Boone's Bourbon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boone's Bourbon

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

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

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

Nose: Caramel, buttered popcorn with a slight vegetal undertone

Mouth: Warm cinnamon, buttered popcorn, lemon.

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

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

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

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MB Roland Wheated Bourbon

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

Hey Bourbon Folks,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MB Roland Wheated Bourbon

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

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

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

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

Mouth: Spicy cinnamon candies, caramel, chocolate.

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

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

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

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

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

Yellowstone Limited Edition 2019

I’d like to thank Common Ground PR and Limestone Branch for providing a review sample to me with no strings attached.

I can’t quite wrap my head around what year it is right now. All the things I’m working on in my freelance jobs are starting to have a 2020 date on it. All of the limited editions that I have on the editorial calendar are dated 2019. And when I see those items on the calendar, I start to think that I have fallen behind. Weirdly though, this is the earliest I’ve ever reviewed the Yellowstone Limited Edition.

2019 looks oddly strange to me these days. It’s like the numbers don’t really belong together. And that makes me think that maybe time is catching up to me. I have to do the math to decide what age I am these days. I'm always adding a year or two for some reason. All in all, I guess what I’m saying is: time, huh? that’s a thing that exists for me more than it used to.

And speaking of time, it’s about time I got to talking about tonight’s bourbon. (Feel free to groan, I understand.) This year’s edition of Yellowstone Limited Edition is a blend of Straight Bourbons aged nine and twelve years old. The press release has this to say:

“I tasted many quality, mature Kentucky Straight Bourbons in order to find the right two ages for this year’s release – I had a certain taste profile in mind and I sought those barrels that matched it,” says Steve Beam, head distiller at Limestone Branch Distillery. “The barrels I chose were in different parts of the rick house and each barrel’s unique location contributed to the taste profile and complexity of this bourbon. When combined, these extra-aged bourbons create a mature and complex bourbon with robust spice and oaky undertones.”

Yellowstone Limited Edition 2019

Purchase Info: This sample was generously proved to me for review purposes by Common Ground PR and Limestone Branch Distillery. Suggested retail price is $99.99

Price Per Drink (50mL): $6.67

Details: 9 year age statement, 50.5% ABV

Nose: Cherry Starburst, citrus, brown sugar, cinnamon, and oak.

Mouth: Cherry, vanilla, oak, and baking spice.

Finish: Warm and long. Lingering cinnamon and vanilla with hints of both fruit and pickle juice.

Thoughts: I really like this one. It is a bit fruity so if you don't like a fruit-forward flavor profile, be warned. Luckily I do like that. The Yellowstone Limited Editions are kind of a hard sell in this area, with local stores having editions going back to 2016 still on the shelves. So if I see this year's on the shelf I am going to pick it up. Otherwise, since they have all been good, I will be "forced" to buy a previous year's edition in order to "make room.” Look at me making a difference in my community.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Four Gate Whiskey Company: Release 2, Outer Loop Orbit

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

Hey everyone! My tastebuds are back! And just as importantly, so are my wife’s. And since we put off tonight’s tasting until the very last minute in order to allow us both maximum time to recover, I decided to spring an interesting one on her to celebrate our newly recovered tastebuds.

That’s right, unlike normal, you are getting the raw unfiltered impressions of this one with no time to think about it in between tasting and writing. Of course, that also means that I didn’t really have a lot of time to come up with an intro so…cut me a little slack on that front. Ok?

Great.

So I first became aware of Four Gate Whiskey Company on social media. It turns out one of the folks involved and I followed each other. And so he reached out to me to see if I would like a sample of their batch 1. Unfortunately for him, he asked on twitter just after I essentially left the platform as an active user and I never saw the message he sent to me until about a month later. I apologized and told him to keep me in mind for the future.

Fast forward a few months and all of a sudden a sample that I wasn’t expecting showed up. And this one sounded super interesting, though maybe a little scary. It was a bourbon that was finished in a barrel that had originally held Orange Curaçao and then held gin. Here’s what the distillery has to say:

When we met at Kelvin Cooperage to discuss our second batch, William Hornaday told us about some very interesting barrels in his warehouse that he wanted us to check out. Originally Orange Curaçao barrels, a local distiller then used them to finish a batch of gin. That’s right, gin. We had no idea what to expect, but when we smelled these barrels, they blew us away. The sticky sweetness of Orange Curaçao was tamed somewhat by the sharpness of the botanical gin, creating an aroma that smelled straight out of the 80s and harkened to a rather popular powdered orange drink made famous on the 1962 Mercury Mission when astronaut John Glenn took it to outer space. The tangy-orange notes of the barrels were screaming out for bourbon, and we listened.

Four Gate Whiskey Company: Release 2, Outer Loop Orbit

Purchase Info: This sample was graciously provided for review purposes by the distillery. It was available for purchase in Kentucky and Tennessee starting in September for a suggested retail price of $199.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price Per Drink (50ml): $13.33

Details: Blend of 5-year bourbon (mash bill: 78% Corn, 10% Rye, 12% Malted Barley) and 12-year bourbon (mash bill: 74% Corn, 18% Rye, 8% Malted Barley). Non-chill filtered. Finished in a cask that previously held Orange Curaçao and then Gin. 60.15% ABV.

Nose: spearmint, orange, almond, pine, and caramel undertones.

Mouth: Pine, orange, almond, baking spice

Finish: warm and medium/long. Lingering notes of almond, cinnamon, and pine-

Thoughts: Goodness, this is weird! Initially, the orange and gin notes overwhelm the nose and palate. After subsequent sips, more bourbon notes appear providing a little more balance.

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I’m of two minds about this one. (I told you that you were getting real-time thoughts on this one.) First I’ll say that this is a certainly a drink for the adventurous bourbon drinker. Traditionalists need not apply. And even so, maybe try this one in a bar if you see it before you commit to a bottle. When I first tasted this in a Glencairn, I really didn’t like it. It just didn’t seem to come together for me. But once I poured it into one of the small rocks glasses that I would usually use to drink bourbon, I didn’t mind it at all. It almost reminded me of the herbal notes that an MGP 95% Rye would get. Not exactly, but reminiscent. As I said, I’m of two minds. I’ve had two separate 1 ounce pours tonight and I still can’t decide if I like it or not. I think I’m going to throw this down as a meh as there is nothing wrong with it, but based on tonight’s experience I don’t think it is for me. That said, I really applaud the experimentation and if you are an adventurous bourbon drinker, it is certainly worth a try as it is super interesting.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And don’t forget we are still taking submissions for our Oscar Getz Giveaway. Enter now.

A Visit to Castle and Key Distillery

If I may, I’d like to share with you my visit to the Castle and Key Distillery, located outside Frankfort Kentucky. Castle and Key is located about seven minutes past Woodford Reserve on McCracken Pike in the Historic Old Taylor Distillery. Much like their neighbor, Glenn’s Creek Distillery (located in the ruins of the Historic Old Crow Distillery about two minutes further down the road), Castle and Key is a craft distillery working to revitalize a historic property which had been abandoned by Jim Beam after they bought National Distillers in the 1980s.

In this case, the property was designed to be a showpiece of a distillery. Long before distillery tours were a form of tourism, Col. E.H. Taylor was bringing people to his castle-shaped distillery via train to show off what he had made. I’m guessing that he wanted to build his distillery into a work of art to impress upon people the value of the product that the distillery was making. It is a lesson that has been learned by many of the new distilleries that have popped up in recent years.

So not only was Col. Taylor the father of Bottled in Bond, but also of Bourbon Tourism. Let’s take a look at what is left today after the original distillery was bought and expanded by National Distillers, bought and abandoned by Jim Beam, and left to scrappers and the elements for thirty years before being purchased by the current occupants.

Upon entering the gate to the property, you immediately walk past the iconic castle. Inside the doorway is the distillery proper. There is a helpful gate guard to let you know that the gift shop where you report for your tour is not through that doorway, but past the castle, down the path and around the corner.

It is interesting to think that this property was in such bad shape that the current occupants purchased it for less than one million dollars. Of course, it took many more millions of dollars to remove the asbestos and trees from the buildings, excavate the property from flood debris and restore the buildings to the point that people could be in them.

Around the corner of the castle is a plaza that fronts the old boiler room (now the gift shop) and the old passenger train station (now the restrooms and the place you can purchase your cocktails). These are the public portions of the distillery. You can sit by the springhouse, walk down the botanical trail and enjoy a cocktail from Taylorton Station.

Of course, the other thing that the plaza leads to is the spring house. I’m sure you’ve all seen images of the spring house, even from before the renovations. This is as pretty as the photos lead one to believe. It is shaped like a keyhole and is one of the original springs on the property. According to our wonderful tour guide, you could empty it of water and allow it to refill twice per day should you want to.

Now you might think that Castle and Key, being a craft distillery, would be a small operation. The original owners thought that might be the case as well until they realized that all the original fermentation tanks could be easily cleaned and upgraded and reused. Each of the tanks holds over 11,000 gallons of fermenting mash and I saw a sign that called one of the tanks “No. 14.” As you might have guessed, all of a sudden this place had a different business model.

One side effect of all those fermenters is needing a much larger still, seen here. It comes from Vendome Copper & Brass and is quite large.

One of the interesting bits of trivia that our tour guide left us with was that, although everyone knew that Col. Taylor had two formal gardens on the property, no one knew where they were. It wasn’t until they were excavating in this area that they ran into something hard and realized they were on top of one of them.

While we were learning about the gin basket in the distillery a worker, who happened to be doing quality control, offered us a taste of the bourbon new make that was coming off the still. It was quite good, for new make. It was fun then that we got to see the same new make entered into barrels as we wandered past. One of the tour got the chance to pound in one of the bungs for them. He seemed quite happy with the opportunity.

Past the barreling house is a building that has fallen down. They used the foundations of the building to create gardens which they use to grow the botanicals of the gin they produce (more on that later in the week). In the distance is the longest aging warehouse in Kentucky. It is currently full of aging product that they have made.

Of course, no bourbon distillery tour would be complete without a tasting at the end. Unfortunately, all the bourbon they have is still currently aging in the warehouse shown above. So they made us cocktails using their vodka and their gin. Let’s put it this way, I was impressed enough with the cocktail to buy a bottle of each of their gins. We will talk about those on Thursday.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

A BourbonGuy Look at Random Gins

Two of the gins featured in this article were sent along by the producers as part of a previously disclosed review sample. They are Filibuster Dual Cask Gin and Tommyrotter Cask Strength Bourbon Barrel Gin. I would like to thank both companies for providing these samples with no strings attached.

So. Gin?

Gin?

Yeah. Gin.

Do I know anything about gin? Not really. I know that last summer I read an old article by David Wondrich on the origin of the Gin Rickey. I know that gin is neutral spirit (essentially vodka, don’t @ me) flavored with juniper and other botanicals. I know that gin cannot legally be “aged” or have an age statement, though it can be “rested” or “finished” in a barrel for an undisclosed amount of time. I know that a lot of my non-whiskey drinking friends tend to favor gin. And I know that last statement is why I had a few different bottles in my house last year when I read that previously mentioned David Wondrich article and decided that a Gin Rickey sounded like a fantastically refreshing summer drink.

So I made one using the gins I keep on hand for friends. I loved it. Of course, I’d already made the occasional gin and tonic so I wasn’t a stranger to the combination of citrus and gin. But something about the dry quality of of the Rickey struck me as exactly what I would want on a warm summer afternoon. It is actually now my go to drink when I’m sitting on the deck in the warm summer weather.

Ok so here I am with a gin drink that I really like. As you do, I decided to expand my uses for gin. First I moved over to a Tom Collins. Super tasty, but I liked the Rickey better. Then I tried a Negroni, I’d made one before and found it kinda meh, but fell in love with a riff where I swap the vermouth with Averna. (I’m thinking that maybe I just don’t like vermouth.)

Of course, being the obsessive geek that I am, I needed to find out which gins I liked best. I mean how could I live with myself if I was enjoying a decent gin in my rickey when an amazing one was out there for the drinking? And just for the hell of it, I decided to bring you along for the ride.

A BourbonGuy Look at Random Gins

The ones I ended up with were a mixture of gins I had on hand because of friends, those I ran across at craft distillers and a couple that had been sent to me by craft distillers who had provided them to me along with whiskies that they wanted me to review. The lineup is as follows.

Beefeater

Details: Owned by Pernod Ricard. Flavored with: juniper, lemon peel, coriander seed, almond, seville orange peel, orris root, licorice root, angelica root, and angelica seed according to the Beefeater website. 47% ABV. Can be purchased locally for $15.49 for a liter bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Juniper, Lemon zest, mint, faint baking spice.
Mouth: Lemon Zest, mint and spice, juniper.
Finish: almost sweet, after a bit a hint of lemon.
Thoughts: Not nearly as juniper forward as I would expect from the nose.

Beefeater 24

Details: Owned by Pernod Ricard. Flavored with: Japanese sencha, Chinese green tea, grapefruit peels, juniper, lemon peel, almond, seville orange peel, coriander seed, orris root, licorice root, angelica root, and angelica seed according to the Beefeater website. 45% ABV. Can be purchased locally for $24.99 for a liter bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Juniper, mint, lemon zest. (softer than Beefeater)
Mouth: Mixed citrus, mint, there is an herbal note.
Finish: Minty with a little juniper.
Thoughts: Considering how similar the nose on the 2 Beefeaters are, I'm actually surprised how different they are. I like how spicy this one is.

Hendrick’s

Details: Owned by William Grand & Sons. Flavored with: orris root, yarrow, angelica root, orange peel, juniper, caraway seeds, cubeb berries, lemon peel, chamomile, elderflower, coriander seeds, rose petal, cucumber according to the Hendrick’s website. 44% ABV. Can be purchased locally for $21.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Juniper, mint
Mouth: Spicy with a lot of juniper
Finish: long juniper finish
Thoughts: This is my least favorite so far. It is very juniper forward and I don't care for the spices I'm getting. I don’t get any cucumber.

Bombay Sapphire

Details: Owned by Bacardi. Flavored with: juniper, lemon peel, coriander, angelica root, orris, grains of paradise, cubeb berries, cassia bark, almond and licorice according to the Bombay Sapphire website. 47% ABV. Can be purchased locally for $23.99 for a liter bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Savory, Coriander, old dry wood, hints of juniper.
Mouth: lemon, cinnamon, Coriander
Finish: mint, hints of juniper. after a while-distinct lemon
Thoughts: This is a tasty gin. Not the "pine trees" stereotype of non-gin drinkers at all. I could almost drink this one straight... almost.

Vikre Boreal Juniper Gin

Details: Craft distillery in Duluth Minnesota. Flavored with a combination of foraged wild botanicals and traditional gin botanicals according to their website. 45% ABV. Can be purchased locally for $32.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Black pepper.
Mouth: Flat and muted in the mouth.
Finish: Mint, juniper, lemon.
Thoughts: This is pretty flavorless until the finish. It isn't unpleasant, there is just little to draw me in when tasted neat.

Filibuster Dual Cask

Details: Craft distillery in Maurertown, Virginia. Finished in both American and French oak casks. 45% ABV. Cannot be purchased locally. This was a review sample.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Savory, Rosemary and a touch of juniper
Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. Savory Basil.
Finish: Long-lasting lemon, oak, hints of juniper.
Thoughts: This isn't bad at all. The basil notes are interesting (in a good way).

New Riff Kentucky Wild Bourbon Barreled Gin

Details: Craft distillery in Newport, Kentucky. Flavored with: angelica, orris and licorice root, and three kinds of citrus, wild juniper berry, American Spicebush, goldenrod, Rye Whiskey New Make. Finished in used bourbon barrels for 5-7 months. 47% ABV. Cannot be purchased locally. Can be purchased in Kentucky for $31.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Juniper, orange peel , just a hint of smoke
Mouth: Sweet, juniper, orange
Finish: lemon pledge
Thoughts: I want to like this a lot more than I do. That lemon pledge finish kills it.

Tommyrotter Cask Strength Bourbon-Barrel Gin

Details: Craft distillery in Buffalo, New York. Finished in new, charred American White Oak barrels. 61% ABV. Cannot be purchased locally, this is was a review sample.

BourbonGuy Notes:

Nose: Mint, caramel, ginger.
Mouth: Cinnamon, lemon, ginger,
Finish: ginger, molasses, touch of juniper
Thoughts: This is really good. As a bourbonguy, this is the only one I would drink neat.

Cocktails

So, now that we have the tasting notes out of the way, let’s get down to the reason why I actually had them in the house to begin with: cocktails. My wife and I tried each of these in three cocktails. A standard Negroni, a Tom Collins, and of course my beloved Gin Rickey. It really shouldn’t be, but I found it a bit interesting to see the differences in each of these. Especially when comparing tasting notes (neat) to the flavors I got in each cocktail. But instead of going over all the tasting notes again, I’m just going to give you our “rankings” for how much we liked each spirit in each cocktail.

Negroni (equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari)

Eric’s: Tommyrotter, New Riff, Beefeater, Vikre, Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater 24, Fillibuster, Hendrick’s

My wife’s: Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater 24/Beefeater (tied), Vikre, Tommyrotter, New Riff, Filibuster, Hendrick’s

Thoughts: Not at all surprising that I preferred the aged spirits in this cocktail, the barrel aging makes it taste like a cross between a typical Negroni and a Boulevardier. A bit surprising that my wife preferred the London Dry style since she was very resistant to participating in this tasting at all based entirely on previous experience with that style when she was younger.

Tom Collins (gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and soda water)

Eric’s: Beefeater, Beefeater 24, Bombay Sapphire, Vikre, Hendrick’s, New Riff, Filibuster

My wife’s: Beefeater, Beefeater 24, Bombay Sapphire, Hendrick’s, Vikre, New Riff, Filibuster.

Thoughts: we basically agreed here. The London Dry style was our favorite.

Gin Rickey (gin, lime juice and soda water)

Eric’s: Beefeater 24, Beefeater, Bombay Sapphire, Hendrick’s, Vikre, New Riff, Filibuster

My wife’s: Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater 24, Beefeater, Vikre, Hendrick’s, New Riff, Filibuster.

Thoughts: The two Beefeaters were my winners. Which is awesome since Beefeater is the cheapest one in the lineup. My wife has more expensive tastes and preferred the Bombay Sapphire. Neither of us were high on the barrel aged versions.

Conclusions

So based on these “oh so scientific” tests, it seems that in the summer I need to keep only a Beefeater or two and a bottle of Bombay Sapphire on hand. I’m going to pass on the Hendrick’s from now on. I was not a fan. It also seems that for these summer drinks there is little to be gained from venturing into Craft territory as any differences they are playing with are lost in my favorite cocktail. On the other hand, when the weather starts to cool and I am looking for a more spirit-forward cocktail, I should certainly venture over to the Craft gins and look for a barrel aged version to use in the occasional Negroni.

There you have it: A BourbonGuy Look at Random Gins. Will gin fans agree on my conclusions? Maybe, maybe not. I admit, I am a total gin novice. But honestly, I found it too interesting not to share. Especially with other bourbon lovers who may be looking to expand their range into a refreshing long drink for summer.

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