Last year at a high-level Kentucky whiskey industry event I requested a Manhattan. When the genial “bartender” merely poured me bourbon on the rocks, I asked about the vermouth and bitters. “I don’t know about that,” she said. “Can you tell me what to put in?” I settled for whiskey on the rocks.
But after tasting hundreds of bourbon iterations in my career, the consistency of them many is becoming as concerning as comforting. Some days, I wonder if too many are just too similar, especially when I see so many parallels in my tasting notes (and others’) for reviews and barrel picks.
Like every wood-finished Maker’s release, The Heart Series offers up a rich and complex nose featuring oak, chocolate, cinnamon and clove. Pastries, pie crust and fruit tarts made from all three doughs emerge laced with caramel and mocha.
So, why are these “picks” gathering dust? Are there too many on the market now? It used to be that legacy distillers, especially those with old barrels ripe for store pick harvest, supplied the bulk of those options.
The palate backs up the nose with bitter chocolate, milk chocolate, honey, cooked cherries and Demerara syrup. Brown sugar and baking spices collide and reemerge independently to form a fantastic, warm finish.
“Master distiller” was a new title back then, and Dalton believes he’d never have received it without Booker Noe’s blessing.
Countless whiskey fans—me included—are enjoying Jack Daniel’s growing lineup of higher-proof and longer-aged releases. I’m not the first to say that Jack is becoming its best self in these new releases.
Lucky me, I got to try them all, including the 20-year-old bourbon released by James B. Distillery. Bottled at 109 proof, the 259-bottle batch came from six barrels aged on the first floor of a nine-story rickhouse on its Clermont, KY, campus.
Its aromas begin with bright citrus, ripe fruit, a whiff of mint and some a solid serving of baking spice. Unexpectedly, toffee joins the party alongside maple syrup and caramelized brown sugar.
Alcohol, by comparison is just that: beverage grade alcohol with which no one monkeys around. It’s highly regulated and its strength is clearly described on its packaging. Other than marketing claims, it’s gimmick free.
