Wasmund’s Distillers Art Series

[silverfish]

John Hansell's April 15 MA blog entry on Wasmund's
Single Malt Whisky mentioned the Wasmund's Distillers
Art Series. I did a forum search and only found this
covered briefly in a few posts.

I'm intrigued by the whole concept and will probably
end up giving it a go but I thought I'd toss it out and
ask if anyone has any thoughts on the Wasmunds
program, especially if you've bought a barrel.

[Lost Pollito]

No real thoughts yet. But, I just filled my Barrel last night with rye spirit. The other 2 kits are gonna be a single malt, and a bourbon. I have not seen or tasted the bourbon spirit yet, but I do like both the Barley and rye spirits. On saturday I'll get a chance to try some 3month old aged rye spirit. Rick Wasmunds sister will be at Binnys south loop with the kits and her barrel that she's been aging. I'll post some tasting thoughts as the aging rolls along.

[silverfish]

Do you mind if I ask how you went about ordering
your kit? I contacted Wasmund's via e-mail but
didn't receive a reply. As someone who owns two
barrels of JD, I was/am very interested in the program
and am a bit disappointed at not hearing back from them.

[Lost Pollito]

We have it in the store I work at. I just tasted the 3 month old and it was a tad tannic. I compared that with ours wich is 2 days in wood, and thought it was tasting quite nice. I'm guessing a week should be pretty good for this batch. Also guessing that re-using the barrel will ease the tannins I noticed in the 3 month old. I'll report back in a few days, and let ya'll know how it's tasting. As far as picking up a kit, I'm sure Rick will post someting on his site as everything gets hammered out. I like this idea of aging at home and look forward to playing with these barrels. I'm thinking about dumping some jb white into a barrel that we had caol ila in, just to see what happens. I'm starting to feel like a bourbon mad-scientist. Fun.

[Lost Pollito]

Day 4, and we have some color change going on. Also, the flavor is starting to round out. Undercurrents of toffee and vanilla. I think a few more days , then we'll probably hit the peak.

[booniesville]

I mixed about 80% Virginia lightning (100 proof), 20% Wasmund's Rye spirit (120 proof) with some house toast cubes and left it in my attic for a couple months. I tried it this weekend a it's rounded out nicely. I prefer the Wasmund's unaged spirits to the actual Wasmund's single malt.

[Lost Pollito]

I mixed about 80% Virginia lightning (100 proof), 20% Wasmund's Rye spirit (120 proof) with some house toast cubes and left it in my attic for a couple months. I tried it this weekend a it's rounded out nicely. I prefer the Wasmund's unaged spirits to the actual Wasmund's single malt.

I agree. The spirit is there. We're 2 months in on the second fill of our das barrel experiment currently, and I can say that it is starting to taste quite nice. Lets hope Mr. wasmund is aging some stock off to the side in a more traditional fashion. Knowing that the raw spirit taste's so good, one can guess that givin time, his malt will age nicely.

[booniesville]

I finally got a small barrel. I have used oak cubes to this point with good results. Can't wait to fill it!

[booniesville]

Here are some recent pics of the progress

[silverfish]

Thought I'd bump this thread with some current information.

I received an e-mail from Rick Wasmund who replied that they
are having trouble with NY distributor but offered an alternative.
He suggested I order the spirits from Central Liquors in DC and
Wasmunds would ship the barrels to me direct. He said this
method may actually be cheaper.

Also, I see Binny's sells the Wasmund spirits as well as the
barrel kit ($99.) if anyone is interested.

Just a quick edit to add that I mailed Alec Akopov at Central
to confirm they could ship the spirits to my state and I received
a reply 8 minutes later. I just got off the phone after placing
an order for the Wasmund spirits ($20. @ - $5. cheaper than
Binnys!) and will be ordering some barrels from Rick at Copper
Fox as soon as I hear from him.

Mad scientist indeed.