Yellowstone Limited Edition 2017

November 30, 2017 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 Common Ground PR for providing this sample to me with no strings attached.

My wife has been sick lately. The kind of cold that kills your taste buds. As such, she missed out on doing the tasting for tonight's review (and the latest sample that the Whiskey Fairy dropped off). Don't get me wrong, she hasn't stopped drinking whiskey. But since she can't taste the difference between the cheap stuff and the good stuff right now...yeah she's been getting the cheap stuff.

Tonight's bourbon is the latest Limited Edition of Yellowstone. A bourbon name that from all accounts started out pretty good, was sold, became not good, and has now become a pretty tasty bourbon again. Some of that resurgence is probably because the brand has come home to the family that helped it gain it's initial rise to fame. You see, Yellowstone was owned by Luxco back in the bad old days and it seems they wanted it to be more than just a bottom-shelf dweller. So these days Luxco has partnered with Limestone Branch Distillery to produce the brand.

Limestone Branch is a craft distillery in Lebanon, Kentucky and was started by Stephen and Paul Beam. The Beam brothers are descendants of both the historical brand owners and the distillers that made the historical Yellowstone whiskey. Luxco bought part of the distillery, and the brothers now make the bourbon their ancestors made.

Last year, I was a big fan of the 2016 Limited Edition. So much so that I went out and purchased a second bottle with my own money. It was a whiskey created from the vast stocks that Luxco has access to and it was very well done. So I was interested to see what they would do this year. I got even more interested in the 2017 edition when I noticed that in addition to bourbon from the vast Luxco stocks, it is also the first to contain bourbon distilled at Limestone Branch.

Yellowstone Limited Edition 2017

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by Common Ground PR, but the suggested price is $99.99

Details: 50.5% ABV. Finished in charred wine casks. According to the press release, this is made from 7- and 12-year-old sourced bourbon and 4-year-old Limestone Branch distilled bourbon.

Nose: Caramel, leather, tobacco, and baking spices.

Mouth: Baking spice, caramel, black pepper and red fruits.

Finish: Warm and long with lingering notes of nutmeg and red fruits.

Thoughts: Once again, Stephen and Paul Beam have knocked this one out of the park. I liked last year's enough to want more than the 200 mL sample they sent. I think I like this year's enough to want more than the 750 mL bottle they sent me. I have a feeling I will be grabbing this again should I find it for a good price. And on a freelancer's budget, that's saying something.

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David Nicholson Reserve Bourbon

October 17, 2017 Eric Burke

Sometimes you buy something just because you normally can't. That happened more than once during my last trip to the Party Source in northern Kentucky. In this case, it resulted in me bringing home a bottle of David Nicholson Reserve.

For most of its life, the David Nicholson brand was owned by the Van Winkle family (you've probably heard of them, so I'll quit there). Today the David Nicholson line of bourbons is owned by Luxco and has only limited distribution. According to their website, it is mostly sold in Missouri and Illinois (though I bought mine in Kentucky).

And that brings me back to why it ended up in my shopping cart (yes, I need a cart when I shop for bourbon in Kentucky). Simply put, I'd never had it, I can't get it, and so I wanted it. Plus I'd heard good things about it.

Did the bourbon live up to the kind words I'd read though?

David Nicholson Reserve

Purchase Info: $31.99 for 750 mL bottle at the Party Source, Bellevue, KY.

Details: 50% ABV. Non-age stated.

Nose: Vanilla, dusty, dried grain, and mint plants with soil.

Mouth: Leads off with a nice spice. Mint and more grain follow.

Finish: Medium length with lingering mint and grain.

Thoughts: Taken in a vacuum this is a tasty enough whiskey and is probably worth the $30 or so that you'd pay for it. It reminds me a lot of Evan Williams Bonded, which makes sense since there is a good chance that they came from the same place. Which, of course, means that it is hard to compare this in a vacuum. Evan Williams Bonded is under $20 per liter, which is less than half what this sells for (if you compare price per milliliter). But that said, $30 is still not a terrible price for a decent, if fairly grain forward, bourbon.

Rebel Yell Small Batch Reserve

September 7, 2017 Eric Burke

I'm in the process of packing for a much-needed vacation tonight, so I'm going to keep this kinda short. Not as short as the last post, but short none-the-less.

I've had a love/hate relationship with Rebel Yell for a very long time. The standard, entry-level, release was one of the first bourbons that I truly disliked. I used most of the bottle for years as a prop whiskey. I'd empty a bottle, which I planned to review, without taking its photo. Instead of shooting an empty bottle, I'd add a little visual interest by pouring my prop bourbon into the bottle, shoot the photo and then pour it back into the Rebel Yell bottle. After a while, I stopped pouring it back in and started dumping it out. And, of course, started adding other whiskeys that I didn't want to finish to the bottle. Oddly after all of that, it made a decent cocktail whiskey, so I started a new prop bottle.

Since the time that I reviewed Rebel Yell, Luxco (the brand owner) started revamping the look of the brand and introducing other extensions to the Rebel Yell line. Flavored ones of course, but also a Straight Rye and a blend of Rye and Bourbon. The latter of which I reviewed quite favorably. And then they released the Rebel Yell Single Barrel, a ten-year-old, wheated bourbon. And it was fantastic!

Which made me wonder if I need to go back down and try the Small Batch Reserve that I had walked past for years due to how I felt about the standard Rebel Yell.

Want to read more about the Rebel Yell brand history, check out my buddy Peter's take on it. He does a lot more fact checking and research than I feel like doing sometimes...

Rebel Yell Small Batch Reserve

Purchase Info: I honestly have no idea, I thought I bought it at Total Wine, but when I went back to check the price on their website, they said they don't carry it in my state...but I see Ace Spirits has it for a little under $27.

Details: 45.3% ABV

Nose: Corn bread, mint and honey.

Mouth: Brown sugar, mint, banana, baking spice and dried grains.

Finish: Short to medium in length with lingering banana and baking spice.

Thoughts: I've had more than a couple of glasses of this during the weeks it has been on the shelf. It isn't bad in a tumbler, nothing special, but it gets the job done without being offensive.

I really think it works well in a cocktail with Campari and Ramazzotti Amaro. It's a riff on a Black Manhattan, and I use two ounces of Rebel Yell Reserve, half an ounce of Campari, half an ounce of Ramazzotti and a few dashes of bitters. I like how the sweet of this bourbon offsets the bitter of the Campari and Amaro. So I'm giving this a like on that fact alone. On its own, it straddles the line between meh and like.

Black Powder Bourbon

August 31, 2017 Eric Burke

I am so excited right now. You see, tonight is the football season opener for my beloved University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and their new head coach, PJ Fleck. He's a high-energy guy with a great philosophy. And even though I'm not expecting a lot out of the season (when you are a middle to lower-tier program it never goes as well as you hope during a coach's first year) I can't help but be optimistic. I'm an unrepentant homer of a fan. Even though I've been disappointed in the past, I always think that this year will be the one where things start to turn around.

And this optimism extends to all facets of my life. Especially bourbon. I'm aware that, for many bourbons, I probably shouldn't be optimistic. Especially when I know that it is only three years old. But since I've had a couple of young bourbons that I did like, I keep thinking to myself: "Maybe this will be another one of those. Maybe this one will be good." And so I take a flyer on yet another Total Wine exclusive label. I mean, heck, they are less two bucks per 50 mL bottle to try.

Black Powder Bourbon

Purchase Info: $1.59 for a 50 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN.

Details: 40% ABV. 36 months old.

Nose: Dried corn and mint plus a touch of vanilla and nutmeg.

Mouth: Warmer than expected with the fiery heat of youth. Dried corn sweetness follows.

Finish: Medium and on the bitter side. Lingering dried corn mint and vanilla.

Thoughts: While not my cup of tea, I wouldn't fault people who enjoy young bourbons for liking this. A lot of dried grain flavors and nothing off-putting. It works ok in a cocktail too.

Jefferson's Very Small Batch Bourbon

August 24, 2017 Eric Burke

It wasn't fair. In fact, you could say that—intentionally or not—it was set up to fail. You see the first time that I tried Jefferson's Bourbon it was part of a tasting that included the entire Four Roses line. Including that year's edition of the limited Small Batch (then called the Mariage). It was the night that I fell in love with Four Roses and the last time I tried a Jefferson's that was under $99 and 18 years old. It's not that I didn't think about trying it again, I just never did.

Jefferson's is a non-distiller producer started in the late nineties by the father and son team of Chet and Trey Zoeller. Regarding the name, Reid Mitenbuler writes in Bourbon Empire: the Past and Future of America's Whiskey that the younger Zoeller says: "I had no marketing budget. I simply wanted a recognizable face associated with history and tradition." The choice is kind of odd when you think about it. Washington was a distiller. But according to the folks at Monticello, Jefferson not only didn't produce whiskey, he also didn't touch the stuff. In any case, since Jefferson's Bourbon is still being produced 20 years late, the name must have been a good choice.

Marketing aside, Jefferson's is doing something that few non-distiller producers are doing these days. They source their whiskey from a variety of distillers and blend them together to create something that is more than the sum of its parts. It's this focus on blending that made me decide to go back and give them another shot.

If they were just buying sourced whiskey from a single producer and dumping it into a bottle, I might have kept walking. But in the age of the single barrel, blending is an underappreciated art. Blending whiskey is hard. I've tried more than a few blending experiments, and in my experience, I make something better than the parts a little more than half the time. You just never know what is going going to play nicely and what isn't. At least not without a lot of experience and hard work. So I appreciate it when people not only do it well but hang their hat on it.

Weirdly, that's also what appeals to me about the other bourbon from that first night.

Jefferson's Very Small Batch Bourbon

Purchase info: $28.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 41.15% ABV. Batch 524. Bottle 09845.

Nose: Light and fruity with vanilla and baking spice.

Mouth: Fruity mouth with cinnamon, caramel, and a nice peppery spice.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Sweet vanilla which fades relatively quickly to reveal a nice spicy warmth.

Thoughts: This is quite tasty and more complex than I thought an "entry-level" product would be. I like this quite a bit. It's nice as a "change of pace" bourbon as it is pretty different from the other bourbons on my shelf.

Watkins Select Bourbon

August 10, 2017 Eric Burke

Watkins Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

One of the many ways I make money right now is as a dog sitter. I have dogs, so watching a couple of extra is something that isn't too far removed from what I am already doing during the day. Plus, I can do it while working on any other client work I have.

Most of the dogs I watch are very well behaved, but one of the ones I am currently watching is...well...he pooped on my rug. Twice. On two separate days. Plus he doesn't listen when you try to get him to come in from outside.

He's a sweet boy, only ten months old, and very affectionate. Still, I'm having a hard time getting past the not listening and rug pooping. I'm assuming he doesn't do this at home since I require that all dogs be house-trained. Maybe he does. I guess I'm not there and some people are willing to try to pull a fast one on you.

I'm pretty sure he won't be coming back. That makes me a little sad. He's young, still a baby of sorts. But obviously not well trained, which isn't his fault. But sometimes those are the breaks. You take a chance on something, hope it will turn out as good as others, and then are disappointed.

Speaking of which, Watkin's Select Bourbon is a Total Wine Exclusive that is bottled in California. It isn't a TerrePure whiskey like some of the others, but it didn't come from Buffalo Trace either. I thought I'd take a chance on it. Read on to see if it pooped on my rug.

Watkins Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: $1.99 for a 50 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN (a 750 mL bottle runs $16.99)

Details: 36 months old. 40 % ABV

Nose: Grain forward with vanilla, wintergreen, sugar snap peas, and a mineral note.

Mouth: Dried Grain, wintergreen, and black pepper.

Finish: Short and grainy with a hint of residual spice.

Thoughts: There is absolutely nothing wrong with this that more age wouldn't fix. But, as it stands, I find this very meh. If you are a fan of inexpensive, grain-forward bourbons, then you should give this a shot. But if you like a little more age on your bourbon, give this a hard pass.

Winchester Straight Bourbon

July 11, 2017 Eric Burke

There are times, dear reader, when I go out of my way to try things just because I have a sneaking suspicion that they will be less than tasty. I consider it to be part of the job that I have assigned myself not just to try things that are amazing, but also those things that may appeal on price alone. To see which of the inexpensive bourbons are hidden gems and which are just fossilized dog turds.

Winchester Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a TerrePURE bourbon from Total Wine. TerrePURE whiskeys are whiskeys that start with whiskey of a certain age. In this case, two years old. They then subject them to a "rapid aging process" that supposedly makes them taste like an average "commodity" bourbon of a greater age. The goal is better tasting bourbon without spending the time and money to wait it out.

I've had one TerrePURE bourbon in the past. Needless to say, Hayes Parker Reserve was not a big hit in this house. So why on Earth would I go back to that particular well again? Well, unlike the last one of these I tried, this one has "straight" on the label, meaning that it is at least two years old. And I was curious if starting with an older whiskey would help the process out. It's easy to make broad conclusions based on a single data point, but honestly, we all know it needs more than one piece of data to start to define a trend.

Winchester Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: $1.99 for a 50 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: "Aged a minimum of two years in new oak." 45% ABV.

Nose: Grain, bubble gum, menthol, and cinnamon.

Mouth: Cinnamon red hot candies and honey.

Finish: Medicinal menthol notes combine with cinnamon spice and bubble gum.

Thoughts: I was fully prepared to admit that I was wrong about this. That I was wrong about how not awful this was. But then I swallowed. And I felt like I was tasting oral anesthesia mixed with candy. The finish kills this one, which is too bad because the nose and mouth, though young, aren't bad for a two-year-old whiskey. I don't know if it is the whiskey they started with or the fact that it is then "uniquely ultrasonic filtered" that introduced the medicinal anesthetic flavors to the finish. Because they note how the process changes the finish, I'm willing to blame the process, but that is just a guess.

So I got a lot of blow-back the last time I reviewed a TerrePURE whiskey. Folks had purchased it because it was an attractive price and I was essentially called a snob for not liking it. So here's the thing about Winchester. At the store where I bought this, a 750 mL bottle of Winchester runs $24.99. At that same store, I can get the same size bottle of Four Roses Yellow, Evan Williams (Black, Bonded, and Single Barrel), Elijah Craig, Old Weller Antique, Larceny, Bulleit, Woodford Reserve and Old Forester for less than this. I can get Knob Creek for the same price, and I can buy 1792, Maker's 46, Eagle Rare and Four Roses Small Batch for just a buck or two more. I can honestly find no reason to recommend trying this. If you have tried it and you love it, great! That just means more traditional bourbon for the rest of us.

Cask & Crew Blended Rye

June 29, 2017 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 Intralink Global for providing this sample to me with no strings attached.

I'm a big fan of taking various whiskeys and mixing them to see if I can't put together something that is greater than the sum of its parts. I do it at home all the time. My thought is that I can increase the variety of the whiskey I drink if I view the juice I buy not only as an end product but also as ingredients in something new.

I like to think of it as making a cocktail, except every component is whiskey. I make it by the glass, and if I get a good combination, I write down the recipe. And I don't just stick to bourbons. I've mixed bourbon and rye, bourbon and malt, rye and corn, and probably others that I am completely forgetting.

But it's not like I'm the first to do this. Various U.S. producers have blended Bourbon and Rye, High West and Wild Turkey come to mind. High West also has a Bourbon/Rye/Scotch blend as well. And heck, practically the entire output of Canadian Whisky is created using separately aged whiskies made from 100% corn, 100% rye, etc. which are then blended to capture the desired flavor profile.

So, on the face of it, the subject of tonight's post should be pretty interesting. I mean, it's an interesting idea, take Canadian Rye Whisky and mix it with Kentucky Corn Whiskey and see what happens. If done right, the result should blend the spice of rye and the smooth mouthfeel of corn. And if I were the one doing it, I'd use a bold 100% Canadian Rye, I'm thinking something like Lot No. 40.

Of course, Canadian Rye means different things to different people. To many in Canada, Rye is just a synonym for Whisky. It really doesn't matter if there is rye in it at all. (Think Coke in place of Soda or Pop in some parts of the U.S.) And if it is just a Canadian Rye that contains little to no rye, then this is effectively the equivalent of a low-rye Canadian whisky that happens to use corn whiskey from two countries.

And so I asked the PR person three questions:

Canadian Rye. What is meant by that? Because Canadians use the term “Rye” for all Canadian Whisky, even if it has little to no fermented and distilled rye grain in it. Is this a Rye Whisky by U.S. standards or by Canadian standards?
If it is a rye by US standards, can you disclose the percentage of rye used in the Canadian whiskey portion of this blend? For example, many people source 100% Rye Canadian Whisky and sell that in the US. (Canadian Club, Whistle Pig, Masterson’s, etc.)
Can you disclose the distillery and/or the province that the Canadian Rye was sourced from or the distillery that the Kentucky Corn whiskey was sourced from?

Out of these questions, they could confirm that the Canadian whiskey they bought would meet the 51% rye standard of a U.S.-style rye whiskey. Beyond that, they were not at liberty to discuss the rest. Which really is too bad. They give so much information on their website, that missing out on what could be some of the more important bits is a bit disappointing. At least as far as knowing just what it is that you are putting in your mouth.

Cask & Crew Blended Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: Intralink Global generously provided this 750mL sample and two 50 mL Flavored Whiskey samples.

Details: This is a blend of 51% Canadian Rye and 49% Kentucky Corn Whiskey. Both aged three years.

Nose: Sweet with almond, rye bread, and unsweetened cocoa powder.

Mouth: Velvety mouthfeel with some spice at the tip of the tongue. Slight sweetness with almond and a hint of citrus.

Finish: Medium length. Subtle sweetness that quickly fades to be replaced with bitter almond and a lingering spice.

Thoughts: To me, this is an ok whiskey with a pretty terrible finish. I'm just not digging the bitterness of it. If I were tasting and spitting, I'd find the whiskey to be perfectly fine. But since most people who drink whiskey swallow, I'm having a hard time recommending this one.

Of course, drinking this neat may not be what this was intended for. Two-thirds of the company's line-up is flavored whiskey. And more to the point, it is this whiskey, flavored. So maybe this is what was needed to get those other two offerings correct. I don't know, I got samples of the flavored whiskey, but one is flavored with walnuts, something I am allergic to, so I'm not taking chances with either of them.

So for me, this is a hard pass. If you are not as sensitive to bitter finishes as I am, you might like it. I mean the price isn't terrible, as it looks to sell for around $25.

Blog

Yellowstone Limited Edition 2017

David Nicholson Reserve

Rebel Yell Small Batch Reserve

Black Powder Bourbon

Jefferson's Very Small Batch Bourbon

Watkins Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Winchester Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Cask & Crew Blended Rye Whiskey