Research and Experimentation

[cas]

I see in some other postings that we are looking at some experimental bourbons from BT in the near future, and we've recently seen a few wheat whiskeys enter the market - so I was wondering - how much research/experimentation do the major distilleries do with their product? I don't mean market research, but rather tinkering with the fermentation/distillation/aging to produce new and interesting whiskey? I realize that with several years of aging the turnaround time is pretty long until a new product is ready to distribute, and the specialty market may not have enough volume to provide much financial incentive for new product development - but it seems likely that a certain amount of experimentation is ongoing.

Craig

[DrinkyBanjo]

I thought I read something mentioning this lately but I don't remember if it was answered.

Has there ever been a barrel proof straight rye? I'm not talking about Old Potrero as even though it is technically a straight rye it's a single malt and doesn't really taste like a straight rye.

If there hasn't I think a fifth installment of the Antique Collection is warranted.

Ken Weber, are you listening?

[gr8erdane]

Are you sure you'd want a barrel strength rye? To me rye is so much stronger in taste and spice than bourbon that to try to drink it straight from the barrel would put my taste buds on sensory overload and ruin the experience. It might be desired by a discerning few but I doubt BT would see the product as having sales potential greater than the cost for bringing it to the public. Of course I have been wrong before. Once.

[Ken Weber]

I tasted the Sazerac 18 straight from the barrel (purely for research purposes) and found the flavor soooo overwhelming I could not even begin to describe it. As a matter of fact, I still don't know if I liked it or not. While I am not a big fan of whiskey that old, the taste was just too intense to truly enjoy.

Ken

[pepcycle]

Ken,

I think we all need to conduct that experiment on barrel strength Saz.

How can that be accomplished?

[NorCalBoozer]

any idea on what the barrel proof was?

[barturtle]

Yeah it could have ben really high. Think about it, it was entered into the barrel at the same proof as Stagg is and is about 3 yrs older. You could be looking at a 145 proof sample.

Besides right now BT seems to be a bit short on rye the Saz release was the smallest bottling of the Antique Collection this year and the Jr was also released in a small amount. Think how much less there would have been if it didn't get cut to proof. While I'd like to have a 100 or higher proof version of Saz I'd much rather be able to get my hands on some at 90proof than be outta luck at a higher proof.

[DrinkyBanjo]

This is my idea so I'm in. I'll see Mr. Weber on Monday for my private tasting. I'll let you know how it goes!

[etohchem]

Saz 18YO ran between 129.8 and 135.6 for the barrels that were tasted for approvals this year. I personally love the Saz 18YO at Barrel strength however for approval testing we cut the samples to ~40`proof.

EtohChem