Who Likes White Dog?

[tmckenzie]

I will not call any names, but a micro distillery was by our distillery the other day and tried to pass off a spirit made from honey as a white whiskey. I cannot believe how dumb some of these people are who are getting in the liquor business. I think he thought it was really whiskey.

[fishnbowljoe]

I visited BT again during the KBF. I went on the hardhat tour with lilsweetpea and her boyfriend Wayne. They were distilling the wheated mashbill that day. Y'all know me and my fondness for wheaters. Even at 133 proof, it was pretty decent. If they start selling that, I may have to get a few bottles. Maybe even get an aging kit and do a little experimenting. Joe

[keith18]

I'm way late to this thread, but I have half a dozen bottles of white dog on my shelf, but I rarely reach for them. In fact, unless I encountered a bourbon emergency, I probably wouldn't drink them. I bought them because I love learning about whiskey and bourbon. I'm also aging my own stuff now, so I needed to find stuff I thought would age well. Overall, I'm glad they're out there because it has helped me learn about bourbon.

[T Comp]

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

Stopped in one of the 27 Binny's stores yesterday and saw that for $99 (tax not included) you can age a bottle of that Cedar Ridge Unaged Whiskey with the enclosed 1 liter barrel in the package kit now being sold. The packages were featured in the same area of the other holiday gift packages. I never paid much attention but think Wasmunds did this with 2 bottles and a 2 liter barrel at the same price a while back. I passed on the Cedar Ridge kit, thank you very much, and bought a Mellow Corn at $13.99 instead.

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.

To see what I imagine as the combination of bemused, smile and smirk on Josh's face would have been as they say priceless .

[silverfish]

... think Wasmunds did this with 2 bottles and a 2 liter barrel at the same price a while back.

They still do (at least the barrel kit & barrels only are listed on their website.)

[fivedime]

I just picked up a bottle of Collier & McKeel's Tennessee Whiskey White Dog today. It filled a niche I had really been wanting to taste for a long time; it is distilled from the same mash bill as their regular TN whiskey (corn/rye/barley) and bottled without aging, but it has been given the typical "Lincoln County Process" charcoal filtering. Bottled at 100 proof. Very interesting taste, pretty standard white dog/moonshiney flavors going on, but with the oily/rocket fuel thing toned down and a very sweet finish (both, presumably, due to the sugar maple charcoal filtering).

And just for kicks the wife and I mixed some in with our egg nog tonight, and it was exquisite!

The down side is their website seems to show it available in Tennessee, and the back label calls it a limited release. It was about $20 for the bottle, not exactly cheap, but not ridiculous like so many white dogs are.

[docbible]

McScrooges in Knoxville,TN picked out Collier and McKeel barrel (about 20 gal) heavy char aged 6months. Good but very different. I prefer a lot more age but this will work well in tastings to demonstrate the first step in aging. Tim

[fivedime]

...The down side is their website seems to show it available in Tennessee...

Ack! No edit button...that should read *only* in Tennessee.

McScrooges in Knoxville,TN picked out Collier and McKeel barrel (about 20 gal) heavy char aged 6months. Good but very different. I prefer a lot more age but this will work well in tastings to demonstrate the first step in aging. Tim

It should be interesting to see how much their whiskey varies from batch to batch, hopefully they will be able to maintain a core of good characteristics with only subtle variation. I read something somewhere yesterday that said they had experimented with barrels "between 5 and 15 gallons," not sure if that means they've settled on 15 (and would that mean 15 gallons in a 20 gallon barrel?) for now, or are still playing around. Would also be interesting if they ever get to the point of aging in full-size barrels in barrel houses for several years, while also offering their current "artisinal" spirit, for comparison's sake.

[cowdery]

I have reason to believe that Collier & McKeel, as well as Prichards is bulk whiskey made by George Dickel.

[B.B. Babington]

I have reason to believe that Collier & McKeel, as well as Prichards is bulk whiskey made by George Dickel.

Are you suggesting Collier & McKeel buys bulk unaged whiskey then redistills, filters, and ages????