fivedime Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docbible Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivedime Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 ...The down side is their website seems to show it available in Tennessee... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 I have reason to believe that Collier & McKeel, as well as Prichards is bulk whiskey made by George Dickel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.B. Babington Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 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???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 I'm suggesting, and will believe this until I have evidence to the contrary, that they buy it and bottle it, and I'm not positive they even do their own bottling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 I heard from Mike Williams, proprietor of Collier and McKeel, and he assures me that they made every drop of their Collier and McKeel Tennessee Whiskey. I have no reason to doubt him and stand corrected. Sorry about the misinformation. It came from a generally reliable source but one who is also prone to mischief-making. Mike was very nice about correcting me.The current release is whiskey aged four to six months in new barrels.He also provided the following information.We make 100% of our product in a 575 gallon still in Nashville, Tennessee.Our mash bill is 70% corn, 15% rye and 15% malt. We are currently aging in 15 gallon barrels, although we are beginning to fill some 53 gallon barrels for longer aging. Our plan is to migrate into larger barrels.We burn our own sugar maple for the Lincoln County Process, it is cut on or near our farm in Middle Tennessee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Thanks for updating us, Chuck. They seem to be using less corn than JD or GD. I'm glad their setting some aside in 53 gallon barrels. I'm surprised how few micros are doing that. Anyway, should be interesting stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivedime Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Thanks for updating us, Chuck. Ditto! Thanks for the added info! Sounds like the C & M folks are doing things right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 Mike is a former lobbyist and state legislator. I'm glad he's finally found honest work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.B. Babington Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 ...I'm glad their setting some aside in 53 gallon barrels. I'm surprised how few micros are doing that...Yes, this bodes well for the future of micro industry! ...and our taste buds. Of course they want to sell a lot to quickly re-coup investment costs, but it seems prudent to produce excess for longer aging if they have storage facilities for barrels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmckenzie Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 there are several who are doing that right now. The majority of what we make goes into 53's. We should be completly done with the little barrels in another year or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbrighton Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 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. Binnys is the most expensive place to buy our products. You would be better off to make the 3 hour drive over here and get it from our retail store. We have the unaged whiskey for 25 bucks here, without the barrel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyboy38 Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 I've seen the barrel and bottle for less than $70.The only problem I had with it was that the white dog was 80 proof and then they say to add water to top off the barrel. Can't you skip the water?Do I want 60 proof bourbon coming out?NO!I want 120 proof bourbon!I also had a chance to sample some Cedar Ridge this weekend at a local store. It was much better than I was expecting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Comp Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 ...The only problem I had with it was that the white dog was 80 proof and then they say to add water to top off the barrel. ...Tom, The one I saw, the kit that is, had the 100 proof white dog with it. Saw one at another retailer recently at $59 and that's not a bad price for the barrel alone based on what Independent Stave was getting for these tiny barrels at KBF iirc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbrighton Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Tom, The one I saw, the kit that is, had the 100 proof white dog with it. Saw one at another retailer recently at $59 and that's not a bad price for the barrel alone based on what Independent Stave was getting for these tiny barrels at KBF iirc.This is correct. We bottle the white at 100, so you can dilute to 80 in the barrel if you wish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFerguson Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I'll finally raise my hand on this on, but with a caveat. By itself, not so much. it really doesn't bear much of a resemblance to it's final form, and just really cannot compete for a major place in the market. It's like comparing a glass of milk to a well aged chedder, or some Maytag blue. The final mutation always blows away the initial starting product. For the last couple of days the misses and I have been on a bit of mojito kick, I think we're trying to hold on to the memories of the sunny 80 degree days of vacation not long ago. The other day while making a round and seeing the bottle of 10 Cane getting low, the mental note was made to pick some more up on the next run to the store. Giving the bottle a quick sniff, it reminded me slightly of the bottle of Death's Door White Whiskey that I had opened and set aside some time back. Interesting to taste, but like most, not something to just drink on its own. A couple minutes later for a bunker search, and said bottle is pouring into the glass. Verdict, quite serviceable, and possible preferable to the rum. Thinking it over, whiskey generally pairs very well with both mint-ala Julep, and citrus-sours and others, so why not in a mojito??End result, a quite happy me with having a good use for something that would have languish for a long time. So gentlemen, before tossing out those dogs that many of you have after trying them for tasting purposes, give this a try.B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmckenzie Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I will tell you, our GT corn makes one hell of a margarita and a bloody mary. The bloody mary tastes like corn chips and salsa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostBottle Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 White dog is not for me and it accounts for approximately 0.0% of my spirits consumption.There is a lot to be said for leaving whiskey in a barrel and letting that thing called time run its course. I see white dog as a trend that is having it's day (I have come across way to many hipsters who claim they love it). This trend is being pushed by craft distilleries that are too new to have any aged product and, perhaps, lack the resources to do some good blending in the meantime. White dog equals instant revenue - it is a way to keep the doors open, not a way to supply customers with quality product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfish Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I will tell you, our GT corn makes one hell of a margarita and a bloody mary. The bloody mary tastes like corn chips and salsa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bllygthrd Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 I like white whiskey ... much better than the strawberry and apple pie [yuck] moonshine my peers try to pawn off on me. I find that the hints of "creamed corn" really refreshing ... and its nice to have a "clear" spirit with flavor ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callmeox Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 I like white whiskey ... much better than the strawberry and apple pie [yuck] moonshine my peers try to pawn off on me. I find that the hints of "creamed corn" really refreshing ... and its nice to have a "clear" spirit with flavor ...I prefer real fruit brandies when I'm in the mood for clear spirits with flavor. I'll take a good kirschwasser, framboise and slivovitz over bourbon white dog any day and I'm sorry that I missed out on the peach brandy that Finger Lakes made a season or two back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmckenzie Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 We may make some more down the road. You can get a chance to buy some aged though. How that came about is, we fermented the peach and ran it through our pot still one time. Then took half of it down to mt vernon and doubled it in the wood fired copper stills. It is aging in uncharred oak there now for sale in a year or so. It was a real treat though as white dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebo Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 I don't mind a nip of white whiskey from time to time, but I usually don't go out of my way to aquire it. On another note: technically, isn't Blanco Tequila "white dog"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callmeox Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 We may make some more down the road. You can get a chance to buy some aged though. How that came about is, we fermented the peach and ran it through our pot still one time. Then took half of it down to mt vernon and doubled it in the wood fired copper stills. It is aging in uncharred oak there now for sale in a year or so. It was a real treat though as white dog.Please look me up when it gets bottled. I would love to get my hands on some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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