Other Whisk(e)ys

I’m a little late with the post this month but there are some interesting things coming down the pipe that will hopefully take your attention off of my tardiness.

Buffalo Trace 2011 Experimental
Timeframe: February 2011
Price: $46.35/375ml
ABV: TBD
So the story goes with this year’s experimental release comes from several barrel of stock Buffalo Trace acquired with the Old Charter brand back in 1998. They were poking around in those barrels and came across three groups they thought were worth bottling: 7 barrels from 1989, 8 barrels from 1991, and 8 barrels from 1993.

Heaven Hill Trybox Series
Timeframe: May 2011
Price: $24.99
ABV: 62.5%
This is the first two in a new series Heaven Hill is launching. This is the stuff coming right off the still, unaged. One will be a bourbon new make and the other a rye new make.

Four Roses 2011 Limited Edition Single Barrel
Timeframe: May 2011
Price: TBD
ABV: TBD
This year’s release will use the OBSQ recipe for those Four Roses geeks out there. That translates into a mashbill of 60% corn, 35% rye, 5% barley and a more floral yeast strain. 3,600 bottles will be available. Get yours while you can.

Woodinville Headlong White Dog Whiskey
Timeframe: Now
Price: TBD
ABV: 40%
These guys are a new distillery in Washington that opened last year. Headlong is their first whiskey product and is 80 proof white dog. The folks at Woodinville are also aging whiskey and hopefully some of that will be available by the end of this year but we’ll have to wait a see. Another really cool offering is a “Age Your Own” whiskey kit where you can buy white dog and a miniature barrel and do the aging on your own. The guys over at Woodinville sent me a sample bottle of Headlong so I’ll have a review soon.

Big Bottom Whiskey
Timeframe: Now
Price: Port Cask – $35, 3 Year Old – $28
ABV: 45.5%
Big Bottom is a new independent bottler out of Oregon. They are coming to the market with two whiskeys, a 3 Year Old 36% rye Bourbon and a 2 Year Old Bourbon finished in Port Cask that held 10 Year Old Tawny Port. As of right now you can only get this in Oregon or from K&L Wine but I traded emails with Ted Pappas, the head honcho over at Big Bottom and there is a good chance of it coming to Georgia and Tennessee in the near future. I’ll keep you posted.

That’s it for March. It was an interesting month. Most the stuff is not something you would consider mainstream. Stay tuned for that Headlong review. I should have it up by the end of next week.

February came through with some very interesting new additions to the whiskey world. We got some new remarketers, some line extensions, and some really innovative new spins on whiskey. Here’s the February round up.

Jim Beam Devil’s Cut
Timeframe: May 2011
Price: $24
ABV: 45%
This new product from Jim Beam consists of six year old Jim Beam mixed with sweated bourbon. Sweated bourbon comes from watering, heating, rolling, or some such other agitation to get out those last bits of bourbon deep within the wood of empty barrels. The results are a much older flavor.

Bulleit 95 Rye
Timeframe: March 1, 2011
Price: $27.99
ABV: 45%
This is rye coming out from Diageo under the Bulleit brand. It is between 4 and 7 years old and has a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted barley. Rye is really kicking it up a notch through the whole category and I can’t wait to give this one a go.

E.H. Taylor, Jr. Old Fashioned Sour Mash
Timeframe: Mid 2011
Price: $70
ABV: 50% BIB
This new bottled-in-bond bourbon coming from Buffalo Trace is the first limited edition coming out under the relaunched Taylor brand. This particular bottling is a 9 year old made using naturally soured mashed. Unlike normal bourbon mash, this was held in the drop tub for several days to allow the pH to drop naturally instead of using spent mash to lower the pH like most bourbon. BT is experimenting as usual. Let’s see how this one turns out.

Collingwood Canadian Whisky
Timeframe: Early 2011 in FL, KY, LA, & TX
Price: $26.99
ABV: 40%
We already showed you all the details in the press release earlier in February.

W.H. Harrison Straight Bourbon/Govenor’s Reserve Barrel Proof Bourbon
Timeframe: Now
Price: TBD
ABV: 40%/57%
This is a pair of bourbons coming out from Tipton Spirits. They are remarketing some LDI (Lawrenceburg Distiller’s Indiana) bourbon as Indiana bourbon. LDI is a bulk producer that produces bourbon for a number of brands under private label. No word of when this is rolling out outside of Indiana.

That’s it for February. As always, let me know if I missed anything.

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard