New Smooth Ambler "Curated" Bourbon - Very Old Scout

[bllygthrd]

Smooth Ambler, Greenbrier County, WV, will be releasing a new 14 year old "curated" straight bourbon next week ... They are calling it Very Old Scout. The info they sent me via Facebook follows ...

VERY OLD SCOUT. Today we're proud to introduce our latest offering in the Old Scout line of whiskeys - Very Old Scout - a 14 year old Low-Rye Bourbon. Our search to find unique and amazing whiskey continues with this smooth, sweet, mature bourbon. This is in LIMITED SUPPLY folks, and will be available at the Distillery next Friday, and in distribution to other areas shortly after.

BTW, I like these people. The distillery is near Lewisburg, WV and very visitor friendly. They also have "bottling parties" ... Kind of a cool idea and my family likes to participate.

Just wanted to highlight something happening in good o'l Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia!

[White Dog]

So, do they actually distill anything themselves, or do they just bottle HH's "Low-Rye" recipe.?

[macdeffe]

It's a new distillery. Old Scout is their "Scouted" whiskeys. It's from LDI. They have several casks so expect various ages coming out

They DO make their own spirit as well. For a couple of years

So far they have released vodka, gin (nice!), barrel aged gin and a "yearling" which is 1yo + 10 months bourbon

It's a really nice place, I visited just after the storm a couple of weeks ago when the whole area was out of power. I really liked the 6 year old Old Scout and had the luck of trying some samples from 13 to 21yo. So looks like some really exciting LDI scouted bottlings will come out soon.

While their own stock is maturing I expect various younger versions will be released, also from smaller casks, but I was told the real aim was older whiskey from normal sized casks :-)

This place got ambitions and from the short talk I had there I reckon this is a product to look out for. Time will tell :-)

Steffen

Edited July 14, 2012 by macdeffe

[Ejmharris]

So, do they actually distill anything themselves, or do they just bottle HH's "Low-Rye" recipe.?

They also seem to be a little more straightforward with the fact that they have sourced their whiskey.

[tmckenzie]

I know the folks down at Smooth Ambler. They are one of the micros doing it right. And the youger release of old scout was fine whiskey.

[Happyhour24x7]

No need to repet the answers above, but wanted to offer that not only do they have stock aging, they have a number of different mashbills, in different proofs, laid up. John has the resources to experiment, and uses them. The Yearling is a decent young whiskey, but I think only a preview of the good things that will come later.

[bllygthrd]

I know the folks down at Smooth Ambler. They are one of the micros doing it right.

They also seem to be a little more straightforward with the fact that they have sourced their whiskey.

Have to agree ... I've had experience [as a buyer, albeit back in the late 70's and early 80's] with boutique wineries. Back then, they had a tendency to "over-hype" and "over-state" their products, in an effort to establish legitimacy to their fledgling industry. "Lipstick on a pig" comes to mind [not all, but most]. Fortunately, the industry has matured since then.

The micro-distillery industry is a similar place now, to where the boutique wineries were back in the late 70's and early 80's ...

Fortunately, "Lipstick on a pig" doesn't apply to Smooth Ambler. My opinion is that SA recognizes exactly where they and their products stand/rate and that they are quite humble, know their product, and admit they are on a learning curve.

As for their bourbons ... I like them, and will continue to enjoy them and have them in my collection.

[SmoothAmbler]

Thanks for the nice comments folks.

As others have mentioned, we do make our own stuff. We run at nearly 100% of our production capacity all of the time. If we aren't making clear products to meet demand, we are putting away whiskey for future sales. Really, we are a whiskey company that also happens to make some really good vodka and gin. But whiskey is our number one seller....and what we think will be our future. We also source a line of products under our Old Scout label. We have Old Scout Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the new Very Old Scout, and will release Old Scout Rye later this month.

Old Scout is a high rye bourbon that's being bottled at 6 year old (but turns 7 soon). Very Old Scout, being released this week, has two vintages of low rye. We have a 14 YO product that's a marriage of 14, 15, 17, and 19 YO barrels. We will also have a 19 YO vintage that's a marriage of 19 and 21 YO barrels. Old Scout Rye is a 7 YO rye that we have sourced from a confidential source. We'd tell you, but we signed a NDA.

We have lots of Old Scout Bourbon and Old Scout Rye. However, we don't have much of either vintage of Very Old Scout, but we remain committed to our mission to source the best whiskey we can find and to bring it to our fans....and to be honest about it. We hope people appreciate that and it sounds like you all above do!

If you have any questions let me know.

[p_elliott]

SmoothAmbler

Thanks for posting it's always good to hear from the source. Sounds like a quality operation you have and thanks for being honest about what your sourcing and what your not.

Paul

Edited July 16, 2012 by p_elliott

[cowdery]

I'll add my endorsement to Smooth Ambler. They're the real deal. They were a real distillery before they got into the 'curated whiskey' business. I find the term 'curated' a little pretentious, but at least there is no make-believe going on.

[Happyhour24x7]

I picked up a bottle of the 19/21 YO blend, and boy, is that some good stuff! I had actually thought I was buying the 14YO, having read positive reviews, and thought it might have been mislabeled until I confirmed the difference. A lot of the super aged bourbons don't rate that high with me due to the woody finish, but this one is fantastic. Highly recommended.

[qman22]

I have my eyes open for a bottle of the 14 year or older and haven't come across any yet.

[luther.r]

I know where there may be a 19 yr available. PM me for details.

[humchan2k]

I love the boys over at K&L here in LA (Big up to the Daves,) for introducing our market to the Smooth Ambler team, in addition to the myriad amazing spirits they have. I just picked up 2 bottles of the 14 year on K&L's suggestion, as they really know their whiskey. They did a side by side tasting comparison with Pappy 15, which you can read about on their blog...and amazingly enough, the Ambler not only did quite well, but it beat the Pappy in a couple of people's opinions. It's also not $200+ a bottle on eBay, it's about $65 if you can find it....tho I think they might be sold out of it pretty quickly, as they only have 3,000 bottles, I believe? Can't wait to crack this tonight for my birthday!

[humchan2k]

And I can now report that it is very delicious too!