Wild Scotchmen Whisky Society Meeting Featuring Bourbon and Rye Whiskey
We had a great night reviewing bourbon last night at Nicholsons. Our main speaker Julian Van Winkle had a last minutes urgent obligation to take care of ,however, I led the group in an interesting trek. We will see Julian and his bourbons this fall at an upcomming meeting.
In light of the speaker change I went out and gathered a few bourbons and American Whiskey’s of my own choosing:
1) Johnny Drum Kentucky Straight Bourbon at 50.5% alc/vol. This bourbon hails from Bardstown, KY. Believe it or not this bourbon was bought by Even Kulsveen from Hamar, Norway!
I found this bourbon to be the un-bourbon..bourbon. The mashbill contains about 35% rye which is huge by bourbon standards. This high level of rye does not give this bourbon the typical earthy notes. In fact some believed there was a bit of “clove” in the taste.
2) Four Roses Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon, 50% alc/vol (8yrs). Warehouse: ME and Barrel Number: 55-6F. This was an exclusive Single Barrel bottling from The Party Source.
This distillery is currently owned by Kirin Beer of Japan. An odd fact about this brand is that they use several different yeast strains when fermenting the wash. Basically they are creating slight variations in each batch of production by using a seperate yeast each time. Bloody Brilliant!
3) Old Weller Antique The Origianal 107 BrandKentucky Straight Bourbon, 53.5% alc/vol aged 7 yrs. The was an exclusive bottling by Cork-N-bottle
This brand was created by Pappy Van Winkle ages ago and is now owned by Buffalo Trace Distillery.
Nose: A big Warm pot of brown sugar, burnt caramel, and butter rum lifesavers all mixed together on a cold winter’s night.
Taste: Spicy, hot, slightly earthy with a less pronounced sweetness as compared to the nose
Finish: A quick burst of heat followed by a pleasant warm vanilla aftertaste.
4)Van Winkle Family Reserve Ryeaged 13yrs, 47.8% number: 4271
This wonderful botting is not bourbon but rather Rye Whiskey, which according by law must contain at least 51% Rye in the mashbill. Most rye whiskey is bottled at less than 5years which makes having one at 13years a one off experience.
Nose: Carrot Cake, orange zest and vanilla
Taste: Vanilla, toffee and a hint of cocoa
Finish: Smooth, sweet and just basically easy drinking!
Hope you all will make it back in the fall to meet Julian and get a real run through of their brands.
Slainte,
The Wild Scotsman
2 comments on to “Wild Scotchmen Whisky Society Meeting Featuring Bourbon and Rye Whiskey”
- landyjon / Jun 23, 2007 17:31 / Sounds like you had a great session! I like to think I've got a reasonably good working knowledge of Scotch (malts and blends) and I'm not completely ignorant of Irish whiskey. But my knowledge of American whiskey, in all its forms, is sadly lacking. I'm working on it - American whiskey in the UK isn't limited to Jack Daniel's any more - and I'm currently making my way through a bottle of Buffalo Trace. Who'd have thought learning could be so much fun...
- The Wild Scotsman / Jun 24, 2007 10:16 / Landyjon: Buffalo trace is a great Distillery located in Frankfort, KY. It has a lot of history in fact at one time it was called, Ancient Age Distillery. Both John McDougall and I had a private Distillery tour there last year. It was interesting to see the slight differences in many of the production processes compared to Scotch. From what I saw in Scotland my last trip I believe Bourbon will have a place in Scotland. I plan on bringing a bottle or two of Bourbon to Bladnoch when I come in October. I believe Raymod may have a guest or two wanting to try some great American Whiskey. It also makes for a great discussion which could lead to an empty bottle. cheers, Jeff