Old Potrero Single Malt Spirit

[camduncan]

This has just become available in Australia through www.southtradeint.com.au
I'm planning on picking up a bottle in the next week or so to evaluate

[Jake_Parrott]

Sipping the Hotaling's bottling (ten years old, 50% abv). It's finally become clear to me. This whiskey (as well as the others, including the "straight" bottling) should not be evaluated against Kentucky straight rye. One of the profound characteristics of this whiskey is an oiliness. And the addition of water does not merely soften (as it does with most bourbons and KY straight ryes), but causes the whiskey to explode in complexity. These two factors, combined with its all-rye-malt makeup, lead me to believe that this whiskey should be evaluated in the space of other malt whisk(e)ys. Under that evaluation, these drams (particularly the Hotalings) are very, very exciting and interesting.

[Oliver]

Cowdery,
What you say about the reaction to Old Portrero at the WM b of b tasting is very interesting. I think that Old Potrero is really suis generis and hard to classify. Because its 100% rye it is not abourbon or even a rye according to the legal definition...
I had a head to head between Old Potrero and Elijah Craig 12 (my favorite bourbon) and everyone thought the OP was all in all better, more noble and a better spirit. This is the one at 3 years old, the 19th century version.

BTW, I remember reading the first report of the Best of the Best's original incarnation and being really intrigued about the fact that some distillery managers coudn't recognize their own product!! I was wondering if you could share some reminiscence about what must have been a fascinating event...
Cheers!

[CrispyCritter]

Cowdery,
What you say about the reaction to Old Portrero at the WM b of b tasting is very interesting. I think that Old Potrero is really suis generis and hard to classify. Because its 100% rye it is not abourbon or even a rye according to the legal definition...

It is a rye by the legal definition - since the definition doesn't specify a upper limit for rye content. Its uniqueness, though, is that it is 100% malted rye - and, being from one distillery, it qualifies as a single malt. Rye is very difficult to malt, and "normal" straight ryes have some barley malt in the mash to provide the necessary enzymes for breaking the starches down to sugars, with unmalted rye and a smaller portion of corn to provide most of the mash.

I have the 90-proof straight rye version of Old Potrero, and I'd compare it more to Highland Scotches than to traditional straight ryes - but it is distinctly different as it's rye not barley.

[Solomon2]

OP is great, especially with a drop of water added, but where can I buy it? Here in Montgomery County, Md. the county stores don't have it, no do the surrounding areas, apparently.

[cowdery]

Not that this will do you any good, but it's usually pretty easy to get around here but, now that I think about it, they didn't have any at Binny's just now, although I usually see it at Sam's.

[Solomon2]

Not Binny's, not Sam's.

[squire]

I went through exactly one bottle of this a year or so back. Tried everything from mixing it with ginger ale to neat in a sniffer. It is quality and it is what it is and I'm glad I gave a solid college try but its not my cup of tea. I will copy their graphics though if I ever buy a barrel and have it custom labeled.

Regards,
Squire

[Jake_Parrott]

I just got a chance to taste the three-year-old straight (new charred wood) version of this (distilled 1995, bottled 1999). Barrel proof (62.6%, I think). Absolutely stunning, with the vanilla, toffee from the wood combining with the fruit and spice from the malt.

[TNbourbon]

I just got a chance to taste the three-year-old straight (new charred wood) version of this (distilled 1995, bottled 1999). Barrel proof (62.6%, I think). Absolutely stunning, with the vanilla, toffee from the wood combining with the fruit and spice from the malt.

Jake, this bottling showed up in the VBT thread here:
http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...?t=6780&page=2

I agree that it's certainly enjoyable whiskey. Just wish you could count on Maytag to make the same thing more than once, and at a price I could regularly afford.