Hey y’all – I thought I’d wish my American compadres a Happy Forth of July! And, in a strange way, wish our northernly neighbors a belated Happy Canada Day. How are the two connected? Well, they are connected in many ways, I’m sure, but the only one I care about right now is whiskey!
Recently, I tried Tuthilltown Spirit’s Hudson Single Malt Whiskey. A single malt that uses 100% Canadian malted barley. That’s right, the US and Canada joining schwartzes is the best way I can think of – to make great New York whiskey.
On the nose – There’s a huge damp quality to this nose; almost like damp laundry (clean cotton notes for sure).
Sweet honeyed carrots and parsnips.
It actually almost has a corn like quality to it though this IS a single malt with no grain influence. Must be the interaction with those cute small barrels they use.
Cinnamon (hot cinnamon, like big red chewing gum, not cinnamon as with apples or pears) and candied nuts.
On the mouth – Big cinnamon attack! The final notes I detected in the nose ramped up with a Big Red freshness that lasted right through to the palate.
Brown sugar sweetness and orangey Jaffe Cakes. Clove cigarettes.
Finish – A blast of oak and biscuits, quite numbing even at 46%. My mouth usually only gets this way after a cask strength whisk(e)y (50% or more).
In sum – This is a pick-me-up sort of whiskey. A nice way to start the day (if that’s your sort of thing) but, most importantly, a nice way to say Happy Birthday America; you sweet & spicy thang you! And, Happy Canada Day (albeit a few days late) to my kanuckian brothers & sistas to the north!
Today I am reviewing one of the more surprising American whiskeys I’ve had to date. I am normally of the mind set that “if it costs more and is harder to get, the better it is”. This one breaks the mold for sure (thankfully).
I’ve got here a $20 bottle of kick-ass, high proof, American Straight Rye whisky – Rittenhouse Rye 100 Proof. Not only is it inexpensive but it’s quite ubiquitous. You can’t go into a spirit shop (or shoppe) without finding a bottle of this stuff. And, to me, this is a good thing.
On the nose — Initial few whiffs are very deceiving offering up softer notes of buttered crumpets and dark chocolate.
After nosing is for a bit longer, however, the bite starts to kick in and great vanilla and blueberry notes (yay rye whiskey!) pop as do gingerbread cookies and cinnamon sticks.
A great nose though very stinging (I like that – it lets me know I’m still alive and kicking).
If the ABV weren’t so high I could continue to nose the shit out of this one.
On the mouth — The entry here is soft (yes, even at 50% ABV) and the fluid feels, not tastes, feels like thick Kool-aid drink – take a Kool-Aid packet and add about 10% less water and that’s the feel you get.
Starts off like over-cooked butter then gets earthy. Fresh soil and crystalized ginger – Oh, this is getting stronger, and stronger – alcohol infused flan – Oh, this is good.
Finish — Long and longer. Strong and stronger.
In sum — I seriously can not believe that this is only a $20 bottle and was amazed to know that it was named “North American Whiskey of the Year” at the 2006 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and won a World Whisky Award for Best American Whiskey in 2010 — awesome and well deserved. Another great whiskey from the Heaven Hill family of whiskeys.
Ah yes, Rick’s mystery dram series continues. As a refresher: I am not Rick, my name is Joshua. Rick is a loyal JSMWS blog reader who challenged me to a mystery dram /blind taste testing. There are 10 drams in all and I decided to spread the challenge over 10 weeks.
So, how did I get the samples? Initially we were going to do a sample trade through the mail but when I found out I was going to be traveling near to wear Rick lives, I suggested we meet for a dram or two and do the trade then and there.
Here are the samples Rick provided:
Rick suggested we meet at a whisky bar called “The Daily Pint” which is in Santa Monica California. If you’re ever in the area, check it out. If you do plan to go, bring A LOT of cash – this is one pricey whisky bar!!
So the planning of the meeting was easy. As part of my job, I travel for work travel for work and had a trip planned already to the LA area so we knew the date and the time was easy to figure. Rick found The Daily Pint so, we had the place. What was hard (for me) was finding the damn place! I think I circled the block about 5 times before Rick finally called to ask where I was.
I passed the place each of the five times I circled the block but, in truth, I should have seen it off the bat as G-d himself was telling me where to look. Yes folks, right next to The Daily Pint was “Adonai Cleaners” – Dry Cleaning:
As a side note, and for any and all non-Jews out there who may not know, one of many the Hebrew names for G-d is “Adonai” (others are: YHWH (the unpronounceable name of G-d not to be mis-pronounced as Yahweh or Jehovah), Shechina, Elohim, Shadai, the list can go on – if interested, check out this wikipedia page on the Names of G-d in Judaism).
Back to the whisky-story at hand — I told Rick that if I had even the slightest inkling as to what this week’s dram was that I’d take a guess. Well, I don’t so I wont. I’ll let you, the good reader, try to figure it out. Even if you want to take a shot in the dark, please enter your guess in the comments section. Rick will post the answer this Friday or Saturday (June 4th or 5th, 2010).
OK, onto the tasting – this one is a mystery to me for sure!
On the nose — Perfect for Memorial Day – another American whiskey. The nose is similar to the dram in the first mystery dram but not at strong. A bit more corn here (think creamed corn), green apples, fresh cut wood
On the mouth — Hmmm, a bit flat here or should I say, smooth? Not smooth good, smooth as in “where’s the beef?”. Not an amazingly strong attack so I’m guessing this is more like 45-47%ABV, A touch grassy (maybe some wheat influence)? Ginger, grape soda.
Nutmeg and clove (spicy but subtle in a way… as if these notes want to make more of an appearance but are not being allowed to. Like a kid who really wants to play piano but his/her dad wants him/her to play tennis instead – subdued and could/should be more than allowed).
Finish — Spice and burn on the sides and back of my tongue, flat cola (the flavor of, not the feel of).
In sum — Great promise on the nose but flavor fell flat for me. Sorry Rick. I was not pleased or very impressed with this one.
Here are the clues:
Strong nose with some obvious corn notes and apples and fresh cut wood (Timber!!)
Palate is subdued but has some interesting grape soda notes, ginger and (I’m guessing) wheat influence.
Standard ABV of 45% (90 proof)
For last week’s “Rick’s Mystery Dram” post along with what the answer was, click here.
A couple of weeks ago, Gal Granov of Whisky Israel and I shared in a “Mystery Dram” joint posting. What is that you may ask? I sent him an unmarked sample of whisky and he did the same. The purpose? To see if we could figure out what in the “H.E. Double Hockey Sticks” we sent to one another.
With the Whisky Israel/Jewish Single Malt Whisky Society swap, the rules for sample type were easy: it had to be Scotch whisky and it had to be a sample that we thought the other person never had. When trying to decode the “mystery dram”, each of us could use nothing more than our eyes, nose and tongue – a true blind tasting with NO HINTS.
Interestingly enough, right around this time I came in contact with a regular JMSWS blog reader who challenged me in a similar way. Rick initially responded to a general request I sent out for a sample swap of different version of the Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist. After sharing in a few emails with Rick I found out that he lives near to where I go on occasion for business purposes. I suggested we meet for a dram and swap some whisky. Rick agreed. What started off as a simple whisk(e)y swap turned into me meeting a very cool guy with a passion for wines, motorcycles, the NASA space program, bourbon and philanthropy.
Before we met, Rick suggested that perhaps his samples could simply be numbered (1 – 11) and I would have to guess what they were. I could then see if I were able to figure out what it was and then post about it. I’m always up to a challenge so I, of course, said yes. What makes this Mystery Dram series different (and this is my assumption here) is that most of Rick’s samples are Bourbons/American whiskey which is newer territory for me.
I suggested to Rick that I taste and review the dram on Mondays, let people chime in via the comments on this blog with what they thought the stuff was and on Friday of that same week, Rick would then comment to let everyone know exactly was the drink was.
Sounds fun right? I think so.
So, here’s sample number 1 (of 10) – note: sample #6 was the Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist I mentioned above so while you may see bottle numbers going up to 11, only 10 of them are a mystery to me:
I know nothing about this or the other 9 blind samples. They could be bourbon, rye, scotch, who knows what else. Rick gave me basically no clues. The only thing I know is that he is a big bourbon fan so I can only expect that many of these are American whiskey – this is nothing more than an assumption and, you know what you get when you assume…
So, I begin now with what I feel will be a truly fun experience and I want to thank Rick for his loyal readership and for this cool and very fun challenge:
Color — Deep mahogany (a color like this I’d usually associate with a bourbon or rye)
On the nose — Oh yeah, this is an American whiskey alright! Strong nose, tickling the hairs a bit, woody (again with the pencil shavings I find in American Whiskeys), some blueberry jam and very spicy (some rye influence but this can’t a full rye whiskey; just part of the mashbill for sure).
A touch if cinnamon, some plastic bags and fresh baked bread (very subtle bread notes) and peanut brittle.
On the mouth — Oh man, this is a hot one! It’s got to be a high ABV/Cask Strength whiskey. Vanilla pudding, too-hot-blueberry-pie, Sweet-sweet corn and some nice spicy notes. I feel like a dog that was just given a spoonful of peanut butter (not because of the flavor, but because I can’t stop licking my chops).
Finish — Long spicy and full of burn. The vanilla notes come raging back as does something like a sugar daddy.
In sum — The balance is awesome, well done. This whiskey demands your attention! It’s not an easy sippin’ type whiskey. It’s an “I won my first golf tournament” type bourbon. Celebrate with this. For the Scotch devotees out there, you may have a tough time getting past the sweetness (as I’ve heard many Scotchees say). I too am “getting over” the sweetness but am so happy to be doing so!
OK people. Can you guess what it is? My input: It’s a cask strength bourbon with some good rye influence (spice and blueberry notes), corn influence, for sure, and a fair amount of vanilla. You have until Thursday night (May 27, 2010) to cast your vote. Heck, if you get enough of these right, there may be a prize in it for you!!
Ah, the Glenfarclas 105. This is a big, high-octaine sherry bomb coming in a 60% ABV. Before tasting this one, the only other Glenfarclas I had ever had was the ‘farclas 15yr – which was an absolutely killer dram! After that one, I could not wait to taste more. This being said, I waited.
It wasn’t until I received a sample from G.G. of this whisky that I had a chance to ‘sip the ‘farclas’ again. ‘Sip the ‘farclas’…that sounds sort of bad, right? “Hey you! go sip the ‘farclas!” I guess it could be good too: “Hey man, let’s sip some ‘farclas!” Anyway, I digress… Thank you G!
This “105” expression is supposedly 8-10 years old and was matured in Sherry butts (he-he). So this is a younger, big & beefy whisky, right? Let’s find out:
On the nose — BIG nose filled with fresh salty soil, Sherry (of course) and some red apple, malty (I want to chase this nose with a nice chocolate stout), speaking of chocolate, there’s a bit here. Some water unveils nice english toffee notes (chocolate covered toffee).
On the mouth — Fire! Oohf, this is a hot one. Cloves and orange, cinnamon and the slightest touch of anise, bitter caramel (is there such a thing?). Chewy, chewy sherry.
With a few drops of water nothing happens…no, I take it back, big oak comes charging through. Watch out! Was better without the water…
Finish — Big, long, burnt and burly but, nice.
In sum — This is like a big long cigar. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Don’t rush it. Life is short; enjoy every single second.
Upstate New York, USA — 46%ABV — 375ml bottle – $40 (no non-USA distribution that I am currently aware of though the Tuthilltown Spirits group is now a proud member of the William Grant & Sons family)
A touch if cinnamon, some plastic bags and fresh baked bread (very subtle bread notes) and peanut brittle.
