"Noreaster" bourbon from Triple Eight

[tallmarc]

Anybody bought/tried Triple Eight Distillery's recent bourbon, called "Noreaster?"

It's made on Nantucket. As I live in Massachusetts I bought a bottle mostly as a novelty. I hesitate to open it becuase it could very well be nasty, and also because it seemed to fly off the shelf, making it fairly scarce. If it's going to be kept strictly as a conversation piece, I don't want to open it.

I can't find it on the Triple 8 website, or this site, or any other site.

Anybody actually tasted it??

It's not the same as the Notch whiskey they released (as in "not scotch" but in that style) last year.

[Gillman]

Is this the first bourbon released by a new concern since the 1950's? This product would be significant from that standpoint alone.

The last new bourbon (from a new company) was Maker's Mark from about 1955.

Can you describe the bottle, the color of the whiskey, any age indicated, ABV, etc.?

Gary

[Gillman]

There is a photo or reproduction of the bottle on the website (www.ciscobrewers.com), look in the April '06 newsletter where it is shown in a group of other products including a rum and what I think is a tequila.

The question is whether the bourbon was distilled at Triple 8 distillery in Nantucket, MA which seems connected somehow to Cisco Brewers, a well-known microbrewery there.

The bottle is a clear glass rounded decanter-type bottle. You can't tell any aging or production details from the picture which is rather indistinct.

If there is confirmation this is made at the distillery (not made in Kentucky and simply bearing the house name and trade dress) this is a very significant find, the first bourbon (as far as I know) put in the market by a new distillery since the Maker's Mark in the 1950's. And it would be a maritime bourbon to boot, whose aging was influenced by the sea winds.

Any taste notes on such a product would be most intriguing for all of us here I am sure.

Gary

[TimmyBoston]

Forgive me if this is stupid, but how can a bourbon be from Massachusetts?

I would love to try it though, a little taste of home. :grin:

[Gillman]

Bourbon legally can be made in any part of the U.S. and at one time was made in a number of States outside Kentucky.

Hirsch 16 was made in Pennsylvania...

Gary

[MikeK]

I emailed Jay Harman at Cisco about this a while back. The bourbon is NOT distilled on Nantucket. His email stated that they barreled and aged the spirit on the island. He wouldn't tell me where he gets it though. I explained that I would like to compare a comparable product from the mother distillery to see how aging on the Island affects the flavor. Still no love. I need to get out there some day and look for evidence...

I have not tried it yet either, I need to talk a store manager into cracking one open for a taste.

Cheers,

[Gillman]

Thanks, Mike. The fact that it is aged on Nantucket still makes it distinctive but not as much as if it was distilled there.

Maybe this is an interim product and they are currently aging their own-distilled product.

Gary

[tallmarc]

Thanks for the information guys. You really did your homework!

In exchange I'll post a picture of my bottle. I may see if I can find another. If so, I'll crack it open and have a taste. Certainly will report back. Otherwise, see my original post about keeping it as a conversation piece.

[TimmyBoston]

I'm really curious if it's any good.

[StraightBoston]

Had a taste at Kingfish Hall in Boston last weekend. Pleasant, but not too distinctive. Wasn't in enough of a tasting setting to make a guess as to the distillery, but definitely not a bottom shelf private label bottling.

[MikeK]

I got to try a small sample of this today at a local tasting. The distributor was unusually helpful. He said it is Heaven Hill bourbon, aged 2 years in KY and then 2 years on Nantucket.

It was not bad, but I didn't get to properly evaluate it. It might be my imagination, but the ocean air aging did seem to give it a Scotch-like nuance.

If I make it down for the Sept. Festival, we'll bring a bottle along.

[polyamnesia]

noticed this was still available online through Blanchard's...at $30+...!

any more info on this?

[snakster]

Is this the first bourbon released by a new concern since the 1950's? This product would be significant from that standpoint alone.

The last new bourbon (from a new company) was Maker's Mark from about 1955.

Can you describe the bottle, the color of the whiskey, any age indicated, ABV, etc.?

Gary

Does the Tuthilltown Baby Bourbon not count? Not trying to be a smart alec, I'm really curious if it does not specifically match the qualifying criteria. They seem to be making Rye too.

[Gillman]

Indeed you are right and I when I wrote that I didn't know about Tuthilltown, and I believe its products only came out after that post. I take a great interest in them as e.g., my review posted in the last two days of the Four Grain Bourbon from this company.

Gary

[polyamnesia]

interesting (tuthilltown) link! they seem to make a corn whiskey as well...anyone in the Hudson Valley tried these?

[snakster]

Indeed you are right and I when I wrote that I didn't know about Tuthilltown, and I believe its products only came out after that post. I take a great interest in them as e.g., my review posted in the last two days of the Four Grain Bourbon from this company.

Gary

Thanks Gary, I'll search out that review.

[Mr. Jon]

My folks live on Nantucket; Cisco's beers are very good--the Whales' Tail IPA is exceptional. When I was there last spring, my father and I tasted some of the Nor'Easter bourbon. It was palatable, but not that great. I would not buy it unless it spends more time in the wood, as I found it over sweet and under aged. I remember it had a strange, almost tequila-like finish. ymvv, of course.