Wednesday Tastings!

[tanstaafl2]

No Wednesday tasting this week. Instead it was a Thirsty Thursday with our special guest John Glaser from Compass Box.

We shared a variety of whiskey with John including a bit of bourbon (because he is after all an honorary member of the Georgia Bourbon Society!) as well as whisky of a variety of sorts including of course lots of great Compass Box whisky.

(Special thanks to the gang who waited to take this picture until moments after I had left this particular gathering...)

We also asked him to come back when he has a bit more time in town to do a special private dinner for Atlanta whisky "aficionado's (i.e. "nerds!") in the near future and I think he was very enthusiastic about it (with a kind assist from David Perkins who talked us up, I hope, when he and John got together before the San Francisco WhiskyFest last week).

Atlanta folks should hopefully be watching for that sometime early next year!

Lots of whisky on the table to include the new Compass Box 15th Anniversary Flaming Heart and "This is Not a Luxury Whisky" as well as everyone's favorite, the General and a dozen more. Both of the new bottlings are currently available in town but are probably pretty limited so look for a bottle right away if you are interested!

But we also got a great education on some older Compass Box with a comparison between a newer and older Spice Tree bottling as well as a bottle of the original Eleuthera I happened to have compared to the new Lost Blend that was inspired by that original Eleuthera.

In addition to those we tried some of the GBS Russell's Reserve, a little Irish Whiskey from Teeling and Redbreast and several whisky from other distilleries like Kilchoman, Springbank and Clynelish. It was a lot of fun and we only wish he could have stayed a bit longer!

[tanstaafl2]

Oh, and a preview of some Wednesday tastings to come!

Hey, what do you know. Sometimes sideways is useful!

Yes, someone has already been in the cookie jar for a couple of those.

[maybeling]

Wow... Have I mentioned I was born in 1974? :grin:

[tanstaafl2]

Wow... Have I mentioned I was born in 1974? :grin:

Well, you probably better show up this Wednesday!

[tanstaafl2]

Double duty today as we started with a port finished bourbon taste off and then closed with several beers, at least one of which was about as strong as a port!

Just for fun we start with a taste of completely unrelated Swedish whisky from Mackmyra, the First Edition. Not sure this is available in Atlanta but I had one probably from one of my past online purchases. A store customer had asked about it so I brought it in for a "refresher"! Light with a pleasant balance of sweetness and a touch of spice with some bready grain notes suggesting it youth. Don't know the age but likely not very old. The kicker is partial aging in local Swedish oak and the use of smaller 100 liter barrels for about half the whisky followed by aging in a local mine with presumably a relatively constant temperature. Not stunning but certainly a unique and pleasant taste.

Then it was on to the main event. 5 port finished bourbons were tasted along with a cask strength 2012 Angel's Envy as the reward at the end!

First up was Big Bottom bourbon from Oregon that was 2yo MGP (high rye mashbill reportedly) straight bourbon at 91 proof finished in fresh local port style wine casks for about 6 months. These must have been pretty fresh barrels as it has a lot of color! The nose had a pleasant fruit forward character but the taste for me was a balance (or perhaps struggle) between the youth of the whiskey and the strong port/red fruit character. I think it is a bit of a stalemate at the moment and it just doesn't quite mesh. Other tasters were split with a couple liking the palate. The finish was very short for everyone.

Next up was the new 1792 Port Finish bottled at an odd 88.9 proof. As expected this was a more mature whiskey at about 8 years of age including the port finishing (using real port pipes?) and there was no significant youthful notes trying to assert themselves. The nose again had good red fruit character although perhaps not quite as strong as the Big Bottom despite supposedly finishing for about 2 years. The palate was less chaotic but was also not particularly noteworthy. While it had a richer mouthfeel with some nice red fruit character it just seemed a bit flat. The finish was again very short. Everyone seemed to have a similar experience and I was to be honest a bit disappointed in it. Then again regular 1792 has never been a particular favorite so maybe that had something to do with it.

Next was an Angels Envy which probably deserves some credit for helping kick off the finished bourbon movement and reportedly was using real port pipes for the finishing. This was a bottling from early in its history and had been open since 2013. It was also the lowest proof at 86.6. I don't know if it is because this is an older bottle (my more recent bottles of AE are all store blends) but it almost seems newer options have passed this by. Still pleasant enough with a touch of sweetness but this was thin and just didn't do much for me or any of the other tasters as I recall. I can't help but think that the low proof doesn't help it much.

Next up were the two port style wine finished Abraham Bowman's. One was 8yo while the other was 12yo that came out about a year later. These were both excellent as I recall at the time but it was nice to revisit them and try them side by side. I had to break open a new 12yo to do this tasting while the 8yo had been open for a while. Both were released at a respectable 100 proof. If memory serve the barrels were loaned out to a local winery and held a port style wine for a number of months before going back to Bowman to finish the bourbon for 4-6 months or so. So they were likely pretty fresh! In any case neither disappointed. Both had a lot of intense red fruit/raison/date like flavors. The younger one was a bit overwhelmed by the port but the 12yo seemed to provide a nice balance of woody flavor to held keep the long finish from being quite as sweet. Both were good but the 12yo was the more enjoyable of the 2. They both stood well above the previous bourbon we tried.

Finally, just for fun, we finished up with the 2012 cask strength AE at 123.7 proof or there about. This of course had been open a while and several of us noted it seemed less sweet than in the past and had acquired a touch of sulfur/burnt match I associate more with sherry. I don't have a problem with sulfur like some but it did seem a bit different from what I remember. Still plenty tasty and dangerously easy to drink at proof.

Next it was time for a short pizza break and then time to plunge into some beer. And we had quite the West Coast trio to try!

The new Stone Double Bastard in the Rye, Firestone 2014 Parabola and a near legendary 2014 Black Tuesday from the Breury!

I am admittedly not a Stone fan in general and as it happens this new one was finished in "Templeton Rye" barrels (which of course means MGP) but what the heck, I didn't pay for this one. The typical strong hop character of Stone was well tamed after time in the barrels and there was at most a bare hint of citrus in this one. But it did serve to balance the sweetness from the barrel despite the 12.7% ABV. The finish is long and drier than expected. This might please those who find the barrel aged beers to be too sweet and syrupy. I thought it was OK but not quite my cup of barrel aged beer.

Next up was the Firestone 2014 Parabola imperial Stout weighing in at 14% ABV. A superb stout that was rich with cocoa nib flavor but not too much coffee flavor which I like. A moderate bitterness like you get with high cocoa content dark chocolate. Excellent and highly recommended!

Finally there was the 2014 Black Tuesday that helped make the rainy Wednesday afternoon a beautiful and memorable day! This Imperial stout weighs in at a mere 19.7% ABV. It was everything the Parabola was and lots, lots more. Dense sweet caramel and vanilla and yet not at all cloying as can sometimes happen. The finish had maybe a touch of some really nice classic GBS anise flavor along with oak influence that helped the finish linger on and on!

But now I have lingered on long enough myself. Likely no tasting next week so hopefully back at it in December.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2015 by tanstaafl2

[meadeweber]

Great notes. Thanks! I always love reading these.

[tanstaafl2]

Reading another post about OFBB reminded me that the 1792 port finish had a faint acetone note that was surprising and a bit off putting. Maybe because it was a newly opened bottle? It did fade a bit with time. Will have to remember to check again in a week or two.

[GAbiker]

Thanks for the tasting notes on the Port Finishes. I've never been a huge fan of Port finished bourbons, but did pick up one of the 1792 Port Finished. Haven't opened it yet and guess I'll hold off on opening it....or maybe gifting it to someone that enjoys the port finishes more than I do.

[tanstaafl2]

Thanks for the tasting notes on the Port Finishes. I've never been a huge fan of Port finished bourbons, but did pick up one of the 1792 Port Finished. Haven't opened it yet and guess I'll hold off on opening it....or maybe gifting it to someone that enjoys the port finishes more than I do.

I need to try it again in the near future after it has been opened a few days to see if that changes my opinion at all. I really had expected to like it more than I did. I hate that I might turn people off of it completely!

[tanstaafl2]

Got picture capability! Yah!

This Wednesday tasting was quite the potpourri.

This week we had quite the variety on offer starting with the Gourry de Chadville Sauterne finished cognac. This new release was a as good a reason to break out the Barrel Proof Chad cognac from last year! The Sauterne finish was, umm interesting, but I think it may need to grow on me a bit. Rich sweet fruit with a touch of over ripe sweetness. Not cloying but not quite sure the balance is there. More of an after dinner drink to be sure. The BP remains stellar!

Next we moved on to the new Hochstadter's vatted rye. I brought a few bottles for comparison but ended up limiting myself to just the always lovely Dutch Millstone 100 rye as a contrast and the standard WP 10yo 100 proof. The "Hoch" was not really quite the same as either of those but we all found it enjoyable in its own right. Not a lot of spice but some got banana on the nose (I don't seem to have the banana gene. I got more of a hint of tropical fruit). The banana/tropical fruit was not really present on the palate where it was perhaps a touch thin despite the 100 proof but still had some nice underlying baking spice character and a nice moderately long finish. Certainly deserving of more "evaluation" over time.

Then it was on to the main feature for the afternoon, Mexcal! We tried three different brands of the tepextate/tepeztate agave species. My favorite was the Vago (52 proof) which emphasized a nice delicate citrus tone and only a mild to moderate smoky nose and palate that developed into a pleasant rubbery character that lasted  well into the very pleasant finish. Second for me was the Del Maguey (90 proof) which initially seemed to have a much heavier smoky character on initial opening but quickly settled down to allow the citrus notes to peek out from underneath. The smokey rubbery tone had perhaps a touch of melting plastic character which kept it in second. Some liked it as well or better than the Vago. Last place went to the El Jolgorio (91.6 proof) which to me seemed to be impacted by a strong burning plastic smell that I did not care for. Unfortunate as it seemed to have a nice citrus quality underneath and I had high hopes for it. We finished with another El Jolgorio from another agave species, Barril, which as I recall also had some of that burnt plastic character. Most unfortunate.

After a quick detour to try a couple of new amaro's, Elisir Novasalus (mostly bitter and dry making it tough to like) and Amaro Nardini (more pleasant and a bit of a fernet branca light). They were paired with the classic Fernet Branca which I find pleasant enough if you like the menthol minty character and it is milder and more fun loving cousin, Branca Menta which is like a bracing strongly mint forward shot.

We finished up with a few beers from Goose Island as the new Bourbon County Stout hit town with is new sized bottles and packaging.  There are three variants this year and the Regal Rye sounds the most interesting to me. But we only got the three standard releases, the coffee stout, regular stout and the barley wine. I brought along a stout from 2014 and a barleywine from 2013 to spice up the tasting just a bit. The Coffee isn't my thing but it is certainly well done. The 2015 stout seemed to be better than the 2014 although both were certainly good. However the 2013 barleywine was a touch better than the new 2015. As a result I will be putting some of this back to age a bit for future comparison.

Another good day although I would sure like to try that Regal Rye version with tart Michigan cherries, Oregon blackberry juice, Luxardo cherries and a touch of sea salt. Sounds intriguing!

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2015 by tanstaafl2
Add photos!

[tanstaafl2]

This Wednesday we decided to trim things back just a smidge and try to stick to one type of spirit since most of us don't remember much from Wednesday evening the week before...

I blame it on the mezcal! 

So this week it was a rare spirit that some of you made have heard of. That would be Bourbon!

First up was a blind side by side of three Knob Creek Single Barrel store picks. One was from Fujioka's, a liquor store in Hawaii, that I picked up a couple of years ago. It was about 2/3 full, had a screw cap and had been open for some time. The other two were a recent DeKalb Bottle House pick (now gone) and the latest GBS pick from September. Both of these were newly opened.

4 out of 4 participants selected the GBS and DBH pick as the top 2 but it was the DBH pick that got the top honors on 3 of the 4 scorecards. They were pretty similar as both had nice nose and caramel sweetness up front and a solid mouthfeel but the DBH had the better finish and the GBS tended to be a bit hotter all the way through. A touch of water helped both of them but the DBH still carried the edge. For what it is worth I had not been able to participate in the DBH pick (which was done at the distillery) and this was the first time I had tried it since it originally arrived. As for the heat I don't know if the GBs was at a higher proof or if they were all cut down to 120 since there was some discussion that Beam may not always feel the need to cut the proof on single barrels.

Next up was a trio of Angel's Envy Cask Strength, 2013, 2014 and the new 2015. All were previously open except the 2015.

Proofs ranged from 119.3 to 127.9 in the new 2015 bottling. I do not know if these are each a new batch or the same whiskey simply allowed to continue to age in port but I suspect that the 2015 at least is a new batch. Otherwise it would have about 4 years of aging in port! These were also tried blind but for me the 2014 (my favorite so far and easily the most recognizable to me for its strong port influence) was easy to pick out. The 2015 and 2013 were a bit closer in profile although 2013 seemed to be a touch hotter despite being lower proof. The 2015 is a really easy drinking whiskey with the port influence well represented but not too heavy for those that don't want to be totally dominated by it. Give me the 2014 but the 2015 is a lovely addition (and 2013 is no slouch either. A touch of water does wonders).

For me it does make me which all AE had this much port finishing, not to mention proof. Hard to go back to the shelf bottles after having these!

We then finished up with a few beers but this week was a bit of a flop in that department.

First up were a couple of Terra Incognito's, a collaboration between Sierra Nevada and Boulevard. The one on the left was 2 years old and the one on the right was the current bottling. The early bottling was a wild ale aged in whiskey barrels but seemed to have clearly not stood the test of time. It was super carbonated with more foam than beer which took a while to settle. It tasted a bit sour but not in a good way with little or no indication of the barrel aging. The newer bottle was a combination of ale with ale aged in both wine and bourbon barrels. While it was much better than the first with some nice barrel sweetness I did not feel like it was something I needed to have more of.

The Noggin Knocker is from a local brewery and is a rum barrel and egg nog stout. Umm, ok. The staff had tried one earlier in the week and liked it so we broke out another. Oddly the earlier one had white wax on the top and the rest on the shelf had green wax. This one had a blend of green and red wax. All I can say is AVOID the green and red wax! This one at least was a real stinker. Nothing like the one they had tried before and almost undrinkable. Not sure what happened but certainly not one I can recommend.

That put us off anything else so we called it a day!

[Paddy]

As always, great work Bruce.  Thank you! 

[tanstaafl2]

A somewhat abbreviated session this week as the holiday rush begins and probably the last of the Wednesday tastings for the year. Decided to close it out with a couple of new Armagnacs I had acquired thanks to the recommendation and assistance of a fellow SBer.

The first and last ones pictured here are the new arrivals. They were compared to a couple of Armagnac's salvaged from the depths of the bunker that were first tried in a Wednesday tasting from early 2014.

The 11yo 2004 Charron was both the youngest and highest proof of the bunch at 102. But it was by no means the underdog. It is unique in that it is all aged in new oak, presumably French oak and I expect it is toasted at most. But most Armagnac (and Cognac) is likely finished in a mixture of new and used oak that is then blended together. The nose here was a touch medicinal or antiseptic. Perhaps even a bit tannic like a young small barrel aged whiskey. This was a tad alarming but fortunately the palate had none of that. Intial mouthfeel was creamy and pleasant. Indeed it became apparent that despite being the youngest this had the best mouthfeel of all. I read how some people say that Armagnac is very "whiskey like" in taste and character but until trying this one I had not really had that experience. This is well worth a pick up if you have access to it in my opinion. David Driscoll at K&L in his notes said "We tasted his 2004 vintage first and I looked right at David and said, "Stagg Jr."  Well, I can't go quite that far but it was certainly very good!

We than tried the 17yo Pellehaut (the only one from the Tenareze region) and the Darroze 20yo.  Both were still quite pleasant and similar to how they tasted when last tried but clearly more fruit forward, especially the Pellehaut.

Finally we finished up with the dark brooding 42yo Papollle from 1973. I had some pretty high expectations from this one, especially given the notes about it from K&L. With anticipation I took my first sip and...

Nothing. OK, some dry spice and wood, although not too intense given the age, and a leathery character. But toffee? Nope. Mocha? Nope. Dense caramel lingering long into the finsh? I think not! Add to that a relatively thin mouthfeel to me and I have to admit this one was a major disappointment. Perhaps it was just my palate (although the other three joining me in this tasting were also rather unimpressed). Maybe it will improve with time so I will not give up on it quite yet. But it was a disappointing way to finish the year for the Wednesday tastings.

Or would have been if I had not gone back to the lovely 2004 Charron for a final glass. Ahhhh, much better!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all from your dedicated Wednesday tasting staff!

Edited December 18, 2015 by tanstaafl2

[Paddy]

Well done!  Merry Christmas right back 'atcha' Bruce. 

[Harry in WashDC]

Thanks for this.  An in-law my age (which means when families get together, we stand by ourselves) loves scotch but bourbon not so much while I'm the opposite.  Two years ago, we discovered we agree on (some) Armagnacs.  I was wondering what to get him (meaning "us two") for Christmas.  The Charron is available here.

Regards,

Harry

[tanstaafl2]

Palates can be different of course but if you already enjoy Armagnac AND Bourbon I think you will like this one Harry. Better get 2!

[Kpiz]

Excellent as always, Bruce. Glad that the Charron didn't disappoint. Merry Christmas!

[tanstaafl2]

13 hours ago, Kpiz said:

Excellent as always, Bruce. Glad that the Charron didn't disappoint. Merry Christmas!

No only did it not disappoint but it pretty much saved the day!

[tanstaafl2]

Tough week for a Wednesday tasting in the run up to New Years but we did manage to squeeze a short tasting in on Tuesday.

The feature this week was naturally enough the new HW Yippee Ki-Yay.

As a comparison (you always have to have a comparison don't you???) we tried a store pick Double Rye that was finished in used bourbon barrels for 21 months. In addition to those I was drinking the 1792 port finish again a few days ago and found it was better so I brought it along for a retaste. And finally I got in a rather unusual bottle I wanted to share.

The YKY was just as good as it was a couple of days ago with a nice mouthfeel, red fruit, earthiness, a touch of sweetness and that delightful pop of cinnamon. But I still wouldn't be able to tell you with any certainty that this was Double Rye as the base (or rye at all for that matter). So we tried the Double Rye just to see if we could pick up any of it in the YKY. 

I have to say that this bottle is drinking extremely well. The time in bourbon has really rounded the edges on the young MGP rye and made it a delightful whiskey in its own right (A few bottles remain for anyone interested. Feel free to PM me for details if you don't know where this is). However any direct comparison to the YKY is hard to find, not that this is necessarily exactly like a standard off the shelf DR.

We moved on to the 1792 Port Finish with it's 2 years of port finishing. Despite the amount of time it is supposedly finished I still don't find it to be heavily port forward. The palate and finish were improved but still relatively short although the slightly bitter character of the finish seemed less prominent to me.

Then we moved on to something just a tad bit different.

This is a distilled spirit from Korea. No, not South Korea but that little ass backward hermit state to the north. Yes I am referring to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea run by the glorious supreme leader and self proclaimed expert in everything, Kim Jong-un. And why do you have this you might ask? Well, we all have our little secrets now don't we!

As to referring to this as a "distilled spirit" that would be because I am not really quite sure what the heck this is. My best guess is something in the brandy family as North Korea is known to be producing brandy. But I am not yet sure with any certainty. Age and whether it is colored or otherwise doctored is also a big unknown.

And how does it taste you might ask? Well, the nose can best be described as funky and a bit vegetal. The palate is not quite as odd as the nose and it does seem to have a touch of that highly desirable anise quality sought after by the GBS crowd so there is that! One taster described it as like chewing on the grape vine and the anise suggested a Raki like quality. Perhaps it is made from the grape must left over after making wine. Otherwise it is largely unremarkable and so far it does not appear to have been able to figure out that I am an American capitalist pig as I am still alive...

Trying next to a couple of young brandy's from Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan and there is admittedly little similarity. Those two are smooth and grape forward and have no of the vegatal quality of our mystery bottle. If anyone has any insight on exactly what this is please feel free to share. That is the label in its entirety (although it also came with a box that was also without any English other than ABV and volume)

Finally we finished up with several beers. First were a couple of Lolita's, a belgian Style Wild Ale barrel aged with raspberries added to the barrel. The 2015 was quite bracingly sour. Not bad if you like this style but you have to be prepared for it. Despite being bottle condition with a note on the bottle that it should be good for 5 years the 2013 had lost nearly all of its sour character. The raspberry notes were more prevalent but not enough to make it particularly interesting to me. A 60% old/40% new or so mix seemed to be OK.

Finally the last one was the "highly allocated" Lagunitas Bitter Oats DIPA. The hop heads seemed to like this quite hoppy beer but it was not my favorite with tons of floral grapefruit notes.

And with that we will hopefully see you next year for the next Wednesday Tasting. Have a safe one everybody!

Edited December 31, 2015 by tanstaafl2

[tanstaafl2]

Looks like the Wednesday tasting will be on a brief hiatus the next few weeks as our usual meeting place will be unavailable for a bit. But rest assured it will return!

At some point anyway...

We did manage to squeeze in a couple of modest options after stopping by to provide some of the HW Yippee Ki-Yay to a couple of GBSers last Saturday.

Yes, that would be a 2014 Caol Ila 30yo Diageo special release (OK, I caved, I admit it! I am such a Caol Ila whore...) and the 2009 Octomore Edition 06.3 from Bruichladdich at a robust 128 proof and lightly peated to 258 ppm....

These two couldn't be much more different despite being made a few miles from each other on the mystical Isle of Islay. The CI30 was all elegance, delicacy and nuance but with a surprising amount of sweet peaty goodness despite its advanced age. It was delightfully easy to drink despite it's cask strength of 110.2. 

The Octomore on the other hand was very young at 5yo and brash although this was a newly opened bottled and it was surprisingly closed off to start with. A bottle that had been tried a week or so ago that was down about 25% and had been open for a week or so was much more feisty I am told. Time in the glass did wake it up a bit but this was certainly no peat monster. Maybe a touch of water also helped but not much despite the proof. The peat was actually quite pleasant if a bit on the raw side compared to the CI30  (The CI30 did not need any water and indeed a drop or two actually seemed to dull the whisky in my opinion).

Both will of course need a thorough reevaluation down the road!

You guys should have stayed. You know who you are...

 

Edited January 8, 2016 by tanstaafl2

[tanstaafl2]

In order to recover from the post Groundhog day hangover (I believe Whistlepig is the official beverage of Groundhog Day!) we decided it was well past time to get the Wednesday tastings back on track. To do so we featured a lot of wine finished whisky with a touch of smoke thrown in.

 

To kick it off we started with a recently acquired 18yo Springbank that was fully matured in a "fresh port" cask. This was bottled at a cask strength of 104.2 proof and freshly opened for the tasting. No, the bottle is not dark glass, this whiskey was pretty intensely dark in its own right! The nose was quite big with a pleasant mustiness and filled the room. Not as much obvious port influence as I was expecting on the nose. The palate was quite rich with a very full mouthfeel and some honey or almost rum/molasses like character. Perhaps a bit of red fruit in the back of the palate and then the finish was a bit drier and oaky in character and not that long. Water didn't hurt but didn't really help either which was a bit surprising. This was good but not great to me although I don't want to pass final judgment until it has been open a while.

We followed that up with the 11yo fully port matured Longrow from 2014, the very young Kilchoman port matured (all of 3 years) and the always satisfying Bowmore 16yo fully port matured as comparisons. All of these are also cask strength except the Kilchoman which is bottled at a healthy 110 proof. The Bowmore remains the class of the group by some distance with a beautiful balance of sweet red fruit and pleasant peat followed by a long lingering finish. Few things are better than this one and we didn't find one today. The Longrow port had some nice similarity to the Bowmore but was not quite as complex and well balanced while the Kilchoman showed its youth although it is still quite a remarkable whisky given its age.

We then worked our way through the rest of the Longrow Red series including the new Pinot Noir finish (from a kiwi winery). It only has one year of Pinot finish and while the whiskey is a very nice Longrow it was hard to discern much contribution from the finishing. However it was newly opened so I plan to give it another try in the near future. The rest were pretty much as we found them in April 2015 tasting on page 5 of this thread. The Cab was again the least favorite but all were interesting.

We then finished up with a few beers by doing a vertical of Boulevard's Love Child Series. we had number 3 (2013), 4 (2014) and the newest, No. 6. Not sure what happened to 5 but somehow we missed it!

All are described as Sour Ales using at least some Lactobaccillus and Brettanomyces yeast although only 6 says sour ale on the label. 3 was aged mostly in bourbon barrels while 4 was aged in a combination of bourbon and wine barrels with a portion presumably not aged at all while resting in tanks. The bottle for 6 gave no indication what it was aged in but reportedly was a Belgian style ale rather than the Flanders red style of earlier versions and aged partly in wine barrels.

https://www.boulevard.com/BoulevardBeers/love-child-no-3/

https://www.boulevard.com/BoulevardBeers/love-child-no-4/

https://www.boulevard.com/love-child-no-6/

For us the 3 was the most sour and interesting, 4 had more acetic or vinegar-y wine notes while 6 was just a bit bland to be honest. Perhaps it needs some time to age?

That was enough for today but hopefully we are back on a more regular schedule for awhile!

 

Edited February 4, 2016 by tanstaafl2

[tanstaafl2]

After a scotch dominated week last week we tried to mix it up a little this week, especially in light of the recent discussion of the NDP Barrel bourbon. In this case it was a batch 005 going up against a store pick of the Dickel 9yo store pick. Oh and a Gifted Horse accidentally walked through the door as well...

We started with that corn laden nag. Sweet up front as expected with a bit of dryness in the finish but nothing particularly off putting or unpleasant in between which suggests they have adequately covered up the otherwise unmarketable 17. Unfortunately nothing particularly interesting either. For $55-$60 and a ridiculous back story it really needed to have something to it to make me interested in seeking out another bottle and that didn't happen. The higher proof was a pleasant surprise as I had forgotten or did not know it was going to be at 115 proof. But that just tended to make it a bit hot and water calmed a bit but didn't really do much to improve the flavor. Perhaps I allowed my knowledge of who released this and what it was blended from influence my judgment but I think this is a one and done for me.

The GD and the Barrell bourbon on the other hand proved more interesting. Both were newly opened for this tasting. The 9yo GD clocked in at the standard proof for this release of 103 while the Barrell was a much higher cask strength at 124.7. They were tasted blind although the higher proof of the Barrell made the ID a bit easier. The GD was a nice whiskey compared to standard GD bottling's but still suffered from that softness that tends to afflict both GD and JD for me. A bit of a one note pony. The GD vitamin element was present (which I don't particularly mind, to me it is more like the slightly odd taste from the casing of medication capsule you have kept in your mouth a bit too long before swallowing than it is a Flintstone vitamin). The Barrell also had this quality but it was much less prevalent and it had a great deal more flavor overall with a nice caramel and vanilla quality. Certainly fits with the presumed Dickel sourcing before being aged in Kentucky but better than any GD I have had before. Drinkable at proof but a touch of water seemed to help open it up a bit more. Not sure I would seek it out again at around $80 but good all the same.

 

We then went back and did a retasting of a couple of bottles from last week, the Springer 18 port matured and the Longrow Red Pinot Noir. Both had opened up a bit compared to last week and while the Springer is good it still failed to reach my perhaps lofty expectations with a less than dominate port character and a relatively short finish. The Longrow still had little obvious Pinot Noir influence other than perhaps a touch of sweetness and the peat character was rather subdued as well to me.

Finally, we finished with an experiment between a recently opened bottle of Octomore "Super Heavily Peated Islay Barley", series 6.3 peated to 258 ppm compared to a bottle that was opened for this tasting. They are both bottled at a modest 128 proof. The bottle already open had been very closed off when we first tried it (see the January 8th post above) but tasting one that had been opened for awhile was reported to be excellent. So we thought we would conduct our own experiment by tasting the previously opened bottle blind against a newly opened bottle. We expected the newly opened bottle to again be closed off while the previously opened bottle, that had been closed off when newly opened a month ago, would now be better.

Well, welcome to the world of blind tasting! The previously opened bottle was indeed much improved with a ton of peat and smoke character that lasted forever on the finish. But the newly opened bottle was not at all closed off. It was excellent as well in its own unique way but different from the previously opened bottle. Far more honey tones balancing the peat but the peat building nicely through the finish. Why this was the case is a mystery. It is the same whiskey presumably bottled at the same time. Could it have been made up in separate batches? No idea.

As we ruminated on this conundrum we decided forego the Kilchoman's this week and finished the day by cutting through the long lingering peat on our palate with a bit of the newly released Hop Slam, this year available in cans rather than bottles. Big citrus grapefruit note as expected and not really my preference. I tend to like them better at about 6 months of age when the underlying honey tends to start helping balance out the rather bracing hop dominance.

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2016 by tanstaafl2

[LCWoody]

Thanks for taking the time to write about y'alls Wednesday tasting, I always look forward to reading them. 

[tanstaafl2]

My pleasure. It is a good way for me to keep track of what we have done in the past so it helps me as well!

[tanstaafl2]

And now for something completely different! Well, a little different for us anyway.

We decided to try a cocktail Wednesday tasting this week as a change of pace. This week we featured 4 different cocktails and gin was up first. Amaro Lucano tends to be a lighter less bitter amaro.

Solomon Grundy by Dan Long

1 1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Sweet vermouth, Carpano Antica Formula
3/4 oz Amaro Lucano
1/4 oz Fernet Branca

Stir, strain, Serve up. Garnish cherry

OK, lacked a bit of pop to balance the herbal elements. The gin used also made a difference. Started with Aviation gin which was so so, but it was improved with the St. George Dry Rye gin.

Next came tequila. This one was a variation on a margarita featuring Amaro Montenegro for a bit more herbal character.

Ellen's Fancy by Stew Ellington

1 1/4 oz Reposado Tequila
1 1/4 oz Amaro Montenegro
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz Lime juice
1/2 t Agave syrup
3 dr Orange flower water

Shake all but the orange flower water and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the orange flower water.

One always gets a bit nervous with things like Rose water and Orange Flower water but this really seemed to work to create a slightly more adult cocktail style margarita. Not quite as good as a Margara for me, but not bad.

The next featured Calvados (French apple brandy) as the base spirit and was created by the same person who created Ellen's Fancy.

The Shah Sleeps by Stew Ellington

1 1/2 oz Amaro Montenegro
1 oz Calvados
1/2 oz Sweet vermouth, Carpano Punt e Mes
1 t Herbal liqueur, Green Chartreuse
1/4 t Allspice Dram

Stir and strain. Orange peel garnish.

Once again Amaro Montenegro was used and played a feature role. I really liked this one! Although it had very little chartreuse or all spice dram I it both could be identified.

I didn't think to take pictures until we made this one. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing...

Finally we wrapped it up with a fairly easily created drink using the classic Corpse Reviver 1:1:1:1 ratio and 2 base spirits using rye and Laird's Apple Brandy.

Fall to Pieces

.75 oz Laird’s Apple Brandy

.75 oz Rittenhouse Rye

.75 oz Cocchi Vermouth de Torino

.75 oz Averna Amaro

1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir, and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with oils expressed from an orange peel.

This one seemed a touch boozy, even for me! Maybe cut back a touch on the rye and apple brandy?

We then finished up with a couple of German doppelbock lagers but they seemed old and faded so not really worth commenting on.

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2016 by tanstaafl2