2014

Cragganmore 23 Year (K&L Wine)

/ / Review, Scottish Whisky, Speyside /

Cragganmore Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whiskey 23 Years Old
54.8% ABV
$109.99
Website
Cragganmore23
What the Bottle Says:
Finally, the return of Cragganmore to the Faultline line up. One of our first bottlings was a fabulous 20 year old Craggy, from a hogshead. That was three years ago and we haven’t seen another Cragganmore from any of our suppliers since, so when this one popped up as a potential Faultline candidate we jumped on it. We were surprised again by both the quality and the incredible price! Cragganmore is distilled from very lightly peated barley. Over the course of 23+ years in a refill sherry butt, that subtle smokiness has morphed into what can only be described as quintessentially Speyside. Imagine a highland shrub recently in bloom after months of dormancy during the long cold winter. Imagine the honey bee attracted to the tiny purple flowers, returns to her hive, which is situated precariously on the outstretched limb of knobby oak tree. The honey slowly drips out of the dense honeycomb on to the damp reeds below. This tiny florally flecked speck of honey trapped on a blade of grass flutters in the breeze to land on a damp stone on the banks of the river Spey. Droplets from the idly lapping river loosen the blade from its sticky perch on the wet stone, eventually releasing it into the meandering river as it twists toward the north sea. Now imagine yourself with a bottle of Cragganmore. You have a very good imagination…

What Richard Says:
Nose: Heather, vanilla wafers, lavender honey, and a balanced sherry note that plays with a little leather and tobacco typically seen in malts of 30 plus years. Stone fruits and a little eucalyptus come out with a splash of water.
Palate: Damn! This is amazing. Sherry, vanilla cream, stone fruits, cherries jubilee, and oatmeal raisin cookies.
Finish: After 23 years the only place the oak shows up is the long lingering tale of the finish. Not too much. Just a slow steady swan song.
Comments: This is bottled at almost 55% alcohol by volume but it drinks much smoother than that. It’s almost a sin to add the water but not quite. Do so sparingly. This is one of only 270 bottles bottled exclusively for K&L Wine Merchants in California. The malt alone makes this a must buy but the price is a damn steal!
Rating: Must Buy

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Faultline Bourbon

/ / Bourbon, Review /

Faultline Straight Bourbon Whiskey
50% ABV
$39.99
Website
Faultline
What the Bottler Says:
We’ve been doing gin and single malt for years, and now rum, so why not throw our hat in the Bourbon pool? One of the obstacles that kept us from making a Faultline Bourbon earlier was availability: the current demand has made the extra barrel a thing of the past. One of the only distilleries that would sell us a cask for a private label was the old LDI distillery in Indiana, but with the already overcrowded LDI market (Bulleit Rye, Templeton Rye, High West, etc) we didn’t think our product would be different enough, or of the quality we desired, for the Faultline name. That’s when John Little from Smooth Ambler stepped in and said he’d be happy to help us do something special. If we were going to work with LDI casks, then we needed the capability to blend something special to taste – the specs wouldn’t sell this baby. John had some incredible 10 year old low rye formula that we used in conjunction with some 7 year high rye. We kept tasting and tasting until we found the sweet spot at 100 proof. It’s FAR better than I ever thought it would be. I hoped we could provide something fun and different, but the final whiskey is phenomenal. It’s rich, with sweet fruit right on the entry, a full-bodied mid-palate, and a long, rich, spicy finish. It tastes like it came from Four Roses or somewhere fancy and at 50% it pops in all the right places. I hope we can make another batch like this because this Bourbon is the new king of K&L. Taste it if you don’t believe me. (David Driscoll)

What Richard Says:
Nose: Big Red chewing gum and danish butter cookies at first. As the nose gets time to open it turns into rum cake with vanilla cream sauce.
Palate: Seriously rye forward with a heavy dose of butter toffee, peach cobbler, white pepper, and fresh mint.
Finish: Black pepper, mint, and a nice woodiness.
Comments: Wow this is impressive. I must say I’m less than impressed generally with the LDI stuff hitting the market lately. It’s fine bourbon and rye but the market is over saturated with the stuff and every Tom, Dick, and Harry is pretending like they made it. I wasn’t even too impressed with the first bottle of Smooth Ambler Old Scout that John Little sent me a while back. It was his first release and from what I’ve tried from friends his newer releases keep getting better and better. [put me back on that sample list John!] This may be the best thing I’ve had from LDI and Smooth Ambler to date. Kudos to all involved with its development. The only bad thing about this is that it’s a K&L Wine Merchant only bourbon so you’ve got to get your butt to California if you want some. And if you go then let me know. I could use another bottle. 😉
Rating: Must Try

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Elijah Craig Barrel Proof

/ / Bourbon, Review /

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
67.9% ABV
$45 to $55
Website
Elijah-Barre-Proof
What the Distillery Says:
Named after the Father of Bourbon, Reverend Elijah Craig this limited release Small Batch, twelve year old Bourbon is bottled at Barrel Proof and without chill filtering, preserving the natural flavors produced during the aging process. At full Barrel Proof, you can enjoy the Bourbon much the same way our Master Distiller does when he samples straight from the barrel or, if you choose, add water to reduce the proof to your liking.

Color: Deep Amber
Aroma: Caramel with oak, fruit notes of apple and orange
Taste: Caramel, vanilla and butterscotch along with spices of black pepper and cinnamon in the back of the palate
Finish: Nice layered finish of all flavors; fades slowly with a hint of cool spearmint at the most lingering end

What Richard Says:
Nose: Burnt sugar, citrus zest, buttery toffee, vanilla, jasmine, and cherry blossoms.
Palate: Creamy yet robust and aggressive. More toffee, Red Hots, and a big dollop of vanilla.
Finish: Peppery spice and a healthy dose of wood on the back end dusted with cocoa powder.
Comments: This bottle (based on proof) is batch five of the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof releases if you’re interested in such things. I’ve had four (1-3 & 5) of the five releases to date and we are talking very minuscule differences. This is a great age stated barrel proof bourbon (which you don’t see too many of) that’s not too bad on the wallet relatively speaking. It can be had for about the same price, maybe a little less, than Stagg Jr and I don’t necessarily like one more than the other. Both are very tasty and muscular bourbons. However, this one has started to get a bit of cult following, and while good I don’t get the obsession, so you may have a hard time finding it. Be patient and hopefully that patience will be rewarded.
Rating: Stands Out

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Elijah Craig 20 Year Old

/ / Bourbon, Review /

Elijah Craig Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 20 Years
Barrel No. 8, Barreled on 3-15-91
45%
$130
Website
Elijah-Craig-20-Year-Old-Single-Barrel-1991
What the Distillery Says:
It was fall 2011 when Heaven Hill decided to honor the 20th anniversary of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival with a special, one barrel bottling of the Elijah Craig 20-Year-Old Single Barrel. This barrel would soon define award-winning bourbon. Whisky Advocate Magazine named this single barrel “American Whiskey of the Year”. Editor and Publisher John Hansell called the award-winning bourbon, “seamless, richly textured and impeccably balanced.” Only a handful of barrels have been allowed to age this long. Heaven Hill is proud to offer this unique bourbon that was pulled from the same lot as the award-winning barrel in limited quantties. Raise your glass to excellence.

What Richard Says:
Nose: Vanilla, tobacco, a little anisette, and old polished wood furniture.
Palate: Creme brulee, orange blossom honey, vanilla extract, hazelnut truffles, and maple syrup.
Finish: A mix of black and white pepper, pipe tobacco, cinnamon, and a slow oak denouement.
Comments: I keep thinking of Lucky Charms breakfast cereal. Not because this tastes anything like that. Rather, “it’s magically delicious”. 🙂 This is really, REALLY good. These have been out a couple of years so you’ll be hard pressed to find one now but grab it if you do. The house of Heaven Hill is kicking Buffalo Trace in the teeth in terms of great old whiskey with this one. A really amazing bourbon.
Rating: Must Buy

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Evan Williams Single Barrel 2004

/ / Bourbon, Review / ,

Evan Williams Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Single Barrel Vintage 2004
Barreled on 8-18-04
Barrel No. 340
Bottled on 2-21-14
43.3% ABV
$20 to $27
Website
evan-williams-single-barrel-2004

What the Distillery Says:
The latest vintage of the highly anticipated Evan Williams Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the 2004 edition, is now shipping to select retailers and on premise operators nationwide.
Heaven Hill Distilleries, the nation’s largest family-owned and operated independent spirits producer and the world’s second-largest holder of aging Bourbon, annually releases the newest edition in the series that goes back 19 years and has in that time become one of the most highly anticipated American Whiskey releases of the year.

The world-renowned Single Barrel Bourbon has garnered many prestigious awards since it was introduced in 1994. These include “Spirit of the Year – American Whiskey” from Food & Wine Magazine; “Domestic Whiskey of the Year” from Whisky Advocate; and “Whiskey of the Year” from The Spirit Journal, the first Bourbon upon which the publication bestowed this prestigious title. And just last year, Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Bourbon was named to The Spirit Journal “Hall of Fame,” just the eighth spirit to ever receive this honor.

“As many Bourbon fans know, we try to achieve a particular taste or flavor profile with every year’s vintage of Evan Williams Single Barrel, and then we select barrels that fit with that profile,” Heaven Hill’s legendary 6th generation Master Distiller Parker Beam observed. “For this 2004 vintage, we went with a character that is maybe a bit more assertive and bold than in years past, as consumer tastes seem to be leaning more toward robust whiskeys. We therefore have selected barrels that sit a bit higher up in the warehouses where the temperature gradients over the 9 or 10 years of aging were a bit more extreme.”

As with the previous 18 vintages, many of which are now highly sought after collector’s items, each bottle of the 2004 edition of Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Bourbon is marked with the exact date that it was placed in oak and bottled, in addition to the exact serial number of the single barrel from which it was drawn.

The 86.6 proof Bourbon is matured in natural open-rick warehouses under the careful supervision of Heaven Hill’s Master Distillers, who monitor the progress of each year’s vintage to ensure it maintains its intended flavor profile and superb quality.

What Richard Says:
Nose: Cinnamon, burnt sugar, and a mildly astringent vanilla.
Palate: Slightly more aggressive on the tongue than last year’s release. More pepper with rye spice, ginger, cornbread, and a stewed fruit flavor.
Finish: Leather, wood, and a bit of astringent pepper.
Comments: I’m not liking this 2004 as much as the 2003. These releases usually are very easy to drink but this one seems to be trying to muscle up a bit. It’s still a fine bourbon but I like the previous releases we’ve reviewed here a bit better.

On a side note. This particular bottle was a mother#%$&er to open. It seems the sealing wax is getting thicker as the vintages roll on. I appreciated the aesthetic of the wax but like real corks…it’s a pain in the ass.
Rating: Stands Out, Great Value

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