Ragged Branch Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey

January 25, 2018 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 Ragged Branch Distillery for providing this sample to me with no strings attached.

Ragged Branch Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Right as the new year was beginning, I received an email from the folks at Ragged Branch Distillery asking if I would review their bourbon. I, having no idea who Ragged Branch Distillery was, said yes. Because, heck, you never know if it will be good until you try it.

So who is Ragged Branch Distillery? I've never met them, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that Ragged Branch is run by very enthusiastic, very detail oriented people. Most samples, if they come with any information, come only with a PR card or flyer. These came with sell sheets, photos, and a six-page history of the company.

I was ecstatic. I love it when producers tell me way more information than I thought I wanted to know. I love the enthusiasm. And I love the transparency. I'm not going to reproduce their entire story for you, but here are the high points.

Ragged Branch began like many craft distilleries do, with a conversation amongst friends over drinks. It was 2009 and the friends, all of whom worked in the home building industry, were suffering from the effects of the downturn in the housing market. But, as it sometimes does, a stretch of bad luck and a few drinks turned into inspiration. From there, the friends enlisted the services of David Pickerell to help teach them just what it would take to get up and running, and how to, you know, actually make bourbon.

But it wasn't smooth sailing. There were a few hiccups along the way. One, involving a snowstorm, stranded Mr. Pickerell at their house for four days. Another involved a mixup with a license application and quite a few agents of the Virginia ABC. Luckily that last one was worked out right away.

Ragged Branch is truly a farm-to-table operation. The grain used to create the bourbon is grown on land owned or leased by the distillery. They grow, grind, mash, distill, age and bottle right there on the farm. The bourbon is aged in new 53-gallon barrels with a #3 char. Spent mash is fed to the beef cattle they raise.

Fast forward eight years and the bourbon, and the beef, is finally on sale. No, it's not an eight-year-old bourbon. But it isn't sourced, and it is straight. And both of those are to be commended.

But how does it taste?

Ragged Branch Distillery Wheated Bourbon

Purchase Info: The producer kindly provided this 100mL sample for review purposes. It retails for $48.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Virginia ABC stores.

Details: 45% ABV. Made from a mash of 66% corn, 17% wheat and 17% malted barley.

Nose: Earthy with cinnamon candies, fresh cut lumber, dried fruit and creamed corn.

Mouth: Nice thick mouthfeel. Spicy and sweet with honey, allspice, cornbread and dried fruit.

Finish: On the longer side of medium. It starts sweet and spicy but that fades into a warm drying sensation.

Thoughts: When I nosed this, I thought that it was going to taste very young. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the youth was tempered in the mouth. It's youth wasn't expressed as "new-makey" but instead as cornbread and a spicy brashness. Yes, it tasted young, but it is a very well put together bourbon and would be a great pickup for those whose palates run toward young bourbon. I like it, but for me, it still tastes a bit young to be a regular drinker. It would make a nice change of pace though.

Ragged Branch Distillery Rye Bourbon

Purchase Info: The producer kindly provided this 100mL sample for review purposes. It retails for $48.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Virginia ABC stores.

Details: 45% ABV. Made from a mash of 66% corn, 17% rye and 17% malted barley.

Nose: Green apple, mint and rye spice. After a bit of time dried grain and buttered popcorn notes appear.

Mouth: Follows the nose with green apple, mint and rye spice. There is also some warm cinnamon candy as well.

Finish: Warm, spicy and of medium length. I'm getting cinnamon candies and waves of spicy heat.

Thoughts: I am legitimately impressed by this bourbon. Most of the time when reviewing a craft bourbon you need to use words that show that it still tastes like a young bourbon. Recommending it to people that like that. This one doesn't need any of that. This is good. Period. I've got a trip this summer that will take me through Virginia. A bottle of this one is coming home with me. And I have a feeling it will not last long in the house.

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Old Pogue Master's Select - Revisited

December 19, 2017 Eric Burke

A little over four and a half years ago, I last reviewed Old Pogue. It was a bottle that my wife liked to get whenever we would go to Kentucky. At the time, my take was:

"Overall: I liked it. I'll certainly buy it again. It's not a go-to bourbon, but it'll do when the mood strikes."

In the intervening years, as bourbon stocks for sourcing have run low, the product has become much harder to find. being released only intermittently. But while at BourbonFest this past September, I started seeing it on the shelves again. This time the price had gone up considerably, having reached over $100 per bottle.

I was reluctant to pay that much for it, and my wife was conflicted about it. Well, until she got a bidding number at the Master Distiller's Auction at the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History. Then all of a sudden she could justify it as a charitable gift to the museum that happened to come with a bottle of bourbon. The distillery couldn't be reached for comment, so I'm not sure if it is a current bottle or an older batch, but in any case, a bottle came home with us in September.

Knowing that the source of the bourbon was probably quite different than it was previously, I was curious to see how the juice compared to what I had reviewed last time. Luckily back then, I used to keep a sample library of every purchase. And so I pulled out an Old Pogue sample and tasted them head-to-head. Here is what I found:

Old Pogue Master's Select: Batch 6822

Purchase info: You don't really expect that I'll remember where I bought this back in 2012/13 do you? I didn't think so. But I want to say it was in the $40-50 range.

Details: 45.5% ABV. Batch 6822

Nose: Caramel, green apple, vanilla and baking spice.

Mouth: Lightly flavored with caramel, vanilla, and baking spice.

Finish: Gentle burn with lingering green apple and baking spice.

Thoughts: This is good. It isn't a "knock-your-socks-off" powerhouse of a bourbon, but it is a very tasty one. It almost reminds me of one of the good batches of Angel's Envy, just without the port flavors.

Old Pogue Master's Select: Batch 6899

Purchase info: Roughly $100 at the 2017 Master Distiller's Auction to benefit the Oscar Getz Museum in Bardstown, KY. (Suggested retail price is $110 for a 750 mL)

Details: 45.5% ABV. Batch 6899

Nose: Caramel, vanilla, red fruit, cotton candy, wintergreen and floral notes.

Mouth: Cinnamon, mint, floral notes, along with wintergreen candy.

Finish: Warm with lingering wintergreen, mint, and spice notes.

Thoughts: While I used to enjoy Old Pogue, I never liked it quite as much as my wife did. I tend to like powerful bourbons (flavor not proof) that fill the mouth with flavor. So, I would normally leave the bottle for her to enjoy so that she could have more of it.

Not this time. This bottle has the kind of mouth-filling flavor that my wife will need to share. I like this very much. Not so sure I want to pay this much for it though.

In summary, these are very different. I really like the newer bottle better while my wife prefers the old one. Both of us prefer the old price, as you might expect.

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.

George Washington's Mt. Vernon Distillery and Gristmill

November 28, 2017 Eric Burke

First off, I'd like to thank Steve Bashore, Director of Historic Trades at Mt Vernon for taking time out of his schedule to show us around while also trying to complete a distilling run, something that is normally not available to the public.

One of the things I like best about going to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival is meeting people. There are so many people from so many places that visit. If you talk to the folks around you, you are almost guaranteed to find someone interesting. 2017 was no exception for me. This time I met friend-of-a-friend, Steve Bashore. Steve is the Director of Historic Trades at George Washington's Mt Vernon and, among other things, is in charge of the rebuilt distillery and gristmill there.

Steve is passionate about his work and I am a big fan of history so we hit it off almost immediately. In fact, I think they closed down the first event we attended around us while we were having our conversation. If my wife hadn't interrupted we might have been there for as long as they were polite enough to let us stay.

One of the topics of conversation was, obviously, where he works. I told him about the failed attempt to visit the last time I was at Mt Vernon (it was closed for the season) and he extended an invitation to show me around personally the next time I was in the area. It turns out the next time I was in the area was two weeks ago, which was perfect timing as it was when they were doing one of the two distilling runs they do per year.

George Washington's Mt. Vernon Distillery

This is the reproduction of George Washington's Distillery. If you've been on big whiskey tours, this doesn't look like much. It's a historic-looking building in an area full of them. But before the original burned down in the early 1810s, the modest building on this spot was counted among the largest and most profitable distilleries in the young country. This reproduction is fully functioning and twice a year fires up to produce a run of rye whiskey using grain ground on the premises.

The tools of the trade, a paddle and a rake for stirring mash.

Upon entering the recreated distillery, I was struck by how dark it was. Even with modern lighting in use. The original (and some of the tours) used lanterns and candles to light the interior. I can only imagine how much darker it was in the original building. Above you can see a couple of the historically accurate tools of the trade: a paddle and a rake to stir the mash as it cooks.

The process that Steve and Mt Vernon use is historically accurate. The grain is ground on site, cooking and fermentation happen in barrels, and the water and mash are moved by hand in buckets. The first step is, of course, to grind the grain. Mount Vernon uses a mash bill of 60% rye, 35% corn, and 5% malt. While, the records of Washington's exact recipe have been lost to time, the historians on site have determined by looking at the ledgers that this ratio makes sense with the amounts of various grains that were coming in and out of the facility. The next step is to heat the water. It is heated in an electric boiler (obviously, this isn't historically accurate, but the insurance people objected to one more wood fire on-premise...and since the original distillery burned down, maybe they have a point). The heated water is transferred to the cooking barrels (shown above) using large buckets on long wooden handles to cook the corn and rye. The temperature is then stepped down and the malt is added and is then stepped down again so the yeast can be added.

Fermentation in a barrel with unused barrels and a mash rake behind

Above you can see the yeast working its magic on the mash to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. This is happening in a 53-gallon barrel. Empty ones are stored behind.

As small as the building looked on the outside, it feels even smaller on the inside. The cooking and fermenting area take up less than one-quarter of the building, the five stills run all along the opposite side and storage and proofing take up the remainder. It is an extremely efficient use of space and it is hard to believe that this was typical of the beginnings of the American Whiskey industry considering how far they have come and how big some of them have gotten.

Speaking of the still layout, here we see one of the Mt Vernon distillery workers stoking the fires that run the still. There are five wood-fired stills, each with their own condenser, that run the length of this side of the distillery. Directly to my right are the fermentation barrels seen above.

This is one still setup. The copper bulb comes off and fermented mash is fed into the still with buckets. Then the fires are lit and the whiskey vapors travel down the neck and into the condenser barrel. This barrel contains a copper worm that is cooled by water from the distilleries closed water system. It is the same system that runs the mill, so occasionally they need to supplement the water coming down the trough with a hose of water so there is enough to get the job done. The liquid you see coming out the front is warmed cooling water that is being fed back into the system.

Here is another view of the cooling water and condenser system. You can see hints of the copper worm in the barrel and the water coming out of the trough (you can also see the supplemental hose as well...hey you gotta get the job done too).

Out the back of the barrel comes the distillate. Like any pot distiller, they need to make cuts into heads, hearts, and tails. These are run through a simple coffee filter to catch anything else that might come out along with, gathered in pots, and brought to the proofing station.

Heads, hearts, and tails are all proofed using the hydrometer and tracked in a log book to keep the federal government happy. They are stored in separately by batch and by the still they came off of. After this the distillate will be bottled or placed in 25- and 53-gallon barrels to be aged for two to six years.

A block of wood across the fire box handles signifies that there need be no more wood added as this distillation has ended for the day.

We close our tour of the distillery with a fitting image. The piece of wood across the handle state that this still is done for the day, no more wood needs to be added, and the fires will be allowed to burn out.

The historic floor plan as it was excavated

If you were trying to follow along where each image was taken this should help. Above is the archeological site of the original distillery before they rebuilt. Everything is in the same spot. Proofing happens in the unlabeled upper left corner.

The next part of the tour took us to the gristmill this mill is another historic recreation. As with the distillery, this is also fully functioning. They currently mill all the grain used in the distillery and on the rest of Mt. Vernon, including the restaurant and gift shop.

This is one of two sets of millstones used to grind all of the grain. 10,700 pounds for the most recent distilling run, plus all the food grade flour that goes up to the main estate. Seems easy enough right? Just run some grain between these two things and out comes flour...

Steve Bashore explaining to me how it all works

Well, yes, but there is a little more to it than that, as Steve was kind enough to show me. There is the water wheel, the wooden gears, the hopper and more. It is all very interesting and very pretty as the late evening light comes in the windows.

I'm going to paraphrase the expert explanation that I was given down to the following: water turns the big wheel, which turns a bunch of other gears until it transfers that power up to the millstones. That same movement drives the hopper which separated the flour from the husks. It's all very cool and complicated.

This is just another view of the mill gears. It's all wooden. And it is also very cool.

Of course, no distillery tour would be complete without a tasting. We sampled the complete lineup. There is a white unaged rye, a straight rye whiskey, an apple brandy, and a peach brandy eau de vie. I didn't do complete tasting notes, but here are my impressions of each.

White unaged Rye (86 proof): Spicy and smooth. Very tasty.

Straight Rye Whiskey (86 proof): spicy, but almost too much barrel influence. It tasted like it was aged in a small barrel (which it was). I prefer the unaged version but can't wait to try one that has sat in a full-sized barrel for 4-6 years.

Apple Brandy: lots of dried apple flavor. More so than many craft apple brandies I've had in the past. I like that about this.

Peach Brandy Eau de Vie (90 proof): sweet, light, dried peach candy. Apparently, around the holidays, this is available in the gift shop as a small bottle and glass set for a lower price than the entire bottle should you be looking to try it.

I really had a lot of fun on this tour. It was an amazingly informative time and all of my guests learned a lot, even those who had been to Mt Vernon before and those who knew almost nothing about distilling. But before I go, I need to share an image of Steve's keys. I'm really glad that key technology has come as far as it has...I don't think I could fit those in my pocket if I need those to start my car.

MB Roland Straight Rye Whiskey

October 26, 2017 Eric Burke

Disclaimer: Paul and Merry Beth of MB Roland are my friends. And in my statement of ethics I promised to disclose when I am reviewing one of my friend’s products and to only review them when it was truly something I really liked. This is one of those times.

At this point, I have been married almost half of my life. And by almost, I mean within a few months or so of half my life. The great thing about hitting a milestone anniversary is that people give you things. In this case, my friends at MB Roland gave me a bottle of their new Straight Rye Whiskey.

This batch of rye is MB Roland's first straight Rye Whiskey. And when I got it, it was damn near fresh from the barrel. One of the cool things about these guys is that they sell all their whiskey at barrel proof so this Rye was dumped and bottled on one day and in my hands the next. That's pretty cool.

This bottle wasn't given to me as a review sample, but since I am always on the lookout for content that I didn't need to buy, I warned them that I might be reviewing it. But, friends or not, I give these things honest reviews. So let's get down to it.

MB Roland Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: This was an anniversary gift from friends. I have no idea what it would cost. I got one of 90 bottles though from this batch if that helps.

Details: Batch 1. Bottle 74 of 90. 54.7% ABV. Mashbill: 68% Rye, 27% White Corn, 5% Malt. Aged in a New Charred oak barrel with a #4 char.

Nose: Anise, clove, brown sugar, unroasted peanuts, mint, and green apple.

Mouth: Brown sugar, mint, and baking spices such as clove and cinnamon.

Finish: Warm and long with lingering notes of mint, anise, and cinnamon. The finish is where the distinctive flavor of the MB Roland white corn note appears.

Thoughts: This is not nearly as hot as you would expect from a roughly 110 proof whiskey to be. It is extremely drinkable neat. So much so that it shocked my wife when I told her what the proof was as we did our tasting. I'm digging this neat, but I also like it in cocktails. I've tried it in a Sazerac, a Manhattan, a variant on a Boulevardier, and a Whiskey Sour. It did well in the Manhattan, the Sazerac and the Boulevardier riff. It wasn't great in the Whiskey Sour though, so if making cocktails with this, I would recommend sticking with cocktails that will play off the anise note in there. Overall, if you have liked other MB Roland whiskeys, you will like this as well.

Collabor&tion

September 28, 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 Ro-Bro Marketing and Public Relations, Bardstown Bourbon Company and Copper & Kings for providing this sample to me with no strings attached.

While I was in Kentucky I was invited to a media event to announce the first product to be released by Bardstown Bourbon Company. I was a bit scared of the product, to be honest, they only started distilling a year ago and I was unsure what was going to be released. But my fears were allayed when I got the press release stating that the bourbon was sourced from MGP and was 10-years old.

When I got to the distillery for the event, I came to the realization that there were actually two products. One was a barrel strength, brandy finished bourbon. And one was a barrel strength Mistelle finished bourbon. Which left me with just one question. What the hell is Mistelle?

Luckily they were kind enough to provide us a cheat sheet and so I will quote from that.

"A Mistelle barrel is a unique vessel. Mistelle is unfermented grape juice (in this case Muscat) fortified with un-aged brandy (Muscat eau-de-vie) and then aged in bourbon barrels for 18 months. The empty barrels are deeply and highly caramelized with the grape sugars and fruit essences."

So where did the barrels they used to finish the products come from? Well, that is the source of the name. Both the Mistelle and the Brandy were produced by Louisville's Copper & Kings Brandy. See it was a collaboration between the two companies that made this possible and from what I can tell, both were heavily involved in the final product.

Collabor&tion - Muscat Mistelle Finished

Purchase Info: I received a sample of this from the company at the launch event. SRP is $124.99 and can be purchased at the Copper & Kings gift shop and selected retailers around the country.

Details: 47% ABV. 10-year-old MGP bourbon finished in Copper&Kings Mistelle barrels for an additional 18 months.

Nose: White grape juice, brown sugar, almost no whiskey notes on the nose.

Mouth: Very sweet with just a touch of spice at the tip of the tongue. White grape candy with clove and black pepper.

Finish: Warm and of decent length, but also very sweet. Lingering notes of white grape juice, spearmint, and baking spice.

Thoughts: This one just isn't for me. Aside from a few varieties of baked goods, I don't have much of a sweet tooth. I don't like candy, I don't like most soda, and I don't like most liqueurs. That said, if you want a sweet grape whiskey liqueur but want it to have the proof of a whiskey, this might be right up your alley. I mean, it isn't a liqueur, but it tastes as sweet as one. Personally, I might have liked it better if they had taken this and then blended it back with more of the original straight whiskey. But that's just me.

Collabor&tion - Brandy Finished

Purchase Info: I received a sample of this from the company at the launch event. SRP is $124.99 and can be purchased at the Copper & Kings gift shop and selected retailers around the country.

Details: 56.5% ABV. 10-year-old MGP bourbon finished in Copper&Kings Brandy barrels for an additional 18 months.

Nose: Baking spices, caramel, and oak. Hints of raisin appear after a bit.

Mouth: Sweet, spicy and relatively brandy forward. Notes of nutmeg, raisin, and caramel.

Finish: Long and warm with lingering grape, nutmeg, and caramel notes.

Thoughts: Your thoughts on this will depend largely on how much you like both finished bourbons and brandy. I happen to enjoy both so this is a bit of a treat for me. It is scarily drinkable neat despite its high proof. The flavors are thick and rich. All in all, it is very tasty. (That said, there is no way I would pay $125 for this whiskey. Though that says more about my budget than it does about the quality of the whiskey.)

My whiskey is too young, now what?

June 8, 2017 Eric Burke

It happens to all of us. Somehow we find ourselves with a bottle of whiskey whose age is listed in single digit months instead of years. Maybe we were given it by a friend. Maybe we were taken in by a pretty label. Or maybe we just weren't paying close enough attention. How we acquired the bottle doesn't really matter as much as what we are going to do with it now.

Unless you are a fan of new make, you are probably not going to drink it neat. And unless you plan to use it as a door stop or to clean something, you need to find something to do with it. Well, I can't tell you what to do with yours, but since I found myself with an abundance of the stuff myself recently, I can tell you what I did with mine.

I made cocktails.

But I didn't make whiskey cocktails, well not really. I mean I used whiskey in them. Wait...let's start at the beginning here, and I'll tell you my thought process.

I initially thought to myself that if I looked at some colonial-era drinks, well that would be about right since they didn't age the whiskey yet at that point anyway. And while I didn't find many, I did find a couple that worked.

The first is one one without a formal recipe. And it takes a couple of months. It's called Cherry Bounce, and I found the process I use in Michael Dietch's excellent book: Whiskey. Basically, you pierce a pound of sour cherries with a knife, toss in a bottle of whiskey, a couple of cups of sugar, some freshly grated nutmeg and a couple of cinnamon sticks. Shake it every few days at first and then let it sit for three months before straining off the liquid. It's damn good, and I think I'll be making some every summer from here on out as if you start it when the cherries are ripe, it is done just in time for the holidays.

But I'm guessing you want something you can drink right away, and I won't disappoint. The only other Colonial-era drink I found that worked well with the young whiskey I had was the Whiskey Sling, which has one thing in common with the Bounce above. Nutmeg. It turns out it really does help a young whiskey to be more palatable. A Whiskey Sling is just 2 ounces of whiskey, a half teaspoon of sugar dissolved in a teaspoon of water, a glass, some ice and some freshly grated nutmeg over the top of it all. It really is quite tasty, especially with a young rye. Just try to drink it before the ice melts too much.

So after I decided that Colonial-Era drinks were kind of a dead-end, I decided to rethink my approach. To me, whiskey that is too young tastes less like whiskey and more like cheap tequila or rum. And so I decided to treat it that way. The first thing I go to work was a riff on a Margarita.

Whiskey Margarita

1.5-ounce New-make to 12-month-old bourbon
1-ounce lime juice (fresh)
0.5 to 1-ounce Cointreau
Orange bitters

Shake with ice and pour into a glass. You may need to adjust slightly depending on the whiskey you have, but that'll get you close.

Following the lime juice and young whiskey theme, a mojito riff worked really well too.

Whiskey Mojito

2-ounce New-make to 12-month-old bourbon
1-ounce lime juice (fresh)
1-ounce simple syrup
6 mint leaves
dash bitters
soda water

Bruise your mint and drop it into your glass, pour in the lime juice, simple syrup, whiskey and a dash of bitters. Give it a stir. Add ice and top with soda water.

Branching out a little I also tried a Negroni/Boulevardier with the too young whiskey, and that tasted quite good. I mention Negroni because a Negroni and a Boulevardier are pretty close to the same drink. The Negroni has gin and the other bourbon. In this case, it reminded me more of the Negroni than the Boulevardier. This one is simple.

Too Young Boulevardier

1-ounce New-make to 12-month-old bourbon
1-ounce sweet vermouth
1-ounce Campari

Give it a stir and serve it on the rocks.

So after all that I guess my point is that when you have a bottle of whiskey that you aren't sure what to do with, sometimes you need to get creative. I made my bottle disappear by making rum, tequila and gin drinks with it. Maybe you can do the same.

3 Whiskeys from Florida's Timber Creek Distillery

May 18, 2017 Eric Burke

It has been brought to my attention that a blog post from a certain writer that will not be named (who happens to be an undisclosed former promotional man for a different small distillery...hmmm conflict of interest?) called out this post specifically as an example of how you cannot trust me (and various other reviewers) because, and I'm paraphrasing here, "I obviously do not know the definition of bourbon because I didn't call out a fact of how these are made clearly enough." I'm not going to name that blog because, since he didn't reach out to me for comment or clarification, he is obviously more interested in being a dick, attacking people, and proving he is correct than he is about having a dialog. The sad fact of the matter is, in today's world the burden of proof is on the accused, not the accuser. And as there is no way to prove that I knew something before I was accused of ignorance, I am placing my thought process on why I wrote the post the way I did here.

The unnamed blog is correct. I did make a mistake when I wrote this post. Though I know better, I didn't call BS on the process that the distiller is using explicitly enough. I explained the process used, but did so in a way so as to not be a dick about it. Yes, it is technically correct that you should not call a product bourbon if the grains were not mixed before fermentation. The products reviewed below mixed different types of 100% grain whiskey after the fact to get the same ratios as would have been used if the product would have been distilled in a traditional manner. My thoughts on the matter were that this is a distinction without a difference, but since the law doesn't always follow my idea of common sense, I probably should have made my thought process clearer. I tried that in the comments, but I probably should have edited the post.

I continued to refer to the various whiskeys as "bourbon" because I felt that using a different name than what was on the bottle would be confusing to readers when I was reviewing multiple whiskeys of different taste profiles. I stand by that as I still feel that would be confusing.

To be clear, I still find the process that was used by the distiller very interesting. That and the fact I am nowhere near where it was distributed is why I accepted the samples in the first place. And now on to the review that you probably came here to see. In order to maintain transparency, I haven't changed a word below the line. It's sad that I've had to explain this because one person on the internet decided to make an accusation of untrustworthiness without even asking a question as to why a writer would write a certain way, but welcome to the United States of America in 2018.

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 Timber Creek Distillery for providing this sample to me with no strings attached.

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by the PR firm that works with Timber Creek Distillery to see if I would like to review some of their products. At first, I was a little leery since, unfortunately, I've sort of soured on trying new craft whiskey lately. At this point, they have to be interesting on some level to even get me to respond anymore. I've just been burned too many times.

But as I was reading through some of the notes that came along with the offer, I thought to myself, "what the heck? I probably won't be back to Florida for a while, and the rye says it's made with a Florida specific strain of Rye grain." So I said yes to the offer of samples. The worst that would happen is that I would have something to make another batch of Cherry Bounce this summer.

Timber Creek is located in the Florida Panhandle near the town of Crestview, about 70 miles north and east of Pensacola). In talking to Camden Ford, the proprietor, I was intrigued by a few of things. First, he is very particular about where he gets his barrels. He sources 15-gallon barrels from McGinnis Wood Products in Cuba, MO and 53-gallon barrels from Canton Cooperage in Lebanon, KY. Both sizes are charred to a #3 char level. (I was glad to hear he shared my opinion of the Minnesota produced barrels you often see small distillers use. I've had very little good whiskey that came out of them.)

I liked the idea that they were doing things a little differently than the big guys. They use a roller mill to crack the grains instead of a hammer mill. Then they lauter them before fermentation (in other words they filter out the grains as you would in making beer) and ferment the wort instead of distilling with the grains still in. They also produce their whiskey in the Canadian manner. They grind, ferment, distill and age each of the grains individually and then blend them after aging. To my knowledge, I've never had an American Whiskey that was created this way.

So yes, they make their own products. These whiskeys are young. The age statements are nine months on each of them. But as they are blending product from small and large barrels, this isn't surprising, particularly in the heat of Florida. Their standard Bourbon is a wheated bourbon made from corn, wheat, and less than 5% barley. The Reserve Bourbon is a four-grain Bourbon made from corn, wheat, less than 5% barley, and a Florida-specific strain of rye called Florida 401 or Black Rye. The Black Rye Whiskey is made from 100% Florida Black Rye.

Timber Creek Florida Bourbon

Purchase info: This bottle was provided to me for review purposes by the distillery. Doing a little digging shows that it is available for purchase online for $40.

Details: 9 months old, 46.5% ABV

Nose: Young with raisin, cinnamon, and cedar.

Mouth: Peppery with dried fruit and a lot of baking spice.

Finish: Short and gentle with lingering dried fruit notes.

Thoughts: If you are generally a fan of craft bourbon, you are probably also a fan of very young whiskey. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with liking a young, well-crafted whiskey. And while this certainly is a well-crafted whiskey, it is not my preferred style. There's no nice way to say this. For me, this tastes way too young.

Timber Creek Florida Reserve Bourbon

Purchase info: This bottle was provided to me for review purposes by the distillery. Doing a little digging shows that, it is available for purchase online for $50.

Details: 9 months old, 50% ABV

Nose: Young with raisins, brown sugar, and almonds.

Mouth: Sweet with wintergreen, brown sugar, raisin, and ginger.

Finish: Short with lingering wintergreen, ginger, and sweetness.

Thoughts: On the first taste of this, I am finding it much more palatable than the previous bourbon in tonight's review. It's still young tasting, but the sweetness, ginger and wintergreen add a nice counter to the young grain/raisin notes. As far as young bourbons go, this is pretty interesting. I'm going to say that I like this, but if you are turned off by young bourbons, you probably won't.

Timber Creek Florida Black Rye

Purchase info: This bottle was provided to me for review purposes by the distillery. Doing a little digging shows that it is available for purchase online for $51.

Details: 9 months old, 46.5% ABV

Nose: Sweetness with raisin, anise, cedar and a hint of wintergreen.

Mouth: Gentle in the mouth with dried fruit, wintergreen, baking spice and a generic sweetness.

Finish: Short and gentle with lingering wintergreen and granola.

Thoughts: This is definitely the most interesting of the three as it was distilled from a local Florida grain I have never encountered before. I'm actually very happy that this one wasn't aged too long as too much barrel influence might well overwhelm what makes it different from other rye strains.

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