Seven months ago, I reviewed two bottles of Bourbon created by LAWS Whiskey House out of Denver, CO. One was a store pick of their bourbon and the other was a two-year-old version of their standard release bourbon that was included in the LAWS 4-Pack Virtual Tasting Experience. I said in that post “I’m going to just focus on the two Bourbons tonight and leave the rest for another day.” Well after seven months, that day has come. And while I encourage you to go back and read that post, I’m just going to post the tasting notes of the Bourbon below so that they are all in the same place.
LAWS Whiskey House uses local ingredients in its whiskeys. This package looks to have been created to show off that fact. It contains a Straight Malt Whiskey, a Straight Rye, and a Straight Wheat Whiskey along with a Bourbon that uses all three. According to the side of the box, the distillery is in Denver and all of their grains and water come from within four hours drive of the distillery. The corn is Homestead Corn sourced from Whiskey Sisters Supply near Burlington, CO. The other grains (San Luis Valley™ Rye, Centennial™ Wheat, and Henry Road™ Barley Malt) are sourced from Cody Family Farms near Alamosa, CO. How’s that for transparency?
One thing to keep in mind is that this tasting set has all the whiskeys age stated as “aged at least 2 years.” It looks as if the current releases of these products are currently three years old so there will probably be differences in tasting notes between the two releases. With that said, let’s jump right in.
LAWS Whiskey House 4-Pack Virtual Tasting Experience
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. "Aged At Least 2 Years."
LAWS Whiskey House Four Grain Straight Bourbon (Originally published 7/13/21)
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 Centennial Straight Wheat Whiskey
Nose: Spearmint, cinnamon candies, a hint of dried grain.
Mouth: Nice spicy cinnamon notes along with almond and honey.
Finish: Medium length and warmth. Notes of dried grain, cinnamon, and candied fruit.
Thoughts: I like this one. Probably not enough to buy a full bottle, but I certainly don't regret letting it into my house. It tastes more mature than the bourbons did. As such I like it better than I did the bourbon. The dried grain notes are clean and not overpowering when they are present. Yep. Pretty darn tasty.
LAWS Whiskey House San Luis Valley Straight Rye whiskey
Nose: Cedar, cinnamon, ginger, sandlewood.
Mouth: Follows the nose. Spicy with ginger, cinnamon, mint and cedar.
Finish: Medium length. Notes of brown sugar, cinnamon, and dried grain.
Thoughts: This is really good. Kinda wish I'd have bought a full bottle of this when I had the opportunity. I might have to remedy that if next time I travel through a state that distributes it. The only hint that this whiskey is only two years old is on the finish. It shows some dried grain notes at that point, but not before. Overall it's a good, if young, rye whiskey.
LAWS Whiskey House Henry Road Straight Malt Whiskey
Nose: Cooked cereal grains.
Mouth: Dried hay, butterscotch, and cinnamon.
Finish: Medium length. Strong notes of butterscotch and cinnamon.
Thoughts: This one is quite a bit too grain-forward for me. I don't like it at all, but I also have a known bias against malt whiskeys so take that how you will. On top of that, I’m not a huge butterscotch fan. So I guess it just hit all the wrong notes for me. Overall, I am just not a fan of this. Doesn’t mean you won’t be though if those are notes that appeal to you.
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, posters, and more.