Brian Haara
Bourbon. Law. Author.
Sipp’n Corn Book Review – Rum Curious: The Indispensable Tasting Guide to the World’s Spirit by Fred Minnick.
I’ll admit that—even as a bourbon enthusiast—I was curious about rum. Who better to turn to in order to satisfy this curiosity than Fred Minnick, the authority on spirits?
Rum Curious starts with a heft confirming that this is not a side-show book, continues with gorgeous images pulling the reader into an “island mentality,” and then delivers with Fred’s signature style of storytelling through a blend of history, politics, and regulation that conveys the real story and embraces controversy. The addition of tasting notes and cocktail recipes rounds out Rum Curious enabling the reader to make an informed decision when selecting rum. I wouldn’t have known where to begin without this assistance.
I also didn’t know about the use (let alone the controversy) of additives and sweeteners, I hadn’t appreciated how dominantly sugar influenced the developing world, and I never knew how politics helped push rum aside, favoring whiskey. I came in knowing plenty about whiskey regulations, so the contrast with the wild-west approach to rum regulation was particularly fascinating to me.
I simply devoured Rum Curious, and I’ll bring it on my next beach vacation to enjoy again with a Mai Tai or one of Fred’s suggestions for sipping neat. I wholeheartedly recommend Rum Curious to anyone interested in spirits or Caribbean history, or to anyone just looking for a summer book.
Here’s the Amazon link, enjoy!
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Four Roses 2017 Small Batch Limited Edition Al Young 50th Anniversary
This year’s spring Limited Edition from Four Roses honors Al Young for his 50 years at Four Roses, and strays from the standard small batch bottle design to use a 1967 design, harkening back to the year that Al’s career at Four Roses began. So it’s a sharp bottle, a worthy honor, and promising blend of recipes, but will it live up to expectations set by previous limited editions?
|
Bourbon:
|
Four Roses 2017 Small Batch Limited Edition, Al Young 50th Anniversary
|
|
Distillery:
|
Four Roses, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
|
|
Age:
|
23-year OBSV – 5%
15-year OBSK – 25%
13-year OESV – 50%
12-year OBSF – 20%
|
|
ABV:
|
54.49%
|
|
Cost:
|
$150.00
|
Disclaimer: The brand managers kindly sent me a sample
for this review, without any strings attached.
Thank you.
Tasting Notes
Appearance:
Brown side of amber with some reddish-gold in the light, and great legs.
Nose:
The traditional caramel aromas are here in force, balanced with light spring flowers and vanilla on the softer side, but at the same time pronounced oak and leather-bound books make me want to smell a bit longer.
Taste:
Luscious, creamy caramel along with ripe berries (think of that Fourth of July bowl of raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries), brown sugar, honey, apricot, and dried dark fruit, balanced with the earthiness of oak, leather, and tobacco, and cinnamon on the spicy side. The complexity is phenomenal.
Finish:
Long, with a huge swell and gear-shifting that I love, and eventually tapering off to tranquil warmth. I was tempted to get a stopwatch because the finish kept going. Flavors of oak and rich caramel dominate, but it’s much more complex than that, with a mint kicker. I need to find a bottle to contemplate this one.
Bottom Line
The Al Young 50th Anniversary Limited Edition has everything I look for in a Bourbon. We haven’t even hit the fall limited editions yet, but in my mind we already have a leader for Whiskey of the Year. There are only about 10,000 bottles, so make your plans now for next week’s release. Please just leave a couple for me.
Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale: 4.5+
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Swill. I might dump the bottle, but will probably save it for my guests who mix with Coke.
2 – Hits the minimum criteria, but given a choice, I’d rather have something else.
3 – Solid Bourbon with only minor shortcomings. Glad to own and enjoy.
4 – Excellent Bourbon. Need to be hyper-critical to find flaws. I’m lucky to have this.
5 – Bourbon perfection. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Elijah Craig 12-year Barrel Proof Batch B517
The original 2013 white-label/red-12 Elijah Craig 12-year Barrel Proof (129.7 proof) has been my standard-bearer for all subsequent EC12BPs. Some of those that followed nearly matched it, some packed too much heat, and none of them really surpassed it. My first taste of Heaven Hill’s May 2017 batch (“B” for the second batch of the year, “5” for the month, and “17” for the year) might have provided a new standard.
|
Bourbon:
|
Elijah Craig 12-year Barrel Proof Batch B517
|
|
Distillery:
|
Heaven Hill, Bardstown and Louisville, Kentucky
|
|
Age:
|
12 years
|
|
ABV:
|
62.1% (124.2 proof)
|
|
Cost:
|
$65.00-ish
|
Disclaimer: The brand managers kindly sent me a sample
for this review, without any strings attached.
Thank you.
Tasting Notes
Appearance:
Brown side of amber with a red hue showing its age.
Nose:
The aromas are simple, leading with oak, and balanced with green tea, cocoa, butterscotch, praline, baking spice, and a hint of tropical fruit.
Taste:
The palate is where this Elijah Craig Barrel Proof shines, causing me to utter an audible “WOW” when I tried it. There’s a huge blast of flavors beyond the standard caramel; there’s also brown sugar and honey on the sweet side, balanced by earthiness, tobacco, black pepper, and oaky notes with a cinnamon kick, for a fantastic experience.
Finish:
The long finish has a great swell and gentle fade with rye spice and black pepper, but without a discernable gear shifting of some finishes.
Bottom Line
From the first sip to the end of the finish, this Elijah Craig batch is a remarkable Bourbon, approaching that 2013 white label. It should be on the shelves now, but it won’t be for long, so don’t delay.
Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale: 4.0
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Swill. I might dump the bottle, but will probably save it for my guests who mix with Coke.
2 – Hits the minimum criteria, but given a choice, I’d rather have something else.
3 – Solid Bourbon with only minor shortcomings. Glad to own and enjoy.
4 – Excellent Bourbon. Need to be hyper-critical to find flaws. I’m lucky to have this.
5 – Bourbon perfection. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Bulleit Barrel Strength 2017
I was a big fan of the 2016 inaugural release of Bulleit Barrel Strength, which was a Kentucky-only release. For 2017, Bulleit has expanded distribution to also include Texas, California, Oregon, Ohio, New York, Illinois, Colorado and Washington DC. The proof of my sample of Batch 2 is virtually indistinguishable compared to Batch 1 (0.4 difference), but it has its own distinct characteristics, and according to Bulleit, other batches will likely range between 120 and 125 proof.
|
Bourbon:
|
Bulleit Barrel Strength (Batch 2)
|
|
Distillery:
|
Unstated
|
|
Age:
|
Unstated
|
|
ABV:
|
59.7% (119.4 proof)
|
|
Cost:
|
$59.99
|
Disclaimer: The brand managers kindly sent me a sample
for this review, without any strings attached.
Thank you.
Tasting Notes
Appearance:
Golden-amber.
Nose:
Swirling intense aromas of rye, baking spice, gingerbread cookies, tobacco barn, and cinnamon candies tell me to get ready for some serious spice. Air in the glass (and also after a week in the bottle) toned down these spicy aromas.
Taste:
The flavors hit high on the intensity scale with sharpness and the predicted rye spice, balanced out by spring grasses, toffee, maple syrup, and oak. Air time resulted in more creaminess on the palate, so I suggest giving it time to breathe.
Finish:
Medium finish, overall dry, and gives the oak its turn to shine.
Bottom Line
The 2017 edition of Bulleit Barrel Strength is destined to be a crowd-pleaser. Bartenders and fans of cocktails that retain Bourbon’s flavor without getting lost in the ice and mixers should flock to this, but it’s also great for sipping by the campfire this summer. Bulleit’s profile begs for barrel strength, so I’m glad that Tom and his team gave us another year of this expression.
Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale: 3.5
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Swill. I might dump the bottle, but will probably save it for my guests who mix with Coke.
2 – Hits the minimum criteria, but given a choice, I’d rather have something else.
3 – Solid Bourbon with only minor shortcomings. Glad to own and enjoy.
4 – Excellent Bourbon. Need to be hyper-critical to find flaws. I’m lucky to have this.
5 – Bourbon perfection. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Kentucky Bourbon Affair – A True Bourbon Fantasy Camp.
As the 2017 Kentucky Bourbon Affair (June 6-11) draws near, I was reminiscing with friends about last year’s event, where I started by going in-depth at Four Roses, tried pre-prohibition T.W. Samuels the following evening, and wrapped up the next day by shooting skeet with Eddie Russell at Wild Turkey.
On the Four Roses trip, Al Young was our surprise MC for the bus ride from Louisville to Lawrenceburg. He regaled us with Four Roses stories from the past 50 years and passed around historical documents for the research fanatics amongst the group. It made the short trip pass even faster, and before we knew it, Brent Elliott was greeting us for a Q & A session followed by an in-depth tour of the distillery. We learned every step of the distillation process, and could see the planned expansion taking shape.
After lunch and a tasting of Yellow Label, Small Batch, Single Barrel, and Elliott’s Select Limited Edition guided by Brent, I had the chance to get into the weeds with him about the use of other yeast strains and citric acid, which he said was the first time he’d ever discussed those issues with a consumer. Then we all headed to Cox’s Creek for a demonstration of the barrel dumping and bottling facility, along with a tour of their unique single-story warehouses.
The next day, after another trip to Four Roses with the Mellow Moments group and getting the first opportunity to buy a bottle of Elliott’s Select Limited Edition, my wife and I, along with several friends, headed out to Rob Samuels’ home for dinner and a tasting of century-old T.W. Samuels. Rob’s hospitality rivaled his father’s (in 2015 I went to a crab and crawfish boil at Bill, Jr.’s home with the Bourbon Affair; read about it here), and we heard Rob’s perspective on growing up in the Maker’s Mark world, the development of Maker’s 46, and the Maker’s 46 private barrels that were just starting to be released. But the focus of the Bourbon tasting was taking a sip through time with a 1917 bottle of T.W. Samuels made by the Samuels family long before the Maker’s Mark brand existed.
Legend has it that Bill, Sr. burned the old family recipe when he struck out on his own to form Maker’s Mark, and if this 1917 bottle represented the old recipe, then Bill, Sr. did us all a huge favor. While maybe we can blame oxidation over the passage of time, “wet cardboard” is the best way to describe this old whiskey. I had to cleanse my palate and get back to Maker’s 46 ASAP.
Last but not least, Wild Turkey was an absolute blast, literally. This event was perfect for me to bring along a great friend and client (who inquired into whether he could bring his own shotgun). We had expert marksmen guide us through skeet shooting, and teach us the finer points of the sport. After an in-depth tour of the distillery led by Eddie Russell, we were treated to lunch with Jimmy and Eddie, along with a guided tasting of Diamond Anniversary, Master’s Keep, and Decades before heading home.
If standard 30 minute tours leave you wanting more, check out the 2017 Kentucky Bourbon Affair, and you won’t be disappointed.
Brian Haara 