Brian Haara
Bourbon. Law. Author.
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – “The Smooth Ambler Old Scout Challenge”
I was inspired to review these after attending a Smooth Ambler tasting in September with John Foster, Director of Sales and Distiller at Smooth Ambler in Maxwelton, West Virginia. He was a breath of fresh air in the often secretive and sometimes deceitful world of sourced whiskey, or, as Smooth Ambler calls it, “merchant bottling.” John took us through a tasting of Smooth Ambler Yearling, a 1.5 year old wheated Bourbon, a 7 year old high-rye Bourbon sourced from MGP, a 10 year old low-rye Bourbon sourced from MGP, a 7 year old rye whiskey sourced from MGP, along with vodka, gin and a barrel-aged gin. To top off all of those, John pulled out a sample bottle of the highly-anticipated “Contradiction,” a blend of 73% of 9 year old MGP high-rye bourbon with 27% of Smooth Ambler’s 2.5 year old wheated Bourbon.
Smooth Ambler started with the goal of distilling and selling vodka and gin while waiting for its Bourbon to age. Realities of business, however, led Smooth Ambler to also become a non-distiller producer (“NDP”) for some of its current product line. So unlike many NDPs who don’t distill a drop, Smooth Ambler is busy both distilling and aging its own product, as well as sourcing Bourbon from MGP in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Many small craft distillers simultaneously sell sourced and produced spirits, but Smooth Ambler is different because of its scale, perhaps only being topped by Willett among brands that both distill and source (Willett just got there in the reverse direction).
Smooth Ambler is also honest about the contents and provenance of its Bourbon. Smooth Ambler freely discloses and distinguishes between what they distill and what they source. There are no secrets about the mash bills and there’s no pretending that they found their pre-Prohibition family recipe.
I had picked up bottles of the 7-year and 10-year this past summer in Michigan (which by their batch numbers and bottling dates appear to have sat on the shelf for a year), but I hadn’t opened either one yet. I enjoyed the tasting so much that I picked up the eight-year Single Barrel that night, and I decided that it was high time to put them to the test. I like the proof of these three options, I like that they’re not chill-filtered, and I like that they’re in a sweet spot for aging. With all of these things done right, let’s just hope that the Bourbon passes muster.
Here are the three, ordered by proof:
Smooth Ambler Old Scout 7-year Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Distillery: Sourced from MGP; Batch 30 bottled 5-29-2013
Mash Bill: 60% corn; 36% rye; 4% malted barley (MGP high-rye recipe)
Age: 7 years
Proof: 99
Cost: $41.99
The color is deep copper trending toward light brown. The nose is strong on rye and black pepper spice, but is balanced with caramel, slight oak, and a little mint. The nose has great subtle flavors and is really pleasant. Caramel and vanilla sweetness are the first tastes, but that quickly transitions to nice blast of rye, tea and pepper. Right away you can tell that this is a remarkable Bourbon. The medium-length finish is very warm, dry and lingering.
Smooth Ambler Old Scout 10-year Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Distillery: Sourced from MGP; Batch 4 bottled 6-10-2013
Mash Bill: 75% corn; 21% rye; 4% malted barley (MGP low-rye recipe)
Age: 10 years
Proof: 100
Cost: $56.99
Interestingly, the color isn’t any different than the 7-year, which I expected given the extra time and lack of chill filtering for either. The most noticeable differences in the nose include clear oak and corn sweetness replacing the rye spice, but it also had nuanced scents of clove, pear, honey and an old empty tobacco barn. My first taste seemed a little hotter than 100 proof, but the heat mellowed to warmth with a little air. The taste also has buttered corn sweetness, cocoa, roasted nuts and caramel. I had hoped for a longer finish, but it has nice warmth and ends with a little mint.
Smooth Ambler Old Scout 8-year Single Barrel Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Distillery: Sourced from MGP; Barrel 904 bottled 9-16-2014
Mash Bill: 60% corn; 36% rye; 4% malted barley (MGP high-rye recipe)
Age: 8 years
Proof: 119.8 (barrel proof)
Cost: $47.99
The color is essentially the same as the other two, which again puzzled me since no water was added to this one to reduce the proof for bottling. I literally put all three in front of a light and the differences are miniscule, if there’s any difference at all. The nose is very similar to the 7-year, although the higher proof is absolutely noticeable, and it adds scents of leather and maple syrup to the rye and black pepper spice. The taste is partly an amped-up version of the 7-year, but it’s mostly different because of the higher proof burn. There’s also less of a “pop” of the rye spice, and more of an even spread of the spice. The 8-year had a similar finish too, and while the burn from the higher proof lasted longer, the flavors didn’t necessarily last as long.
Bottom Line:
While my clear favorite was the 7-year, go out and buy any of these. If you prefer more oak flavors coupled with more sweetness, then the 10-year will be your choice. But if you prefer the spice and dryness that comes with MGP’s high-rye Bourbon mash bill, you’ll prefer the 7-year or the 8-year. There’s also less oak flavor in those two than I expected, but I didn’t miss it.
Scores on The Sipp’n Corn Scale
Smooth Ambler Old Scout 7-year: 4.0
Smooth Ambler Old Scout 8-year: 3.5
Smooth Ambler Old Scout 10-year: 3.0
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Wouldn’t even accept a free drink of it.
2 – Would gladly drink it if someone else was buying.
3 – Glad to include this in my bar.
4 – Excellent bourbon. Worth the price and I’m sure to always have it in my bar.
5 – Wow. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Col. E. H. Taylor, Jr. Fights for Trademark Protection from Beyond the Grave.
There’s a massive distillery complex that not many people know about near Frankfort, Kentucky, nestled in a scenic bend on the meandering Elkhorn Creek. It’s closed to visitors and doesn’t distill anymore, but it ages Beam Suntory brands and bottles about 12 million of the approximately 21 million cases produced each year in Kentucky by Beam Suntory.
This hidden distillery – DSP 14, or simply referred to as the “Frankfort Plant” if you dig deep enough on the Beam Suntory website – has distilling history dating back to at least 1901 when R.A. Baker established “The Frankfort Distillery,” extending through to 1940 – 1987 when it was home to Old Grand-Dad. But it also played a significant role in the development of trademark law and the use of surnames in a case arising out of the attempted revival of a pre-prohibition family name.
The case of National Distillers Products Corp. v. K. Taylor Distilling Co., 31 F. Supp. 611 (E.D. Ky. 1940) tells the story of how Col. E. H. Taylor, Jr. and his sons, Swigert and Kenner, organized “E. H. Taylor, Jr. & Sons” in 1894, and how the “Old Taylor” brand rose to great prominence. The Court also explained that when Col. Taylor died in 1923, his sons basically wasted no time in selling out to what eventually became part of National Distillers Products Corporation.
As the demise of National Prohibition became more likely, speculators positioned themselves to enter the market. One of those entrepreneurs was a Lexington, Kentucky attorney, S. S. Yantis, who along with his New York City investment banker relatives, thought the timing was right to invest in a distillery. Before Repeal, they bought “a former distillery site located near Forks of Elkhorn in Franklin County, Ky. … with the view of promoting an enterprise for the manufacture of whiskey in the event of the repeal of National Prohibition, which seemed impending.” Four months before Repeal, they formed the “Franklin County Distilling Company” and began preparations at DSP 14.
The Judge noted that the Yantis family was “entirely without previous experience in the distillery business,” so they courted two other prominent former distillers who rejected them, before approaching Kenner Taylor. In September 1933 Kenner Taylor agreed to become President and CEO of the new company for a five-year term, and he agreed that his name could be used for branding and advertising purposes.
With the instant prestige afforded by Taylor’s participation, in October 1933 the two-month-old company changed its name to “The K. Taylor Distilling Company.” Repeal came on December 5, 1933, and Taylor left for Florida for his usual winter vacation on December 28. Taylor returned to Kentucky on April 1, 1934, but he was ill, and he died on June 1, 1934. While the company never actually distilled any whiskey during Taylor’s brief stint as President, he assisted in launching the “Kenner Taylor” brand using sourced Bourbon.
After Taylor’s death, the company ramped up use of the “Taylor” name – but not just “Kenner Taylor.” Instead, the Court noted that the company advertised by using pictures of E. H. Taylor, Jr., Swigert Taylor and Kenner Taylor, and used the phrase “Taylor-Made Whiskies.” The Court held that this use infringed on the “Old Taylor” brand because it misled the public into believing that the “K. Taylor” brand was related to “Old Taylor.” Therefore, the Court prohibited use of the brand name “K. Taylor” or “Kenner Taylor” “unless accompanied by a statement plainly and specifically showing that the defendant is neither the successor to nor connected with the maker of ‘Old Taylor whiskey’ and that its product is ‘not the product of E. H. Taylor, Jr. & Sons, or its successors.’” This is the same result reached almost a decade later when Bill Samuels, Sr. decided to strike out on his own (Country Distillers v. Samuels – the rise of Maker’s Mark).
The ruling was issued on February 14, 1940, and The K. Taylor Distilling Company fought on by challenging National Distillers in the marketplace. A mere month after the ruling, in March 1940, the company contracted with a Cincinnati distributor who successfully developed a demand for “K. Taylor, Bottled-in-Bond” and somewhat less demand for a second K. Taylor brand called “The Belle of Franklin.” (A breach of contract case between that distributor and The K. Taylor Distilling Company ensued, resulting in two interesting decisions that I’ll save for a later post.)
Having won its lawsuit, but seemingly having failed to destroy The K. Taylor Distilling Company, on August 5, 1940 National Distillers bought the upstart distillery along with the K. Taylor brand, which it immediately discontinued. National Distillers then rechristened the distillery as the Old Grand-Dad Distillery, making one of the most popular brands of the time. Beam bought National Distillers in 1987 and moved distillation of Old Grand-Dad to Clermont, but retained the Old Grand-Dad distillery for aging and bottling.
Kenner Taylor might have been forgotten to history due to the litigious spirit of his father and the domination strategies of National Distillers, if it weren’t for the record created by this trademark lawsuit.
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Elmer T. Lee Commemorative Edition
Over the past two years, Elmer T. Lee has become a rarity on retail shelves. It had been somewhat of a hidden gem – far less glamorous than its mash bill brother Blanton’s – but quietly better balanced. Of course, it is named after the legendary Elmer T. Lee (1919-2013), who was hired in 1949 by Col. Albert B. Blanton when Buffalo Trace was called the George T. Stagg Distillery. He worked his way up through the ranks from a maintenance engineer all the way to Master Distiller.
By the time Elmer retired in 1985, he had sparked a revolution in Bourbon that is probably partially responsible for the wild success of Bourbon today: he introduced the first single-barrel Bourbon since the time when Bourbon was sold to consumers by the barrel, honoring Col. Blanton by naming it Blanton’s Single Barrel. After he retired, Elmer himself was honored with a single barrel Bourbon bearing his name, using the same mash bill as Blanton’s (the former Ancient Age mash bill, now known as Buffalo Trace’s mash bill #2) but aged around nine years instead of six years for Blanton’s. Although he had officially retired, Elmer continued as Master Distiller Emeritus, and he helped select the barrels for his namesake brand.
Elmer died in 2013, at the age of 93. Bourbon enthusiasts suggested that the proof of Elmer T. Lee should be raised from 90 to 93 in Elmer’s honor, and word spread about the great value of Elmer T. Lee. Buffalo Trace announced that it would in fact honor Elmer, but instead of permanently raising the ABV, it produced this Commemorative Edition at 93 proof, with limited allocation. Buffalo Trace also used profits from the sale of the Commemorative Edition to support the local VFW Post 4075, in which Elmer was active (Elmer had served as a radar bombardier in WWII).
As Elmer T. Lee has become scarce on store shelves, its price has gradually increased over the past year. I recall Elmer T. Lee being priced at $28.99, then last fall it was $31.99, this summer I found it for $35.99, and $40.00 retail prices are being reported. Fortunately, Buffalo Trace’s MSRP was $34.99 for the Commemorative Edition.
Bourbon: Elmer T. Lee Commemorative Single Barrel
Distillery: Buffalo Trace, Frankfort, Kentucky
Age: NAS, but typically 9 years old
Proof: 93 proof
Cost: $34.99
Tasting Notes
Color:
The Commemorative Edition has the same amber gold color as the standard Elmer T. Lee.
Nose:
The nose has rich sweetness of caramel and vanilla, honey with light fruit, along with cinnamon, black pepper and oak. Very well balanced.
Taste:
Classic Elmer T. Lee. The taste follows the lead of the nose with honey, caramel and toffee sweetness dominating, but it’s not too much, and instead is balanced with oak, cinnamon and pepper spice. The lighter fruit (apples and pear) transition to more of a plum flavor. It’s warm without being hot. Whether at 90 or 93 proof, this is a Bourbon to sip neat.
Finish:
The Commemorative Edition finishes by moving away from sweetness to more spices, for a great warming sensation that lingers.
Bottom Line
This was another Bourbon that I had hoped to review months ago (long before the flood of fall releases), but it was so much like the standard Elmer T. Lee that it fell behind. It is so similar to the standard Elmer T. Lee – which is one of my favorites – that any extra value is really just in having the unique commemorative bottle, not necessarily what’s inside. To the credit of Buffalo Trace, though, this Commemorative Edition was not priced to drive profits. In this current environment of price gouging, Buffalo Trace did the right thing.
Comparing Elmer T. Lee Commemorative to other spring releases, it’s better that the Wild Turkey Diamond Anniversary (and costs a fraction of the price), but it’s nowhere near as good as the Four Roses 2014 Limited Edition Single Barrel (which retailed for $90). Elmer T. Lee and the Commemorative Edition are still one of the reigning “price performers” and I highly recommend that you buy one or the other if you’re lucky enough to find them.
Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale: 4.0
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Wouldn’t even accept a free drink of it.
2 – Would gladly drink it if someone else was buying.
3 – Glad to include this in my bar.
4 – Excellent bourbon. Worth the price and I’m sure to always have it in my bar.
5 – Wow. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Bulleit Bourbon
Bulleit Bourbon and its parent company, Diageo, get a fair amount of grief from some Bourbon enthusiasts for being a non-distiller producer (“NDP”) of Bourbon without most consumers realizing that indisputable fact. But there’s no denying that Bulleit Bourbon has nevertheless taken hold, which it wouldn’t have been able to do without actually being good Bourbon.
For instance, Bulleit doubled its 2012-2013 U.S. sales from about 300,000 to 640,000 cases. This is still a drop in the bucket compared to the over 3 million cases of Jim Beam sold just in the U.S. every year, so if Diageo wants to extend its market to Bourbon, it has some work to do. Diageo is certainly putting in the work, though. First, in February 2014, it announced that it would spend $2 million on renovations to the famed-but-mothballed Stitzel-Weller Distillery. As I’ve previously reported, firing up the old still was not planned, but in today’s Press Release Bulleit announced that its total Stitzel-Weller investment will increase to $10 million and will include a small craft still to focus on innovation and experimentation, along with a bottling line.
Many of the initial renovations were complete when I visited this past spring (see my post about The Bulleit Experience at Historic Stitzel-Weller), and now with the revived visitor’s center officially open as of the ribbon-cutting today – called the “Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience at Stitzel-Weller” – it’s bound to be a hot tour on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
Diageo’s primary Kentucky distilling will be at the site of its estimated $115 million new distillery in Shelby County, Kentucky, just east of Louisville. The groundbreaking ceremony was on August 21, and I was lucky enough to catch the tail-end of that event.
When completed in late 2016, this new distillery will have the capacity to produce what will eventually result in 750,000 cases per year, including both Bulleit Bourbon and Bulleit Rye. Warehouses will also be built with the capacity to store 330,000 barrels. Between joining the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, participating in the inaugural “Bourbon Affair” this past spring, and announcing the new distillery plans, Diageo and Bulleit Bourbon have kept a constant presence in the media.
As for the backlash, some of it is completely unfair. For example, social media posts like the following Tweet often ignore the Bourbon itself and devolve to pettiness: “You like Bulliet [sic] Bourbon because it looks like something off of Pinterest, and for no other reason.” Other criticism is a bit weightier because it addresses the brand’s representations, like there hasn’t been an actual distillery called “Bulleit Distilling Co.” in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky despite the claim on the label, and the worst-kept secret in Bourbon that Bulleit has really been distilled by Four Roses (which is in Lawrenceburg). The harshest criticism has focused on other Diageo brands (Orphan Barrel).
When I attended the “Bulleit Experience” this past spring as part of the Kentucky Bourbon Affair, Tom Bulleit was totally upfront about Bulleit Rye being sourced from MGP in Indiana. But Diageo’s former Director of Whiskey Supply Strategy, Andrea Wilson, who recently took a job at Michter’s, was not terribly open about the post-Four Roses world, what’s actually being aged at Stitzel-Weller, or where Bulleit Bourbon is aged. She would not even tell me public information like the mash bill percentages for Bulleit (which the website itself discloses, and which Tom Bulleit told us too).
There is plenty more that I or others can say about Diageo and Bulleit later, but for my current purposes, I want to focus on the review, so here we go:
Bourbon: Bulleit Bourbon Frontier Whiskey
Distillery: Not disclosed, but popularly believed to be under contract with Four Roses, although also popularly believed that the contract has been terminated
Mash bill: 68% corn; 28% rye; 4% malted barley
Age: NAS, but about 6 years old
Proof: 90 proof
Cost: $24.99
Tasting Notes
Color:
Amber with a distinct orange hue.
Nose:
The nose includes the standard caramel and vanilla, but adds sweet citrus, dark fruits and maybe banana, along slight oak and rye spice.
Taste:
Like the nose, the taste starts with classic caramel, toffee and vanilla notes, but also includes cinnamon, orange rind and rye spice, without allowing the spice to be overpowering. It’s crisp and sharp, and lends itself nicely to cocktails, especially cocktails with citrus.
Finish:
The finish is medium in length, with nice warmth, as the caramel notes transition to spice and a just enough toasted oak.
Bottom Line
I am a fan of Bulleit Bourbon, especially in cocktails. In fact, if I’m serving Bourbon cocktails, Bulleit is likely to be one of my two choices. I’ve often grumbled about the need for transparency in all Bourbon brands, including Bulleit, but we know that the Bulleit on the market today was distilled in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, we know that it is a “Straight” Bourbon, we know its approximate age (and we’re guaranteed its minimum age), we know that it cannot have any additives, and we know its mash bill. Plus, Bulleit is priced right for its profile and characteristics, and there are plenty more expensive Bourbons that I would pass over when compared to Bulleit.
Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale: 3.5
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Wouldn’t even accept a free drink of it.
2 – Would gladly drink it if someone else was buying.
3 – Glad to include this in my bar.
4 – Excellent bourbon. Worth the price and I’m sure to always have it in my bar.
5 – Wow. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Parker’s Heritage Collection 8th Edition – “Original Wheat”
This time – and as a first – Parker’s Heritage Collection is not actually Bourbon. Instead, it uses the same distillate as Bernheim Wheat Whiskey produced by Heaven Hill, but is aged six years longer. In fact, this edition of the Parker’s Heritage Collection contains the first run of Heaven Hill’s Wheat Whiskey recipe.
Just like federal law provides minimum grain composition requirements for a spirit to be called “Bourbon” (at least 51% corn) or “Rye” (at least 51% rye), federal law requires “Wheat Whiskey” to contain at least 51% wheat. Bourbon, of course, often contains a much higher percentage of corn, and then usually adds rye as a secondary grain, but a handful of brands (Maker’s Mark, the Weller line, Larceny, Rebel Yell and that brand that has had everyone in a crazed state for the past five years) use wheat as the secondary grain. Those “Wheated Bourbons” still qualify as “Bourbon.”
Bernheim Wheat Whiskey uses corn as its secondary grain, along with a small percentage of malted barley. I’ve been told that the mash bill percentages may barely qualify Bernheim as a “Wheat Whiskey,” using just the minimum of 51% wheat, along with 39% corn and 10% malted barley. On the other extreme, MGP recently added a Wheat Whiskey to its line that contains a whopping 95% wheat with 5% malted barley.
So here, this edition of Parker’s Heritage Collection is basically Bernheim Wheat Whiskey aged almost twice as long as normal, but also bottled at barrel strength (instead of Bernheim’s 90 proof) and without chill filtration. And like last year’s “Promise of Hope” edition, Heaven Hill will be donating part of its proceeds to ALS research and treatment in honor of Master Distiller Emeritus Parker Beam. However, whereas the “Promise of Hope” donation was $20 per bottle, this year the donation is just $5 per bottle.
Whiskey: Parker’s Heritage Collection 8th Edition – “Original Batch Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey”
Distillery: Heaven Hill – so distilled in Louisville and aged in Bardstown
Age: 13 Years
Proof: First Batch – 127.4 Proof; Second Batch – 126.8 Proof
Cost: $129.99 (Evan Williams Bourbon Experience price, which is a sad premium over what even Heaven Hill stated would be the average retail price of $89.99)
Tasting Notes
Color:
The age and lack of chill filtration give this whiskey a nice deep bronze tone.
Nose:
The nose is crisp, and has hints of graham cracker, vanilla, chess pie, honey and oak. The high proof is there, but it is not distracting.
Taste:
Unlike the last high-proof Heaven Hill whiskey I reviewed, the high proof here does not need any taming, and instead this 8thEdition really shines as-is, so try it neat (but there’s still room for an ice cube or a splash of water if you prefer). What Bernheim – which I really enjoy, incidentally – lacks in complexity and power, Parker’s Heritage Collection brings with balance and the brute force of barrel strength. It balances the mellowness of wheat, the sweetness of vanilla, toffee and ripe cherry, the spice of black pepper and the dryness of oak and a little leather, with a hint of fresh mint to boot.
Finish:
The finish is warm and long.
Bottom Line
First off, the premium price charged by Heaven Hill at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is a shame. I’m all for the free market setting the retail price, but I don’t understand why Heaven Hill would charge more to people who go out of their way to visit its gift shops. Still, I don’t have buyer’s remorse for paying the premium price by any stretch of the imagination.
On the other hand, “Original Wheat” is being released to retail stores in the next week or so, and if you can find it around the expected retail price of $90, I highly recommend its purchase.
Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale: 4.25
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Wouldn’t even accept a free drink of it.
2 – Would gladly drink it if someone else was buying.
3 – Glad to include this in my bar.
4 – Excellent bourbon. Worth the price and I’m sure to always have it in my bar.
5 – Wow. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Brian Haara 