Four Gate Whiskey Company: Batch 4, Split Stave by Kelvin

I’d like to thank Four Gate Whiskey Company for providing a review sample with no strings attached.

Book review time. And no, it has nothing to do with whiskey.

I just got done reading An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. I loved it. On the surface, it is a book about a girl who finds a mystery statue on a New York street corner and shoots a quick and silly YouTube video about it. Obviously it is more than it seems and she gets quite famous because of that video.

Now as interesting as the surface story is, that story is not what the book is about.

Let me step back. When I was a kid, I hated trying to find the deeper meaning in a book. I'm of the opinion that even though many authors really do write with an allegorical bent, sometimes a rousing adventure story is just a rousing adventure story. Even today, I doubt that most of what speaks to me in any particular book was put there as some sort of deeper meaning by the author. Mostly because the parts that speak to me, that really make me enjoy a book and not be able to put it down, are usually the side characters or the set dressing. Ther things that help with mood and pace. And sure, the author probably put those things there intentionally but they usually aren't the reason for the book.

That said, I'm pretty sure that An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, is not about giant robots but is actually about fame, specifically internet fame. It is a plea from the author to remember that everyone on the other side of the screen is human. They aren't a talking point or a doll or an alien. They are human with all the problems and complications that come with that. The book is a plea to treat each other better especially online, where it is all too easy to misconstrue the intent behind the words that are typed.

I really needed to be reminded of that right now and as things get more and more contentious, especially here in the US with another election coming up, I think a lot of other people do too. So if you haven't read it, I highly encourage you to do so. It is interesting and exciting enough that I didn’t want to put it down.

But you didn’t come here to read an extended non-whiskey book report or a plea to treat each other nicely (though seriously, we all need to remember that). You came here to find out about that tiny bottle popping up out of the snow in the photo above.

Four Gate Whiskey is a company that is doing very interesting things with barrel finishing. I know that some of you aren’t fans of barrel-finished bourbons, but I find them to be, if not always good, at least always interesting. I found Batch 2 to be in that interesting, but “not for me” category. It wasn’t bad, it was just really weird. But, like I said it was super interesting and so when I saw a sample of Batch 4 arrive, I was pretty stoked to see what they had come up with this time around.

Batch 4, “Split Stave by Kelvin,” is much more in line with a traditional bourbon. Here is what the company has to say about it:

After crafting a series of medium toast casks, then a series of #2 char casks, and finally a third series of #4 char casks, William Hornaday and his team at Kelvin broke all the barrels apart and rebuilt them, alternating between toasted staves and #2 char staves on some barrels, and toasted and #4 char staves on others, they have created the first ever “Split Stave™” barrels. To fill them, we blended a 5.5 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon and a 12 Year Old  Kentucky Straight Bourbon and let them rest in our Split Stave barrels for five months. We produced 2,700 bottles from this inaugural release of Split Stave™ by Kelvin. It is uncut and unfiltered at 115.6 proof.

Four Gate Whiskey Company, Batch 4, "split stave by Kelvin"

Purchase info: This sample was graciously provided for review purposes by the distillery. It was available for purchase in Kentucky and Tennessee starting in December for a suggested retail price of $174.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $11.67

Details: 57.8% ABU. Finished in new, white oak barrels where the staves alternate between a medium toast and a number 2 char or a medium toast and a number 4 char level.

Nose: Initially reminds me of boozy French toast with maple and cinnamon. After a bit, mint, oak, and black tea come to the forefront.

Mouth: Hot and spicy with cinnamon red hots, caramel, mint and oak

Finish: Warm and long with lingering cinnamon, black tea, dark chocolate, and mint.

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Thoughts: This is delicious. It's spicy and hot upfront with a sweet and minty undercurrent. I'm enjoying it a lot. I’d love to get my hands on a bottle, but it’s a little out of my price range. But hey, at least I got a chance to sample it. I really, really like this.

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Boone's Bourbon

I’d like to thank Clarion Call Media for setting up the interview with Tyler Boone and for providing the review sample with no strings attached.

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I get a lot of press releases that come across my desk from small producers. Most of them are get a quick skim and press of the delete button. Occasionally though something catches my attention. At that point, I give it a more thorough read through to see what made me stop and take notice. Of course, by now, I’m hooked. They have me interested. And I always figure that if I am interested, then you may be too.

The thing about the press release for tonight’s bourbon that interested me was that it was almost as much a press release for a music video as it was for a bourbon. I love music. Any music. It doesn’t matter the genre as I have very eclectic tastes. So I listened to the song, watched the video and was intrigued. I reached out to the PR company to see if there was a review sample of the bourbon available. There was. They also arranged for an interview with musician Tyler Boone, the man behind Boone’s Bourbon.

ERIC: First off, congratulations on the new video release, I took a listen and I really like it.

Now, there have been a number of whiskey brands that have been released in recent years in collaboration with musicians. Metallica has their Blackened Whiskey, Drake has his Virginia Black Whiskey, Willie Nelson had Old Whiskey River Bourbon, and Bob Dylan has the Heaven’s Door line of whiskeys. Just to name a few. As a musician that has his own bourbon brand, what is the draw here? Is it just celebrity endorsement, a vanity project, or is there a real connection between whiskey and music?

TYLER: Thank you for the special congrats! This has been a love project of mine since 2015 when I had a major "music row management deal" in Nashville coming my way from the likes of Kenny Chesney's people. My music doesn't even come close to "bro country" so obviously I turned down the deal but it sparked interest from another party (who wasn't even in the music industry) for me to start a "spirits brand." The deal was for me to figure it all out, such as all the compliances, registering, licenses etc...and how to even create the "juice" and then they would fund it. Sounds easy right? Nope, sure wasn't (lol).

With my last name being "Boone" I figured "Boone's Bourbon" would be PERFECT & on top of that to have REAL bourbon in the bottle & not whiskey. I was going to launch this collaboration with Tenn South Distillery out of Lynnville, TN but the investor never had the money to start this venture so we had to move on from this idea.

Shortly after I moved back to Charleston, SC, where I'm from, for special eye surgery and while I was recovering I founded Striped Pig Distillery & contacted them about my idea of starting my own brand. After another year of saving and this time partnering up with my Father (Michael Boone), we raised the capital and started our own family mash bill with the distillers from Striped Pig Distillery! It was such an exciting time. Boone's Bourbon - 1st day of bottling (April 2018)

In just under 2 years due to my music touring and constant work habits (lol) we have partnered with Local Choice Spirits landed in 8 states (38 states available for online orders) and should be launching into many more this 2020. 

The idea is for me specifically that when you are at a show, most people have a drink in their hand right? Well, why not make that our drink (the artist) and with authenticity grow your brand to not just the music fans but to the ever-growing "bourbon" world. I think we are doing a pretty amazing job with it so far.

ERIC: How involved were you in the process of production? Was it a case of describing what you wanted or did you “roll up your sleeves” and get involved in the actual production process?

TYLER: 100% - I was the person who chose the proof (we are 117% proof) and the mash bill before even my Father got involved. Our mash bill is 75% corn (which is usual for most bourbons) 21% rye & 4% barley. Of course, Striped Pig helped with this but I made the final decision.

Our promo video that we still use constantly is of the 1st actual day (April 2018) of the bottling line, boxing, us tasting, everything. We also used to fill the mini bottles (50ml) by hand but we finally just bought a machine to help with the 50s. It's pretty cool.

Just to note how our operation works. My Father and I work the brand every day whether that being tastings, bookings, reaching out to retailers, our distributors, socials and then Local Choice Spirits fulfills the orders and alerts us when we need to bottle again. It's us running a small business.

ERIC: Getting to the bourbon itself, this is a six-month-old bourbon, which traditionally is a little on the young side. Frankly I was expecting the bourbon to be terrible at that age, but it isn’t. Take us through the thought process that resulted in the bourbon being released at what would usually be considered a very young age.

TYLER: First off, thank you. We always get that and & we are very proud of it. 

When we started "Boone's Bourbon" this was a 5 year aged product from Striped Pig Distillery that we then changed the mash bill on. Once those barrels dried up we were already in so many states we then had to switch to MGP for allocating due to the demand & because of this, we had to switch the age statement on the back. It is always AT LEAST 6 months but there can be 1 year in there. Our process now goes MGP, then Terressentia (my business partner & music manager Pixie Paula is the majority shareholder over there) for their TERREPURE process, then back to Striped Pig for tasting & our final touches before we bottle & ship out.

We are 100% honest about this process & happy to be apart of the MGP family. They make some of the most incredible products out there.

ERIC: 117° proof! That is a hefty proof! Talk about what lead to that decision. High proof means less profit since you aren’t cutting it with as much water, so it seems this was a "whiskey decision" not a business decision.

TYLER: This was my final decision. I wanted something different, more original & to stand out from the rest. Everyone is usually a safe 80 proof and maybe it's the "rock n roll" in me where it’s “let's push the envelope a little” and see how the market takes it. It's the 1st thing everyone notices...but after tasting about 2-3 seconds people's faces change to a happy "wow, wasn't expecting that." I call it "it's for bourbon drinkers who like to taste their alcohol" :) 

Boone's Bourbon

Purchase info: This review was graciously provided for review purposes. I see that it is available for sale for $36.99 at Total Wine in Tennessee.

Prince per Drink (50 mL): $2.47 (based on the pricing above)

Details: 58.5% ABV. MGP mash bill of 75% corn,21% rye, 4% barley “at least 6 months” that then undergoes the Terre Pure process.

Nose: Caramel, buttered popcorn with a slight vegetal undertone

Mouth: Warm cinnamon, buttered popcorn, lemon.

Finish: Medium heat and length. lingering notes of caramel, green tea, and lemon.

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Thoughts: This is the best TerrePure product that I've had. That, of course, is a low bar to clear (the first was spit it out and the second was dumped out). That said, this is not a terrible bourbon. However, that doesn't mean that this is a good bourbon. I'm giving it a meh. This is a serviceable well bourbon for cocktails where the bourbon isn’t the main flavor component. I tried it in both a whiskey sour and in a boulevardier. It performed much better when paired with other strongly flavored liquors.

Artist Tyler Boone and his official music video for "Jealousy" Find him at: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Rj1i72Y5eJHan2pm2cqKz?si=M2bN5WhkRb2VLbtgGGOuDQ www.facebook.com/tylerboonemusic www.instagram.com/tylerbooner www.twitter.com/tylerbooner www.tylerboonemusic.com www.drinkboonesbourbon.com

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond, Fall 2019 Edition

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Ok. Time for me to eat a little crow tonight. When I first heard about this new Air Fryer fad. I was skeptical. In fact, I’d tell anyone who would listen that the one time I had “air fried” food, it arrived cold and burned. Well, it seems my wife did not listen to me because she bought one on Black Friday. We didn’t start out too fancy. Just a few breaded chicken tenders (yes, I’m actually a child). I’d been making that kind for a long time and these were the crispiest I’d had. So we tried burgers. The burgers were great too. I was such an instant convert that I opened the larger one that I had purchased for my mother so I could have two and make two things at once. I really like mine. So I need to eat crow. My wife was correct and I was not.

And just like I was initially skeptical about the air fryer fad, I was also skeptical about the new Limited Edition versions of Old Fitzgerald when they first came out. I figured it would be good, but I was a bit butthurt that the price was so high. As you know I am an innately frugal person. I’ve had trouble accepting the new pricing reality that the last ten years have brought. So I assumed that there was no way that an 11-year-old bourbon would be good enough to charge $110. And when I read the reviews, I figured I was right. Not that it mattered much, the only time I saw that one on a shelf they were asking over $200 for it.

So when the sample of the Fall 2019 edition came in, I was interested. When I saw that the price had gone up to $150, I was skeptical. Let’s see if that skepticism was warranted.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Fall 2019 Edition

Purchase Price: This sample was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is about $150.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $10

Details: Made: Fall 2004. Bottled: Fall2019. 50% ABV. 15-years-old. Wheated.

Nose: Caramel, oak, vanilla, cinnamon

Mouth: Mouth-coating, rich mouthfeel. Sweet caramel, chocolate, and vanilla with oak and baking spice.

Finish: Warm and on the longer end of medium length. Lingering caramel, coffee, cocoa, and cinnamon.

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Thoughts: This is delicious. Next time I'm in Louisville, I just might plunk down the cash in one of the bourbon bars for a pour of this one since I doubt I will find a bottle. Though if I did, I would certainly consider it, doubt my frugal nature would allow me to pull the trigger, but I would at least think about it.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

MB Roland Wheated Bourbon

Paul and Merry Beth of MB Roland are my friends. Because I might be biased, I have decided to disclose that bias so that you can decide how much to trust the review. In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, I am reviewing a bottle that they gave me as a gift. This was not intended by them as a review bottle, but I like it and wanted to share.

Hey Bourbon Folks,

This is going to be the last post of 2019 as I take a little time to spend with my family over the holidays. BourbonGuy.com will be back to its regularly scheduled twice per week posting as of January 2nd, 2020.

Holy Crap! 2020?!? I’m getting fucking old! In a little under two weeks, it will be the start of the sixth decade in which I have been alive. That’s nuts. But it makes sense that I feel the passage of time especially hard as this decade ends and another begins. I mean, my life has changed dramatically in the last ten years.

When the decade began, I had never traveled east of my home state. I’d been to a majority of the states west of the Mississippi, but my home state of Wisconsin (and a tiny bit of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) were my only forays east of it. I’ve now traveled to every part of the country except the Northeast. And I’ve been international a couple of times. I even decided to move away from Minnesota at one point and spent a lot of time exploring new locations to live, both digitally and in person. But then my daughter had a pregnancy scare, and we decided that it might be best to stick nearby for any future grand-kids that might happen to pop out.

As 2010 arrived, I was happily employed in Corporate Marketing. And I honestly couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life. These days, I run three separate businesses of my own, and the majority of my money no longer comes from the only employable skill I had in 2010.

I fell in love with spirits in general and bourbon in particular shortly after the turn of the last decade. For most of the first half to two thirds of the decade, I wanted to start a craft distillery and set about learning everything I could about distilling. Instead of that, I now have this site and all of you who share my bourbon journey with me. Not only that, but I also get paid to write the occasional article for other publications and to host a tasting now and then, which is not a bad gig if you can get it.

During the last decade, my wife got sick with cancer and beat it. I’ve lost many friends and family members due to age, sickness, and time; but I gained a lot of new ones as well. Many of my new friends live in Kentucky, which is nice because I have fallen in love with Louisville. I’ve gone at least once a year for most of the last ten years.

This list is only scratching the surface of the changes that my life has gone through during the last decade, and even though I decided on a different life direction than starting a distillery, some of the friends who I’ve met over the last ten years do, in fact, own distilleries. And in fact, the bottle I am reviewing tonight was a gift from one of them. It is a wheated bourbon from my friends at MB Roland. They gave my wife and I this bottle as an anniversary present back in September. Obviously, I sat on it for a while before enjoying it.

MB Roland Wheated Bourbon

Purchase info: This was received as an anniversary gift from my friends at MB Roland. I image the price is somewhere in the mid $50 to $60 range.

Price per Drink (50 ml): No idea for the reason stated above.

Details: Batch 7. 55% ABV. Mash bill of 74% white corn, 6% malted barley, 20% red winter wheat. Barrel had a #4 char. Aged stated as “at least two years.”

Nose: Dried corn, mint, cinnamon, cloves, baked apples.

Mouth: Spicy cinnamon candies, caramel, chocolate.

Finish: Warm and long with lingering caramel, cinnamon and chocolate notes.

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Thoughts: I really like this one. I've been very impressed with both the wheated bourbon and the wheat whiskey that MB Roland has made. I guess I like their wheat. Both of them have had very nice chocolate notes that I wouldn't have expected to find in a whiskey that is age-stated at about two years old. That said, there are still some young notes in here, but once again the proof helps to push them aside.

As stated above , before I got distracted by the end of the decade, BourbonGuy.com is going to take the holidays off to spend time with family. Regular posts will return January 2nd, 2020. (2020!?!)

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Larceny Barrel Proof

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! TheExpanseisback!TheExpanseisback! Ahem. I mean… The Expanse is back and I couldn’t be more excited!

Now you might be wondering just what the Expanse is and why I am so excited. Well it is possibly the best science-fiction tv show. Period. Possibly ever. And I am a sci-fi nut from way back. So much so that my seventh-grade English teacher felt the need to tell my mother during parent-teacher conferences that I should be encouraged to branch out from the genre. You know because it wasn't “serious” enough for someone that was as smart as I was.

I still think that’s a pretty weird way to give a parent a compliment.

Now the books that the TV show is based on are phenomenal. Some of my favorites ever. And yet, I can see why maybe people wouldn’t have heard of it. The Expanse had the misfortune of starting on SyFy, which is not exactly known for high-quality programming these days. Luckily, for some reason, the network decided to pour enough money into this show to make the show look really good. And then they canceled it after three seasons because it was too expensive. Luckily Rich Uncle Pennybags…err…Bezos of Amazon fame liked it as well and decided to save it and bring it over to Amazon Prime.

I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about Amazon, but I am thankful for this.

And even though I have about 10 shows that I am currently bingeing, I am totally starting over to rewatch the Expanse from the beginning. Some people say that too much of a good thing is actually a bad thing. Whether it is amazing tv shows, college football Bowl games, or good food. But one thing that almost no one says is a bad thing is more proof on your whiskey.

Knowing that, Heaven Hill has recently decided to put out a barrel proof version of their flagship wheated bourbon, Larceny. I’ve been a fan of Larceny since it was first released way back in 2012. In fact, Larceny is one of two wheated bourbons that I’ve consistently had on my shelf over the years. So when I heard that Heaven Hill was releasing a barrel-proof version, I was super excited. I was even more excited when a generously large sample landed on my doorstep.

Much like Heaven Hill’s other barrel-proof offering, Elijah Craig, Larceny Barrel Proof will be released in batches throughout the year. It will feature the same naming scheme with a letter denoting which release it is, a number indicating which month is was released and the year. So this release, A120, means it is the first release of the year in January of 2020. And yes, you will have to wait until January to get your hands on this. And at a suggested retail price of about $50 or so, I’d keep an eye out for it.

Larceny Barrel Proof

Purchase info: This was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $49.99.

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: Batch number: A 120. 61.6% ABV

Nose: Brown Sugar, cinnamon, clove, oak

Mouth: Mint, ripe berries, tobacco, honey

Finish: Long and hot. Mint and honey notes initially which are replaced by a long-lasting cinnamon candy note.

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Thoughts: This is delicious! It is a warm one though, luckily it takes water or ice very well. Compared to Larceny, this is similar on the nose. Obviously this is hotter than the standard Larceny but has a lot of the same notes on the mouth. Basically, it is just richer and the flavors are more concentrated. As you would expect.

Much like the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, this is one I will pick up every time I see it on the shelf.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.