Stands Out

Basil Hayden’s 10 Year Old Bourbon

/ / Bourbon, Review /

Basil Hayden’s 10 Year Old Bourbon

40% ABV
$60
Website

We would like to thank Beam Suntory and Multiply for sending us a sample to review.

What the Distiller Says

Basil Hayden’s® is excited to release Basil Hayden’s® 10 Year Old Bourbon, a special, extra-aged limited offering just in time for the holiday season. Debuting on shelves in December 2018, Basil Hayden’s 10 Year Old Bourbon will return in limited quantities each holiday season.

Basil Hayden’s 10 Year Old Bourbon features the same high-rye bourbon recipe that Basil Hayden’s fans know and love, amplified by aging the bourbon in American Oak barrels longer to offer an added layer of complexity to an already distinctive flavor profile. Basil Hayden’s trademark spice shines through as the perfect complement to the caramel sweetness and wood flavors, making the whiskey a memorable one for fans and newcomers alike. Basil Hayden’s 10 Year Old Bourbon continues to embody the spirit of the
brand while remaining approachable at 80 proof.

TASTING NOTES
Playing on the same great flavors that Basil Hayden’s Bourbon fans know and love, this limited-edition release offers the following characteristics:
Proof: 80
Color: Golden Amber
Aroma: Big oak, hints of char, vanilla and rye
Taste: Oak balanced by caramel sweetness and rye spice
Finish: Lightly smoky with a subtle hint of char
Sipping Suggestions: Best enjoyed sipped neat or on the rocks

What Gary Says

Nose:  Rich, chocolate orange, oak, vanilla w/ anise and a hint of clove.
Palate:  Soft and creamy mouthfeel, sweet  with vanilla, citrus spice, salted caramel and a note of mint.
Finish:  Moderately long, damp with trailing citrus notes and oak.
Comments:  In a world where lately the big limited editions are high proof, Basil Hayden stays true to its brand with an 80 proof pour that delivers a lot of flavor – while maintaining the subtle/nuance that the brand is known for.  Basil Hayden was 8 year age stated originally, having lost that a few years back – but this shows how lovely the whiskey can be with a few extra years in the barrel.  It is Basil Hayden with the volume turned up (not ‘cranked up, break the knob off’, but definitely a step or two up).  The citrus notes (very ‘rye-like’, which isn’t a surprise given the high-rye mashbill) are familiar, but the chocolate was a nice touch that I don’t usually get with Basil Hayden.  I can’t find anything here which would leave fans of Basil Hayden disappointed, and a fair amount that I think they’re really enjoy.

Rating: Stands Out

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Loch Lomond 12 Yr Old Single Malt

/ / Highland, Review, Scottish Whisky / ,

Loch Lomond 12 Yr Old Single Malt
46% ABV
$35
Website

What the Distiller Says
THIS EXQUISITE 12 YEAR OLD SINGLE MALT HAS A DEEP FRUITY CHARACTER OF PEACH AND PEAR
LAYERED WITH A VANILLA SWEETNESS AND THE CHARACTERISTIC HINTS OF PEAT AND SMOKE FOUND
IN LOCH LOMOND WHISKIES. AGED IN THREE TYPES OF CASK – BOURBON, REFILL AND RE-CHARGED –
THESE WHISKIES ARE BROUGHT TOGETHER DELIVERING A PERFECTLY BALANCED SINGLE MALT
UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE OF MICHAEL HENRY OUR MASTER DISTILLER.

NOSE: Crisp green apple, ripe pear and refreshing citrus lemon with background notes of golden cereal.
TASTE: Orchard fruits and lemon meringue. The deep fruity character of pear lead into citrus lemon, vanilla meringue and light biscuit sweetness.
FINISH: Medium length with gentle wood smoke and a lingering peaty tang.

What Gary Says
Nose:  Sweet malt, apricots, not-quite-ripe/tart peaches with orange marmalade on toast; dried cut-grass with a hint of peat.
Palate:  Sweet entry of peach and pear with raisin bread; sharpens into a pepper spice note over peat and a hint of something vegetal.
Finish:  Short, wet with a bit of spice at the end.
Comments:  I hadn’t seen this in Georgia yet, and for the price felt it was worth taking a chance. Glad I did – this is a satisfying, tasty dram – not too complicated, but a sit back, relax and enjoy kind of pour. At $35 a bottle (where I found it in Pennsylvania), a great value too! I’d had tried Loch Lomond Original while in Scotland a few years back, and rather enjoyed it – so hoping they will start showing up with more regularity here in the states.
Rating: Stands Out; Great Value

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Maker’s Mark Private Select – Tower Wine & Spirits 2018

/ / Bourbon, Review / ,

Maker’s Mark Private Select

Exclusive Oak Stave Selection – Tower Wine & Spirits
55.25% ABV
$70
Website

What the Distiller Says

At Maker’s Mark, our wood-finishing series was created to explore new, unique expressions of our signature whisky. Beginning as fully matured Maker’s Mark® at cask strength, Private Select is created by adding 10 custom wood finishing staves to each barrel. It’s then aged in our limestone cellar to extract a unique, flavorful taste profile. Participants in this special barrel program get their say in the selection of these wooden staves. The finishing staves can be any combination of five flavor profiles chosen especially for this program. With 1,001 possible stave combinations, each expression of Private Select has a customized finish and taste profile that is unique, yet undeniably Maker’s®. Maker’s Mark Private Select® is available in select markets and also at our distillery.

Below are the notes on the different staves
The Maker’s 46® stave: The one that started this whole experiment. It delivers notes of dried fruit, vanilla and spice that you may be familiar with if you’ve tried Maker’s 46.
The Baked American Pure stave: Baked American Pure is American oak that’s slowly toasted. It adds notes of brown sugar, vanilla, caramel and spice.
The Seared French Cuvée stave: Seared French Cuvée is a French oak stave that’s cooked with infrared heat. It imparts toasty notes of oak and caramel.
The Roasted French Mocha stave: Roasted French Mocha is French oak cooked on high in a convection oven. It adds pleasant traces of char, maple and cacao.
The Toasted French Spice stave: Toasted French Spice is a French oak stave, cooked at both high and low temperatures in a convection oven. This stave has a flavor profile of smoke, coumarin and spice.

The finishing with the additional staves is typically 9 weeks.

This specific barrel’s stave selections were:
Baked American Pure 2: 3
Seared French Cuvée: 1
Maker’s 46: 1
Roasted French Mocha: 4
Toasted French Spice: 1

What Gary Says

Nose:  On the sharp side, nutty caramel corn with cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla; subtle wood and leather notes; bit of water brings out more spice notes (reminds me more of a rye mashbill bourbon in terms of spice pop).
Palate:  Bright/sharp and sweet, vanilla wafers with caramel drizzled, shaved chocolate and toffee with a dusting of cinnamon; bit of water actually thickens the mouthfeel, tones down the sharp edges, amplifying the caramel and bringing subtle fruity notes.
Finish:  Moderately long and drying, with just a hint of pepper spice.
Comments:  This particular bottling has more of an edge and kick than standard Maker’s Mark – which you might expect with the higher proof alone. The finishing staves do add a really nice spicy character that I don’t pull out of Maker’s Mark typically. For the longest time, Maker’s Mark was a one label producer, which was the exception. But since coming out with Maker’s 46 just a few years back, they’ve stepped up their game with not only the cask strength, but these private selections. Most distilleries have a private barrel program, and while true that each barrel is unique – if you pull a barrel of say Buffalo Trace (for illustrative purposes only, not to single them out)- that barrel was destined to be part of a batch of Buffalo Trace, so in many cases it isn’t going to be too far from that brand profile. The 1,001 stave combinations really provides purchasers the chance to get something even more unique than the typical private barrel selection. While I applaud this innovation, I do wish they offered some aging “tiers”. I get logistically they need to have some predictability, but I can’t help but think what the same stave combination would do with say 12 weeks versus 9. I dunno – maybe they experimented and found too fewer than 9 and you’re not really getting much, and much over there it changes the profile from being “Maker’s Mark finished with” to something entirely different. Either way, if you’re a fan of Maker’s Mark, I wouldn’t shy away from trying one if you have the chance.

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try

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Wyoming Whiskey Small Batch Bourbon

/ / Bourbon, Review /

Wyoming Whiskey Small Batch Bourbon
44% ABV
$40
Website

What the Distiller Says
SMALL BATCH BOURBON WHISKEY
A traditional bourbon, from an untraditional place.
Our original, flagship, and defining product, the award-winning Wyoming Whiskey Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey.

ONLY WYOMING INGREDIENTS
The Big Horn Basin has everything we need to make great bourbon, and it is important to us to source our ingredients locally. The consistency and uniqueness of these whiskey elements make for a better bourbon that stands apart. It’s the Whiskey of the West.

LOCAL CORN, WHEAT, BARLEY, RYE AND NO GMOS.
WE KNOW WHO GROWS. Brent Rageth from Rageth Farm in Byron, Wyoming has worked with Wyoming Whiskey from the start to select strains of non-GMO corn, wheat, barley, and winter rye for specific starch and sugar yields, the building blocks of bourbon making. We use a corn strain that matures in 92 days, and is hand-selected by Brent. Rageth Farms also delivers summer and winter wheat that is grown exclusively for Wyoming Whiskey, and a winter rye that will be the key ingredient for a couple of rye products that are on the near horizon.

THE YEAST
THE SECRET STUFF. While our Mash Bill is in clear view, ask any distiller about their yeast and you’ll usually get a deafening silence. We’ll give you this much. To attain our profile, we use a combination of 2 yeasts; a high-yield yeast and a second proprietary yeast that yields a bit less, but produces a slightly fruitier alcohol.

TASTING NOTES
COLOR: dark amber
NOSE: floral, with a hint of vanilla bean and caramel pudding
PALATE: floral with brown baking spices and browned butter, vanilla crème, caramel, and a hint of cinnamon
MOUTHFEEL: light and smooth with vanilla bean and cinnamon spice filling the mouth cavity, hint of mint
FINISH: medium length finish with toffee. Spice and vanilla fade.

What Gary Says
Nose:  Vanilla flan, caramel toffee with a hint of nutmeg, oak, and subtle floral notes.
Palate:  Sweet caramel creme candies, vanilla, honey, subtle uptick of cinnamon and nutmeg.
Finish:  Moderate in length, soft with vanilla notes fading.
Comments:  Many ‘craft’ distilleries start up with young product aged in small barrels. When Wyoming Whiskey got started, it was younger (labels included a 3 yr age statement), but they age all of their whiskey in new, 53 gallon white American Oak barrels from Independent Stave (char level 4 for those keeping score at home). For those unfamiliar with their history, Steve Nally (former Maker’s Mark master distiller and 2007 Bourbon Hall of Fame inductee) was their first master distiller, and was instrumental in the setup of the distillery, selection of the mashbill, and I’m sure insisted on the use of 53 gallon barrels (not to suggest anyone else in Wyoming Whiskey was looking to do different). His experience was invaluable at establishing a quality distillery. He left a few years back to return to Kentucky where he had lived most of his life, and while his involvement at Wyoming Whiskey isn’t any secret, I was disappointed that there is zero mention of him on their web-site (which otherwise is very well done, with a lot of information). I get that they want to focus on the here/now, and the current distillery team, but seems to me that if a member of the Bourbon Hall of Fame helped setup my distillery – and I’m emphasizing tradition, etc – I’d call that out.
Enough about all that – the whiskey itself is a pleasant, soft, smooth sipping bourbon. I believe fans of wheated bourbons (such as Maker’s Mark, the Weller lineup, Larceny, the Old Fitz lineup, etc) would find this a pleasant enough pour. It isn’t a complex pour, and at 5 yrs old (per their web-site, this is 5 yrs old; the label inexplicably lacks any age statement) you wouldn’t expect a lot of complexity. There isn’t anything offputting. In fact, and I mean this as a sincere compliment, I would never have guessed this as a “craft whiskey”.  Aged in 53 gallon barrels for a respectable period of time, and lacking those tannic notes or ‘young whiskey’ notes often associated with craft whiskey, this stands out big time in that category.  That said, for the money, there are plenty of other bourbons I’d pick up (although to be fair, I’m more of a rye-mashbill bourbon kinda guy). If I lived in or near the state of Wyoming and wanted to support local business, different story – I wouldn’t hesitate to pick one up (or explore their other offerings). I do understand the pricing difference (larger distilleries have long paid the enormous expense associated with their fixed costs), and if you’re supporting other local business, this would be a bargain in comparison to most craft whiskey I’ve had (and not just a bargain, but a better executed whiskey!)
Rating: Stands Out

We would like to thank Wyoming Whiskey and Colangelo & Partners for sending us a sample to review.

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Sonoma Cherrywood Rye Whiskey

/ / Review, Rye Whiskey /

Sonoma Distiller’s Edition: Cherrywood Rye Whiskey
47.8% ABV
$50
Website

What the Distiller Says

About Sonoma Distilling Co.
Owner/whiskeymaker Adam Spiegel, distilling since 2010
Non-GMO grains milled in-house
Direct-fire heated 250-gallon Copper Alembic pot stripping stills
Barrel size: 15, 30 and 53 gallons of new American Oak from Minnesota & Missouri
3rd degree charred, 12-24 month dry aged wood

Seasonal Release: Spring

MASH BILL
80% Unmalted Rye (Origin: California)
10% Wheat (Origin: California)
10% Cherrywood Smoked Barley (Origin: Wyoming; Smoked in Petaluma, CA)

AGED: A minimum of fifteen months with majority of blends above two years

FLAVOR PROFILE: Dried figs, toasted almonds, brandied cherries, and new leather.

What Gary Says
Nose:  Bright, orange/citrus spice with smoke, subtle notes of furniture polish and balsamic vinegar.
Palate:  Creamy mouthfeel, rich fruit notes of cherry and bitter orange, hint of cinnamon with pepper spice kicking in at the back.
Finish:  On the short side with subtle pepper spice.
Comments:  Of the four whiskies, I found this to be the most complex and unique. The orange notes remind me a little of Grand Marnier (like if a few drops of that were added to rye whiskey). I thought the inclusion of wheat in a rye whiskey mashbill was quite odd (not sure I’d ever seen that), and as is my nature – I couldn’t help but wonder what this would be like with 100% rye. I don’t pick out what the wheat is bringing to the party, but I also don’t pick out anything negative about it. This is a nice, unique whiskey I’d be more than happy to sip neat, as well as throw into a Manhattan.
Rating: Stands Out

We would like to thank Sonoma Distilling Co. and Verdant PR & Marketing for sending us a bottle to review.

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