Who Likes White Dog?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cowdery

I can endorse Mellow Corn. Get the BIB if you can. It tastes a little like tequila. Much more drinkable than Georgia Moon.

Ben's right. A real moonshiner is lucky to hit 40% - 50% abv let alone 95%, and if you've been sipping 95% abv spirit, you're probably dead by now.

Also, true moonshine is rarely corn. It's usually sugarjack, i.e., made from table sugar. Hell, if it tastes good that right there is the best evidence that it isn't true moonshine, because true moonshine usually tastes like crap and a half.

Anybody with even a passing interest in moonshine should read Max Watman's book, Chasing the White Dog.

---

Got the Mellow Corn today and had a small pour after lunch. It's really not a bad drink at all and will certainly interest my friends when they drop by. Glad I was able to get the BIB.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cowdery

Anybody with even a passing interest in moonshine should read Max Watman's book, Chasing the White Dog.

---

Seconded!

If you enjoy the romantic notion of moonshine as this old farmer's way of using his surplus corn to put it to the man and then drive through the night in his hopped up car, this book probably isn't for you. While not a huge surprise, the book makes it very clear that "moonshine" (if you can even still call it that) is a very different thing today, and has been for sometime. Sad in a way. (Get some Mellow Corn if you want to know what it was like 50+ years ago.)

Nevertheless, the book does a good job of skipping around and touching on other interesting distilling topics. It has made me appreciate all of the budding micro-distillers even more. That is assuming those micro's have done a good job of making their lightly aged (or not aged at all) spirits taste like something new.

Our friends in Cedar Rapids are now selling White Dog as well.

The Cedar Ridge winery and distillery are new selling "unaged whiskey". I don't see it on the website as of yet.

www.crwine.com

I visited Grand Traverse Distillery last weekend and they are planning on selling White Dog, their 100% corn mashbill diluted to 80 proof. They have a bunch of cases of it piled up in their warehouse area, they are just waiting on approval for the label. They already sell the same thing @125 proof for the purposes of filling the small barrels they sell. It's not bad, but lacks some complexity.

never will have any complexity at 100 percent corn. Why is it that people want to make whiskey that way. I alsways thought is was big shortcut, until I found out how long it takes to mash it. 4 to 5 hours. Use malt, you get flavor and 30 minutes mashing is plenty.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tmckenzie

never will have any complexity at 100 percent corn. Why is it that people want to make whiskey that way. I alsways thought is was big shortcut, until I found out how long it takes to mash it. 4 to 5 hours. Use malt, you get flavor and 30 minutes mashing is plenty.

---

Funny you should mention it, the guy giving the tour (not one of the owners it should be said) explained why they only make single grain whiskeys and vodkas. He said that the only reason one would use multiple grains is to cover-up "poor distillation". He also said corn was just a filler and implied that using it was some sort of cheap shortcut. I assume he meant with regard to rye whiskey.

He also seemed to think makers who use multiple grains in their whiskeys actually blend single grain spirits together. The poor kid was confused about a lot of things.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Josh

I visited Grand Traverse Distillery last weekend and they are planning on selling White Dog, their 100% corn mashbill diluted to 80 proof. They have a bunch of cases of it piled up in their warehouse area, they are just waiting on approval for the label. They already sell the same thing @125 proof for the purposes of filling the small barrels they sell. It's not bad, but lacks some complexity.

---

Not to re-direct the thread, but did this tour take any advance planning? I'll be in the area in a week and would like to talk my wife into letting me stop by for a walk-around.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Josh

Funny you should mention it, the guy giving the tour (not one of the owners it should be said) explained why they only make single grain whiskeys and vodkas. He said that the only reason one would use multiple grains is to cover-up "poor distillation". He also said corn was just a filler and implied that using it was some sort of cheap shortcut. I assume he meant with regard to rye whiskey.

He also seemed to think makers who use multiple grains in their whiskeys actually blend single grain spirits together. The poor kid was confused about a lot of things.

---

He was probably saying what he had been told. This is exactly what I have heard from "guru" Bill Owens mouth. Whiskey has been made in Kentucky for years before any micro came along. If you want a model to follow, follow them. Not Bill.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bourbon Boiler

Not to re-direct the thread, but did this tour take any advance planning? I'll be in the area in a week and would like to talk my wife into letting me stop by for a walk-around.

---

Nope, no advance notice needed. While you're there stop in at Black Star Farms Old Mission tasting room and try some of their spirits. Great stuff, esp the grappa and apple brandy. The 10 y/o apple brandy is KILLER. Worth the $75 pricetag. If you're nice they may even let you look at the still.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tmckenzie

He was probably saying what he had been told. This is exactly what I have heard from "guru" Bill Owens mouth. Whiskey has been made in Kentucky for years before any micro came along. If you want a model to follow, follow them. Not Bill.

---

From your mouth to a dozen micro-distillers' ears!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Josh

Nope, no advance notice needed. While you're there stop in at Black Star Farms Old Mission tasting room and try some of their spirits. Great stuff, esp the grappa and apple brandy. The 10 y/o apple brandy is KILLER. Worth the $75 pricetag. If you're nice they may even let you look at the still.

---

Thanks, Josh. I'll check it out (if the boss consents).