Basil Hayden Toast

August 17, 2021 Eric Burke

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

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

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

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

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

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

Basil Hayden Toast

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

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

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

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

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

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

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

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Stellum Bourbon

August 12, 2021 Eric Burke

Last week I regaled you with the mundane tale of how I, almost accidentally, got my hands on a couple of bottles of Stellum Whiskey. I'm not going to bore you with that again, but I think I might jump straight into the "About This Bourbon" section of the post.

Stellum is a line of whiskeys produced by the same folks that make the Barrell line of sprits. Like the Rye, this bourbon is a blend of bourbons produced in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. I'll let them give you the flowery version. From the Stellum website:

Stellum Bourbon finds its flavor in the tension of three Indiana Bourbon mash bills, two of which are high-rye, with the third being almost exclusively corn. Older barrels from both Kentucky and Tennessee are folded in slowly, through a multi-step blending process. This brings added layers of depth and complexity, ultimately allowing us to round out a uniquely Stellum flavor profile.

They don’t come right out and say MGP, but in my opinion, there is a good likelihood of the “Indiana Bourbons” they describe come from MGP. A look at the MGP site shows two “high-rye” bourbons (mash bills: 75% Corn, 21% Rye, and 4% Barley Malt and 60% Corn, 36% Rye, and 4% Barley Malt) and a 99% corn bourbon (mash bill: 99% Corn and 1% Barley Malt). The interview Fred Minnick did with the bourbon’s creator describes it as such: “The Stellum Bourbon blend is focused on a 5–6-year-old IN/KY/TN profile using 3 different Indiana mash bills and includes barrels from 4-16 years old.” Stellum bourbon is officially non-age-stated, non-chill filtered, and cask strength at 114.98° proof.

Stellum Bourbon

Purchase Info: $52.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Lakeville Liquors, Lakeville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.53

Details: Distilled in Indiana, Kentucky & Tennessee 57.49% ABV.

Nose: Cap'N Crunch, caramel, cherry, cinnamon.

Mouth: Spicy and hot. Caramel, cherry, cinnamon, nutmeg, and maple.

Finish: Long and warm. Notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cherry.

Thoughts: This is really good. It has a nice balance of sweet and spicy when neat. A little water doesn't hurt this one at all. Water brings the sweetness to the forefront and allows the spicy notes to play a supporting role.

Stellum Rye

August 5, 2021 Eric Burke

Sometimes one thing just leads to another, you know? You can wake up in the morning thinking to yourself that you have nothing to do, nowhere to go, and that there is nothing on your calendar. And then you can end the day having spent $450 on a meat grinder and another $120 on whiskey. And that was me last Saturday.

I woke up Saturday morning. Early of course because hungry dogs had me up at 5:30 am. I groaned and tried to convince them to go back to sleep, to no avail. So the only thing to do was see if my wife would make us coffee while I took the pups out to go potty. It has been so dry in Minnesota that I think the only moisture my lawn gets is from the dogs urinating on it. Which probably means that the lawn is done for. But at least the weeds are still green. So there’s that.

As I was cleaning up after the dogs, my wife came out to add something to the ol’ honey-do list. She said, “remember to do some research on a meat grinder today.” Now, as you might expect from someone who does what I’m doing right now, I like to do research on the internet. I find reading reviews, combing through forums, and looking at specs to be fun and enjoyable. And I’ve been smoking a lot of meat lately. Which means I have a freezer full of trimmings. So looking at a meat grinder to turn those trimmings into tasty food was something I was looking forward to.

As I finished my research, I realized that my local Fleet-Farm had the model I was looking for. In-stock and on sale. You know I decided to brave the smoke outside and go get it. And of course, Fleet-Farm is right by a local Municipal Liquor store. It’s a small store, they don’t have everything, but they try to make their selection complement that of the Total Wine up the road by carrying items that Total Wine doesn’t. So I decided that since I was out braving the smoke anyway, it would be a waste of a trip if I didn’t stop in.

And that is where I found tonight’s whiskey. And one of next week’s as well. I picked up the Stellum Rye and the Stellum Bourbon, but I’m going to stretch the content out as much as I can. Stellum is a brand created by the makers of Barrell Bourbon. It is a cask-strength, non-chill filtered blend of Straight whiskeys from Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. According to an interview conducted by Fred Minnick with Barrell founder Joe Beatrice, the constituent whiskeys are between four and ten years old. And according to the Stellum website, the rye we are exploring tonight is made mostly of the 95% rye Indiana mashbill with small amounts of more “barley forward rye and choice barrels from both Kentucky and Tennessee.” The suggested retail price is $54.99 and should be available on an ongoing basis in 45 markets across the US.

I am a big fan of MGP’s 95% rye whiskey, especially at cask strength, and while they didn’t confirm that the 95% Rye from Indiana that they used was actually from MGP, I’m just going to go on the assumption that it is. So I was very excited to taste this one. Let’s see how it tastes.

Stellum Rye

Purchase Info: $52.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Lakeville Liquors, Lakeville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.53

Details: 58.12% ABV. Distilled in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Nose: Cooked cereals, mint, cinnamon, clove, and maple.

Mouth: Very hot in the mouth. Notes of honey, cherry, mint, cinnamon, and tobacco.

Finish: Spicy and warm. Medium length. Notes of cinnamon, mint, and brown sugar.

Thoughts: I'm really digging this one. As I said, I'm a big fan of the MGP 95/5 Rye recipe and am very glad that they made it the star of this blend. The other parts of the blend work to add sweetness and round off the sharp edges that 95/5 can sometimes come with. Big fan. I really like this one. I highly recommend it if you want a high-proof variation on MGP-style 95% rye.

Calumet Farm 15-year-old Single Rack Black Bourbon "Whirlaway"

July 29, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: the 15-year-old bourbon from Calumet Farm.

Last Friday I sold my truck. After living the last 18 months, we realized that we were ready to become a one-car family. Especially since the used truck market is super hot right now. Sure, we wouldn’t be able to haul a load of dirt from the garden center, but that might be a blessing for my back. I’m not getting any younger, if you know what I mean. Plus if we needed to haul something renting the occasional trailer would be much cheaper than the repairs a well-used decade-old pickup would bring. Plus no insurance payment on it.

While we planned to use most of the money we got from the truck as a down payment for the new vehicle we have on order, I did convince my wife that we could probably splurge a little in celebration. I mean we got exactly what we were looking for from the dealer. Even knowing that we could have gotten more selling it outright, it felt like a win. I really dislike dealing with strangers and the convenience was worth it. The result of that splurge was tonight’s whiskey.

Calumet Farm 15-year-old Single Rack Black Bourbon is a product of Western Spirits Beverage Company. Much like the 10-year-old Bourbon, I reviewed back in 2018, each 19-barrel batch is created from the barrels aging on one rack in the aging warehouse. It is non-chill filtered and 105° proof. The mash bill is 74% Corn, 18% Rye, and 8% Malted Barley. It is bottled by Three Springs Bottling Company in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Oh and since Calumet Farm is a farm that breeds racehorses, this bottling is named in honor of one of the farm’s Kentucky Derby winners. You can read more about Whirlaway the bourbon and Whirlaway the horse here.

Calumet Farm 15-year-old Single Rack Black Bourbon "Whirlaway"

Purchase Info: $129.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Blue Max, Burnsville, MN.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $8.67

Details: 52.5% ABV. Rack#: 275402.09. 19 Barrel Batch. Non-chill filtered.

Nose: Caramel, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, apple, and oak.

Mouth: Spicy and thick. Caramel, brown sugar, oak, apple, cinnamon candies, and leather.

Finish: Spicy and long. Notes of dark chocolate, caramel, cinnamon candies, mint, and a touch of apple.

Thoughts: I don't say this often for products I paid more than $100 for, but this was probably worth every penny. It is absolutely delicious and I will be hiding this on the special shelf so that it lasts a long time. I’m really enjoying it. Just giving this a “like” rating due to the price, but it’s good enough that if it were cheaper it’d be getting a heart. But since I don’t love the price, it gets a high “like.”

George Dickel Bottled in Bond No. 3 (2021 release)

July 27, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: 13 year old George Dickel Bottled in Bond, Number 3. 2021 release.

Kids. Pull up a chair and let Old Man Eric tell you a story.

It all started way back in the late twenty-aughts to early teens. I was first getting into whiskey and it was a lovely time to be doing so. You’d walk into a store and sure, most of the time there wouldn’t be a lot of American Whiskey on the shelf, at least by today’s standards. The stores I frequented here in Minnesota didn’t usually offer a full aisle dedicated to just Bourbon and its brother from Tennessee. But what you didn’t have in the number of brands, you’d make up for in quality of the whiskey. Well, some of the time. I mean Jim Beam White was outselling everything not named Jack back then too. But age statements were everywhere and they were used to entice you to buy a bottle not to price it out of the range of affordability.

It was by no means the Golden Age that our memories and nostalgia make it out to be but you could be pretty sure that the bottle you were buying probably contained good bourbon if you saw an age statement. And it wasn’t unusual to see double-digit age statements at a relatively low cost.

Tonight’s whiskey is a bit of a throwback to that time. 13 years old. 100° proof. Bottled in Bond. Rich and thick in the mouth. And, at least compared to others in its age range, a relatively low price. This is the third edition of George Dickel Bottled in Bond and, according to Whisky Advocate, it is the biggest batch yet. Now, the price did go up some. The suggested retail price was in the mid-$30s in 2019 and is in the mid-$40s now, but it is still a remarkably good value. Especially when compared to others in its age range.

So instead of me blathering on anymore, let’s see how it tastes.

George Dickel Bottled in Bond No. 3 (2021 release)

Purchase Info: $40.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Apple Valley Liquor, Apple Valley, MN

Price per Drink (50mL): $2.73

Details: 13 years old, Spring 2007 distilling season. 50% ABV. Distilled at DSP-TN-2. Bottled at DSP-IL-58.

Nose: Honey, mixed berries, nutmeg, and a slight mineral note.

Mouth: Spicy in the month. Nice mouthfeel. Honey, mixed berries, cinnamon, leather, and tobacco.

Finish: Medium in both length and warmth. Lingering notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and tobacco smoke.

Thoughts: This is damn good whiskey. I am really enjoying it. Rich and thick in the mouth with delicious notes of pipe tobacco smoke on the finish. Note, this is not a "smokey" whiskey, it just carries the flavors of tobacco smoke. I'm a big fan. Really, really like this one. I think I will be stopping off on my next trip out of the house to see if I can find another bottle to have for after this one is empty.

Post-Script: So, after I finished writing this, I had to go grocery shopping. I thought that I might check my local corner liquor store to see if there was another bottle to be had, as mentioned above. There was, but there was no price on the shelf. I grabbed a bottle thinking that I knew what it should be and that these guys are usually really good about just charging a set margin on items. I was beyond shocked when it rang up at $69.99! While talking with the poor guy behind the counter I mentioned the price I got it for a couple of suburbs over and that the suggested retail price was $45. He told me that, apparently, there is a local distributor in my area who is doing a little price gouging on items like this and that, unfortunately, they must have gotten it from that one. He apologized for the inflated price and the trouble. So keep an eye on the price of this one. Sounds like there might be some foul play in the Twin Cities metro on it. I’ll be paying around MSRP on this one or I won’t bother buying it. I suggest you do the same.

Michter's US-1 Kentucky Straight Rye

July 22, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: Front Label of Michter’s US-1 Rye. Single Barrel. 42.4% ABV.

As I get older, I occasionally find myself getting nostalgic for days gone by. Sometimes it is for when I was a kid in the early 80s, playing my friend’s Atari 2600. (I mean, Pitfall was awesome and I’d go visit him just to play it.) Sometimes it is for when I was newly married in the late 90s and my kid was young. This past weekend though the nostalgia hit a little closer to the current day. I was in the liquor store picking up a couple of bottles of cocktail whiskey when I noticed a bottle of Michter’s Rye sitting there.

Now when I was first getting into whiskey, Michter’s was one of my go-to Ryes. I was fascinated by the burgeoning craft distilling movement and found their story interesting. Of course, it was just a story. It was a complete fabrication. Instead of being the “oldest distillery in America” or whatever they were claiming back then, they didn’t even have a distillery and had instead appropriated the history of an abandoned trademark. And that left a bad taste in my mouth. Not literally, of course, I still liked their product but I just didn’t want to support it anymore. So yeah, I was nostalgic about when I was naive enough to believe the marketing. Whiskey felt romantic back then.

So I was standing in the store, feeling nostalgic, and decided to go ahead and grab that bottle of Michter’s Rye to use in cocktails for old time’s sake. I mean they have a functioning distillery now and have been distilling for themselves for a few years. And it is pretty silly to hold a grudge for a decade when all they did is tell a fanciful story. I mean Heaven Hill somehow gets away with telling people that Evan Williams was Kentucky’s first distiller and that Elijah Craig both somehow invented charring barrels in a fire that only burned the inside of the barrel and I never gave them too much grief about it.

Plus, maybe I’d been missing out on something all these years. I mean it was my go-to for a reason, right?

Michter's US-1 Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $39.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Roseville, MN

Price per Drink (50mL): $2.67

Details: 42.4% ABV. Single Barrel #: 21A227

Nose: Wintergreen, cooked oatmeal, caramel.

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. Spicy with cinnamon, wintergreen, and caramel.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Lingering mint, cinnamon, caramel.

IMAGE: a neutral face because this is very meh.

Thoughts: This is... fine. It's ok neat, but nothing to write home about. It’s a good thing that I originally bought it as a cocktail rye because cocktails are where I will probably use most of it. As a cocktail rye, I like it. As a sipping rye, it gets a meh. It turns out, I wasn’t missing that much all these years. My palate has become more sophisticated along with my ability to sniff out crazy marketing stories, I guess.

Remus Repeal Reserve Series V

July 15, 2021 Eric Burke

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Lux Row for providing the review sample with no strings attached.

IMAGE: The 2021 edition of Remus Repeal Reserve (Series V). 100 proof.

Thanks to the magic that is Comixology Unlimited, I’ve found myself reading a lot of old comic books lately. For as long as I remember reading, I remember reading comic books. I’ve always read a wide variety of books. From novels to history textbooks, the fantastic to the non-fiction. I just love stories. I love reading them and I love writing them. It’s one of the reasons I start these reviews with as many personal anecdotes as I do. But comic books were always there in the mix of my reading choices. Lately, I’ve been digging deep into DC’s Vertigo lineup from the late 1980s and early 90s. I was too young to read these when they came out, but I was introduced to the Sandman in college and have revisited it periodically over intervening decades. Sometimes it’s nice to revisit something that you just know is going to be good.

I feel that way about tonight’s bourbon too. I’ve reviewed every iteration of Remus Repeal Reserve and I’ve liked every single one. MGP makes fantastic whiskey, even if their choice of namesake leaves a bit to be desired. (Speaking of rereading old content, I wrote about George Remus way back in 2017 during the first release of this product. I think it was pretty good. If you haven’t read it before, give it a look.)

Series V of Remus Repeal Reserve is a medley of two different MGP produced bourbons, their 21% Rye recipe (mash bill: 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% barley malt) and their 36% Rye recipe (mash bill: 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% barley malt). They use a combination of ages of these recipes in order to make the final product. And as usual, they give you the percentage breakdown right on the front label. Series V is made from 9% 2005 Bourbon (21% Rye), 5% 2005 Bourbon (36% Rye), 19% 2006 Bourbon (21% Rye), 13% 2008 Bourbon (21% Rye) and 54% 2008 Bourbon (36% Rye).

Let’s dive in and see how it tastes.

Remus Repeal Reserve Series V, 2021

Purchase price: This sample was graciously provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $89.99. Releases September 2021.

Price per Drink (50mL): $6.00

Nose: Green apple, clove, caramel, nutmeg, and oak.

Mouth: Nice and spicy. Cinnamon, oak, caramel, and almond.

Finish: Spicy and long. Nutmeg, almond, black tea, oak, and caramel.

Thoughts: This is one to keep an eye out for. I've been a big fan of most editions of Remus Repeal Reserve, and I'm fully aware this might be recency bias, but I think this might be the best yet. This one is getting a heart. I love it and I'm really hoping to get my hands on another bottle when it releases in September.

Two LAWS Whiskey House Bourbons: Four Grain Straight Bourbon and a Single Barrel Pick From Hazel's Beverage World

July 13, 2021 Eric Burke

IMAGE: A 750mL bottle of LAWS Four Grain Bourbon, selected by Hazels Beverage World and a 100mL bottle of the standard release LAWS Four Grain Bourbon.

When I was in Colorado last month, I made a point to try to find at least one local whiskey to bring home. I searched out and found a place in Boulder that I’d only need a small detour to stop at on my way to Estes Park. Hazel’s Beverage World was a very cool store. I got the impression from my short visit that if I lived close, it’d be a store that I would be visiting quite often. While I was there, I noticed a store pick of a local Craft Bourbon from LAWS Whiskey House.

I’d been aware of LAWS for quite a while, though I’d never tried it. I first saw them on the whiskey menu of the bar at the Stanley Hotel on a previous visit to Estes Park. But since the bar had an extensive whiskey list, I looked for whiskeys that I’d heard of previously and passed on the local Craft product. That was about 5 years ago, I think. Occasionally I’d run across a bottle of their product, during my travels, but never pulled the trigger. So when I saw a barrel pick on the shelf at Hazel’s I decided to give it a try. But since I had never tried the standard release, I figured I should probably grab that as well.

And that is when I saw something that made me very happy. Right next to the barrel pick was a four-pack of 100mL bottles of their core whiskeys. That was great! For the price of one bottle, I could try four. And since I wasn’t sure if I’d even like what they were producing, I was very willing to pay the premium. l wish more producers would do this. I’ve wished for years for Four Roses to put out a 10 pack of all their recipes. They could be 100mL bottles like this or even 50mL. Sell it for a premium and I’d still have fun with the experience. I imagine you would too. It’s a (comparatively) inexpensive way to get your product in front of people. I’ve bought both a Cognac and an Armagnac multi-pack this way and I loved the experience of tasting the similarities and differences of a company’s lineup.

So of course I bought that one too. And since tasting 5 whiskeys for one post is a little ambitious for me these days (I like not having a blown-out palate for a week), I’m going to just focus on the two Bourbons tonight and leave the rest for another day.

LAWS Whiskey House Four Grain Bourbon

Purchase Info: $34.98 for a multi-pack of four 100mL bottles of their core whiskey line at Hazel’s Beverage World, Boulder, CO.

Price per Drink (50mL): $4.37

Details: 47.5% ABV. Two years old (note: it looks as if a full-sized bottle of this product is currently three years old so there will probably be differences in tasting notes between the two products)

Nose: Dried Grain and maple.

Mouth: Cinnamon spice, dried grain, mint, applesauce, and black tea.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium. Notes of dried grain and wintergreen.

Thoughts: This doesn't really do it for me. I'm getting better with well-constructed grain-forward bourbons, but this takes grain-forward to an extreme. I've eaten dried cereal grains before, and while it isn't an unpleasant experience, it isn't something I am looking to do for fun. This tastes like that did. Nice, clean grain flavors, but not something I am looking to have more of. Now, from what I understand, they are trying to showcase their locally sourced heirloom grains with this product. They did that very well, it just isn’t for me. But it might be something to check out if that idea appeals to you.

LAWS Whiskey House Four Grain Bourbon, Single Barrel selected by Hazel's Beverage World

Purchase Info: $59.98 for a 750 mL bottle at Hazel’s Beverage World, Boulder, CO.

Price per Drink (50mL): $3.93

Details: 47.5% ABV. Three years old. BBL#: 1402

Nose: Buttered Popcorn, caramel, and mint.

Mouth: Cinnamon Spice, clove, butterscotch, popcorn "butter," and dried grains.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. More caramel, buttered popcorn.

Thoughts: There’s a strange thing going on here. While this single barrel has more of the notes that I like in bourbon than the standard release did, I like it less than the standard release. That buttered popcorn note is just not my thing. I am, however, open to trying more of their products. Especially the older products where the dried grain and buttered popcorn notes have had time to age out. I see that they have a six-year-old Bonded bourbon. I’ll need to keep my eyes peeled the next time I travel through a state where they are distributed.

Blog

Basil Hayden Toast

Stellum Bourbon

Stellum Rye

Calumet Farm 15-year-old Single Rack Black Bourbon "Whirlaway"

George Dickel Bottled in Bond No. 3 (2021 release)

Michter's US-1 Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

Remus Repeal Reserve Series V, 2021

LAWS Whiskey House Four Grain Bourbon

LAWS Whiskey House Four Grain Bourbon, Single Barrel selected by Hazel's Beverage World