Leopold Bros American Small Batch Whiskey

[T Comp]

This, my first craft distilled purchase is from Barrel No. 3, 86 proof and was a little over the $30 mark on a shelf in Colorado last August. The label says it is pot distilled from open fermented sour mash. The neck tag calls it pre-prohibition style American Whiskey. The tag also contains more details on distillation which can also be found on their web site. I was drawn in the most by the stated barrel proof of 98. There is no mention of age in the barrel but I'd guess less than a year and it's color is very light. Todd Leopold is a member here and on the BE site and said they were not using small barrels.

The nose and taste are true to one another. The first opening notes I get are a lot of yeast/fresh dough. Grain is there but in the background with a slight rye zing. Corn is more hidden to me but the sweetness is present, balanced and deliciously light brown sugar. Fruit is also there in strawberry and baking apple. Little to no alcohol flavors. This is a very light and delicate whiskey which for a former wine guy would be as a Rose to a Cabernet. No ice or water needed here. There is not much on the back of the tongue and I would like a longer aftertaste. I'd love to taste this with a few years of age on it. A very nice opening effort for the first fruitless whiskey from the Leopold's and I am not disappointed.

[Leopold]

The nose and taste are true to one another. The first opening notes I get are a lot of yeast/fresh dough. Grain is there but in the background with a slight rye zing. Corn is more hidden to me but the sweetness is present, balanced and deliciously light brown sugar. Fruit is also there in strawberry and baking apple. Little to no alcohol flavors. This is a very light and delicate whiskey which for a former wine guy would be as a Rose to a Cabernet. No ice or water needed here. There is not much on the back of the tongue and I would like a longer aftertaste. I'd love to taste this with a few years of age on it. A very nice opening effort for the first fruitless whiskey from the Leopold's and I am not disappointed.

I hope that you don't mind me responding to this, but I'm very pleased that you picked up the things I was aiming for.....even with the part that you didn't care for.

The slight rye zing comment is interesting, because it's only about 15% rye. In my experience, pot distillation really changes the character of the rye (in comparison to continuous distillation), particularly in the sense that a little goes a long way.

I'm particularly pleased that you picked up the strawberry note. It comes almost entirely from a secondary fermentation of acetic acid producing organisms. Spontaneous fermentation. That note shows up after a few months in the barrel.

The short aftertaste that put you off was on purpose, but perhaps you can come back in a few years and try the same whiskey, with some small changes, at 2 years and BIB. I wanted to have an iteration where you could taste my work in the mash and fermenter without the barrel overly cluttering the choices. I also wanted to have an affordable bottling.

If you prefer this whiskey with more age, you'll have it soon enough.

Thank you for giving it a try.

[theDon]

I am expecting a bottle of this from a cousin in Missouri who is friends with the owners. She sent me a bottle of the Blackberry whiskey last year. I don't usually go for flavored whiskey but it was quite good. I mentioned to my cousin that I would like a sample of the raw whiskey without the flavoring and she said she would ask. This is even better. Can't wait to try the new product.

[T Comp]

And sorry for posting about this whishey which is not a bourbon in this category. Moderators, please feel free to move to Other American Whiskey if you choose. Hey maybe it's time for a craft distilled category.

[Leopold]

For what it is worth, it is indeed a Bourbon. We chose not to label it as such.

A rose by any other name.....

[cas]

Is this the same outfit that left Ann Arbor a couple years back?

Craig

[Leopold]

Yes, sir.

And our old building is still vacant.....

[cas]

I moved here shortly before it closed. Heard it was a good place to go but never made it in...

Craig

[theDon]

Finally got a visit from the kinfolk from up north and they brought me my Christmas present. Very nice product. Young, but well balanced. Definite wood and barrel flavors with a smooth finish. I can't wait to try a more aged product from these guys.

[smokinjoe]

Just picked up a bottle of this today (Barrel #25), and am totally enjoying sipping on it now. Reminiscent of a fuller Irish up front. And, like Thad mentions, a nice sweetness over the palate. But, where I am totally digging the whiskey is at the back of the tongue. The sweetness just explodes, and that zing that Thad mentions, really sparkles. It just lights up. Then, it settles into a very nicely extended finish. More finish than what I was expecting. (Maybe, barrel difference from yours, Thad?)

I am extremely impressed with this effort from Leopold Bros., and I am not bashful to say that this is one of the most enjoyable whiskies that I have had in 2011.

:toast:

[moose]

This, my first craft distilled purchase is from Barrel No. 3, 86 proof and was a little over the $30 mark on a shelf in Colorado last August. The label says it is pot distilled from open fermented sour mash. The neck tag calls it pre-prohibition style American Whiskey. The tag also contains more details on distillation which can also be found on their web site. I was drawn in the most by the stated barrel proof of 98. There is no mention of age in the barrel but I'd guess less than a year and it's color is very light. Todd Leopold is a member here and on the BE site and said they were not using small barrels.

The nose and taste are true to one another. The first opening notes I get are a lot of yeast/fresh dough. Grain is there but in the background with a slight rye zing. Corn is more hidden to me but the sweetness is present, balanced and deliciously light brown sugar. Fruit is also there in strawberry and baking apple. Little to no alcohol flavors. This is a very light and delicate whiskey which for a former wine guy would be as a Rose to a Cabernet. No ice or water needed here. There is not much on the back of the tongue and I would like a longer aftertaste. I'd love to taste this with a few years of age on it. A very nice opening effort for the first fruitless whiskey from the Leopold's and I am not disappointed.

[jinenjo]

Is it fair to assume that the higher barrel number might connote slightly (and I mean slightly) longer aging time?

[moose]

Is it fair to assume that the higher barrel number might connote slightly (and I mean slightly) longer aging time?

Could, but I assume they go from barrel to bottle when the product is up to their standards, can't imagine the age difference would be much different at all though.

[cowdery]

Is it fair to assume that the higher barrel number might connote slightly (and I mean slightly) longer aging time?

Since barrels are numbered as they are filled, wouldn't it logically indicate exactly the opposite?

[nblair]

Can Todd or anyone else comment on the closest place to KY you can pick up a bottle of Leopold Whiskey? I've really been wanting to try it ever since I heard his interview on the K&L Spirits Podcast. Sounds like the man mashes/ferments/distills the way I wish others did. Also been wanting to check out Thomas McKenzie's products as well. It'd be nice if The Party Source could find a way to carry them...

[T Comp]

Can Todd or anyone else comment on the closest place to KY you can pick up a bottle of Leopold Whiskey? I've really been wanting to try it ever since I heard his interview on the K&L Spirits Podcast. Sounds like the man mashes/ferments/distills the way I wish others did. Also been wanting to check out Thomas McKenzie's products as well. It'd be nice if The Party Source could find a way to carry them...

[jinenjo]

Since barrels are numbered as they are filled, wouldn't it logically indicate exactly the opposite?

I see your point, but it would depend on how quickly the barrels are bottled. My thinking was that barrel #1 and #25, for instance, were bottled at different times.

What I'm also wondering is how they ferment with just corn and rye in their mash. I heard the interview on the K&L podcast too, but don't remember any mention of this.

[Leopold]

Is it fair to assume that the higher barrel number might connote slightly (and I mean slightly) longer aging time?

As usual, Mr. Cowdery is correct.

We don't blend our whiskies here at Leopold Bros.. Everything is a single-single. Sometimes we do skip over barrels, owing to differences between the barrels. In other words, we have bottled barrel #29 before barrel #28 because #29 was ready, and #28 was not.

[Leopold]

Can Todd or anyone else comment on the closest place to KY you can pick up a bottle of Leopold Whiskey? I've really been wanting to try it ever since I heard his interview on the K&L Spirits Podcast. Sounds like the man mashes/ferments/distills the way I wish others did. Also been wanting to check out Thomas McKenzie's products as well. It'd be nice if The Party Source could find a way to carry them...

Binny's is a good place. And if you go to our website, you'll see a list of spirits shops that will ship.

Glad you enjoyed the podcast. It was a lot of fun to do that. You'll also likely be pleased to know that we've made the switch from stainless steel fermenters to cypress, to encourage the wild yeast and bacteria activity that I discussed in the podcast.

The arrival of the new fermenters also means that we're starting our Bottled in Bond program. So this first iteration, the American Small Batch Whiskey, is the only young whiskey we'll be bottling. I just wanted to have one whiskey in our lineup where there was more of a contribution from the mash tun and fermenters than there was from the barrel.

[Leopold]

The fine lady pouring said that the pre-prohibition style means that they dilute the bourbon before aging it in oak, rather than the typical dilution after. What's cool is that it essentially comes bottled at barrel proof, picking up on a much more oak heavy and full flavored whisky.

What she meant is that we barrel this (and all of our other whiskies) at 98 proof. We do not humidify our warehouse (it's quite dry here in Colorado), so the proof drops to around 96 proof for bottling, meaning we only add a few liters to the barrel before bottling it, unfiltered. And again, we bottle one barrel at a time.

Glad you enjoyed it. Keep an eye out for our Maryland Rye, as we're barreling a few barrels in a couple of weeks.

Cheers

[Leopold]

What I'm also wondering is how they ferment with just corn and rye in their mash. I heard the interview on the K&L podcast too, but don't remember any mention of this.

It's corn, rye, and barley. About 65% corn, 15% rye, and the rest distiller's malt for our American Small Batch Whiskey.

[moose]

What she meant is that we barrel this (and all of our other whiskies) at 98 proof. We do not humidify our warehouse (it's quite dry here in Colorado), so the proof drops to around 96 proof for bottling, meaning we only add a few liters to the barrel before bottling it, unfiltered. And again, we bottle one barrel at a time.

Glad you enjoyed it. Keep an eye out for our Maryland Rye, as we're barreling a few barrels in a couple of weeks.

Cheers

Thanks for some more info, had a great time at the festival. I'll keep an eye out for the Rye, sounds interesting. Hope we can bring that into the store, our rye selection is abysmal.

[nblair]

Thank you for the Binny's tip, Thad. I'm heading up to Wisconsin for the holidays. I'll try to see if I can call ahead and pin down some bottles in one of the stores.

Exciting to hear you made the switch to cypress fermenters, Todd. I am pretty sure I read somewhere that it could have been the bacteria in the cypress fermenters at the Old Taylor distillery that gave the bourbon that great butterscotch note. The sky's the limit for Finger Lakes and Leopold Bros. It's only a matter of time before you have a Van Winkle type craze on your hands. :grin:

[tmckenzie]

I know that Leopold and us have the same thinking on making whiskey and thanks for the kind words. He and I take more of the old fashioned approach. A lot of the micros take the approach that the old way is bad and we can make it better.

[cas]

It was on the shelf at Binny's last night when I stopped by. About $45 a bottle. I didn't pick one up, but I'm tempted to run back today for a bottle.

Craig