Colorado Whiskey

[SSBourbon1]

I got the chance to visit Binnys earlier this week. I picked up a bottle of Colorado Whiskey. It looks like a young whiskey, internet search shows that it seems popular and liked, but do not know much else about it. I will be trying it soon as I have some other bottles that I really want to open first. The company that makes it is stranahams.com

Any comments or info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[robbyvirus]

I'm currently in Denver and I saw a bunch of this on the shelf in a liquor store. I'm curious, but I'll wait to hear waht others think before I shell out the money. I also saw a blackberry-flavored whiskey for sale made somewhere in Colorado. Can't remember then name. I passed.

[cowdery]

Run a search on "stranahans" ("n" not "m") and you'll find a bit more information. It has been discussed a few times here and a few people here tried it at Whiskey Fest Chicago.

[doubleblank]

We did indeed try it at WhiskeyFest. It's whiskey. It's young. It's decent enough. It's expensive. Those are my simple recollections. I'd try it at a bar and pass on the bottle purchase.

Randy

[BourbonJoe]

We did indeed try it at WhiskeyFest. It's whiskey. It's young. It's decent enough. It's expensive. Those are my simple recollections. I'd try it at a bar and pass on the bottle purchase.

Randy

I agree.

Joe :usflag:

[sku]

It's decent enough stuff, light and sort of bourbon like, but nothing spectacular. I'll be reviewing it along with three other American single malts on my blog next Wednesday (every Wednesday is Whiskey Wednesday).

www.recenteats.blogspot.com

[AVB]

I liked it a lot. It is an american single malt that should be outstanding once it ages out to 10 years or so.

[Grain Brain]

Tastes more like a clean, non-peated scotch to me, with lots of fresh young wood in the nose.

The Flying Dog brewery in Denver makes the all barley mash, then sends it next door to the Stranahan distillery.

I personally thought it was great, and couldn't leave Denver without a bottle. Echoing what AVB said, it'll be interesting to see how it ages, provided Stranahans was that forward thinking and has some surplus shored up in barrels.

[Sweetmeats]

I was thinking about buying a bottle when I'm in Denver next week. What's the price?

[sku]

I was thinking about buying a bottle when I'm in Denver next week. What's the price?

Around $50 per bottle. You can now pick it up in Southern California as well. I believe they carry it at Hi-Times Wines in Costa Mesa...pretty convenient for you.

[Virus_Of_Life]

Around $50 per bottle. You can now pick it up in Southern California as well. I believe they carry it at Hi-Times Wines in Costa Mesa...pretty convenient for you.

Yep, or you could buy my open, but full bottle minus one pour from me for 20 bucks!

I couldn't finish the one pour I had, it tasted like distilled 4 day old stale beer to me... Sorry just being honest.

[Sweetmeats]

Looks like I'll have my company treat me to a shot before I decide to personally buy a bottle.

And yeah, Hitime is real close. I just wondered if it was cheaper in the actual state it is made in.

[hxmiller]

Yep, or you could buy my open, but full bottle minus one pour from me for 20 bucks!

I couldn't finish the one pour I had, it tasted like distilled 4 day old stale beer to me... Sorry just being honest.

It's a 100% Barley Whiskey. I tasted that beer as well. IMHO it's not worth $55 a bottle. If they'd only aged it past 2 years.

[craigthom]

It sounds as if it might be like Glenora: pretty good, but priced for the novelty of it.

[Sweetmeats]

They apparently age the whiskey in used beer casks.

I went to the distillery but it was closed. Then went next door and had a taste of it. I enjoyed it actually but it's not worth 50+ bucks.

[cowdery]

I seem to recall him saying it is aged in new, charred barrels. So at least in that sense he is operating in the American tradition, though in making a malt whiskey he is not.

Still, comparing it, either for taste or for value, with a bourbon or other characteristic American whiskey seems meaningless. I would like to hear a knowledgable scotch drinker compare it to a comparably-priced single malt.

I suspect the comparison to Glenora is apt, although Glenora is trying in every way except geographically to make a true single malt scotch. The Stranahan's guy is more of a free spirit doing his own thing, not worrying too much about any tradition.

I sure hope all these people who are selling these very young whiskeys also left some of their stock in wood so they can eventually offer older expressions, which will give us a much better idea if they are on to something or not.

So far, though, the American craft distilling movement has shown us nothing.

[sku]

I seem to recall him saying it is aged in new, charred barrels. So at least in that sense he is operating in the American tradition, though in making a malt whiskey he is not.

Still, comparing it, either for taste or for value, with a bourbon or other characteristic American whiskey seems meaningless. I would like to hear a knowledgable scotch drinker compare it to a comparably-priced single malt.

I suspect the comparison to Glenora is apt, although Glenora is trying in every way except geographically to make a true single malt scotch. The Stranahan's guy is more of a free spirit doing his own thing, not worrying too much about any tradition.

I sure hope all these people who are selling these very young whiskeys also left some of their stock in wood so they can eventually offer older expressions, which will give us a much better idea if they are on to something or not.

So far, though, the American craft distilling movement has shown us nothing.

It really tastes nothing like a Scotch single malt. If anything, the taste is more similar to a Bourbon, though frutier. In fact, I've tasted four American single malts and none of them taste anything like Scotch, even those that claim to use Scottish barley or peat (Stranahan's uses all Colorado barley).

The American malt producers seem to be going for an entirely different flavor profile, and in someways are looking more toward American whiskey than Scotch single malts. Time (and age) will tell if the American single malts develop a following or are a flash in the whiskey pan.

Of the four I tasted, I should say that while none were overly impressive, I liked Stranahan's the best, and I think it could well be very good after another few years in the barrel.

[tango-papa]

It really tastes nothing like a Scotch single malt. If anything, the taste is more similar to a Bourbon, though frutier. In fact, I've tasted four American single malts and none of them taste anything like Scotch, even those that claim to use Scottish barley or peat (Stranahan's uses all Colorado barley).

The American malt producers seem to be going for an entirely different flavor profile, and in someways are looking more toward American whiskey than Scotch single malts. Time (and age) will tell if the American single malts develop a following or are a flash in the whiskey pan.

Of the four I tasted, I should say that while none were overly impressive, I liked Stranahan's the best, and I think it could well be very good after another few years in the barrel.

sku,

I'm curious to hear which others you've tasted and your thoughts on those as well.

I also look forward to the (potential) opportunity of tasting some of these after they've had time to mature. While many poo-poo these, I think it's great that new attempts are being made in the world of whisk(e)y!

~tp

[sku]

sku,

I'm curious to hear which others you've tasted and your thoughts on those as well.

I also look forward to the (potential) opportunity of tasting some of these after they've had time to mature. While many poo-poo these, I think it's great that new attempts are being made in the world of whisk(e)y!

~tp

Here's a link to my tasting (warning, I suck at tasting notes): http://recenteats.blogspot.com/2007/06/whiskey-wednesday-american-single-malts.html

[craigthom]

I suspect the comparison to Glenora is apt, although Glenora is trying in every way except geographically to make a true single malt scotch.

Right down to importing the malted barley, unless I badly misunderstood what the guide said when I toured the place five years ago. There may well not be anyone in Canada malting barley over peat, but there wasn't much peat in the taste of the whisky. The equipment is from Scotland, the barley is from Scotland, and the yeast is probably from Scotland. It's as if they bought a big "make your own Scotch! Just add water!" kit.

The thing that turned me into that annoying guy on the tour, though, was the guide's claim that they aged the whisky in used bourbon barrels from Jack Daniels.

[cowdery]

They probably do age it in used barrels from Jack Daniel's, though I suppose your point was his use of the word "bourbon."

Just add water is right. Since you've visited there, you know the people there have all convinced themselves it is Scotland, just a piece that somehow got detached and relocated.

[Grain Brain]

The American malt producers seem to be going for an entirely different flavor profile...

I think it's more a case of the indigenous ingredients (barley, yeast, water) contributing to the major difference in flavor. I don't think Stranahan's is going for a specific flavor profile so much as it is going for a native product and seeing what they can crank out.

Oh, and also, I never heard a thing about Jack Daniels barrels when I took the tour. That would absolutely go against their whole mission of producing an exclusively Coloradan product. From their own website, "Stranahan’s starts its ageing process by filling new American white oak barrels, heavily charred..."

The guide that gave craigthom's tour must have been smokin' crack.

[cowdery]

Glenora in Nova Scotia is the distillery that reported using JD barrels, not Stranahan's.

[Grain Brain]

Ahh... oops. R.I.F.! :blush:

[craigthom]

It's not just the folks at Glenora that have convinced themselves it's Scotland, to be fair. It's "Nova Scotia", after all, and there are kilts and Celtic music all over the province, not just on Cape Breton. Glenora fits with the tourism there, giving people somewhere to go (when they aren't salmon fishing).