Penelope Tokaji Cask Finish Rye

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Penelope Bourbon for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Fun story. Until I sat down to write this, I had no idea tonight’s whiskey was a rye whiskey. I hadn’t read the press release yet when I did the tasting on Saturday afternoon, the bottle was in another room, and the company is referred to as Penelope Bourbon. Toss in a healthy dose of not paying attention, and in my small, smooth brain, that meant that the whiskey I was tasting was a bourbon.

My original thoughts on this were weird. I liked it but felt that the “bourbon” would be divisive among people who were expecting typical bourbon flavors. I really gave a lot of credit to the influence of the finishing cask in the flavor profile. All in all, it made me feel like a real dumbass when I started reading the press release at the start of my research tonight. Especially when I read, “Distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, aged eight years and bottled at 106 proof, its two-grain mash bill consists of 95% rye and 5% malted barley. The rye whiskey features…”

That was a pretty big hint that I had no idea what was going on. So, let’s start over and learn together, shall we?

The Penelope Bourbon Tokaji Cask Finish Rye Whiskey (see why I was confused?) is an eight-year-old version of MGP’s 95% rye recipe. According to Whisky Advocate, after aging for eight years, it was then finished in Hungarian tokaji wine barrels for an additional eight and a half weeks before being bottled at 106° proof.

So you might be asking, what the heck is tokaji wine? I know I was. Based only on the name, I thought it was a Japanese drink. The spelling looks very Japanese. But no, it is Hungarian. The style is named for the Tokaj wine region, which is spread across the border of Slovakia and Hungary. The region is known for its sweet wines, primarily those made from grapes that have been infected by the Botrytis cinerea fungus. If the infected grapes are treated correctly after infection, they can produce a sweet wine with very concentrated flavors.

Ok. Now that we know what this is (for real this time in my case), let’s get on to how it tastes, shall we?

Penelope Tokaji Cask Finish

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

Price per Drink (50 mL): $6.00

Details: 8 years old. 53% ABV. Tokaji Cask finished. Mash bill: 95% rye, 5% malted barley.

Nose: Honey, spearmint, oak, sandalwood, and a faint bubblegum note.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with floral sandalwood, cinnamon, honey, and oak.

Finish: Sweet, warm, and of medium length. Notes of honey, oak, spearmint, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: This is a really nice twist on the traditional MGP 95% rye flavor profile. It is much sweeter, but still spicy and delicious. We all know by now that the 95% rye from MGP is one of my favorite styles of rye whiskey, so it is not surprising that I really am enjoying this. The cask finish seems to amplify the sweetness, add a very nice mouthfeel and bring out even more cinnamon and sandalwood notes than are normally in the base rye. Bottle that at over 100° proof and, well, “chef’s kiss” is all I can say about it. It’s quite tasty.

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, A124

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

You didn’t think I would leave you with just a promotional post for the rest of this week, did you? I wouldn’t do that…again…so soon after the last one.

No, you got a quick-to-write promo post because I got to leave the house yesterday and visit one of my favorite record stores while waiting for my wife’s two-hour hair appointment to finish. To say that I jumped on the opportunity to leave the house is an understatement. Dogsitting is a 24/7 business, and we are a one-car household. So the confluence of events leading to having no pups around and actually having our vehicle available while the stores are open is rare and looked forward to.

Today, we are looking at the latest Elijah Craig Barrel Proof release. You guys are passionate about these releases. I’ll tell you that. The last two posts garnered negative feedback, the earlier one yelling at me for not liking it enough, and I was accused of never even doing the tasting last time. I don’t do this for accolades (I just like telling stories), but honestly, some of ya’ll are getting silly. It’s just whiskey. Even delicious whiskey isn’t as important as the people you drink it with.

So, let’s dive into this before I piss off anyone else.

This is the first Elijah Craig Barrel Proof release of the year. At less than eleven years old, it is also the youngest they have put out since removing the 12-year age statement. The suggested retail price is $74.99.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, A124

Purchase Info: This bottle was sent by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $74.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.00

Details: 59.5% ABV. 10 years, 9 months old

Nose: Very “stereotypical bourbon” on the nose: Oak, cinnamon, caramel, vanilla, and maple.

Mouth: Oak, maple, brown sugar, leather, caramel, red fruit, and baking spice.

Finish: Medium to long and warm. Spicy and sweet. Notes of tobacco, mint, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: Delicious as usual. Sweet and spicy with rich barrel notes. Nice heat, but not overly so. I am really enjoying this one.

Comparison to C923: C923 got a heart from me. I loved it so much. So take this with that in mind. C923 is much sweeter on the nose. A124 is not nearly as hot, but C923 is much sweeter. Both are delicious, but if forced to choose, I'd go with C923 just because it's a bit more vibrant in the mouth. I like A124 a lot but as I said, I loved C923.

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Never Say Die Small Batch Bourbon

I’d like to thank the producer for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Well, if this isn’t the perfect timing, I don't know what is. Yesterday, the Twin Cities received its first measurable snowfall for the 2023/2024 winter season. About four to five inches at my house. This is the first real snow we’ve had since Spring 2023. Now you might be asking yourself, why this is good timing? Well, I’m giving away a winter hat from the producer of tonight’s bourbon to one of my lucky readers.

Last week, I was actually in shorts. Outside, in February, in Minnesota. It was about 50 degrees or so. Today, I was bundled up and running the big snowblower at seven am. (I have multiple pieces of snow removal equipment, a small battery-powered one for normal use and a large gas-powered one that gets used two or three times a season when the snow gets too heavy for the smaller one.) It has been a weird winter. The photo above was taken this past weekend. If I did the same today, it would be much, much whiter.

Anyway, now that you know that there will be a giveaway at the end of this post, let’s get into the real reason we are all here: bourbon. In this case, English Bourbon? Now, you and I both know that England cannot produce a whiskey and call it bourbon any more than the US can make a whiskey and call it Scotch. So, what the heck is going on here?

Well, it’s kinda the same thing that happens to Scotch. This bourbon was produced in Kentucky, barreled, aged for a bit, shipped to England, and then aged further before bottling. It’s been for sale there for a few years, but they sent it to me because it has recently become available for sale in the US through Seelbach’s.

So, let’s dig in just a little bit further and give some details before discussing the tasting notes and the giveaway.

This bourbon, like many, is named after a racehorse. In this case, it is an American-born horse that ended up racing and winning a race in England as a three-year-old in 1954. The bourbon itself is a sweet mash bourbon with a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley. According to the press release, after being distilled “30 miles south of Lexington, KY” by a partner distillery using its own “proprietary mashbills and yeast strains,” it was aged for “around five years” in Kentucky before being shipped to White Peak Distillery in Derbyshire, England for a further year of aging.

I’m going out on a limb and saying this originated at Wilderness Trail Distillery, but that is entirely speculation based on the wording used in the press release. So, let’s see how this scion of both Kentucky and England tastes, shall we?

Never Say Die Small Batch Bourbon

Purchase Info: This was sent by the producer at no charge for review purposes. The retail price at Seelbach’s is $69.99 for a 700 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.00

Details: 47.5% ABV. Mashbill: 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley

Nose: Spearmint, bubblegum, citrus zest, and vanilla.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with orange zest, cinnamon, vanilla, and mint.

Finish: Medium to long finish with notes of bubble gum, cinnamon, mint, and oak.

Thoughts: When a bourbon with a gimmick comes along, I usually find that it has the gimmick because it doesn't have anything else going for it. But not in this case. This is a solid bourbon. I like it. And if my suspicions about its lineage are correct, then that makes a lot of sense. That said, I’m not sure aging in England did much for this one. Still tasty, though.

Giveaway

As it is halfway through February, it is getting to be the time for me to start planning for our yearly Bourbon Brackets. I’m thinking of going back to the Bottom-shelf theme this year, and as such, I want your help. Have you picked up an inexpensive (sub-$30), under-the-radar bourbon or rye brand that you loved? Nominate it for inclusion in the BourbonGuy.com 2024 Bottom-Shelf Brackets. In return, you’ll be entered into the giveaway for the branded hat sent to me as part of the Never Say Die Bourbon media kit.

You can enter the giveaway using the form below. One winner will be chosen at random. That winner will get the Never Say Die winter hat, along with a few bourbon-related items that I pull out of the prize box. Yes, I keep all the little things that PR folks send me just for occasions such as this.

Good Luck! You have until Thursday, February 22nd, 2024, to enter (you need to "log in" so I can receive your email address to notify you if you win; either login method gets me that. I never use your email address for anything but notification for the giveaway). Please feel free to leave a comment below if you want to nominate a sub $30 bourbon or rye but not be entered in the giveaway.

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Larceny Barrel Proof, A124

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Welcome to 2024, folks. Sure, I know that we already have a month and a half under our belt, but as far as I’m concerned, the new year starts when Heaven Hill drops the first of their three-times yearly batches of Larceny Barrel Proof and Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. I always look forward to these releases. And why might that be, you ask? Because they’re always delicious. And it is nice to look at things you know will be tasty. Since it is the first drop of the year, let’s review a little basic info about this.

Born as an offshoot of Heaven Hill’s Old Fitzgerald line of wheated bourbons, Larceny bourbon uses wheat instead of rye as the “flavoring” grain. In this case, Heaven Hill tells us that the recipe is 68% corn (remember to be bourbon, it needs over 51% corn in the mash bill), 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. This release being barrel-proof means there is no water added to the batch. They dump, blend, and bottle at whatever strength it comes out of the barrel. Now, of course, that sometimes leads to a very hot product. The first batch of this was so hot that I was worried about what they were trying to accomplish. It has calmed itself a bit here and there in the intervening years, though, as we will soon see, they are sometimes very hot.

Speaking of different batches, if you run across this in the store, how do you know which batch you have? Heaven Hill has nicely given us the key to knowing what is in our hands as we hold that bottle of the precious liquid. The batch code is made up of three parts. The first part is a letter, A, B, or C. This corresponds to if it is the first, second, or third batch of the year. The second part is a number. To this point, it has always been 1, 5, or 9. This is the month of the year the release came out. The final part of the code is made up of the final two digits, which indicate the year. So, in this case, A124 means it is the first batch of the year, and it was released in January of 2024. Simple.

But unless this is your first time learning about Heaven Hill's barrel-proof releases (in which case: welcome! The bar is in the corner. Pour yourself something nice), you probably just want to know how this one tastes. So, let’s dig in.

Larceny Barrel Proof, A124

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $64.99

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: 62.1% ABV. 6-8 years old, per the press release

Nose: Sweet almond, caramel, vanilla, mint, and oak.

Mouth: Cinnamon, almond, oak, mint.

Finish: Warm and long with cinnamon, mint, and oak notes.

Thoughts: This version is drier than recent versions, but it's still very good. It's as hot as, or hotter than, you'd expect 124° proof to be. Recommended if you like hot, dry bourbons. I like it, even if it is hotter and drier than I’d usually prefer. It does take a splash of water well.

Comparison to C923: C923 is much sweeter on the nose and mouth, showing much more caramel notes. Both are good, but I really like C923 a lot more. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, though. Your mileage may vary.

If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.

Garrison Bros: Guadalupe 2024

I’d like to thank the folks at Garrison Brothers for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

It's a sad day in our house today, as yesterday we said goodbye to one of our favorite client pups. She’s been dealing with cancer for a while now, and though we all knew it was just a matter of time, you always hope for more time than you end up getting.

Ruby was a hell of a girl. She was a corgi mix that looked almost nothing like a corgi. Her hair was short and coarse, her legs were long, and, honestly, she looked a little weird. But she was the coolest pup. She was an old lady that had zero fucks to give anymore. If bigger dogs were playing where she wanted to sleep, she just jumped down, limped over to her preferred spot, and plopped down. If she wanted to be in your lap, she just pushed her way in, no matter who, or if anyone, was already there. But the younger pups gave her a ton of respect, so they’d moved their play somewhere else. In fact, over this past weekend, two of those playful, bouncy pups made sure she was doing ok by giving her face kisses during breaks in play.

I absolutely adore Ruby, as did everyone else who met her, and I will miss her terribly. I cried ugly tears for about a half hour after she left when her owner told me that it was probably going to be this week. She’s the type of pup you never want to see go, but when they do, you want to raise a glass of something good to their memory.

—

Garrison Brothers is a craft distillery located in the Texas Hill Country. They were the first legal distillery in Texas history and opened their doors in 2010, about a year before I started writing articles that would eventually become this blog. I’ve seen their work plenty of times in the liquor stores I visit, though I’ve only ever tried one of their bourbons. They sent me a sample of the monster of a drink, the 2023 Cowboy Bourbon release. It was very good but very hot. And pretty darn expensive.

The price is the main reason I haven’t tried much of their work. It’s hard to take a flyer on something that starts in price at $90 at my local Total Wine. But I happily accept samples they send. Not only does it help me decide if I want to spend money, but hopefully it helps you decide the same thing.

Tonight’s sample, the 2024 Guadalupe release was aged for four years in the hot Texas climate before being transfered to port barrels for an additional two years. The whiskey was made with a sweet mash of barley, soft red winter wheat, and number one food grade corn, all from Texas. This release is Texas all the way through. Even the water they proofed with was raiwater captured at the distillery.

So let’s see how it tastes.

Garrison Brothers Guadalupe 2024

Purchase Info: This sample was sent by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $149.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $10.00

Details: 53.5% ABV. Four-year-old bourbon finished for two years in tawny port barrels.

Nose: Maple, toffee, cinnamon, and dried fruits.

Mouth: Sweet and hot with notes of toffee, cinnamon, red fruits, and oak.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of maple, toffee, cornbread, dried fruit, and vanilla.

Thoughts: This is delicious. It has a thick, rich mouthfeel and is super sweet. And the flavor is great. I like the layers of sweetness paired with the spiciness. If you are looking for a “dessert” bourbon, this is a good choice. I really like this one.

If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.