minimum of 2 years.

Nose: Vanilla, Green apple, bread
Palate: Caramel, vanilla, hazelnuts, wheat bread
Finish: Lingering molasses, yeast, mild burn in upper throat

Old Elk Four Grain

High malt four grain bourbon mash bill consisting of 51% corn, 19% barley, 21.5% wheat, and 7.5% rye. 105.9 proof. NAS but aged a minimum of 2 years.

Nose: Vanilla, baking spice, grass
Palate: Vanilla, caramel, dark red fruit, cinnamon
Finish: Black pepper, molasses, yeast, dark red fruit

Old Elk Wheat-N-Rye

Blend of Old Elk 7 Year Straight Wheat Whiskey and Old Elk 6 Year Straight Rye Whiskey. Composite mash bill of 57.6% wheat, 38% rye, and 4.4% malted barley. 108.4 proof.

Nose: Vanilla, mint, pepper
Palate: Wheat bread, leather, cinnamon, plums
Finish: Black pepper, cinnamon

Old Elk Rum Cask Finished Rye

Mash bill of 95% rye, 5% malted barley. 101 Proof, NAS. Finished 2-5 months in 12 year old Barbados Rum Casks.

Nose: Citrus, Mint, vanilla
Palate: Black Pepper, licorice, caramel

Old Elk Straight Rye

Mash bill of 95% rye, 5% malted barley. 100 Proof. NAS but aged a minimum of 2 years.

Nose: Vanilla, mint, baking spice
Palate: Mint, peach, black pepper, allspice
Finish: Black pepper, lingering stewed fruit notes

Final Thoughts on the Old Elk Master's Blend Flight

If you're an Old Elk skeptic, this flight just might change your mind! I speak from experience, having brought a bottle of Rum Cask Finished Rye home, sharing with a friend, and converting him with it. It is a real pleasure to drink and works really well in a Manhattan, neat, or on ice. I also thought the Double Wheat and the Four Grain Bourbon were fantastic. The only thing that held me back on purchasing them was room in my luggage for the return trip.

Billye did join us while I was still sipping, and we talked a bit about the spirits in the flight. She definitely knows her stuff and made us a few really wonderful cocktails that showcase Old Elk's spirits nicely. I'll share the recipe for The Reserve's Honey Smoked Old Fashioned in an upcoming post, but if you're impatient (I don't blame you,) you can watch her make it on our Facebook or Instagram accounts now.

A Visit to the Law's Whiskey House Tasting Room

2023-11-18T11:25:00.006-05:00

Recently I made a trip out west to help my son move from Seattle to Denver. As much as I'll miss visiting my favorite Seattle distilleries, the move opened up the whole new world of Colorado distilleries, and we managed to squeeze in two new spots in that first few days in Denver.

The first of these was Law's Whiskey House in the South Broadway neighborhood of Denver on S. Acoma St. The distillery mills its own grain, ferments in open vessels and distills in a custom made four plate pot still. All of the Law's Whiskey House products are straight whiskies aged a minimum of two years in American white oak barrels.

We came in too late in the day to enjoy one of the distillery's tours, but we did manage to sample a nice flight in the tasting room.

Law's Four Grain Bourbon Tasting Notes

I ordered the Bourbon Flight, which includes three variations of the distillery's signature four grain bourbon: their regular 95 proof bourbon, a bottled in bond, and a cask strength bourbon. The distillery gets all of the grains for its four grain bourbon from two Colorado family farms. The wheat, rye, and barley are heirloom varietals.

Law's Four Grain Bourbon:

Mash bill of 60% corn, 20% heirloom wheat, 10% heirloom rye and 10% malted barley. 3 year age statement. 95 proof.

Nose: Wheat, oak
Palate: grain, caramel, oak
Finish: Pepper, mild burn in upper throat

Law's Four Grain Bonded Bourbon:

Mash bill of 60% corn, 20% heirloom wheat, 10% heirloom rye and 10% malted barley. 4 year age statement. 100 proof.

Nose: caramel, brown sugar, ethanol
Palate: caramel, coffee, leather\
Finish: leather, black pepper, moderate burn in upper throat.

Law's Four Grain Cask Strength Bourbon:

Mash bill of 60% corn, 20% heirloom wheat, 10% heirloom rye and 10% malted barley. 3 year age statement.

Nose: Vanilla, caramel
Palate: caramel, wood, pepper baking spice
Finish: black pepper, moderate burn

Final Impressions

Like so many craft distilleries, Law's is differentiating itself with a non-traditional mash bill and unique locally sourced grains, and they produce a very nice craft bourbon. I found the 3 year straight to be a little grain forward, but both of the higher proof bourbons were outstanding. As the distillery continues to grow its inventory of matured spirits, I think the straight will benefit greatly for a little more exposure to oak and oxygen. The Bottled-In-Bond provides a nice preview of what that would look like, and I was impressed enough with it to bring a bottle home for myself, along with a Cask strength for Dan.

If you find yourself in Denver sometime, I recommend a stop by, and am hoping to return for the full tour at a future date.

Cheers!

Trevor

Baudoinia, Baudoinia Baudoinia!

2023-10-09T20:03:00.004-04:00

Baudoinia compniacensis better known as “whiskey fungus” has been in the news a lot in recent months, from a lawsuit against the largest whiskey producer in the United States, all the way down a small town town hall meeting in Maine. But what is it, and where does it come from?

Baudoinia compniacensis is a naturally occurring fungus found across most of North America, Europe, and Asia. It’s a colonizing fungus that spreads by releasing spores into the air, and dark gray to black in appearance. In other words it’s growing somewhere near you right now, but don’t worry it’s harmless. We will get to that in a minute.

First, why do they call it whiskey fungus? The first correlation between Baudoinia and aging spirits was discovered way back in 1874 by a Brandy distiller in Cognac, France where he found a black sooty substance clinging to the building walls he was aging Brandy in, from then on it has been known as whiskey fungus.

Turns out Baudoinia (like me) loves whiskey! Well that’s really to say Baudoinia feeds on ethanol and a whiskey rickhouse produces a buffet of ethanol in what is most commonly called “the angel’s share”. This is the small percentage of whiskey that evaporates out of a barrel over the course of a year. So if Baudoinia eats ethanol, why is it found all over the world and not just at a distillery? Easy ethanol vapor is found all over the world too. Anywhere there is fermentation there is ethanol, as most fruits and vegetables decay they begin to ferment and give off some small amount of ethanol. Some examples, when grapes ferment we get wine, apples we get cider, fermented cabbage gets you sauerkraut. Oh, and do you love fresh baked bread? Well the yeast ate the sugar, giving off CO2, and ethanol.

Other non-natural sources of Ethanol include chemical solvents, detergents, and of course Gasoline. Ethanol makes up about 10% of a gallon of gas, and the U.S. produces about 15 Billion gallons of ethanol every year.

The long and the short of it is Baudoinia is everywhere and has been forever. So is it harmful?

Simply put, NO! Study after study has found no harmful health effects of Baudoinia, not to pets, not to livestock, and not to humans. I think the best anecdotal evidence though is that for several hundred years men and women have worked in distilleries, wineries, bakeries and other places that Baudoinia is found with no apparent health issues.

So why has it been in the news so much if it’s been around for so long, and is so common? If you live close and I mean close to a source of excessive ethanol vapor, then structures, plants and trees could see an accelerated growth of Baudoinia. I read recently that a 20,000 barrel (roughly 1,060,000 gallons) rickhouse could distribute ethanol vapor up to 200 feet from the source. It’s unlikely to travel much further than that as ethanol vapor is heavier than air and it tends to settle quickly. But “Whiskey Fungus” sounds scary, it’s black so it looks scary and a few individuals looking to make an easy dollar, or prevent a small family distillery from expanding can use that fear to get what they want. I wonder if instead of whiskey fungus it had been called fresh bread fungus we would be having this conversation.

If we call the ethanol vapor given off by aging whiskey barrels “The Angel’s Share” and Baudoinia eats this vapor, does that make Baudoinia angelic?

Dan Kelley - 10/9/2023

Review: Old Elk Wheated Bourbon

2023-05-03T20:24:00.005-04:00

Still a newcomer in the world of bourbon distilleries, Colorado based Old Elk is a rapidly growing player in the bourbon industry, led by a master distiller with 40 years of experience producing spirits for a giant distillery that you may not have heard of if you don't know the ins-and-outs of America's distilling business.

Old Elk's founder Curt Richardson wanted to create a custom bourbon mash bill that was "smooth and easy," but he also wanted to scale quickly. Richardson reached out to an experienced distiller at Midwest Grain Products, a subsidiary of Seagram's that most consumers have never heard of, but has quietly played a huge role in several of the fastest growing brands in the bourbon industry including Bulleit, Angel's Envy, High West and James E. Pepper.

Among the hallmarks of Old Elk's process is their "slow cut" process for proofing down whiskey, which reduces heat produced in the proofing process and helps retain some of the finer flavors in the spirit.

About Greg Metze, Old Elk Master Distiller

At the time Greg Metze was a distiller at MGP. Metze is a chemical engineer by training and has been distilling spirits for 40 years. Metze, whose experience includes bourbons, ryes, exotic and light whiskies, gin and vodka, was at Seagram's at the time that Old Elk approached MGP to create its first bourbon. Metze says that he didn't know what to expect entering the distilling industry, but that he thought it would "Be pretty damn cool to be 23 and go make whiskey," and adds, "40 years later it's still pretty damn cool."

Old Elk Wheated Bourbon Tasting Notes

I've enjoyed a few of Old Elk's bourbons including that initial release that Greg Metze was first asked to create at MGP, and today I have two of them on my shelf. Like that initial release, the Old Elk Wheated Bourbon goes outside the industry norms of bourbon mash bills while still staying neatly within the legal limits of a bourbon whiskey. Because it uses more wheat and less corn than most bourbons, it has a flavor profile that is simultaneously less sweet and more complex than most other wheated bourbon whiskies.

Mash Bill: 51% Corn, 45% Wheat, 4% Malted Barley. Aged 5 years. 92 Proof

Color: Medium Amber

Nose: Vanilla, honey, bread, almonds, orange and oak

Palate: Honey, wheat bread, orange, nuts

Finish: Yeast, lingering sweetness, moderate warming in the upper throat.

Like the original Old Elk Bourbon, Old Elk Wheated Bourbon is smooth and easy. At the same time, the high concentration of wheat gives it quite a bit of complexity as compared to a mash bill with a higher corn content. I enjoyed this one very much and it is well worth its $70 retail price.

Closing Toughts

I have to give credit where credit is due. I discovered Old Elk Wheated Bourbon at a recent Whiskey University Class that Dan and I were teaching at the Portland Regency. There we met Meranne Behrends of Words From the Woods a local Portland marketing firm that just happens to represent Old Elk. Over a glass of their excellent four grain whiskey after class, she shared how much this one was lighting it up for her client. Maybe it was a pitch, maybe not, it was subtle. Either way, I bought a bottle when I saw it and I have to say I am not disappointed. Cheers to Meranne and the Words From the Woods team!

- Trevor

Wiggly Bridge's Distillery's Julie Makes us a Blueberry Bourbon Smash

2023-04-14T18:30:00.013-04:00

A couple of weeks ago Dan and I made another visit to Wiggly Bridge Distillery to pick up our first bottles of their New England Single Malt Whisky. While we were there, we took advantage of the opportunity to try out some of the excellent cocktails they make at the Wiggly Bridge bar, one of which was a really delicious and refreshing drink called the Blueberry Bourbon Smash - the distillery's own take on the classic Whiskey Smash made with their own Small Batch Bourbon.

History of the Whiskey Smash

The whiskey smash is a variant of the Mint Julep credited largely to the 19th century bartender Jerry Thomas, in part because it's first print mention was in his Bartender's Guide, Bon Viviant's Companion first printed in 1862. In this first edition of the book Thomas referred to the drink as Julep, changing the name to the Whiskey Smash by the time the 1887 second edition was released.

The initial whiskey smash recipe called for muddled lemon, simple syrup, and muddled mint, with the muddled fruit being the primary difference between the Whiskey Smash and the standard Mint Julep. Over the years, bartender's have frequently riffed on this base recipe by changing out either the base spirit, the variety of fruit, or by substituting alternative herbs such as rosemary or basil for mint. By using blueberries, agave syrup, and Wiggly Bridge Distillery's distinctive ultra high rye bourbon, the distillery has created a uniquely Maine twist on this classic cocktail.

However you choose to riff on the Whiskey Smash, the use of fruit and herbs makes it an excellent entry-level whiskey cocktail that may change the mind of the whiskey skeptics among your friends.

Julie Makes us Wiggly Bridge's Blueberry Bourbon Smash

Wiggly Bridge's recipe calls for pouring the finished cocktail over crushed ice, which Julie did the "old fashioned way" by putting ice in a canvas bag and pounding on if for a couple of minutes with a rubber mallet.

This all sounds very quaint and authentic until you watch her make five of them for people arount the bar - it must get pretty tiring! I felt pretty bad about asking her to make us another one, but she was a great sport about that, and letting us record her making it for us. Huge thanks to her for this video:

With Spring upon us, its time to start thinking about those warm weather cocktails, and this is a great one to try.

Blueberry Bourbon Smash Recipe

Here's the complete rundown on Wiggly Bridge's Blueberry Bourbon Smash in writing:

Handful of fresh blueberries
Fresh mint
Dollop of agave syrup
2 Oz Wiggly Bridge Small Batch Bourbon
1/2 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
Gentle Squeeze of simple syrup

Muddle the blueberries, mint and agave in the bottom of a pint glass, then add the remaining ingredients and shake with ice until the shaker is frosty. Double strain the liquid over crushed ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with fresh mint and blueberries.

Julie tells us that using Maine Wild Blueberries instead of larger cultivated blueberries requires less simple syrup, because the berries themselves are sweeter.

Blueberry Bourbon Smash (L) and a Wiggly Old Man (R).

Closing Thoughts

Wiggly Bridge's Blueberry Bourbon Smash has a nicely balanced mix of sweet and sour flavors, and is a whiskey cocktail with a more subtle bourbon flavor backing up its fruity front end. It quite nicely lives up to the whiskey smash's reputation as a whiskey cocktail that is approachable for non-whiskey drinkers. On the other hand, it also has enough whiskey flavor backing it up that it makes for a nice, refreshing warm weather drink for whiskey enthusiasts.

We hope you give this one a try and enjoy it as much as we did!

Cheers!

Review - Wiggly Bridge New England Single Malt Whisky

2023-03-28T20:22:00.008-04:00

On our many visits to the Wiggly Bridge Distillery over the last few years, Distiller David Woods, Sr. has frequently pointed out some dusty barrels in the basement under the tasting room floor that contained the distillery's first ever New England Single Malt Whisky. As you can imagine, we have waited in anticipation of its release for quite a while now, and we had a pretty good idea what was coming when the distillery started teasing a new release a few weeks earlier.

This new release comes at an auspicious time for the distillery, which was recently named the 16th fastest growing distillery in the United States - growing faster, in fact, than Angel's Envy. In order to keep up with production demands, the distillery recently upgraded from its two homemade copper pot stills to new column still, allowing distillers David Sr. and David Jr. to produce more whiskey in less time.

Like all of Wiggly Bridge's products, the New England Single Malt Whisky is distilled and aged right there at the distillery on US Route 1 in York, Maine using an heirloom Scottish distiller's yeast. Unlike its other products, the barley is also entirely obtained from sources within the state making it a 100% Maine product. The barley for Wiggly Bridge New England Single Malt is grown in Aroostook County and malted at Blue Ox Malt House in Lewiston, Maine.

Wiggly Bridge New England Single Malt Tasting Notes

Mash Bill: 100% Maine grown and malted barley. No age statement. 92 Proof.

Color: Golden honey

Nose: Applesauce, vanilla, grain

Palate: Honey, stewed fruit, grain

Finish: Grassy notes with a moderate ethanol burn

Final Thoughts on Wiggly Bridge New England Single Malt

I'm mainly a bourbon and rye man, so I doubt this will ever supplant Wiggly Bridge's Ultra-High Rye Bourbon on my personal list of favorite Maine whiskies. On the other hand, I sincerely enjoyed sipping this New England Single Malt; it has a nice smooth light flavor that goes down easy and makes a nice contrast with sweeter food you might be eating (or in my case, a sweeter cocktail I had just tasted.) If you get a chance, I'd encourage you to give this single malt a shot, and I also know it will only get better with time!

Cheers!

-Trevor

Review: Cathedral Ledge Distillery Straight Bourbon

2023-01-29T08:47:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month Cathedral Ledge Distillery in North Conway, New Hampshire issued its initial release of its straight bourbon. Although there have been earlier releases of the distillery's wheated bourbon and rye whiskey, this was the very first time the distillery had released a bourbon whiskey featuring rye as the flavoring grain.

As members of the Cathedral Ledge Bourbon Club, Dan and I have had opportunities to sample this whiskey from the barrel three times during the aging process beginning with a barrel tasting in July of 2021 and ending with a barrel tasting last July. We also got our entire payment of club dues back in the form of a gift card coinciding with this particular aged spirit release, which almost makes this purchase feel like "free whiskey!"

With so much build-up, you might expect that it would be hard for any whiskey to live up to expectations, but we've had a good sense of what was coming for a while, and last July's tasting, in particular, was a source of some excitement for us.

Cathedral Ledge Straight Bourbon Tasting Notes

It was certainly exciting to open this bottle for the first time! I sipped my first pour neat from my Cathedral Ledge Glencairn glass.

Mash Bill: 69% Corn, 19% rye, 12% malted barley. Aged two years in a combination of #3 and #4 char barrels. Bottled at 90 proof.

Color: Deep honey to light amber
Nose: Vanilla, rye bread, baking spices, a touch of green apple
Palate: Vanilla, honey, rye bread and cinnamon with a creamy mouth feel
Finish: Pepper, spearmint, lingering sweetness

Overall, this is a very impressive first bourbon release for a great local distillery, and it's been a real honor to be able to give feedback to Chris Burk and his team over the last two years. Back in July, I was a big fan of the #4 char barrel of this spirit, but I completely respect the creative decision to blend the barrels. The end product does not disappoint. Congratulations Cathedral Ledge Distillery - it's been a long road!

As much as I love what this bourbon has become, I'm also hoping Chris comes out with a Bottled in Bond release in another two years, because I think those oak barrels still have a bit more to give this spirit. Until then, this bottle is well worth picking up when you're in the area.

Cheers!

Trevor

Side-By-Side Review: Fort Hamilton Single Barrel Rye vs. Fort Hamilton Double Barrel Rye

2023-01-08T14:59:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, a friend from upstate New York helped me get my first bottle of Fort Hamilton Distillery's single barrel rye. I was impressed enough by what I tasted that when I saw a different, double barrel rye while visiting a Kentucky liquor store I figured it was worth adding to the collection.

Brooklyn-based Fort Hamilton Distillery focuses on producing an authentic New York Rye with a zero-corn mash bill and low barrel entry proofs, and ages its whiskey in heated warehouses so that the whiskey continues to move in and out of the oak even in the cold New York winter.

I opened the Double Barrel rye for the first time this week with the intention of comparing the two whiskies side by side. As it happens, the double barrel is a blend than incorporates both the Distillery's own juice and MGP's very familiar 95% rye mash bill, so it was going to be very interesting to see how the two compared.

Fort Hamilton Single Barrel Rye and Fort Hamilton Double Barrel Rye Tasting Notes

Fort Hamilton Single Barrel Rye: Mash bill of 90% rye, 10% malted barley. Distilled and barreled in New York at 120 proof and aged for 3 years in 53 gallon #3 char white oak barrels in a heated warehouse. Bottled at 90 proof. Non-chill filtered. Single barrel offering.

Color: Dark Amber
Nose: Vanilla, spearmint, baking spice.
Palate: Toffee, cinnamon, black pepper.
Finish: Pepper, spearmint and oak with lingering dark cocoa notes.

I really like this rye whiskey. It has a complex, spicy flavor with a well balanced combination of spicy and sweet notes. I think the extra year does it a lot of good, as it is quite a bit more mature than its "Double Barrel" brother.

Fort Hamilton Double Barrel Rye: Blend of the New York Distilled 90% rye 10% barley mash bill and Indiana-based MGP's 95% rye, 5% malted barley mash bill. Aged two years in a mix of 53 gallon and 30 gallon #3 charred white oak barrels. Barrel entry proof of 120, bottled at 92 proof.

Color: Medium Amber
Nose: Wintergreen, fresh cut grass, rye bread.
Palate: Rye bread, molasses, black pepper.
Finish: Black pepper, coffee, grass.

The Fort Hamilton Double Barrel Rye has a good rye backbone and would make a solid choice for use in cocktails, but it definitely tastes young when compared to the 3-year-old Single Barrel. This came through the most in the bready and grassy notes, which I really didn't get in the single barrel.

Which Fort Hamilton Rye Should You Choose?

Everybody's palate is different, but if I have to choose I'd take the Fort Hamilton Single Barrel rye every time over the Double Barrel. It has a more complex flavor profile that is very pleasant neat and on the rocks. With that said, both were pleasant to drink in their own way, and I know I'll continue to enjoy both bottles. I'm also looking forward to visiting the distillery for a tour sometime soon!

Cheers!

-Trevor

My Take on Seattle Whisky Bar's Earl Grey Old Fashioned

2022-12-10T06:54:00.010-05:00

I've had quite a bit of fun experimenting with different spins on the Old Fashioned, including the Spiced Maple Old Fashioned that I previously posted, but one in particular, the Earl Grey Old Fashioned, has become my go-to cocktail, even more so than my tried-and-true bourbon Manhattans. Starting with a tea infused bourbon, and using lemon zest in place of the typical orange, it's got a nice balance of flavors that compliments bourbon well.

The concept for this recipe, and the key ingredients, came from a visit I made to The Whisky Bar in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood back in February of this year. Belltown is an upscale downtown neighborhood full of high rise condos and shops in addition to a some great bars and eateries. My companions and I visited three Belltown haunts that evening, and The Whisky Bar, along with Belltown Provisions across the street, really stood out as the highlights of the evening.

The bar back at The Whisky Bar reminds me of the bar back at Independent Ice here in Portland. Bottles of just about every brand and nationality of whiskey (or whisky, if you like) that you can imagine stretch from one end of the room to the other. If there is something you've always wanted to try, and are willing to pay the price of a pour, chances are you'll find it there. I started with a flight of Seattle craft whiskies that included Fremont Mischief Rye, Bainbridge, Copperworks, and Oola Cask Strength before moving on to a cocktail.

A version of the Earl Grey Old Fashioned was one of the cocktails on their menu, and after sampling a small taste of the one my Seattle Whiskey Mafia friend Milena had ordered, I ended up getting one myself and asking the bartender how it was made. Aside form the obvious base ingredient of tea infused bourbon, it was from him that I learned to include both lemon bitters and Angostura bitters in the recipe. Needless to say, I liked it enough that I started experimenting with tea infused bourbon and lemon bitters shortly after I got back to Maine.

If you get a chance to visit Seattle, definitely check out The Whisky Bar, but don't enjoy it so much that you can't also visit Belltown Provisions, which is more of a craft cocktail establishment with a few really interesting whiskey-based cocktails on the menu.

Making the Earl Grey Old Fashioned

I make my version of the Earl Grey Old Fashioned with Jim Beam White Label infused with Twinning's Earl Grey tea. Because I make this cocktail often, I use a quart milk bottle full to the shoulders and two tea bags and let the tea steep into the bourbon for about two and a half hours before decanting into a clean 750 ML bottle for use mixing drinks. If you want to smart small (I did), you can use a pint Mason jar and a single tea bag for about the same amount of time.

This video shows the process from start to finish, including the infusion:

Once the infusion is complete, mixing the cocktail itself is pretty easy. As you can see from some of the photos in this post, I started out making it with smoked sugar cubes, but have moved on to using Agave syrup almost exclusively, like I do in the video. The ingredients are:

2 1/2 ounces Earl Grey infused bourbon.
Quarter-sized dollop of Agave syrup in the bottom of your rocks glass
2 dashes lemon bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
lemon twist
Ice (I like to use a jumbo cube)

Just stir all of the ingredients together in your rocks glass, and then add ice. Definitely take the time to get some of that lemon flavor on the rim of your glass before you toss the twist into your drink, sometimes people look at me funny when I do it, but it makes a difference.

This has truly become a go-to for me, and I make it for bourbon loving guests whenever they come to visit. As far as I know, everyone has enjoyed it. I've even made it out while cruising the lake on a pontoon boat with Dan.

I know the tea infusion is probably a bit intimidating, but grab yourself a Mason jar and a tea bag and give a pint a try. You won't be disappointed!

Touring the James E. Pepper Distillery in Lexington, Kentucky

2022-11-25T08:27:00.009-05:00

The day after our stop at the Wigle Distillery in Pittsburgh, we headed south through West Virginia and Kentucky. After stopping for lunch with Dan's family, we pressed on to Lexington, arriving late on a Sunday afternoon with just enough time for one tour before the distilleries closed down for the day.

The distillery we chose was the James E. Pepper Distillery. It bears the Kentucky distillers permit DSP #5, the fifth license issued by that state. That license number is a bit deceiving though, because what was once one of the largest and oldest distilleries in Kentucky is now a relatively small craft distillery that has only been "back" in operation since 2008.

We arrived without a reservation, but were lucky enough to pick up one of the last tours of the day at 4:00, and since we had a few minutes to wait, we started off with an Old Fashioned from the Distillery's tasting room. Why an Old Fashioned? One of the cocktail's origin stories is a claim by the Louisville-based Pendennis Club that a bartender there created the cocktail in honor of none other than the prominent distiller James E. Pepper. Like so much of bourbon history, this claim is disputed, as the cocktail was described in the Chicago Tribune a year earlier in 1880 and there are indications that the mixing of spirits, water, sugar and bitters for the creation of cocktails goes back to as early as 1833.

Early Pepper Distillery History

Jessie starts off the tour in the museum.

Our tour began in the Distillery's museum, a room just off to one side of the tasting room and bottle shop which features many artifacts from the distillery's history. Our guide, Jessie, was embarking on his first ever solo tour, but he had clearly learned his business well and was animated and fun right from the beginning. More importantly for us, he was gracious to the whiskey know-it-alls at the back who answered almost every question he asked (after first giving others a chance, of course!)

The first Pepper to distill spirits in America was Elijah Pepper, who began distilling whiskey in Virginia in 1780, while the American Revolution was still ongoing. Elijah's connection to the revolution was later used in branding the company's whiskey "Old 1776," and is the namesake of today's 1776 bourbon and rye brands, which so far have been produced on a contract basis. Today's distillery also produces a white dog brand called "Old Elijah Pepper" in honor of the first family distiller.

After the Revolution, Elijah established his distillery in Versailles, Kentucky in what is today the Woodford Reserve Distillery. After his death, the Distillery passed to his son Oscar, who continued to be operate the distillery through the Civil War. Oscar who hired Scottish Chemist James Crow, and the two men perfected the sour mash method there at the Versailles facility. During this time, the two men were producing whiskey under the Old Crow brand that today belongs to Jim Beam, and it was this whiskey which was a favorite of Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster.

Oscar died suddenly in 1865, and the distillery passed to his son, James.

James E. Pepper and his Remarkable Wife

James inherited the distillery at the young age of 15, and he continued to manufacture whiskey at the Versailles distillery initially, expanding it with a loan provided by Colonel EH Taylor.

Unfortunately, in what was the first of many financial struggles for James, he failed to pay back the loan, and Taylor foreclosed on the distillery and sold it.

A year later, James raised the money to build a new distillery on the site of the current James E. Pepper distillery in Lexington, Kentucky. While making whiskey at this facility, James lobbied the Kentucky legislature and successfully changed state law so that he could bottle whiskey at the distillery to ensure quality. He added a paper seal bearing his signature, ensuring his customer of a pure, quality whiskey not tainted by unscrupulous rectifiers. During this time the distillery's leading brand was Old Pepper, which is currently being used with the rye whiskies distilled at the Lexington facility.

Ella Offut Pepper
Courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons

James was a flamboyant promoter and horseman with a stable of thoroughbred horses and a private railcar promoting his brand. His flamboyant promotion made the Pepper brand successful for a 20 year period, but unfortunately left him deep in debt and facing bankruptcy in when the whiskey market went bust in 1890. The Distillery and his horses were put up for auction to cover his debts.

Luckily for James, his wife Ella Offut Pepper was a formidable woman. She was the highest bidder for the horse farm, since no one in Lexington would bid against her. She took up horse racing and breeding, and was able to raise sufficient funds from the sale of her horses to purchase the distillery out of foreclosure and return it to operation.

James and Ella enjoyed continued success racing all over the world and continued to produce one of the nations leading whiskey brands for another decade, making frequent trips to the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City, and supposedly bringing the recipe for the Old Fashioned Cocktail to the Hotel. James died in 1905 after slipping on an icy New York sidewalk, and Ella sold the distillery and most of the horses.

Under new ownership, the distillery continued to operate into the 1960's, even making whiskey under a medicinal license through Prohibition. Like so many of the country's old whiskey brands, however, the Pepper distillery could not survive the hippie generation's rebellion against their parents. It ceased production in 1967.

Rebirth of the James E. Pepper Distillery

This Johnson-Jeffries fight picture launched Amir Pey's
search to discover and relaunch the James E. Pepper brand.

Entrepreneur Amir Pey discovered the Old Pepper brand while studying photos of the great Johnson - Jeffries boxing match of 1910. He wondered about how this whiskey brand that he had never heard of was promoted so prominently in one of the most prominent athletic contests of its day, and began researching the brand and collecting the memorabilia that graces the distillery museum today.

Pey acquired the Lexington distillery site and rebuilt it. He was even able to obtain the rights to the original distiller's license DSP number 5. The distillery barreled its first whiskey in 2017, using the same mash bills that were in use 50 years earlier when the distillery closed.

Trevor, Dan, and Mitch with the James E. Pepper Still

The first whiskies available from the present-day Pepper brand are the 1776 Bourbon and 1776 Rye, which to-date have been contract distilled off-site. These whiskies are available in 26 States today, including here in Maine. At the distillery, we were also able to purchase cask strength versions of the 1776 products, as well as a single barrel Old Pepper Distillery Rye and Elijah Pepper white dog.

When people ask about our favorite tours on the Kentucky bourbon trail, this one always ranks among the top three alongside Limestone Branch and Castle and Key. There are tons of reasons for that: Jessie's energy and enthusiasm are important as well as the small intimate group we were in and the opportunity to do things like taste the fermenting distiller's beer, or taste the bourbons straight from the barrel are big common threads among the best tours. Another is a compelling story, and the James E. Pepper story a dramatic one that touches both the American Revolution and the central figures of the Civil War. It is also an amazing story of perseverance, with multiple crises resulting in the brand's death and rebirth.

Tasting James E. Pepper Products

During the tour, we had the chance to taste whiskey that Jessie drew directly from the barrel with a thief, after which, he brought us in to a private tasting room to try some additional whiskey before the end of the tour. While we were there, we got to taste the 1776 Flagship Bourbon and Rye as well as the cask strength versions of those spirits and three different variants of the Old Pepper Distillery Rye.

This post has already run pretty long, so I'll save James E Pepper tasting notes for another post. For now, suffice to say that the Old Pepper Distillery Rye, batch 18, barrel 80 was our favorite pour of the day. Each of us left with at least one bottle of it, and we ended up returning for more later in the week. The bottle was so good it ended up being our first bottle kill of the week, late that same evening on the back patio of the Hampton Inn. If you get the opportunity to try Old Pepper, don't let it pass you by!

Ironside's Liz's Amazing Sazerac

2022-11-12T07:35:00.005-05:00

The next installment of our cocktail series takes us back to one of our favorite spots, the Ironside Whiskey Bar at the Portland Regency Hotel & Spa (pictured) for one of Liz's signature cocktails - the Sazerac. When I dug into the history of the Sazerac cocktail for this post, I found it has a really rich history and lore, even a Masonic connection. Curious? Read on!

The History of the Sazarac

The Sazarac cocktail has its origins with a Masonic apothecary from New Orleans by the name of Antoine Peychaud, who first mixed the beverage in 1838 using the French brandy Sazerac-de-Forge et fils. As part of its preparation, the brandy was rested in an egg cup, or coquetier, so Peychaud's creation is supposedly not just the origin of the "Sazerac," but indeed of the word "cocktail" itself.

However, we wouldn't recognize Peychaud's drink as a modern "Sazerac." Rye whiskey was substituted for brandy later, and in 1852, the cocktail became a signature beverage at the Sazarac House, a bar in the French Quarter. It was there that a dash of Absinthe was added in 1873 by bartender Leon Lamonthe. It is the Absinthe which originally gave the Sazerac its black licorice flavor, but many modern bartenders make the Sazerac cocktail with Peychaud's Bitters instead.

For me, one of the more interesting aspects of this story is that the cocktail is the origin of the names of the Sazerac House, the Sazerac Company, and Sazerac rye, rather than the other way around!

Liz's Sazerac Cocktail Recipe

Back when Liz made a Rob Roy for us, we also tried this cocktail and loved it, so it was a natural next video for the series. Liz mixes this one on the rocks, but she also makes it straight up. Honestly, I like it both ways. She also makes it with the traditional Absinthe, rather than with Peychaud's Bitters.

Check out how Liz mixes Ironside's Sazerac:

Sazerac Cocktail Ingredients

2 Ounces Sazerac Rye
Gentle squeeze lemon juice
Gentle squeeze of simple syrup
3 spritzes of Absinthe on the glass
3 drops Angostura Bitters
Ice
Lemon Twist

As with many cocktails, each bartender has their own twist on the Sazerac, but Liz's is my favorite. The lemon juice makes it super refreshing and the relatively light application of Absinthe gives you a little of that licorice flavor without overpowering the drink. One of the New Orleans websites I reviewed while researching this cocktail used a sugar cube, Herbsaint and Peychaud's bitters instead, and even suggested that you could substitute bourbon for rye (why not?).

Do you have a favorite recipe for the Sazerac? Please drop it in the comments section! Also, don't forget to Join the Mafia or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Cheers!

-Trevor

Daviess County Flight

2022-10-08T12:51:00.000-04:00

A few months ago while finishing my Executive Bourbon Stewards course. I had to put together a tasting flight and describe how I would lead the group through it. Below was my written essay. I am happy to report it was well received.

Flight Theme: How secondary finishes affect the flavors of bourbon.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to tonight‘s tasting.

We will be sampling three different whiskeys tonight, all of which are produced by the same distillery, have the same mashbill and are the same proof. However, they taste very different because of the secondary finishes they have undergone. Hopefully by the end of the night you will have a better understanding of how secondary finishes affect the flavor of a bourbon.

Before we start our tasting, let me tell you a brief story of Daviess County Kentucky which these whiskeys pay homage to.

During the pre-prohibition boom of the late 1800s Daviess County KY was a hub of high quality bourbon with over 20 distillers the largest and most well known being Daviess County Distillery which produced some of the best whiskey in the country at the time. When prohibition hit in 1920 Daviess County Distillery was fortunate to survive by producing federally bonded “medical” whiskey. However few if any of the other distilleries in the county were as lucky, thus ending Daviess county’s dominance as a whiskey market, never regained its glory. Even though they survived probation Daviess County distillery fell on hard times and began to change hands finally closing its doors and having its brands discontinued in 1992. Luxco revived the brand in 2020 as a nod to this historic distillery and the county it was named after.

I know, I know quit talking and let us drink! In front of you you have (3) 1 ounce pours.

Daviess Straight Bourbon
Daviess French Oak Cask Finish
Daviess Cabernet Cask Finished

All these whiskeys, (notice I didn’t say bourbon, because only one of the three is actually bourbon) started out the same way as straight bourbon. Luxco distillery starts out by blending A two year old wheated bourbon, and a two year old rye bourbon, they are then proofed down to 96% creating their base four grain Bourbon. Corn, Wheat, Rye, Barley.

Then the French Oak and Cabernet are finished in used casks and are no long legally allowed to be called bourbon.

Let’s get started by picking up each glass looking at the color, notice when comparing the first pour to the other two glasses it’s a lighter amber in appearance. Since this is the straight bourbon aged for 2 years it has less time in the barrel partially accounting for the light color. The remaining color change is due to the finishing process and what the barrels contained before the bourbon was introduced.

Now bring each glass slowly up to your nose one at a time. Don’t go in too fast or you may overwhelm and anesthetize your sense of smell, making nosing impossible. This can last for hours. Try to start a few inches away moving it slowly in and side to side until you just start to pick up the aroma. You will likely discover subtle differences. If you can’t name the differences that’s ok, that will improve with time and practice. Your sense of smell is strongly tied to memory, if you have never smelled cinnamon you can’t identify it in your whiskey. But if you grew up baking you’ll likely pick it up very strongly, it may even trigger specific memories from that time in your life. The great thing is that no matter what you smell you’re right, and the person sitting next to you may smell something totally different and they are right too. It’s all subject to your memories.

Nosing suggestion, try leaving your mouth slightly open and gently inhale through both your mouth and your nose. This should help better identify some of those faint notes.

So Finally let’s taste!

Sip, don’t shoot your whiskey, at least if you’re drinking for taste.

Your first sip will likely be hot, strong, and overwhelming, this is totally normal. Your brain’s interpretation of alcohol is that of poison, which if you drink too much of course can be. But after that first sip your brain & taste buds relax, the heat starts to settle down and you should be able to start picking up flavors.

On your second small sip, let it coat your mouth. Does it coat your mouth with an oily feeling, or is it thinner and more watery? Is the burn on the tip of your tongue, sides or back? What is the very first flavor you think of? Is it pepper, caramel, mint, sweet, fruity, or fresh baked bread? Again there is no wrong answer it’s subject to your pallet. So is there only a single note, or multiple flavors? That shows complexity. Now swallow, do you get different flavors that come through? Dry, tannic, leather, coffee, dark chocolate, these are often flavor descriptions of bourbon. Does the flavor leave immediately or does it linger, that can be described as a short or long finish. Do you feel the warmth in your throat, chest and finally belly, well that’s what we call a KY hug.

So now do this with each of our three whiskeys, saving just a little of each. Make some notes as you go.

Now go back to the first one and start again, do you find the same flavors as before or has the whiskey “opened up” or changed?

Tasting suggestion, it’s perfectly acceptable and even recommended to add just a drop or two of water on the second pass. This helps fracture the molecules and releases more flavor into the vapor in the glass.

So which was your favorite? Could you tell them apart? If not don’t worry it can take years of practice to get good at nosing and tasting. But the good thing is now if your partner complains about your drinking you can just tell them you’re practicing your nosing and tasting skills.

Thank you, and I hope you have enjoyed tonight’s tasting.

"Tasting Restoration" at Castle & Key in the Old Taylor Distillery

2022-09-30T10:49:00.010-04:00

Mitch Farr, Trevor Jones and Tim Schouten in front of the Old Taylor Distillery building.

One of the things I love about whiskey is how intertwined it is with history, storytelling, and marketing - all passions of mine. All of these were on full display in the final stop of our Kentucky Bourbon Trail adventure: Castle and Key Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. The distillery very graciously showed us around, and we had our guide, Murray all to ourselves. The story Murray told us was a remarkable one of innovation, decline, and ultimately restoration.

Old Crow distillery ruins.

The distillery is housed in the castle-like distillery building once founded by whiskey legend Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor and given to his son Jacob Swigert Taylor to operate. The elder Taylor had his hands full operating the Old Crow distillery a short distance down the road. Old Crow was once an industry giant but is now in ruins save for a few warehouses owned by Jim Beam.

The Taylor Distillery's fate was very nearly the same as Old Crow's, but in 2012 Castle & Key co-founder Will Arvin saw photographs of the building, and knowing that a rise in bourbon tourism was already coming along with the bourbon boom, decided to take see the building for himself.

Apparently when Will showed up at the address, the realtor handed him a hard hat and a flashlight and more or less refused to walk around the property with him. What he saw included collapsing roofs and boarded up windows, but also some amazing architecture with a rich history of innovation. Will, and later his partner, Wes Murray, were convinced they could restore the facility and build a new bourbon brand around it.

The Birthplace of Bourbon Tourism

In the post-prohibition era Margie Samuels of Maker's Mark gets much of the credit for opening up distilleries to the public. While this credit is well deserved, when one goes back to the pre-prohibition era we find that the Taylors did it first, right here at the Old Taylor distillery!

Signs of this are all over the distillery, from the railroad tracks out front that once delivered passengers to the distillery to the pavilion roof over the key shaped springhouse that Taylor designed to show people that the clear limestone filtered water was the "Key" to his excellent quality bourbon. There is also a sunken garden on the side of the property opposite the spring, which Castle & Key has restored and uses to host weddings and other events.

Castle & Key Distillery hosts weddings in the Old Taylor Distillery's restored sunken garden.

Innovation at the Old Taylor Distillery Preserved Alongside Modernization

EH Taylor is well known as the man who modernized and industrialized bourbon production. And there are signs of this innovation everywhere in the distillery, from the use of COR-TEN weathering steel in the manufacture of cooking tanks to ingeniously placed barrel rolling rails. You can also see how train tracks ran both in front (for passengers) and in back (for freight) of the distillery. At the same time, there are also signs of innovations that didn't work out, like the use of a tobacco farming machine to move barrels around the property.

In many ways, the best part is that Will Arvin and Wes Murray have preserved as much of this history as they can, while building a modern distillery and tourist destination around it. Perhaps the best example of how history has been preserved alongside modern technology is near the old distillery tanks, where you will see an iPad controlling the cooking process in the modern distillery in the same room as you will find the COR-TEN steel levers that were once used to add grains manually.

At Last! Tasting some Castle & Key whiskey

You've had more than your usual dose of history on this one, so let's get to some tasting notes, shall we? We first headed down to a rehabilitated rickhouse to draw a sample of a yet-to-be released wheated bourbon directly from the barrel with a copper thief.

Posted by The Whiskey Mafia on Saturday, September 24, 2022

I clearly got the thief a bit too low in the barrel on this draw, because as you will see from some of my pictures, I got a fair quantity of barrel char in my sample cup. Next came the delicate task of carrying my sample across the grounds without spilling any, so I could taste it alongside a flight from the distillery's bar that included their small batch bourbon, batch one and batch two of their Restoration Rye, and a Restoration Rye Single Barrel.

Castle & Key Wheated Bourbon Barrel Sample: Undisclosed mash bill of at least 51% corn with wheat as the primary flavoring grain and malted barley. Undisclosed proof - cask strength sample.

Nose: Vanilla, fresh baked bread, caramel

Palate: Caramel, vanilla, leather

Finish: Warming sensation initially in the upper throat and then moving gradually to the upper chest. Lingering wheat bread notes.

Castle & Key Small Batch Bourbon: Mash bill of 73% white corn, 10% rye, 17% malted barley. Blended from a batch of 40 barrels with a minimum age of 4 years. 96 proof.

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, citrus, pepper

Palate: Vanilla, black pepper, green apple, baking spice, bread

Finish: Lingering pepper notes and leather. Moderate warming sensation in the upper throat

Castle & Key Restoration Rye 2022 Batch #1: Mash bill of 63% rye, 17% yellow corn and 20% malted barley. Blended from a batch of 60 barrels with a minimum age of 3 years. 113 proof.

Nose: Wintergreen, rye bread, vanilla, light floral notes

Palate: Rye bread, black pepper, baking spices, lightly sweet

Finish: Lingering black pepper and sweetness, moderate warmth in starting in the upper throat and moving to the belly

Castle & Key Restoration Rye 2022 Batch #2: Mash bill of 63% rye, 17% yellow corn and 20% malted barley. Blended from a batch of 60 barrels with a minimum age of 3 years. 105 proof.

Nose: Rye bread, vanilla, light minty notes

Palate: Vanilla, baking spice, black pepper

Finish: Lingering black pepper and sweetness, moderate warmth in starting in the upper throat and chest

Castle & Key Restoration Rye Single Barrel Cask Strength, Barrel #1564: Mash bill of 63% rye, 17% yellow corn and 20% malted barley. Single barrel with a 4 year age statement. 119.2 proof.

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, light floral and spearmint notes

Palate: Vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, black pepper

Finish: Lingering black pepper and molasses, warming in the upper throat moves gradually through the chest

Closing Thoughts

We enjoyed our visit which was welcoming and gracious from the moment of our arrival. The neat sample flights and the cocktails we tried were delicious, and Murray was both knowledgeable and entertaining as a guide. The only disappointment for us was that we arrived too late in the day to bring home a bottle of the small batch bourbon. Castle & Key only releases 100 bottles per day, and it was gone long before we got there at 3:00. We each brought home a bottle of Restoration Rye, however, and we each had our own favorites between the Batch 1, the Batch 2, and the Single Barrel. The bottle shop is beautiful and definitely worth a stop no matter when you get there.

We'd like to thank Castle & Key and Murray for hosting us and sharing so much information about the history of their distillery and their restoration efforts. It's a truly amazing story of renewal for what had been a lost gem of the pre-prohibition era.

Cheers!

-Trevor, Mitch, and Tim

Dinner and a Tasting at Pittsburgh’s Wigle Distillery

2022-09-24T20:08:00.023-04:00

On the first night of our weeklong road trip from Maine to Kentucky, Dan, Mitch, and I stopped in Pittsburgh. Our dinner destination was the Wigle Distillery in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. The Distillery features a full bar with cocktails, beer, and wine as well as a full restaurant menu. The ambiance is bright and modern, but also comfortable with a nice energy. It was a great place to relax and enjoy dinner and whiskey after a long day spent (mostly) in the car.

The Wigle (pronounced vig-le) distillery is a family owned distillery founded in December of 2011. It is named after Phillip Wigle, a 1790's era distiller who fought for his right to distill spirits without taxation, and inadvertently started the Whiskey Rebellion. Just like Phillip Wigle, the distillery's owners had to fight to make whiskey. They battled for two years to legalize on-site distilling in Pennsylvania before becoming the first distillery in the City of Pittsburgh in the post-prohibition era

We began with flights of Wigle’s craft whiskies. Our server steered us away from the flagship bourbon and rye, which he indicated were quite young, to more mature single barrel, cask strength, and finished products. We also ordered dinner, but settled in to enjoy our whiskey and take some notes before the food came.

Trevor’s Wigle Whiskey Flight

Wapsie Valley Bourbon: Mash Bill 80% red corn, 20% wheat, 20% malted barley. The name of this bourbon comes from the source of its red corn, which has a higher protein content than traditional yellow dent, Aged more than two years in new charred oak barrels. 92 proof.

Nose: Spearmint, vanilla

Palate: Vanilla, pepper, breads

Finish: Medium length peppery finish with hints of bread and a moderate heat

Wigle Single Barrel Rye: 70% rye, 15% corn, 15% malted barley. Aged 4 years in new 53 gallon charred oak barrels. 100 proof.

Nose: Vanilla, spearmint, green apple

Palate: Rye bread, oak, black pepper

Finish: Short finish with lingering black pepper and bread notes

Wigle Sherry Finished Rye: 70% rye, 15% corn, 15% malted barley. Aged 4 years in new charred oak before finishing 8 months or more in used sherry casks. 80 proof.

Nose: Butterscotch, dark red fruit

Palate: Sweet berries, pepper, and butterscotch

Finish: Short finish with hints of dark red fruit and leather

Afterglow Ginger Whiskey: Straight rye whiskey infused with locally grown whole ginger root. The ginger infusion comes through strongly enough that most other rye notes are overpowered by it, although the black pepper notes still come through. 80 Proof.

Nose: Pickled ginger (think sushi), mint

Palate: Sweet, ginger and black pepper

Finish: Short with continuing ginger and pepper notes

From my flight, I ended up bringing home a bottle of the Single Barrel rye. In addition, we were able to get small taster pours, and I later tried and purchased a bottle of the Deep Cut cask strength single barrel rye, which apparently left a better impression on me than it did on Dan.

Dan’s Wigle Whiskey Flight

Wigle Deep Cut Single Barrel Cask Strength Rye: 70% rye, 15% corn, 15% malted barley. Hand selected barrels aged a minimum of four years. 118.6 proof.

Nose: Mint

Palate: Lots of pepper, mint

Finish: Fresh grain

Wigle Sherry Cask Finished Rye: (See above for details.)

Nose: Butterscotch

Palate: Sweet and light, red fruit notes

Finish: Short, sweet fruit notes

Wapsie Valley Bourbon: (See above for details.) Dan’s notes on this pour indicate that he found it very grain-forward and not complex. He did not record n/p/f.

City of Champions Bourbon: Small batch of hand-selected honey barrels from aging inventory. Overall, Dan felt this bourbon had better maturity than the Wapsie bourbon. NAS. 92 proof.

Nose: Vanilla, caramel

Palate: Brown sugar, vanilla and oak

Finish: Sweet and smooth

Dan ended up bringing home a bottle of the sherry cask finished rye, along with a bottle of the Kilted Cask Rye from Mitch’s flight. This rye whiskey has been finished in Laphroaig casks and has quite a bit of what Dan calls “Islay Funk,” which is probably why I had no interest and both of them liked it.

Closing Thoughts

In general, we all found Wigle’s ryes to be better and more mature than their bourbons which were good, but young and grain-forward. Our server indicated that much of the bourbon stock had been depleted during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in younger overall stock, which may explain why the bourbons tasted so young. Finished and select ryes, in particular, were the most impressive to us, including the Kilted Cask, the Single Barrel, and the Sherry Cask.

Food and service were both excellent. In addition, the cocktails we ordered were delicious and well presented. Given that the ryes seemed to be the best of what they had to offer, I ordered their “Sazerac” cocktail, which I found to be in the top 10% of the ones I had tried. Too often, the Absinthe in a Sazarac overpowers the whiskey, and that was not at all the case with this one. Dan’s rye old fashioned was also very good.

Whiskey Tasting Flight at the Oola Distillery Bottle Shop

2022-08-28T11:56:00.014-04:00

On my most recent trip to Seattle, I made a long overdue stop at the Oola Distillery bottle shop in the Georgetown area south of the city center. The actual distillery, which is located a few minutes away in SODO, has its own tasting room and does offer tours on a limited basis, although none were available when I was looking at tour options for my trip. If you'd like a tour, I definitely recommend booking it well in advance.

Oola claims to be the oldest craft distillery in the city as well as one of the largest in Washington State. It was founded in January of 2010 by Kirby Kallas-Lewis, a former art dealer. The distillery gets its name from one of Kallas-Lewis' pets, a German Sheppard who it seems has passed on. In addition to expressions of high-rye bourbon, the distillery also produces vodka and gin, along with a barrel aged version of the latter.

In addition to selling the distillery's craft spirits by the bottle, tastings, glassware and other merchandise, the bottle shop offers cocktails for those who don't enjoy tasting neat spirits. Business was a little slow when I was there in the early afternoon on an overcast Friday, so I had a nice chance to sample the four whiskies currently in inventory and chat a little with the distillery employee manning the shop.

Oola Craft Whiskey Tasting Flight

The Oola craft whiskey line-up is built around the distillery's flagship Waitsburg Whiskey Bourbon. The name Waitsburg comes from the Washington state town where the corn and wheat are sourced. Flights at the bottle shop are usually three pours, but you can add a fourth for $5, and I decided to take advantage of that.

Waitsburg Whiskey Bourbon: While the precise mash bill is not disclosed, we know that this is a four-grain, high rye bourbon made up of local corn, rye, white winter wheat and barley. The distillery employee I spoke with could only say that he "thought" the corn content was either 52 or 62%, that it was high rye, and that the quantities of barley and wheat were equal. I think this bourbon is a bit too sweet to be 52% corn, so I am thinking the mash bill is probably something like 62% corn, 20% rye, 9% wheat and 9% barley, but it's just an educated guess. Aged 6-8 years. I found references in some reviews to the use of 10 gallon micro barrels for a time before transferring it to 53 gallon barrels to mature, although only 53 gallon barrels are referenced on the distiller's website. 94 proof.

Nose: Vanilla, malt, and grain.

Palate: Vanilla, fresh baked bread, pepper with light cherry notes. Medium heat.

Finish: Lingering peppery notes, wheat bread.

Discourse Series Three Shores Blended Whiskey: This limited release is a blend of Waitsburg Bourbon, an undisclosed Canadian whiskey, and an undisclosed Highland Scotch. No age statement. 94 proof.

Nose: Vanilla and malt.

Palate: Vanilla, stewed apples, baking spice.

Finish: Mild peppery notes with vanilla. Mild warming in the chest.

Discourse C Cabernet Finished Bourbon: This limited release of the Waitsfield bourbon is finished for one year in French oak barrels that have previously been used to age Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged 6-8 years in American white oak before finishing. 94 proof.

Nose: Vanilla, dark red fruit, grain.

Palate: Vanilla, caramel, baking spice, plums.

Finish: Pepper and lingering fruity notes.

Waitsburg Whiskey Cask Strength Bourbon: This 116-proof barrel strength version of the flagship bourbon brings out some flavors I found muted in the lower proof version. Caramel and cherry, in particular, are much more pronounced in the cask strength variant. Aged 6-8 years.

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, light grassy notes.

Palate: Caramel, cherry, vanilla, baking spice, pepper

Finish: Pepper and wheat bread.

Overall, I really enjoyed sampling these whiskies and would love to return for a tour of the distillery on a future visit to the area. I ended up bringing home a bottle of the Waitsfield Bourbon and the Three Shores Blended Whiskey. If you're ever in the area, I'd definitely stop in for a tasting.

Along with my visits to Woodinville Whiskey and Skybound Spirits, Batch 206 and Freemont Mischief, my visit to Oola reinforces how diverse and well developed the spirit, beer and wine culture of Washington State is. If this were a blog about beer, I could write a half dozen articles about the breweries here, and I'm just starting to experience the excellent wine crafted in the area. If you get the chance to visit, I'd definitely make sure you find time to sample the local libations, whatever your preference.

Cheers!

Huling Station Review

2022-07-25T23:07:00.011-04:00

Huling Station Single Barrel Select

By: Old Dominick Distillery
Distilled by: MGP
Age: 5 Years
Proof 113.03
Picked by: Air Capital Barrel Society.

The name Huling Station harkens back to 1866 and a wholesale grocery in Memphis, TN that produced their own brand of cordial. Unfortunately prohibition meant the end of the original cordial brand, but the family grocery business continued to grow and has become one of the largest grocery distributors in the Midsouth. In 2013 the great grandchildren of the founder Domenico Canale found a bottle of the his original cordial from the 1800’s and that spurred them to create Old Dominick Distillery, becoming the first legal distillery in TN since Prohibition.

Although I think they are distilling some of their own spirits, this particular Bourbon was distilled for them by MGP. If I understand correctly they provide MGP with their recipe, MGP distills it and sends it back to them to be barrel aged and eventually bottled in Memphis.

This is a single barrel club pick from Air Capital Barrel Society, and my bottle came to me through Jason Grimm, Thank you Sir, you and the club have picked several great barrels and I appreciate the inclusion.

This is a single barrel product, so my bottle may taste different from a bottle you try. Single barrels are like snowflakes each one is different.

Huling Station Single Barrel Select Tasting Notes

Mash Bill: Unknown, but I’m guessing it’s a high rye bourbon based on nose and taste. Aged 5 years. 113.03 Proof.

Color: Surprisingly Deep Amber for a 5 year old.

Nose: Spicy, Cinnamon, Tobacco, Dark Chocolate.

Taste: Full Buttery Mouth Feel, Spicy, Pepper, Tobacco

Finish: Surprisingly long with a pleasant hug, Dark Chocolate, Tobacco, Burnt Sugar.

Conclusion: I had never heard of this brand before, so I went in with no preconceived ideas or expectation, so I was pleasantly surprised in the depth of flavor that came from this 5yr old. It drinks much more mature. It is a nice bourbon & I enjoyed it and look forward to sharing it with friends. I don’t think this will become my daily drinker but it definitely has a place on my shelf and I look forward to going back to it.

Cheers,

Godfather Dan

A Visit to Bully Boy Distillery

2022-07-23T20:04:00.012-04:00

Earlier this year, I was treated to a weekend in Boston with my son, Collin, who you may remember from my post on the Seattle Chapter of the Whiskey Mafia. We had a little time to kill on our final afternoon in the city, so we used the opportunity to visit the Bully Boy Distillery in Roxbury.

We were thankful for our navigation! The distillery is located in a nondescript building in a busy neighborhood with commercial, light industrial and residential development. Parking is on-street, but we didn't have any trouble finding a spot nearby on a Sunday afternoon.

Inside, the distillery has a tasting room with a full bar so you can enjoy cocktails in addition to their selection of 13 craft spirits including an American Straight Whiskey. There is also a function room which is normally where the tasting component of the tour takes place, but the room was in use for our visit, so we did our tasting on folding chairs on the distillery floor. Distillery tours are $10, and include some entertaining history as well as insight into Bully Boy's process.

The Bully Boy Story

A display on the distillery floor shows (L ro R): The
Bully Boy plaque, some of the bottles found in the
vault, and an old photo that includes Bully Boy
and the Willis's grandfather.

Like many craft distilleries, Bully Boy is a family affair. It was founded by Dave and Will Willis, who began their spirits career making hard cider and later brandy on Charlescote Farm, a fourth generation family farm. Also on the farm is "the vault," a room in the farm's fieldstone basement behind a steel door from a defunct bank that was probably a prohibition era speakeasy. The vault contains a collection of spirits amassed by Willis's grandfather including pre-prohibition and prohibition era whiskies, vodka, rum and other spirits. This collection was the inspiration for what eventually became the Bully Boy Distillery.

The Distillery's namesake was a quarter horse that once lived on the farm. "Bully Boy" belonged to the Willis's grandfather, who was a friend of Theodore Roosevelt's at Harvard and got his name from TR's well-known exclamation, "Bully!" There was a plaque in the vault honoring Bully Boy and connecting the horse to spirits, a connection that continues with the distillery's name.

The Bully Boy Process

As befits a craft distillery founded on a farm, the Willis brothers use local grains and botanicals in their distilled spirits so their whiskies reflect the natural environment of Massachusetts. Some of their corn even comes from the family farm itself. As to their rum, while sugar cane doesn't grow in the cold New England climate and most of their molasses is sourced from New Orleans, Boston has long been associated with the import of molasses and other sugar cane products, and was the site of the famous "Great Molasses Flood" in 1919.

The experimentation still and the library.

Dave Willis serves as the Head Distiller at Bully Boy and he crafts 13 different spirits, most using the distillery's 750 gallon Christian Carl hybrid still, pictured above. Gin is distilled using a 150 gallon Kothe Still. Dave also has a micro still on the distillery floor that he uses to do quick experiments with new spirits, which he keeps in a gigantic library (complete with a library ladder) on one wall of the distillery.

Some bottling and packing is done in the
distillery, behind the stills.

Much of the bottling, packing and shipping of Bully Boy's spirits is done in the back of the distillery and is an all-hands-on-deck affair. On occasion, even Dave and Will's parents get involved in the bottling process. Our guide said that when they do, they get to pick the music that the team listens to!

Bully Boy American Straight Whiskey Tasting Notes

The distillery's website indicates that their goal in creating their American Straight Whiskey was to achieve a balance between the sweetness of corn and the dry spiciness of rye, leading to a mash bill of 45% corn, 45% rye, 10% malted barley. The bottled whiskey is proofed to 84.

Nose: Spearmint, vanilla, grain.

Palate: Black pepper, honey, mint, baking spice.

Finish: Pepper, bread, honey.

It's hard to say if the distillery achieved its goal of balance. To me, this tasted like a rye whiskey. Although I'll grant you that it was a bit sweeter than most ryes, I have enjoyed ryes with similar flavor profiles in the past. On the other hand, it's pretty clear that this is NOT a bourbon. Balanced or not, its enjoyable and worth checking out.

Of course, we also tried several of their other spirits during the tour. While I certainly enjoyed them, I didn't catch notes (this is a whiskey blog after all), so I'm afraid you'll have to experience those for yourself.

Unfortunately, Collin had a flight to catch and we were a little rushed at the end of the tour so I can't give you a review of the cocktails served in the bar. I can tell you it was packed house on a Sunday afternoon, so they must have been pretty good.

If you find yourself in Boston sometime with 45 minutes to an hour to spare for a tour, I would say the tour is well worth your time and the $10 price of admission. I'd go back just to take a closer look at the library and hear some of the fascinating family history again.

If you've been to Bully Boy or tried their spirits and have an thoughts of your own to share, we'd love to hear them in the comments below!

Cheers!

- Trevor

Third Barrel Tasting at Cathedral Ledge Distillery

2022-07-06T13:54:00.020-04:00

About 18 months ago I was in North Conway shortly the after the opening of the Cathedral Ledge Distillery. I sampled their new make white whiskey and several other spirits and signed up for their Bourbon Club, which, among other things, gets me an invitation to participate in a Club exclusive barrel tasting every six months until the first straight bourbon is released in January of 2023. Dan joined the Bourbon Club after coming as a guest for the first barrel tasting, and we made the trip together for the second time for tasting three.

The first barrel tasting provided the opportunity to taste 6 month old variations of the wheated bourbon, rye whiskey, and traditional (rye) bourbon. The second barrel tasting was unique in that we tasted several different whiskies all bottled on the same day because of issues the Distillery had getting cooperage - a unique opportunity to focus on the impact of the wood.

Owner Chris Burk draws samples with
assistant distiller Karen Beck.

For this third barrel tasting, we went back to the original barrels for a taste of what had happened over the past year. We tasted two wheated bourbon samples, two rye whiskey samples, and two mid-rye bourbon samples. In a departure from previous tastings, we had the opportunity to sample all six barrels at cask strength.

What a difference a year makes! These whiskies have come a long way since the first barrel tasting, but rather than get ahead of myself, let's get right to the notes!

Cathedral Ledge Distillery Third Barrel Tasting Notes

Sample #1: Wheated Bourbon - The mash bill for this is 69% corn, 19% wheat, 12% malted barley. Aged approximately 13 months in a char #3 barrel. Cask strength of approximately 120 Proof.

Nose: Caramel, oak, grain

Palate: Vanilla, caramel, bread, grass

Finish: Short, sweet finish. Moderate warming in the chest

Sample #2: Wheated Bourbon - Mash bill of 69% corn, 19% wheat, 12% malted barley. Aged 13 months in a char #4 barrel. Cask strength.

Nose: Vanilla, grain

Palate: Very sweet, caramel, grain

Finish: Short, sweet finish. Moderate warming in the back of the throat

Sample #3: Rye Whiskey - Mash bill of 54% rye, 34% corn, 12% malted barley. Aged 15 months in a char #3 barrel. Cask strength.

Nose: Mint, rye bread, new wood

Palate: Sweet and spicy. Rye, cinnamon, and black pepper

Finish: Long, peppery finish with a long warming in the chest

Sample #4: Rye Whiskey - Mash bill of 54% rye, 34% corn, 12% malted barley. Aged 17 months in a char #4 barrel. Cask strength.

Nose: Honey, grain and baking spice

Palate: Black pepper, cinnamon and honey

Finish: Long, peppery finish with a long warming in the chest

Sample #5: Bourbon Whiskey - Mash bill of 69% corn, 19% rye, 12% malted barley. Aged 17 months in a char #3 barrel. Cask strength.

Nose: Vanilla, cherry, baking spices

Palate: Caramel, cocoa, molasses, pepper

Finish: Lingering sweet finish with notes of honey and black pepper

Sample #6: Bourbon Whiskey - Mash bill of 69% corn, 19% rye, 12% malted barley. Aged 17 months in a char #4 barrel. Cask strength.

Nose: This sample was a vanilla bomb on the nose. Sweet vanilla

Palate: Caramel, honey, black pepper

Finish: Lingering sweet finish with notes of honey and black pepper

Closing Thoughts for this Barrel Tasting

There's no doubt that maturity makes a huge difference with barrel aged products, but it has been really amazing to observe the changes in Cathedral Ledge's three core whiskey products over the relatively short span of just under 18 months.

Left, sample color at 6 months - Right 13-17 months.

The sample colors above tell part part of the story, but the extra time aging in the barrel has also added quite a bit of complexity and flavor to these whiskies, and even the ones we thought tasted pretty good at 6 months are significantly better a year later.

The Bourbon Club discussing favorite samples.

The mid-rye bourbon, in particular, has matured significantly and Dan and I both thought sample #6 is shaping up to be an outstanding bourbon. In fact, when Chris polled the group to see which samples were the favorites, consensus seemed to coalesce around bourbon sample #6 and rye sample #3. For the most part, the group was divided only on which of those two we preferred.

If you're a club member who hasn't been yet, there's one more tasting coming up in 10 days. If not, you'll have to taste these whiskies another way. The wheated bourbon and the rye whiskey are both available in the distillery shop in North Conway, NH, and the rye whiskey can also be purchased at New Hampshire Liquor and Wine Outlets along with some of the distillery's clear offerings. Speaking for myself, I'm anxiously awaiting the final barrel tasting, which should be accompanied by my first opportunity to bring home a bottle of the straight (mid-rye) bourbon.

Distillers for a Day at Wiggly Bridge Distillery

2022-06-25T08:11:00.019-04:00

Maybe not everyone who enjoys something wants to try making it themselves, but Dan, Mitch and I (and possibly you, dear reader) have an interest in whiskey that goes beyond drinking the spirit. We've experimented with aging white whiskey, corn whiskey and even re-barreling a bourbon in our nano-barrel. We've studied the distilling and aging process, and even attended barrel tastings at a local craft distillery. We've always wanted to have a hands-on experience making whiskey, but unlike home brewing, it isn't legal to do it at home without a license.

So back in February, 2020 (yeah, that's right) when our friend David at Wiggly Bridge Distilling in York Beach, Maine told us about the distillery's Distiller for a Day program, Dan and I jumped at the chance to sign up for the experience. The program was very hands-on. The master distillers literally put you to work in the cooking, fermenting, distillation and barreling process, at least to the extent that you can do it in a day.

As you might expect, we didn't get to "make the hooch" in 2020, and we didn't get to go in 2021 either, but at last in April of 2022 we got the call from David that he and David Jr. would host a Saturday class for us, including Mitch, who joined the group after our original visit to the distillery.

Distilling Bourbon as Distiller for a Day at Wiggly Bridge

When our long awaited date came around, the three of us arrived at the distillery a little before 9:00 AM. After a warm welcome and a quick orientation, the Woods men put us right to work unloading a pallet of grain and leaning them up against the cooker as it filled with water.

Once the water had heated up a bit, it was time to start adding the grain to the cooker. Wiggly Bridge's bourbon uses an ultra-high rye mash bill made up of 58% corn, 37% rye and 5% malted barley. That meant that we had to add 15 bags of corn, 9 bags of rye, and one bag of barley malt to the cooker. The cooker is steam heated and has a large agitator in the middle to keep everything well stirred.

Corn goes in first and cooks for 40 minutes after the water reaches 140 degrees before the rye is added. During this time the mash continues to heat up to 188 degrees, but it has to be cooled back down to 145 degrees before barley is added to the mash in order to avoid damaging the enzymes that are needed from the malt.

While the corn was still cooking, we started a spirit run in the smaller of Wiggly Bridge's two copper pot stills. Sprits are double distilled. The first distillation, called the stripping run, removes the solids from the fermented mash, or "beer" and extracts a lower proof alcohol, called "low wines." The spirit run extracts the "high wines, which can be divided into heads, hearts and tails.

As David likes to say, when you look at the actual physical work that they do, distillers are really in the "fluid transportation business." Starting the sprit run required that we connect a commercial food-grade pump to the storage tank holding the low wines, and to the spirit still and then pumping the appropriate volume into the still.

The Waiting and The Grains

As it turns out, the other thing distillers do a lot of is waiting. Waiting for the corn to heat up to 140, waiting the 40 minutes for it to cook before adding the rye, and waiting for the distillation process to run its course.

While we waited, we learned about the Woods' corn, which is a locally grown hybrid of Bloody Butcher, Ohio Blue Clarage, and #2 Yellow Dent. The tale of how this blend came about is an interesting anecdote of David's about a several conversations with a patron of the distillery who happened to be a local farmer with a farm in Ohio who wanted his business. I really couldn't do justice to the story here even if I had the space, so you'll have to hear that one when you visit Wiggly Bridge. The malt is also local, having been grown and malted in Maine by Lewiston-based Blue Ox Malthouse.

Heads, Hearts and Tails

After a few minutes learning about the grains Wiggly Bridge uses, we headed back down into the still room to taste the distillate to see where we were in the process. David Sr. measured the spirit with a digital hydrometer, but we also tasted the distillate to see if we were out of the heads (most of which are set aside for the next run) and into the hearts.

As most people know, the goal of beverage alcohol production is Ethanol, but the process also produces a number of other compounds including acetaldehyde (which gives some bourbons their green apple aroma), acetone (nail polish remover), methanol, and ethyl acetate. These compounds have a lower boiling point than ethanol and come off the still first. They are referred to as the "heads." Too much of these compounds in your whiskey and you could get pretty sick, but small amounts are an important part of what gives bourbon its flavor.

You also get compounds other than ethanol at the end of the spirit run, including propyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol), acetic acid (vinegar), and amyl alcohol (which has a fruity aroma often compared to bananas or pears). These compounds known as "tails" are harmless, but too much of them will produce a sprit that you probably won't want to drink. As with the heads, part of the art of making bourbon is knowing when to cut off the tails so you get some of the flavors but not too much.

The bulk of the distillation run is in the hearts, so most of the rest of the day's activities actually took place between the heads and the tails of our spirit run.

Filling the Bourbon Barrel

After lunch, one of our first tasks was to fill our barrel, which due to the timing of things was neither from our cook nor from our spirit run, but instead from white dog distilled earlier. The first step was to sign the head of the barrel, so we can come back and taste it as it progresses through the aging process and eventually buy bottles of the finished bourbon.

The distillery keeps its finished white dog in a plastic storage tank, where it is rough proofed below the 125 maximum barrel entry proof using carbon filtered local water and mixed by pumping the white dog from the bottom of the tank to the top of the tank.

Once the distillate is proofed to the right level, we used the same pump as was used in the mixing process to pump the white dog into a new charred oak barrel. At this point the distillate is officially both whiskey (because its been put into an oak container) and bourbon (because that container was new charred white oak). We each then got a chance to pound the bung into the barrel with a rubber mallet.

Once the barrel was filled and sealed we carefully rolled it onto a forklift and placed it to rest temporarily in a storage container, because the distillery's rickhouse is near capacity and the new rickhouse is yet to be completed. We also got to go "tour" the rickhouse and take some pictures with six million dollars worth of aging bourbon, which made for a great photo (at the top of this post.)

We also checked out the basement under the distillery where several experimental products are aging including the distillery's first single malt whiskey.

Blending Barrels to Make the Finished Bourbon Flavor Profile

Eight single barrel samples represent a batch.

Once our barrel had been laid down to age, we moved upstairs over the distillery to learn about how barrels are selected and blended together to form a batch of the finished product. The word "blend" is often used to describe mixing different types of whiskey, or perhaps clear spirits into a finished product, but that's not what we're talking about here. Instead, we worked with eight samples from eight different barrels that make up the current Wiggly Bridge Small Batch.

David Sr. first poured us a small sample from each and asked us to taste and rank them on a three point scale: the single barrels we thought were good, the ones that were OK, and the one we really didn't care for.

Next, David mixed and rough proofed three different blends: Fist, he made a blend of just the bottles we liked. Then, he made a blend of the bottles we liked and the so-so bottles. Finally he made a blend that included the bottle we didn't like, and we tasted all three. Ultimately, each iteration tasted a little better and a little more complex than the one before it, which goes to show that even a barrel you may not like alone can contribute something positive to the flavor profile of the finished batch.

Even though we weren't necessarily surprised by the result, it was very interesting to participate in the process personally and actually experience the process of mingling barrels to form a batch.

The Final "Fluid Transportations"

Mash being pumped into the fermenter.

Before we could call it a day, we had just two more tasks to complete. We had to pump the finished white dog from our spirit run into the plastic storage tank for the next barrel fill. Then, we had to pump our finished cook into one of the distillery's three wooden fermenters. Once the completed mash was in the tank, David, Jr "tossed" the distillery's signature Scottish yeasts into the mash to start the fermenting process. The completed beer would ferment for a few days and ultimately be distilled about 5 days later.

At the end of the day there was an "I made the hooch" t-shirt and of course we visited the distillery shop to "transport" some sprits home with us! Overall, it was a fantastic day of learning about the distillation process first-hand by working on all of the major steps of the process. Many thanks to David Woods, Sr and David Woods, Jr for offering this experience. If you're in the area and would like to give it a try, we'd definitely recommend the Distiller for a Day experience!

Ironside's Liz Pelletier Makes us a Rob Roy with Glenmorangie

2022-04-12T21:41:00.008-04:00

For the latest installment in our Cocktail series, we went to none other than our good friend Liz at Ironside, and she mixed us Ironside's version of the classic Rob Roy cocktail. The Rob Roy cocktail itself has an interesting history for a marketing guy, since before the days of movies, this beverage was invented as a marketing tie-in to another art form.

The Cocktail with its Roots in a Play

Most of the time, the story surrounding a cocktail's origin is as much legend and conjecture as fact. Disputing claims over who invented some of the more famous concoctions can be as hotly debated as whether bourbon is named after Bourbon Street, New Orleans or Bourbon County, Kentucky. Fortunately for us, we know exactly when and where the Rob Roy was invented. It was the creation of an un-named bartender at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City in 1894.

The cocktail is indeed named after Robert Roy McGregor, the Scottish folk hero, but the real inspiration was to create a tie-in to a popular operetta based up McGregor's life, which was running in Manhattan at the time.

Whoever this bartender was, he wasn't the most original fellow. The Rob Roy is, after all, simply a Manhattan made with Scotch instead of bourbon, rye or Canadian whiskey. The Manhattan predates the Rob Roy by about a decade, and while the exact origins of the drink are in the "more legend than fact" category, there is no dispute about the fact that the cocktail originated in its namesake city. Our erstwhile bartender certainly knew about the Manhattan and plagiarized its recipe for the Rob Roy.

Ironside's Liz Mixes us a Rob Roy

When we approached Liz about making a cocktail for our video series, she asked what we wanted her to make, and we deferred to her boss. His recommendation was Ironside's take on the Rob Roy, which uses Glenmorangie, a Highland single malt, as opposed to the smokier Islay single malts more commonly used in modern Rob Roys. She makes this one straight up, although its perfectly acceptable to order your Rob Roy on the rocks if you wish.

Here's Liz Mixing Ironside's Glenmorangie Rob Roy:

Rob Roy Ingredients:

2 ounces Glenmorangie Single Malt
1 to 1.5 ounces sweet vermouth
3 drops Angostura Bitters
3 Luxardo Cherries

Stir the first three ingredients in a vessel with ice, then pour over the cherries in a coupe.

Finishing up our Glenmorangie Rob Roys with Liz

Technically, Liz's recipe is a "standard," or "sweet" Rob Roy, which is by far the most common and what you will get from most bars if you do not order something else. You can also order your Rob Roy "dry" (substituting dry vermouth for sweet) or "perfect" mixing half dry and half sweet vermouth into your cocktail.

As usual, Liz mixed an excellent cocktail! Even better - she made us a second cocktail, but that's a story for another post!

Meanwhile, if you missed our earlier installments check out the Boulvardier made for us by Ama Keates of New York City's Sophie's Bar and my own recipe for a Spiced Maple Old Fashioned.

Cheers!

Double Oak Flight

2022-03-29T20:34:00.006-04:00

When the three "Godfathers" of the Whiskey Mafia first came together as a group, it was the height of the pandemic. To minimize risk of infection we got together outdoors until it got too cold to do so, and then moved to Zoom. It became our habit to take turns pouring flights and doing contactless drops on our respective front porches. Later, we moved to blind flights after one night when Dan, a Buffalo Trace man, tricked Mitch and I into choosing his favorites over our own Jim Beam standbys in a flight one evening. Since then, I would say Mitch and I have each managed to exact some revenge over that, and I think it's safe to say that we've all had a blast with it.

We don't always do flights of three theses days. Very often we just get together to crack a few new bottles and enjoy them together, but recently the Omicron surge drove us back to Zoom for a few weeks, which also got us back to blind flights. When my turn came, I had an idea in mind for a flight that would show the broad range of possible expressions available from what the industry calls "double oaked" or twice-barreled whiskies.

The Double Oak Whiskey Flight

For my flight, I chose one craft bourbon, a rye from a mid-sized producer, and a bourbon from a major distillery: Stroudwater Belfry, Sagamore Double Oak Rye, and Woodfords Reserve Double Oak, respectively. Despite the fact that two are bourbons, the whiskies themselves had very little in common, apart form being double barreled. I chose the order with some care, leaving the Woodfords for last because I assumed it would be the easiest to identify.

Either I was wrong and the Woodford's was not so easily picked out from the crowd, or the tactic worked, because no one guessed what any of these were right away, although if you put them together, they did manage to identify #2 as a double oaked rye.

You'll notice that on two out of three of Mitch's notes don't include nosing notes. In the first place, I was very lucky to get more than "tastes like whiskey" form Mitch. In the second place, he really can't smell very well, and never has been able to.

Stroudwater Belfry

90 Proof. Blended distillate with undisclosed mash bills. Aged in Maine for at least two years before being finished in a second new charred oak barrel six additional months.

Dan

Nose: Dark Chocolate, oatmeal, maple syrup

Palate: Marzipan, bread

Finish: Noticeable ethanol burn, somewhat nutty finish

Mitch

Nose: Charcoal

Palate: Cherry cough syrup

Mitch picked this one as the oldest pour from the flight.

Trevor

Nose: Hot cocoa, popcorn, mint

Palate: Baker's cocoa, almond, marzipan

Finish: Pepper, mint, cherries

Sagamore Double Oak Rye

96.6 proof. Blend of a 95% Rye, 5% malted barley mash bill (MGP, of course), and a 51% rye, 45% corn, 4% malted barley mash bill. NAS.

Dan

Nose: Vanilla, cherries. Hint of medicinal notes - a bit like Aspercream

Palate: Mint, strong ethanol kick, citrus

Finish: Long hug, pepper, very dry and hot

On his second go-around, Dan noted that this pour had a bit more age, or possibly a higher barrel char. Of course, he hadn't been told these were double oaks, but by the end of the night he said that might be the reason for the wood and char he was picking up. He felt this was the oldest of the three pours.

Mitch

Palate: No pepper or distinct flavor.

Finish: Mild, watered down

I remember being very surprised by Mitch's notes, as I always find Sagamore a very flavorful rye, but he stuck to his guns. Mitch did speculate that this might be a rye, so he got Dan on that one.

Put the two of them together and they nailed it!

Trevor:

Nose: Grain, vanilla, mint

Palate: Cocoa, pepper and leather

Finish: Dry, black pepper, leather, very spicy

Woodford's Reserve Double Oaked

90.4 proof. Mash bill of 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley. NAS but aged approximately 7 years.

Dan

Nose: Stone fruit, cherry cool-aid, cinnamon

Palate: Sweet, vanilla, cinnamon

Finish: Short and oaky, tannic

Mitch

Palate: Tea, mint.

Trevor

Nose: Vanilla, brown sugar, wood

Palate: Cherries, caramel. leather and cinnamon

Finish: Short, dry, leather and pepper with a moderate hug

I confess my notes are a bit more conventional. Possibly because I was the only guy who knew what was in his glass from the first sniff and sip.

In the end, neither of the guys guessed the exact spirits they were tasting. Surprising, because I know the Sagamore and the Woodfords are both favorites of Dan's. As always, though, we enjoyed a sipping some good whiskey together and sharing stories - isn't that what it's really all about?

Cheers!

-Trevor