Blade and Bow Bourbon

October 25, 2016 Eric Burke

I state in my Statement of Ethics that if I accept a review sample, I will disclose it at the beginning of the article. Please consider it disclosed. I’d like to thank Taylor Strategy for providing this sample to me with no strings attached.

A Glass of Whiskey. They didn't send a bottle to photograph, so this is what they get. ;)

The first time I tried Blade and Bow, I was at the 2015 Kentucky Bourbon Festival All-Star Sampler. I tried it mostly to satisfy my curiosity. In hindsight, it was a pretty poor place to try it. I'd had one or two other bourbons, I'd had some delightful food, and I was probably giving it less attention than I normally would to a bourbon I had never tried before.

I had a taste of it again this year when I visited the Bulleit Experience at Stitzel-Weller. It was after the tour, and it was going head-to-head with Bulleit Barrel Strength. Also not a fair comparison since the proof of a barrel strength bourbon will obliterate a 90-ish proof every time.

I didn't walk away with a great impression of the Blade and Bow from my two previous experiences with it, and so it was with no small amount of interest that I accepted an offer from a Diageo PR rep for a sample of the Blade and Bow. I was very curious to see what I would think of this bourbon when it wasn't trying to live up to unfair competition or circumstances.

You know something a little more "real-life." Because seriously, I try not to have a lot of different bourbons in one night and I especially tend to be mindful of the barrel-proof ones.

Blade and Bow

Purchase Info: This was a review sample provided by Taylor Strategy.

Details: 45.5% ABV

Nose: Caramel, peanut, green oak and a hint of mint

Mouth: Peppery on the mouth with honey, peanut, nutmeg, clove and oak.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Lingering bubblegum, peanut, and mint.

Thoughts: Even today, on my first sip, I wasn't impressed by this one. But, as I got lower in my glass, my opinion changed. It grew on me. I was regretting the tiny sample bottle they sent as I would have loved to have just one more splash.

I like this bourbon and if it were half the price, I would probably want to buy it as part of the regular rotation. At around $50 per bottle though? This is going to be a change of pace bourbon for me, at best. It's tasty enough, it's just not a bourbon I'd regularly be willing to drop half a Benjamin on.

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Willett-Distilled Bourbon: Old Bardstown Bottled in Bond

October 13, 2016 Eric Burke

Old Bardstown Bottled in Bond Willett distilled bourbon.

Tomorrow I’m heading back to northern Wisconsin to shoot my youngest brother’s wedding. Yep, among my many skills is the skill of photography. But I don’t normally take photos of people. I shoot landscapes, animals, etc. Things that are outside and surrounded by all sorts of natural light. So this will be fun.

If by fun you mean learning as you go, flying by the seat of my pants and hoping no one notices that I only kinda know what I’m doing. All while trying not to screw up the only memento that my brother and his new wife will have of their happy day. And also while trying to explain that no, you can’t do night time shots during the day. That no, rain isn’t the end of the world. And that yes, trying to take all your wedding pictures in the rain as it is getting dark is probably asking for them to not turn out as well as they would have if you’d have done it before the ceremony, before it rained, except that you were too superstitious to let him see you.…

Shit.

I don’t normally do this, but this might be one of those times that the flask comes with. If there is any chance at all that I end up with a Bridezilla on my hands, I want to be prepared. Especially since I’m going to be … well … faking it and trying not to scream for most of the day.

So what will be in that flask? Well there is a good chance that it will be the recently released Old Bardstown Bottled-in-Bond, Willett-distilled bourbon. It's 100 proof to help fortify the will. And it's inexpensive enough that I won’t feel too bad taking a snort from the flask. Plus I have a couple bottles of it so I won’t miss it too much.

Old Bardstown Bottled in Bond

Purchase Info: $22 for a 750 mL bottle at the Willett Distillery Gift Shop

Details: 50% ABV. NAS (but bottled in bond so at least four years old). Distilled at DSP-KY-78 (Willett).

Nose: Grassy, caramel, mint, spiced gum drops and oak.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with caramel and vanilla backed by allspice, black pepper, mint and a grassy note.

Finish: Sweet and of medium length. Lingering allspice, mint and dried grass.

Thoughts: Twenty. Two. Dollars. For. A. Craft. Distilled. Bourbon! And it’s good!

OK to be fair this is no world beater, but at $22 it doesn’t have to be. What it needs to be is solid, tasty and work well either neat or in a cocktail. This does that. It’s a nice addition to the ranks of tasty, inexpensive bottled-in-bond bourbons. If you visit Kentucky, make sure this is in your bag when you leave.

A Visit to Glenn's Creek Distillery

October 6, 2016 Eric Burke

If you read the last post, You've already seen what the outside of this small distillery looks like. Located in the old bottling and shipping building of the former Old Crow Distillery, Glenn's Creek Distillery is surrounded by history. Outside is the place to be inspired by what came before, but inside is the time to focus on what is yet to come.

A look at the entire operation. Barrels, yeast, fermenters, cooker and stills.

Glenn's Creek Distillery is much smaller than the former occupant of the property. In this one shot you can see almost the entire production area. Off to the right is the aging area. Beyond that (in the Lowes wrapping) is the yeast growing and storage area. Grain storage is beyond that. On the right right of the photo you see fermenters with a cooker peaking up behind them. All the way to the back are their four stills. The only thing you don't see is the bottling area. Which is behind us.

Here it is. Four bottles at a time. And their initials underneath.

Aging Racks built from wood reclaimed from the Old Crow Distillery

The aging portion of the distillery was interesting. On these racks are barrels of two kinds of Bourbon, Rye, and Rum. Two distilled on site and two sourced from MGP in Indiana, but aged on site. The racks themselves are made from reclaimed wood from the Old Crow warehouses outside. If they get big enough there is hope to use one of those to put their own barrels in one day.

This video is about Dane Stirring

They are small-time and hands on. In this case the agitation on the cooker comes from a person holding a drill with a long paddle on the end. The man stirring was our tour guide for the day. Dane is the Lead Distiller at Glenn's Creek.

This is Tiny Tim, the 12 gallon experimental still. It was the first still they had made and they survived using it as the only one for a while. Now it is kept around to run experimental batches.

This is Double D. Named so because it has two doublers, not for any other reason you might think of. It is a 34 gallon still.

This still is Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld is where the rum is distilled. It is a 600 gallon still. They currently run it at 450 gallons but this gives them some room to expand as needed.

This is Dr. Crow. Named for the man who lent his name to the former occupants of the property, Dr. Crow is where the whiskey is made. The still was originally set up to be heated by a steam boiler, but that portion was too expensive to buy so they converted it to direct heat with the use of the burners from some heaters found around the old distillery.

The Glenn's Creek Product Line Up. A rye whiskey, a sourced bourbon, a bourbon distilled on site and a rum distilled on site.

And this is the current Glenn's Creek Distillery product line-up. From left to right, the Ryskey Rye and the Stave + Barrel bourbon are purchased from MGP and delivered in the barrel to be aged on site. Skipping one, Prohibition Kentucky Rum is the rum distilled in Rumsfeld and aged in barrels that formerly held bourbon.

OCD #5 is an interesting one. It is a bourbon fermented using yeast that was recovered from the sealed Old Crow fermenter number 5 (a photo of it is shown in the Old Crow post). The story goes that since the fermenters were mostly sealed, one day they had the idea to see if there was anything living in there. Yeast can survive a long time in spore form, but 20-30 years is a bit past it's best by date. Most of the fermenters didn't do anything and the mash was spoiled. All but fermenter #5. That one was happily fermenting away when they checked on it. So they pulled it out in buckets, grew it up some and used it to create OCD #5. Did they really catch a yeast that had been previously used by Old Crow? No idea, it may have just been a wild yeast that they caught. Either way, no one else has it and it is a pretty interesting story.

Before I left, I had the chance to take a taste of each of these. As we weren't tasting in the ideal conditions, these aren't real tasting notes, only impressions.

Ryskey Rye Whiskey

Details: 59% ABV. 95% Rye whiskey sourced from MGP in Indiana. Aged on site in full-size barrels with toasted staves added to each barrel. This is a single barrel product.

Thoughts: Spicy with a nice finish.

Prohibition Kentucky Rum

Details: 58.5% ABV. Distilled on site. Made from fermented molasses.

Thoughts: Hot, molasses, maple syrup, rock candy. Has a rum funk to it. It was quite tasty in a Rum-mosa cocktail (Rum, OJ and cinnamon sticks).

OCD #5

Details: 53.8% ABV. Fermented using yeast caught on site. Aged in full-size barrels with added staves. Staves were smoked.

Thoughts: Slight smoke, herbal. Some corn flake notes. There is a cinnamon note at the tip of the tongue and a slight rum funk. He asked how old we thought this was, we knew it was young, so we guessed 2-3 years. It turns out that it was only six months old. Pretty tasty for that.

Stave + Barrel

Details: 59.4% ABV. Bourbon whiskey sourced from MGP in Indiana. Aged on site in full-size barrels with toasted staves added to each barrel. This is a single barrel product. Six months old.

Thoughts: This is a high-rye recipe MGP bourbon. It's tasty, though young. The added staves make it taste older than the six months it is.

UPDATE: Since I initially wrote this I've noticed that Glenn's Creek Distillery have started a GoFundMe project to help fund the restoration of the Old Crow distillery ruins. If you have the means, think about helping save a piece of history.

Using Old Forester Birthday Bourbon to Celebrate a Serious Milestone

September 27, 2016 Eric Burke

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2016 release

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is one of those releases that my wife probably shouldn’t want as much as she does. The gimmick is that it is the product of one day’s production. The good thing is that it is also 12 years old. The bad thing is that it is now $79.99.

As it is announced on September 2 each year and both of our birthdays and our wedding anniversary follow closely behind that, the coincidence of it is too much for her. She asks for it every year as a belated birthday present. And it is a present that is getting harder and harder to get my hands on. This year I actually had to pull a few strings with a local retailer (who asked not to be named) in order to make my lady happy. Next year? No idea what will happen.

September is a pretty good month for us. Not only do we each get a birthday present and take a trip to Kentucky to celebrate our anniversary with friends, but it is also Bourbon Heritage Month. As we are big bourbon fans, that just adds to the nice set of coincidences.

But September has another meaning for us as well. September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month. It’s hard to notice the teal sometimes when the pink for breast cancer is so much more pervasive and spills over it’s month on both ends. Buying something pink feels good. Like you are making a difference. And to be honest who doesn’t love boobs? None of us would be alive if ovaries didn’t exist, but they are inside. In the parts that make boys squeamish. The parts that are near where a period happens. The parts that people don’t talk about in polite company. Right?

Wrong. Grow up boys.

Today my wife had her four and a half year check-up after surviving Ovarian Cancer. Once again, she is all clear. One more good check-up and the cancer doctor turns her over to a regular doctor to monitor her. This is great news. But it almost wasn’t. When she was diagnosed, it was a fluke accident. She knew something wasn’t right with her body and every doctor she talked to told her she was fine.

A year later she ended up having a cyst on an ovary surgically removed and the doctor that was supposed to do the surgery had a family emergency and so his boss took over. His boss was one of the best gynecological oncologists in the state. Since it was her specialty, she nosed around a little while she was inside and found something. My wife had multiple tumors. Tests confirmed that they were cancerous. She was at Stage 3. She went into immediate chemotherapy and within a few months she was given the all clear. She was lucky on so many levels. She happened to have another issue in the same area, she ended up with a specialist doing the surgery instead of the scheduled doctor and she had a particularly slow growing form of the cancer.

Today 1 in 75 women will develop Ovarian Cancer in their lifetime. And not just old women, but women as young as preteen have died of this horrible disease. 75% of those diagnosed are still alive after one year, but that number drops to only 44% at five years. Less than half of the women diagnosed will survive five years. Think about that. There are over 150 million women in the US. That means over two million of them will develop Ovarian Cancer in their lifetime and after diagnosis almost 1.5 million will be dead within 5 years.

But the good news is that in those women where it is diagnosed early, 94% survive to five years. And more and more women are being diagnosed early. Three years ago it was less than 15%. Today it is about 20%. Still not a lot, but trending the right direction. The problem is that many of the symptoms are also symptoms of other things. Bloating, pelvic pain, feeling full quickly and needing to pee are not exactly uncommon in women. And many doctors are willing to dismiss them. What we’ve learned through this is that if your doctor won’t listen to you when you know something isn’t right, find a new doctor. And keep doing it until you find one will at least check it out.

My wife was lucky, but if the first doctor had listened to her maybe should wouldn’t have needed to be. Tonight we are celebrating four and a half years clear with the Old Forester Birthday Bourbon I mentioned above. I’m thinking that we might even do two pours before the night is over.

If you want to know more about this disease, please go to http://www.ovariancancer.org. I know this is a whiskey blog. But what is whiskey without someone to share it with? My wife loves whiskey. She helps with the tasting notes and is the “silent” partner of this site. I want each and every one of you to have someone to share your whiskey with and I don’t want you to lose them or yourself because talking about “girl parts” is hard.

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Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2016

Purchase Info: $79.99 at a retailer who has requested to be left unnamed.

Details: 12 years old. 48.5% ABV.

Nose: Warm and rich with brown sugar, pipe tobacco, apricot and baking spices.

Mouth: Sweet and oaky with brown sugar, baking spices, dried apples, and that “Brown Forman Latex Paint” note typical of their bourbons.

Finish: Warm and of decent length with oak, baking spices and fruity latex paint.

Thoughts: This used to be a fun release to pick up on a whim back when you could find it. It was $40 or less, it was tasty enough and the gimmick was fun. Today, you could be excused for wondering why someone would pay $80 for a 12 year old bourbon. But then I’d point you to sites online where people pay over $100 for Weller 12. That said, I feel like this has reached the point where if the price goes up any further, I’ll probably find another way to celebrate my wife’s birthday each year. I like this, but the quality to price ratio gives me pause.

Premixed Cocktail: Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock and Rye

September 1, 2016 Eric Burke

It should come as no surprise by now that I like cocktails. Especially if they have whiskey in them. Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Toronto, Whiskey Smash, Sazerac are among the favorites in my house and Michael Dietsch’s Whiskey cocktail book is never far from where I keep the cocktail making equipment.

It was during my research for the review of that book that I noticed the Rock and Rye batched cocktail recipe in the book. Which reminded me that there is a bottled version for sale as well. I’d never had a Rock and Rye in any form so before I committed an entire bottle of whiskey to the endeavor of making my own, I decided to pick up a bottle and make sure it was something I might want to try making for myself.

Which is how I ended up with a bottle of Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock and Rye. This is the regular release black label version. I picked up the limited release orange label as well, but that will have to wait for another post.

Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock and Rye

Purchase Info: $17.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndal Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Details: 42% ABV

Nose: Honey and bitter orange peel

Mouth: Honey, orange zest and an alcohol bite

Finish: Some whiskey shows up in the finish along with lingering orange zest. There is a nice warmth that settles in the chest.

Thoughts: This is very tasty. And it’s a cocktail that I don’t have to make before I enjoy it. It is very sweet so giving it a chill helps it out. It’s good over ice, but I just keep mine in the fridge so I don’t need to dilute it. After trying this, I would say that I’d be happy to donate a bottle to trying to make some for myself.

Danfield's Private Reserve 10-year old Canadian Whisky

August 25, 2016 Eric Burke

I like hardware stores. My wife likes to pretend that I am a handy guy so I make roughly a couple visits per month to replace that one screw that I just stripped or a blade for a saw that I was too lazy to replace after the last project. When I’m there, I sometimes just wander around and look at things. I may go in for a bolt or a box of nails, but I’ll often see a tool or something on the plumbing or electrical shelf that I had no idea even existed. I try to squirrel these ideas away for future projects. Because when you own a home, there are always future projects.

I take the same approach to liquor stores. I may go in for beer, but that doesn’t stop me from taking a quick trip down the spirits aisles just to see what’s there. Sometimes, when it is something that I hadn’t seen at other stores, I squirrel that bit of info away for the future.

Which is how I found myself picking up Danfield’s Private Reserve 10-year old Canadian Whiskey. In this particular store, the Canadian whisky section sort of blends into the bourbon and rye section. As I would go there over the years, I noticed this whisky just sitting there. I’d had the older expression, it's my wife's favorite Canadian whisky. I brought multiple bottles of Danfield’s 21-year old whisky back from Canada the last time I’d visited and I also liked it quite a bit. But except on that store shelf, I had never seen a mention of the 10-year expression.

I can’t tell if this is a dusty or just something that not many stores in my area have bothered to stock. Knowing that the 21-year old isn’t available here, it could be either I suppose. Even doing a Google search mostly brings up mentions of the 21-year old variety. As far as I can tell, this is made at the Black Velvet distillery in Alberta, Canada.

Danfield’s Private Reserve 10-Year Old

Purchase info: $22.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Blue Max, Burnsville, MN

Details: 10 years old, 40% ABV

Nose: Delicate with predominantly sweet floral notes of brown sugar and apple blossoms.

Mouth: Sweet brown sugar back by floral and apple notes along with a little oak.

Finish: Medium length with lingering floral and brown sugar notes.

Thoughts: This could easily be called a one-note whisky (if you couldn’t count to two). It isn’t terribly complex, but what is there is going on full force. This whisky fills the mouth with sweet and floral flavors. Until now, my wife’s favorite Canadian whisky has been Danfield’s 21-year old. But she likes this 10-year expression even better. I also find it quite tasty, but would probably still grab my Wiser’s Legacy first. If you can find it near you, I’d recommend giving it a try.

Statements of Age and Door County Distillery Bourbon

August 23, 2016 Eric Burke

§ 5.40 Statements of Age and Percentage.

(a) Statements of age and percentage for whisky. In the case of straight whisky bottled in conformity with the bottled in bond labeling requirements and of domestic or foreign whisky, whether or not mixed or blended, all of which is 4 years old or more, statements of age and percentage are optional. As to all other whiskies there shall be stated the following:

(1) In the case of whisky, whether or not mixed or blended but containing no neutral spirits, the age of the youngest whisky. The age statement shall read substantially as follows: ‘‘___ years old.’’

The above comes from the US Government Publishing Office. Seems pretty straightforward doesn’t it? If your whiskey is bottled in bond or not, if it is produced in the US or not, if it is blended or not, statements of age are optional if it is over 4 years of age. For all other whisky the age shall be stated as shown above.

Yet even though it seems pretty straightforward and I was able to find it with less than 5 minutes spent on Google, this seems to be a something that is still hard to figure out for some small distillers. I mean, I get it. I’m a pretty smart person that has above average reading comprehension skills. And seriously, lawyers are notorious for writing laws that only another lawyer can understand, amirite? When you are starting a small business, who has the money for a lawyer to help you decode all those pesky laws?

Well, our helpful government has you covered there too. Can’t quite make out the particulars of the law? They provide a helpful guide in plain English that tells you what you need to do. It’s called the Beverage Alcohol Manual. And it is super easy to read.

If you look at Chapter One: Mandatory Label Information (PDF), it tells you all about what is required on the label. Scroll down to Section 13 (it’s on page 1-14) . Don’t feel like it? That’s ok, I’ll paste it below.

13. STATEMENTS OF AGE

REQUIRED A statement of age is required for:

• All types of whisky aged less than 4 years

Ok but seriously, age is just a number? Right. You’re only as old as you feel and maybe this whiskey doesn’t feel like its only a year old. Well, they have you covered there too. If you look at Chapter 8: Statements of Age (PDF), the very first thing defines "age" for you. Sorry I may only feel like I’m 25, but the government (and my knees) can tell you I’m closer to 45 than I am to 25. And in case clicking that link is a hardship, I’ll paste this too.

DEFINITION OF “AGE”

• Age is the period during which, after distillation and before bottling, distilled spirits have been stored in oak containers

• For bourbon, rye, wheat, malt or rye malt whiskies and straight whiskies, other than straight corn whisky (which must be stored in used or uncharred new oak containers), the oak container must be a charred new oak container

So there you have it. A very quick lesson in whiskey age statements. Just because you don’t know the law, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t apply to you.

I did this little primer, because I recently visited Door County, Wisconsin. Since I had last visited the area, about 5 years or so ago, a winery I used to visit had expanded to have a distillery as part of their business. When I visited, I noticed that they had a bourbon out on the shelf. Even better, there was no age statement on it. Doing a little math in my head on how long it had been since I was there last, I realized that if they had broken ground right after I was there and had everything go right in the building and licensing process there was an off chance that it was actually four years old. Barely.

So I introduced myself and asked if there was someone I could talk to about the bourbon. The lady behind the counter seemed to be in charge and told me I could talk to her. My first question was, as you might have guessed, “How old is the bourbon?” She told me just under a year…

huh?

So I asked again? Really? Because I see there is no age statement on the label and I’m sure you are aware that if it is under four years of age, whiskey needs an age statement. Well, unfortunately she got a little defensive and told me that everything that the law requires is on their label. “Because they are pretty strict about that stuff.” Not looking to upset her further, I bought my bottle and decided to write the company and see if they would provide further clarification.

They did not. I told them I would publish last Thursday and then held off until now just to see if there would be a response. There wasn’t. So I am forced to conclude that Door County Distillery Bourbon Whiskey is really about a year old and that they are in violation of labeling laws. Hopefully they will get this matter fixed because I really don’t believe they intend to deceive their customers.

Door County Distillery Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 375 mL bottle at the distillery.

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Corn, cinnamon, dried fruit

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with notes of honey, granola and cinnamon spice

Finish: Short with lingering honey and cinnamon spice

Thoughts: This is much better than I had expected from a bourbon that I have to assume is only a year or so old. In fact, I’m really very pleasantly surprised. Does it taste like fully mature bourbon? No. But it does taste like a good young bourbon. It nicely balances youthful brashness with a light barrel influence. And it was a nice vacation souvenir. I like this for what it is. I just hope they get their label in compliance because if you were expecting a fully mature bourbon, you’d be very disappointed and much less charitable.

Getting Geeky With Union Horse Distilling Company, Part Two: The Reviews

July 28, 2016 Eric Burke

As I state in my Statement of Ethics, I seldom accept review samples. And that if I do, I will disclose it at the beginning of the article. Please consider it disclosed. I would like to thank FleishmanHillard for putting me into contact with the distillery and providing the bottles being discussed and reviewed this week.

Union Horse Reserve Bourbon and Union Horse Reunion Rye

On Tuesday I posted Part One of this post where the Patrick Garcia, Master Distiller of Union Horse Distilling Company and Damian Garcia, Director of Sales and Marketing for Union Horse Distilling Company were kind enough to get geeky with us by answering questions drawn from both myself and Patreon submissions.

Looking back on their answers, I really like how they are doing things so in tonight's post, let's see how much I like the whiskey.

Union Horse Reunion Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: This bottle was not purchased and was instead provided by FleishmanHillard, the PR firm representing Union Horse for review purposes.

Details: 100% Rye Mash (using enzymes to break down the starch instead of malt). 46.5% ABV. Two year age stated. Batch 1. Bottle 1177.

Nose: Toffee, mint, baked bread, and grain

Mouth: Bold and flavorful. Spicy, showing both cinnamon and clove as well as cayenne. Mint extract and grain flavors are present as well, though not as much as I'd expect from the nose.

Finish: Medium length with a nice spice. Lingering grain and mint flavors.

Thoughts: This is one where it had to grow on me. In my initial tasting, I felt it tasted a bit young. After spending almost a month with it, I've warmed up to it. This certainly is a unique whiskey and is outside the normal American Straight Rye flavor profile, which threw me at first. But I've come around. I've tried it neat, with some ice and in cocktails and have enjoyed it in all three. It still tastes a bit young, but not terribly so. I like this. It's a unique product that actually tastes pretty good too.

Union Horse Reserve Straight Bourbon

Purchase Info: This bottle was not purchased and was instead provided by FleishmanHillard, the PR firm representing Union Horse for review purposes.

Details: Corn and Rye Mash (using enzymes to break down the starch instead of malt). 46% ABV. Two year age stated. Batch 2. Bottle 1068.

Nose: Caramel and mint along with faint notes of bubble gum, soil and barrel char.

Mouth: Vanilla and butterscotch, along with cinnamon, cloves, campfire smoke and sweet malt.

Finish: Medium length with lingering mint, smoke and malty flavors.

Thoughts: I am not a fan of smoky whiskey. I can appreciate it, but seldom like it if it is too pronounced. In this case, the smoke flavors are just light enough that it doesn't bother me too much. My wife on the other hand likes this a lot and has been the primary consumer of the bottle above.

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