Reviews whiskey
Time for another fall release review. Should you spend your time and money on a bottle of Angel’s Envy Cask Strength (AECS)? It’s time to find out. 2015 AECS is 127.9 proof and is aged up to 7 years. There’s no mention of how long they bourbon is in the port barrels. There are 7,500 bottles in the 2015 release and it’s expected to be priced at $170.
Have I become bourbon jaded? Wyoming Whiskey was introduced to me through email by a PR company representing the distillery. My initial thought was “sure, send a sample” it will either be young craft whiskey in a beautiful bottle or an overpriced NDP. I’ve read about Wyoming Whiskey somewhere along the way but since it isn’t distributed in Florida, I’ve never paid that much attention.
Nothing says fall like walking into a store to see a squat bottle with a colorful ribbon around the neck. Old Forester, an extension of Brown-Forman (read more here), released their Birthday Bourbon as a celebration of its founder, George Garvin Brown. In case you were wondering, George’s birthday is September 2nd and OFBB is typically released in Kentucky on this day every year.
You’ve probably come here to read a review of this years BTAC but allow me to take a quick detour. This is a statement/observation about whiskey reviews. Every bourbon cycle I read reviews about the current year’s limited edition whiskeys, and it’s always “98 points”, “outstanding!”, “fabulous,” etc. Can every limited release be a 95+? What’s the problem? Is it that the reviewers haven’t tasted enough 95+ bourbon to know what’s special compared to what is simply good bourbon? Does a free sample change someone’s opinion that much? Is it confirmation bias because we’ve paid $100+ for a bottle?
While the release of a cask strength version of Maker’s 46 has been rumored for a couple of months now Maker’s Mark Distillery finally released Maker’s 46 Cask Strength a couple of weeks ago. While it was a distillery only release I was able to get my hands on a bottle thanks to the kindness of a fellow Bourbonr. Maker’s Mark 46, which was released back in 2011, is regular Maker’s Mark, but they add toasted French oak and allow it to age for an additional 2-3 months. The cask strength version comes in between 108-114 proof (mine is 108.9).
If you’re not familiar with Kentucky Owl here is a little bit of the back story.
From Garden & Gun
Dixon Dedman is resurrecting his family’s distillery one easy-sipping bottle of bourbon at a time “My grandfather used to tell us that if he ever won the lottery, he’d do two things,” Dixon Dedman says. “First, he’d buy a limousine. And then he’d start the whiskey business back up.” Dedman’s relatives have been spinning stories about the family distillery since 1916, when state authorities shut the original Kentucky Owl down in a fit of pre-Prohibition puritanism. The fifth-generation innkeeper already had his hands full eight years ago when, at the dawn of the whiskey renaissance, a friend suggested that the time might be right to revive the distillery. But the idea stuck with him, and now the family brand is blazing its way back into liquor stores with a powerful barrel proof bourbon swaddled in velvety layers of fruit and cinnamon.
If you’re a bourbon drinker you probably remember Wild Turkey from your days of mixing their 101 bourbon with coke. While they continue to pump out some great/available bourbons (Rare Breed is usually my favorite) Wild Turkey has a long tradition of limited edition bourbons. Wild Turkey Diamond was released in 2014 to mixed reviews and can still be found on a lot of store shelves but I was really excited when I heard they were releasing a 17 year barrel proof bourbon.
Old Forester 1870 is the first release in Brown-Forman’s “craft” series. We usually don’t think craft when talking about Brown-Forman which is one of the largest American-owned companies in the spirit business but these barrels have been selected the Master Distiller Chris Morris to pay tribute to the company’s history.
At the end of 2014, Tuthiltown Distillery released their limited edition Double Charred Whiskey. It’s a mix of bourbon and rye, 92 proof, costs around $50, aged less than 4 years (apparently this label was approved before the TTB crackdown), it’s a 375 ml bottle and was dumped from barrels that were saved from a distillery fire.
If you’re not familiar with Willett XCF here’s a brief summary. Willett has taken a 7 year old rye whiskey from MGPI and aged it in Curacao Casks. Curacao Casks are just old bourbon barrels with an orange peel distillate that was aged for 2 years. After the the aged orange peel distilate is mixed with Congac and sweetener to create Grand Marnier.