Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye 2021

November 16, 2021 Eric Burke

I’d like to thank the folks at Beam Suntory and their PR firms for providing a review sample with no strings attached.

It is getting cold here in Minnesota. So cold that when I go for a walk, I’ve started wearing pants instead of shorts. I haven’t yet graduated to a coat, much to the chagrin of my many elderly neighbors who are already wearing gloves outside. To be honest, for as much as I really hate winter, I seem to have been born in the right place for it. It just takes me a while to actually get cold. For example, I seldom wear shoes, even outside, unless I’ll be out there for more than 20 minutes or so or the temperature is below zero Fahrenheit.

That has also gotten me comments from the neighbors as I go to get the mail.

In the spirit of cold weather, I thought it would be fun to take a look at a sample that has recently landed on my desk from Canada. At least originally. For the second year running, BeamSuntory has released a limited edition bottling of Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye Whiskey. From the press release:

Made in Calgary, Alberta, Alberta® Premium Cask Strength Rye is crafted from 100% Canadian prairie rye grains grown by local farmers and nutrient-dense, glacier-fed spring water from the famed Rocky Mountains. The result is a perfectly balanced liquid that reflects the brand's unique natural surroundings, Canadian heritage, and expert whisky craftsmanship.
"Following the success of Alberta® Premium Cask Strength Rye's debut in the U.S. last year, we are thrilled to offer stateside whisky drinkers the limited 2021 release of our award-winning whisky," said George Teichroeb, General Manager of Alberta Distillers. "When Alberta Premium debuted in 1958, we were one of the first distilleries to create a true 100% rye whisky, and this cask strength rye is the culmination of our hard work and dedication to crafting exceptional rye whisky."

I really liked last year’s release. And I was lucky enough to find a bottle recently on a trip to rural Wisconsin. But, since it was late last month that I found it, I had no idea if I had picked up the 2020 or 2021 release. So I reached out to the PR folks to see if there were any visual differences between the two releases. I like to know what release of a limited edition I’m buying and I thought you might as well. Here is what I found out:

The label of the two releases is the same with two minor design differences. 2020 had three standing barrels as a design element and 2021 has a single barrel on its side in the same location. And the typeface has changed from a sans-serif to a serifed font. Otherwise, they look the same.
The ABV range of the 2020 release was 63.9% ABV to 66% ABV and the ABV range of the 2021 release is wider at 63% ABV to 67% ABV.

That last one didn’t really help me as the ABV on the bottle I picked up was 66%, which was within both sets of ranges. In either case, I was able to determine by the design elements that I had, indeed, picked up a 2020 release. So now I will be on the lookout for 2021.

Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye 2021

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $74.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.00

Details: 63.7% ABV

Nose: Notes of cinnamon red hots candies, cedar, and black tea.

Month: Follows the nose with spicy cinnamon candies, cedar, mint, and black tea.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of floral mint and cinnamon candies.

Thoughts: This is good. I like it. I don't like it quite as much as I liked the 2020 release, though the differences are minor enough that I wouldn’t notice if I didn’t try them side by side. 2021 is a touch spicier and really focuses on the spicy cinnamon notes. 2020 had a bit more depth and complexity to it. Makes me happy that I found a bottle of 2020 in Northern Wisconsin last month, but also makes me want to grab a 2021 as well.

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Little Book Chapter 5 - The Invitation

September 9, 2021 Eric Burke

I’d like to thank the folks at Jim Beam for providing the following review sample with no strings attached.

IMAGE: Sample bottle of Little Book Chapter 5, the Invitation

By the time you are reading this, I will be on vacation. I’m guessing I will be somewhere in Northern Missouri if you are reading this the evening it came out. Hello from Wednesday! Did the world survive?

This is my first real vacation since before Covid. Even vaccinated, I’m a little nervous. But if I didn’t go, I’d lose all the money I paid for housing…so here I go. I’ll be as safe as I can and mostly just try to avoid being too close to people. Which is kinda how I usually do vacations anyway. And since I am in the middle of working my way through a list of “Things That I Should Have Done Last Week But Need To Be Done Before I Leave,” I’m going to jump right into the whiskey portion of this post.

I’ve been a fan of the Little Book releases since they were first released. I’m pretty sure that I’ve enjoyed every one I’ve tried. I really like the experimentation that Freddie Noe is doing with them. And this is no different. The whiskeys included in this blend range from two to fifteen years old. Paraphrasing the sell sheet provided with the sample (and quoting where appropriate) here are the blend components and what they say each brings to the final blend:

2-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon: It “comes off the still and goes into the barrel at a lower proof delivering a whiskey that’s complex and balanced.” This whiskey contributed a creamy mouthfeel and sweet grain flavors.
3-year-old Malted 100% Rye Whiskey: This whiskey brings in peppery notes and toasted grain/cereal notes with a hint of nuttiness.
5-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon: This whiskey brings in hints of vanilla, corn sweetness on the nose, and a smooth finish “that help to balance the flavors from the younger whiskies and the 15-year-old bourbon.”
15-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon: This brings heavier barrel flavors and adds complexity to the final blend.

That’s what Beam had to say, let’s see how it tastes.

Little Book Chapter 5: The Invitation

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $124.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $8.33

Details: 58.4% ABV. A blend of 2-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon, 3-year-old Malted 100% Rye, 5-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon, and 15-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon.

Nose: Bright ginger and cinnamon, toasted nuts, milk chocolate.

Mouth: Hot and spicy. Notes of vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and a generic nuttiness.

Finish: Warm and long. Notes of baking spice, chocolate, leather.

Thoughts: This is really good. I don't know that I'll be paying $125 for this, but I might check out Total Wine to see if they carry it for a little cheaper. But if you don't see a problem dropping $125 on a special release then add this one to your list. I like it.

Basil Hayden Toast

August 17, 2021 Eric Burke

I’d like to thank BeamSuntory and the Basil Hayden team for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

IMAGE: A bottle of Basil Hayden Toast flanked by two crystal glasses of the same. Image Courtesy Basil Hayden.

I’ve heard it said that after you hit the age of 40, you need to either take up World War Two history or smoking meat. Well, I’m a history buff, but I’d much rather read about history that happened 500 to 1500 years ago than history that happened 75 to 85 years ago. Which, if that adage was to believed, left me smoking meat as my only option going forward.

Which is why, while I write tonight, I’m eating a generous slice off of the fatty end of a smoked brisket. And once I finish it, I will be moving on to a pour of tonight’s whiskey. I don’t usually like whiskey with food but I do enjoy it after food. I prefer to let the fatty flavors settle a bit and then have an after dinner drink instead of pairing one with the other

The drink I will be pouring tonight is the newest permanent release from the Basil Hayden line of whiskeys: Basil Hayden Toast. This new bourbon uses brown rice as the flavoring grain instead of rye or wheat. Basil Hayden Toast is a “mingling” of both finished and unfinished bourbon. Some of the brown rice bourbon is finished in toasted barrels. That finished bourbon is then mixed back in with unfinished brown rice bourbon to create the final product.

So now that I’ve finished my supper, let’s see how it tastes. Note, the notes below are not from tonight, but I am having a pour of Basil Hayden Toast to confirm my thoughts from this past weekend.

Basil Hayden Toast

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by the producer for the purpose of this review. The suggested retail price is $49.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 40% ABV. Made with brown rice as the flavoring grain.

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, nutmeg, and a hint of mint.

Mouth: Brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, hints of mint and dusty oak.

Finish: Very gentle. Lingering brown sugar sweetness, baking spices and oak.

Thoughts: This isn't bad. It's pretty gentle, like most Basil Hayden releases, but tastes pretty good. I like it. That said, I’ll be honest, it isn't going to be something I buy. I’m a freelancer on a freelancer’s budget so for $50 I want a bit more oomph in my bourbon. But this wasn’t created for me. This is for the novice bourbon drinker who may be intimidated by higher proof releases and I think it will work beautifully in that market. As I said, I like the flavors of this a lot, it’s just too gentle for me to want very often.

Old Overholt 114 proof

June 10, 2021 Eric Burke

Old Overholt and Old GrandDad live in the same space in my mind. If you asked me to describe a hypothetical Old GrandDad Rye, it would be Old Overholt. They are both BeamSuntory brands that were purchased back when Beam swallowed National Distillers back in the 1980s. They were both pretty well ignored for a very long time with only sporadic marketing pushes. Both of the standard releases were 80 proof and bottom-shelf. Though Old GrandDad had a bonded release. Eventually, Old Overholt did as well. And for both of them, the Bonded was hands down better than the standard release.

Until very recently, one difference between the two was that Old GrandDad also had fan-favorite Old GrandDad 114. Something that until a couple of months ago, Old Overholt did not have. But now in addition to the new 114° proof release, Old Overholt Rye is getting a well-deserved push from owner BeamSuntory. The branding has been updated for the entire line. And even more exciting, the standard release got a proof bump from 80° proof to 86° proof.

Old Overholt used to be something that was easy to ignore. The 80 proof was a meh at best. After tasting all three over the weekend (114, Bonded, and the new 86° proof) I have to say I like where the brand is heading.

Old Overholt 114 proof

Purchase Info: $32.99 per bottle for a 750mL bottle, Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN

Price per Drink (50mL): $2.20

Details: 4 years old. 57% ABV. Non-chill filtered.

Nose: Mint, savory herbs, vanilla, cherry.

Mouth: Starts with a nice spicy heat. Cinnamon, mint, weak black tea, and a touch of lemon zest.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium length. Lingering notes of cinnamon and mint.

Thoughts: I really like this one. It is warm and spicy with a nice finish. Sippable neat, even at 114° proof. I didn't care for it in rye cocktails, but it added a nice spice to traditional bourbon cocktails. All in all, this is a very tasty whiskey.

Comparison to Bonded: The noses are basically identical. 114 is hotter and spicier on the mouth, the Bonded is sweeter. Both very good though.

Comparison to 86 proof: The noses are similar with 114 just being "more so." There is a big difference on the mouths, as you might have guessed. 114 is thicker in mouthfeel. It is warmer and spicier in the mouth, with more concentrated flavors. The new 86° proof is better than I remember the old 80° proof being, but it doesn't hold a candle to its higher proof siblings.

UPDATE: This post originally stated that the new 86° proof version had received an age bump because I’m a dumbass who apparently overlooks big BOLD type stating the words “THREE YEARS OLD” while looking for tiny type that says 36 months. Lol. Anyway that’s been fixed now.

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2021: Round 1: Very Old Barton 86 proof vs. Old Grand-Dad 80 proof

March 25, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: Number 1 seed Very Old Barton 86 proof sitting next to number 4 seed Old Grand-Dad 80 proof.

Fun fact. Both of the names on tonight’s labels have won this annual contest before. In the case of Very Old Barton, the 86 proof version was the winner in 2016. For Old Grand-Dad, it was the Bottled-in-Bond version that won in 2018. Old Grand-Dad 80 proof has never made it out of the first round. Let’s see if history repeats itself tonight.

Our first whiskey is our number one seed for Division Two. Coming in at 86 proof and looking to notch its second bracket championship, please welcome: Very Old Barton 86 proof!

And their opponent is the lowest-proof bourbon in Beam’s Old Grand-Dad line. The lower price (and lower quality?) version of Basil Hayden’s, please welcome Old Grand-Dad 80 proof!

Reminder, all of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and could have influenced the perceptions of one another.

Whiskey 1 (Very Old Barton)

Purchase Info: $15.99 for a 1-liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.80

Details: 43% ABV.

Nose: Delicate. Mint, cinnamon, and floral notes.

Mouth: Follows the nose with mint, cinnamon, caramel, and floral notes.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Cinnamon and dried grains with a little caramel thrown in.

Thoughts: The nose is so delicate as to be almost non-existent. The mouth and finish provide more punch than the nose would suggest. Not a bad value bourbon.

Whiskey 2 (Old Grand-Dad)

Purchase Info: $17.99 for a 1-liter bottle, Blue Max, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.90

Details: 40% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, red fruit, and a hint of mint.

Mouth: Caramel, cinnamon, vanilla, red fruit.

Finish: Gentle and medium length. Caramel, cinnamon, and a mineral note.

Thoughts: This is ok. That mineral note on the finish is throwing me a little. There is definitely a lot of flavor, I'm just not sure that it's a good flavor.

Winner: This was a fairly easy decision. #1 has a classic "value bourbon" flavor. Good, uncomplicated, tasty, and showing a touch of grain. #2 is a caramel bomb with an odd funk to it. It isn't bad, but I'm not sure I'm likely to reach for it once I know what it is. #1 wins easily.

IMAGE: Very Old Barton 86 proof advances to Round two over Old Grand Dad 80 proof.

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2021: Round 1: Evan Williams vs. Jim Beam

March 23, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: Jim Beam White Label sitting next two Evan Williams Black Label. The number one and two best selling bourbons in the world respectively.

What a cool matchup we have in store tonight. We are featuring the world’s top two selling bourbons by volume (if you set aside that one from Tennessee that doesn’t want to be called a bourbon). Jim Beam is the world’s top-selling bourbon and Evan Williams is right behind them at number two. I didn’t plan this, it was luck of the seeding that set these two titans against each other, but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t super excited once I realized it.

First up is our number two seed for Division One. Coming in at 86 proof and looking so good in black, please welcome: Evan Williams!

And its opponent is the number one selling bourbon across the world. Behemoth barely begins to describe this white-labeled giant, please welcome: Jim Beam!

Whiskey 1 (Evan Williams)

Purchase Info: $12.99 for a 1-liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.65

Details: 43% ABV.

Nose: Spearmint, caramel, and nutmeg.

Mouth: Caramel, mint, cinnamon candies.

Finish: Shorter side of medium. Notes of cinnamon and peanut butter cookies.

Thoughts: Not bad. Not bad at all. Classic value bourbon flavor profile.

Whiskey 2 (Jim Beam)

Purchase Info: $13.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.93

Details: 40% ABV.

Nose: Peanut, caramel, green vegetables.

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. Caramel and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Peanuts and dried grains.

Thoughts: Even blind, I think I know what this is. The distinctive peanut note gives it away. though considering at least half of the participants are made by-or source from- Beam, I am fully prepared to be wrong. I like the finish, the mouth leaves a bit to be desired and I'm ambivalent regarding the nose.

Winner: I like the finish on #2 better but I prefer the nose and mouth on #1. #1 wins.

IMAGE: Evan Williams advances to Round 2 over Jim Beam

8th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: The "Find Joy in the Ordinary" Edition

March 16, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: A screen capture of the time with the words “Find Joy in the Ordinary” below it.

I like to use a Chrome plugin called Momentum as a home screen for my instance of the Chrome browser. It has a new pretty photo every day. It tells me the time, local weather, and helps me with my to-do list. Recently it started showing “Mantras” below the time. I found the one pictured above to be particularly meaningful. “Find Joy in the Ordinary.”

It’s sometimes hard to do as a bourbon lover, finding joy in the ordinary. The entire purpose of a site like this is to give people a sense of what is new and exciting. Even if it is only new and exciting to me. So, this year I’ve made a commitment to myself to step back a little and to do what the computer screen told me to do. Find Joy in the Ordinary.

And, perfect timing, it’s time for the Bottom Shelf Bourbon Brackets again. Maybe it is just me, but I haven’t heard a lot of talk about the NCAA tournament this year…and I’m fully willing to admit that it may be because my beloved Golden Gophers were bad enough this year that the coach was fired at the end of the season. I might just be hiding from any news that has to do with the yearly basketball tournament.

Of course, as long-time readers know, I don’t really like basketball anyway. In fact, this series was started eight years ago as a way to play along with all the folks around me filling out their brackets, while not caring about basketball.

In recent years, I’ve gotten caught up in the excitement of more “interesting” bourbons. Two years ago, I decided to let the readers choose who participated. Last year, I threw out the concept of “Bottom-Shelf” entirely. But this year, following the advice of the computer screen, I’ve decided to find joy in the ordinary. And as such, I’m going old-school on this one. Back to the original rules. Back to some really “ordinary” bourbons. Things that would have been participants from the first few years before I started messing with the rules.

Here are the rules:

In keeping with the theme, it had to be “ordinary.” No Single barrel, no small batch. No Bottled in Bond. Anything that might be used to call something special was thrown out. This is for true entry-level bourbons.
The original rules stated that it had to be under $15 for a 750 mL bottle or under $20 for a liter bottle. I decided to keep that.
The original rules also stated that entries had to be Straight Bourbon Whiskey. I saw no reason to change that.
Participants were seeded based on proof and then age. Higher proof equals a higher seeding. If you stated a bourbon’s age when you didn’t have to, you got a nod over those, at the same proof, who didn’t. If you stated a bourbon’s age because you were young enough that the law required it, someone else got the nod over you.
These were tasted blind. I had no idea what each of the participants was when I tasted them. I poured 200mL bottles of each bourbon. I labeled them with an alphanumeric code and then filled out an initial bracket with those codes. Until we were finished I never saw the bracket or the bottles that were being poured again. My wife (who didn’t know which code corresponded to each bourbon) poured each round and filled out the winners in secret.

So, let’s meet the 2021 competition, shall we? Coming in at the number one overall seed is Ezra Brooks from Lux Row Distillery. This seeding comes down to proof, at 90 proof, this was the highest proof bourbon in the competition. They will initially match up against number four seed, Benchmark Bourbon from Buffalo Trace. At only “36 months” and 80 proof, this was the lowest seed in the competition. Rounding out Division One is a matchup between Heaven Hill’s Evan Williams Black Label and BeamSuntory’s Jim Beam White Label. Due to being 86 proof, Evan Williams was the second seed and due to stating its age, Jim Beam White gets the nod over other 80 proof offerings to take the first number three seed.

Over in Division Two, we have Very Old Barton (86 proof) from the Barton 1792 Distillery as the number one seed. They match up against Beam Suntory’s number four seed Old Grand Dad (80 Proof). In the second matchup, we have number two seed Wild Turkey (81 proof) against number three seed Rebel Yell from Lux Row.

This should be fun. Let’s go find joy in ordinary bourbon. So who’ve you got? Let everyone know down in the comments.

Basil Hayden's 10 Year Old Rye

February 2, 2021 Eric Burke

It is Groundhog Day today. And though I’m not one to put much faith in the weather-related prognostications of a large rodent, I did really enjoy the Bill Murray movie of the same name as a kid. I mean, I’m sure I would still like it, but it played on our HBO subscription so often that I haven’t felt the need to dive back in for the last 25 years or so.

So, being Groundhog Day today, it is fitting that I am taking a look at a Basil Hayden’s release. Like the main character reliving the same day over and over in the movie, I feel like I’m reliving the same experience every time I purchase one of these. Every single time that I buy one, I buy it expressly to review. But every time I do, I think to myself: “well, the last few haven’t been great, but maybe this one will surprise me.”

And then I’m never surprised.

In fact, after the 10-year-old bourbon, I was hesitant to ever buy a bottle of Basil Hayden’s again. Here is what I said about that:

In the past, I have excused the price of the original Basil Hayden. I had the thought that it was less of a cash grab for underproofed bourbon and more a brilliant way to get new bourbon drinkers into the fold. Knowing, from my own experiences that people new to any liquor category, at least those that don’t live on the bottom shelf, want “something good” to try out and also knowing that for most uniformed people “something good” actually means “something with a pretty bottle that has a bit of a higher price tag,” it stands to reason that this new-to-bourbon person might grab a bottle of super gentle Basil Hayden with it’s higher price and pretty bottle. Then after trying it—and not being scared off by the “burn”—maybe find they enjoy it. And then eventually move on to real bourbon. And that probably worked when there weren’t so many crap bourbons in pretty bottles on your local shelf with a price tag over $50. These days, original Basil Hayden can be one of the less expensive of the “pretty bottle crowd.” I saw it on sale for less than $30 as I was researching its local price tonight and have seen it that low (and bought it) in the past. So I thought Beam was reacting to the changing market by correcting the price downward. With the recent brand expansions, we have seen that is not the case. Original Basil Hayden may be cheaper these days, but all the new ones that share its name are not. And the worst offender is this 10 year old version. Like I said earlier, this is a perfectly acceptable bourbon. In fact, I wish more of the Old Grand Dad line had this kind of barrel influence on it. But the flavor is comparable to Buffalo Trace or maybe Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond. Notice I said flavor, not heat or complexity. This suffers from the same issue that Original Basil Hayden’s has: it’s too gentle and low proof for the price, but this doesn’t have the excuse of being a “gateway” bourbon.

So yeah…I knew this and yet the idea of a new experience for a well-aged rye whiskey was too good to pass up. I love a good rye. I love making cocktails with it. Let’s see if I’ve finally broken out of Groundhog Day or if this is just another repeat in a long line of repeats.

Basil Hayden's 10-Year-Old Rye

Purchase Info: $65.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.40

Details: 10 years old. 40% ABV

Nose: Cinnamon, clove, and mint.

Mouth: Thin in the mouth. Cinnamon, mint, almond, and oak.

Finish: Short and kinda bitter. Cinnamon, clove, oak, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: Wow. Not much to this one. I know I talked about my theories as to why Basil Hayden's exists above, but even for Basil Hayden's this is disappointing. It isn't bad, per se. But it isn't good either. It's just sort of... there. I'd give this one a pass unless you like oak flavors that have been diluted to the point of bitterness.

I think I’m done with Basil Hayden’s releases. This one finally killed it for me. I love most of the stuff that Beam is doing these days, but this one just isn’t for me. Maybe I’m finally breaking free of Groundhog Day…either that or I’m still stuck and will get to relive yet another repeat when the next release draws me in.

Blog

Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye 2021

Little Book Chapter 5: The Invitation

Basil Hayden Toast

Old Overholt 114 proof

Whiskey 1 (Very Old Barton)

Whiskey 2 (Old Grand-Dad)

Whiskey 1 (Evan Williams)

Whiskey 2 (Jim Beam)

Basil Hayden's 10-Year-Old Rye