meh - BourbonSphere

Sample Roulette: Feeling Frugal

In September, I am going to be foregoing my ann…

IMAGE: Three blind sample bottles waiting for tasting.

In September, I am going to be foregoing my annual September trip to Kentucky for the first time since 2013. It’s been almost ten years since I last skipped the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, but, in my opinion, last year was such a flop that I just don’t feel like spending a lot of money to do something that I didn’t particularly enjoy. Plus, in September, it will be our 25th wedding anniversary. It seemed like too big of a milestone to spend doing the “same ol’ thing.”

And so we will be going somewhere we haven’t been before. Yosemite, Sequoia, and the wine country of Northern California. I’m sure we will have tons of fun, but I also know the trip will cost a lot more than our usual Kentucky trip. And yes, I’m including the bourbon shopping I tend to do in that total. So yeah, I’m feeling pretty frugal at the moment. So, I’m going to jump into another edition of Sample Roulette.

These samples were all laid down between 2011 and 2017. The labels were covered up in September of 2020. And they have lived in a box untouched since, except for the occasional adventuresome sip now and then. In June, I guessed terribly. Didn’t get a single one even close. I was even in the wrong continent at one point. Let’s see if I do any better this time.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 1:

Nose: Spearmint, cedar, pencil shavings, and butterscotch.

Mouth: Tingly and a tad delicate. Spearmint, almond, and baking spice.

Finish: Gentle and a little bitter. Notes of bubble gum, mint, and a hint of baking spice.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is tasty. Very soft. It feels Canadian. That bubblegum on the finish makes me lean to Wiser's.

Reveal: Cedar Ridge Iowa Bourbon.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Well. Shit. So far, my streak of not even being remotely close is still intact from the last time we did this. I do not remember this being as soft as it is. But then, I am getting old, and I didn't have the best memory to begin with (just ask my wife).

Blind Whiskey Sample # 2:

Nose: Oak is the most prominent note. Followed by caramel, vanilla, and baking spice.

Mouth: Spicy, dry oat notes followed by vanilla, red fruit, and baking spice.

Finish: Warm and longish. More oak, fruit, and baking spice with just a hint of a mineral note.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: My first thought with the heat and dry oak notes was that this could be what's left of one of my early bottles of Elijah Craig 12-year-old. But I don’t remember EC12 having a fruit note. The mineral note on the finish brought me a hint of Dickel. But honestly, I'm kinda stumped on this one. I'm positive this is a bourbon from one of the big guys in Kentucky. I'm going to say Wild Turkey.

Reveal: Old Grand-Dad 114.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Hey! I got the style and state correct! I see this as an absolute win. Sadly, what this means is that Old Grand-Dad 114 has gone way downhill since I put this away back in 2012-2014. Today's Old Grand-Dad 114 is much more dusty-grain forward. This is very rich and oaky.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 3:

Nose: Oh wow! That's a lot of smoke and fruit.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy. Pears, baking spice, and a touch of smoke.

Finish: Medium in both warmth and length. Notes of smoke and pears.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Sooo... Big caveat on this one. I actively dislike smoky whiskey. This is a big reason why I could never get into Scotch. So for that reason, I can narrow this down to a few craft distilleries. I haven’t purchased smoky whisky from many places due to my aversion to it. One of those distilleries happens to be my friends at MB Roland. And I haven't bought one of those since they were putting out experimental smoked whiskies. So that is what I am guessing.

Reveal: MB Roland Experimental Aged Black Dog (used barrels)

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Ha! Take that! I had to get one eventually. This is actually the very first thing I reviewed on the site. And boy, I do not like it. I mean, it might be good for fans of smoky whiskey. But as I said, I am absolutely not one of them. I do feel pretty good about guessing it, though. Might just finish the pour in... celebration?

Hmm... if you shoot this, you get a sweet barbeque note. Come to think of it. I think I remember that about it. But we've already discussed my memory so take that how you will.

IMAGE: Three empty sample bottles. Cedar Ridge Iowa Bourbon, Old Grand-Dad 114 proof, and MB Roland Experimental aged Black Dog

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What’s With All the Weird Faces? Why I Don’t Rate Whiskeys Like the Usual Whiskey Person

What the hell is with all the funny faces? Why …

IMAGE: The four images I use for Ratings. A Heart means I love it. A smile means I like it. A Neutral face means I can see why others might like it, but it's not for me. A Frown means this is bad and I really do not like it.

What the hell is with all the funny faces? Why can’t you do something useful like give a whiskey a number score? You know, even a 1-10 would help us know if this whiskey is better than another whiskey.

This is just a small sampling of the sentiments I get in my email now and then. Don’t get me wrong, I love the passion that it takes to take the time to write to me. Hell, I just like to know that people are reading this. But as it has been…five years (?!? where has the time gone?) since I last wrote a post like this, I thought it might be time to explain my silliness to all of you who are new.

By the way, if you arrived in the last five years, WELCOME! The bar is in the corner, please pour yourself something nice from the fancy shelf.

So. Why don’t I use numerical scores? Well, everyone who writes about whiskey approaches things differently. Some reviewers like to use numbers. Numbers make a review feel scientific because you've done some math. Some reviewers like to use stars. Stars are easy to visualize and are familiar to Amazon shoppers everywhere. I like to use various cartoon faces and hearts because I'm silly. Probably too silly for my own good. The point is that any and/or all of these are correct. They all adequately represent how much or how little a reviewer liked any given whiskey. But no matter how a writer presents it, we as readers need to remember that the rating is still just a subjective opinion. Whiskey is subjective. There is no objectively bad whiskey. Someone out there likes everything that has been produced and they should not be shamed for that, even if you don’t agree with them.

It probably goes without saying, but I like Bourbon, Rye, Canadian whisky, craft whiskey, Irish whiskey, Gin, and a lot of cocktails. As a general rule, I don’t really like Scotch Whisky, though there are exceptions. Am I wrong that I don’t care for Scotch? No. My taste buds apply only to me. This is what I mean when I say there is no objectively bad whiskey, just whiskey that I don’t like. I’m not here to tell you if you should like a whiskey, only if I do or don’t. I judge whiskey, not people.

So, I like bourbon. I enjoy it in many different ways. Sometimes I enjoy thoughtfully tasting bourbon. I pour it into a nosing glass, sit down, concentrate, and try to tease out all the little smells and tastes that are hidden inside the glass. And if it is interesting, I'll probably like it. Other times, I want to enjoy bourbon in a rocks glass while playing cards or watching tv or conversing with friends. I'm not paying a lot of attention to it, but if it tastes good and it's acting as a social lubricant, I'll probably like it. Sometimes I enjoy it in a cocktail. Even if it isn't great neat, if it makes a killer Manhattan, I'll probably like it. And if I like it, then I'll tell you I like it. And then I'll put a little smiley face next to my thoughts on it.

Sometimes I find a bourbon that doesn't taste good and isn't all that interesting. Needless to say, I don't like these. I've gotten pretty good at knowing what I like, and since I buy a good percentage of the whiskey reviewed on the site, the odds are that I'm not buying too many duds. But occasionally one slips through, or I buy one specifically for research purposes. When that happens, I'll tell you I dislike it and put a little frowny face next to my thoughts.

Of course, some whiskeys are just...meh. There is nothing offensive about them. They don't taste bad. I don't dislike it, but I don't like it either. I can see why others might like it, but it's just sort of in the middle there for me. Just not to my tastes. In such a case I'll just drop a neutral face on it.

Very occasionally I'll drop a heart on something. This means I love it. No ifs, ands, or buts. I'd take this whiskey over almost any other.

So to recap:

IMAGE: The heart I use to show I love a whiskey.

A heart means I loved this whiskey. I'd have to pause and think (briefly) if forced to choose between it and my wife. (shhhh... don't tell her)

IMAGE: A Smile that I use to say i like something.

A smiley face means I liked the whiskey or I found it interesting while tasting it. Or I enjoyed myself while drinking it. Or I enjoyed the company I drank it with. Or I was having fun. Most bourbons and ryes will be in this category because, on at least some level, I like most bourbons and ryes I've tasted.

IMAGE: A neutral face I use to show that this whiskey is kinda meh.

A neutral face means meh. I didn't particularly like this whiskey, but I didn't hate it either. It wasn't for me. But you might like it.

IMAGE: A Frown with it's tongue out and x'd out eyes means I disliked this whiskey.

A frowny face means I really disliked this. I probably dumped it out or at least thought about dumping it out.

We all have different life experiences that color our perceptions. If you drink moonshine exclusively and you age it to a young age, that young whiskey may taste amazing to you. If however, you gave that very same whiskey to a person who exclusively drinks 12-year-old bourbon, they will probably vehemently disagree. The same thing goes for tasting notes. They are each informed by our own life experiences. I taste JuicyFruit gum when I taste Four Roses. Other people might taste Jackfruit, but I've never had a Jackfruit, so I say JuicyFruit. Some people might taste almond in a whiskey. I'm allergic to nuts, so I only have an academic idea of what almonds taste like. If I use it as a tasting note, it will have come from my wife (we do the notes together). The point is that everyone will like different things and has had different experiences to inform their tastes. And that's ok. In fact, it’s pretty cool. It gives us whiskey lovers something to talk about aside from the weather.

Cream of Kentucky Bottled-in-Bond Rye

So I went in for a six pack of beer. I was maki…

IMAGE: Bottle front label. Text reads: "Cream of Kentucky —Estate— Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey. Bottled in Bond. Personally Curated by Jim Rutledge. Bottled by J.W. Rutledge. Crestwood, KY. 50% ABV, 750 ML."

So I went in for a six pack of beer. I was making pizza that night and I really prefer to have beer with my pizza. And beer was all I was going to buy. Honest.

The layout of my local store means that you can easily just not buy bourbon. When you walk in and see the counter. Can’t miss it, it’s an island in the middle of the room. Turn to the right and you’ll see liqueurs and beyond those will be whiskey. Go past the counter and the store is all wine. Turn right and there will be the beer coolers. And I had planned to turn right. The problem with that plan is facing the door as you walk in is the locked “fancy booze” case. Right near the counter and the first thing you see as you walk in.

In that case, was a bottle that caught my eye as I walked past. It was Cream of Kentucky Rye. It was $129.97. Three cents under my “personal price ceiling.” Beyond $130, I’d have to be on vacation and getting a “souvenir” or at the very least check in with my wife, the accountant, to see how things look before buying the bottle. The personal price ceiling was implemented to be an easy way to not be tempted into over-priced whiskey. And yes, I’m aware that it is quite a bit too high to avoid over-priced whiskey. The level is a holdover from when it was set to match the annual cost of the Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch back when people had a shot at being able to buy it.

So what is Cream of Kentucky and why did it make my beer run so expensive? Well, the answer to the first question is that it is an old brand that was revived by Jim Rutledge, the former Master Distiller at Four Roses. That is also the main answer to the second question too come to think of it. I’m a big believer in Jim Rutledge’s ability to make whiskey. So much so that I was one of the backers on the short-lived Kickstarter to help fund his distillery. So as this Rye was the first time I’d seen one of his new brands on a shelf, I knew it needed to come home with me. It was only after I got it home that I noticed that in my excitement I’d overlooked the fact that it was made by Kentucky Artisan Distillery, a distillery that is very hit or miss for me as I don’t really care for their house flavor profile.

So let’s dig in and see how this tastes.

Cream of Kentucky Bottled-in-Bond Rye

Purchase Info: $129.97 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $8.67

Details: 50% ABV. No age statement so over 4 years old. Made from 100% Rymin Rye Grain.

Nose: Brown sugar, nutmeg, orange zest, and hints of cedar and dried grain.

Mouth: Very spicy. Notes of dried grains, cedar, caramel, and chocolate.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Cedar notes that fade to reveal caramel and chocolate.

This is oak whisky, just not for me so this gets a neutral face.

Thoughts: This is an ok craft whiskey. I've had better, but I've certainly also had much worse. If I were handed this blind, I would have probably guessed it was bourbon and not rye because it is pretty sweet, but that happens at times with ryes out of Kentucky. It does follow that Kentucky Artisan Distillery (KAD) flavor profile pretty closely, which for my tastes is unfortunate. Not sure if it is the yeast they use or what causes that, but it isn’t for me.

So onto the issue of the price. When I saw Jim Rutledge's name on a $130 whiskey, I had very high expectations. Not just because of the name on the bottle, but because I have a certain baseline expectation for a bottle that costs that much. To say this is a disappointment is an understatement. At half the cost, I'd have been very happy with the experience. I'd have probably still given it a "meh" rating due to it following the KAD flavor profile (remember meh means “not bad whiskey, just not for me”) but I’m more forgiving of whiskeys that cost less. I hold expensive whiskies to higher standards. So, yeah, based on cost and flavor, this gets a “meh” rating.

At the end of the day, if you like other brands made by Kentucky Artisan Distillers (Jefferson's, Whiskey Row, or Corner Creek), you'll probably like this. If you'd normally give those a pass, do the same here.

LAWS Whiskey House 4-Pack Virtual Tasting Experience

Seve…

Three Bottles of whiskey from LAWS Whiskey House

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.

IMAGE: A Neutral face because I don't hate this, but I don't like it either.

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.

IMAGE: A smile because this is really tasty.

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.

IMAGE: A frown because I did not like this.

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.

Fistful of Bourbon

Back when I was first starting to get into whis…

Back when I was first starting to get into whiskey, I was interested in trying it all. I wanted to learn the differences between the styles. I wanted to find my favorites in each style. I wanted to learn it all. Unfortunately, I quickly found out that I really didn't like most of the Scotch whiskey that I was trying. I used to say something like “It’s not that I don’t like Scotch, I just haven’t found the ones I like yet.” Well since I haven’t found it over a decade later, I’m thinking it might be time to admit that as a general rule, I don’t like Scotch whiskey. More for the folks that do, I guess.

However while I was still trying to learn everything about all styles of whiskey, I did pick up on a few of the names of the various producers of whiskey from around the world. One of those that stuck in my head was William Grant & Sons. They are the makers of Scotch whiskies Glenfiddich and the Balvenie, the Irish whiskey Tullamore Dew, Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, Hendrick’s Gin and other brands across spirit types. All of which require expertise in blending, either spirits or flavors.

So it was with interest that I heard the 2018 news that William Grant & Sons was launching their own bourbon brand, Fistful of Bourbon. I wanted to see what a big company that had built their business on blending could do using bourbon. Until recently, one of the unsung portions of the bourbon industry was the blender. Though that is starting to change. Slowly. Most of the old bourbon companies still don’t like to use the term blend, whether as a noun or as a verb, due to the quirks of US law surrounding that particular term when it comes to whiskey. And it isn’t like William Grant & Sons didn’t have experience with American Whiskey, they bought Tuthilltown Spirits, makers of the Hudson Whiskey brand, in 2017.

And then I read the reviews at launch. The nicest one I remember said it was bland. There were others that were worse. So I initially passed. As much as I like letting everyone know what to avoid, I’d still have to find something to do with the rest of the bottle if I didn’t like it. Even a guy who takes photos of bottles or glasses of bourbon every week can only use so much prop whiskey. But then my wife noticed last month that our local liquor store had 50 mL bottles of Fistful of Bourbon on sale for ninety-nine cents each. For two dollars, I could ignore the reviews and find out for myself without risking the need to dump out a $25 bottle of bourbon.

Fistful of Bourbon

Purchase Info: $0.99 each for two 50 mL bottles at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $0.99

Details: "A Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskies Aged a Minimum of 2 Years." 45% ABV.

Nose: Grain-forward. Delicate bubblegum and mint notes.

Mouth: Light in flavor with a thin mouthfeel. Bubblegum, cinnamon, and dried grains.

Finish: Short and sweet. Notes of dried grain and cinnamon.

IMAGE: A neutral face as this is really meh. Not bad, but not terribly good either.

Thoughts: This is very grain-forward. What's there tastes fine, there just isn't very much there. If this were a Canadian Whisky, I'd say that it could be the starting base of a nice blend once they add the flavoring whisky to it. As a bourbon, however? It's ok, I guess. I'd rate it very meh.

Kentucky Bourbon Festival A Flop For This Longtime Fan

Four…

Four hundred dollars (plus taxes and fees). Each. That is how much my wife and I spent to get into the gates of the 2021 Kentucky Bourbon Festival (KBF). Now admittedly, we splurged for a VIP package. However, in a big departure from the previous 29 years, even if you didn’t splurge for VIP, you would need a general admission ticket to get onto the festival grounds. Which would cost you between $10 to $20 (plus taxes and fees) depending on how many days you wanted to attend. And if you could even get a ticket.

And those last two were very controversial in Bardstown. For a long time, this was a festival that was held in cooperation with the community. Each year, there were local craft vendors, food trucks, and family events in addition to the ticketed events where any drinking took place. It was a celebration of the local economy as much as it was of the product they were producing. People brought their kids, which might seem weird until you realize that this was basically a three-day company picnic for the locals that they invited the greater public to attend.

I’ve attended the KBF every year that it was held since 2012 with one exception. Which means I’ve been going for 10 years now. And every year I attended, I had people ask me “You here for the Bourbon Festival?” And then they would give me tips and chat me up. This year, if I heard a store owner or restaurant employee discuss it, it was only to say that they had no idea what was going on “over there.” Which made me sad because the intense community involvement was one of the many charms of attending the Festival. Of course, social media didn’t help as leading up to the Festival, there were numerous complaints about the new ticket policy. And there were also rumors of Festival social media employees reaching out via direct messaging to those who complained, with mean and disparaging comments about the complainer’s intelligence. And even if the rumors were untrue, they seem to have been believed leading to bad PR amongst the locals. Things seem to have gotten so bad between the community of Bardstown and the KBF, that the town set up its own celebration/festival for the same weekend.

So why all the changes? Well, as an attendee, I can attest that the festival was getting a bit stale. In fact, before they announced the changes, my wife and I had basically decided that unless changes were made that we wouldn’t be attending every year anymore. On top of that, one of the things that I’d heard over the years as I attended the Festival was that while they drew well in Bardstown, and they drew well from across the country, that they were having a hard time drawing Kentuckians from outside Bardstown. People from Louisville, Lexington, etc just didn’t really come. I’ve also heard from craft distillers over the years that it was becoming no longer worth their while to get a table at the events. That their small marketing budgets were better spent in other, more niche events that would draw differently. To fix all of this, or at least combat it, the festival hired new people to run the thing. And they completely reimagined what the festival could be.

And what they decided the Festival could be was a (capital W) Whiskey Festival, just like any other Whiskey Festival held on the planet. Gone were the family-friendly distillery booths selling company merchandise. Now they were distillery booths selling small pours of bourbon or cocktails. Gone were the food trucks, well except for a taco truck and an ice cream truck. Gone were the numerous vendors of local crafts. In were a much smaller number of vendors from as far away as Wisconsin and Florida. Gone were the kids, replaced by Bottle Bros™ standing in line to get a bottle of bourbon picked by Justins’ House of Bourbon that they were planning to flip. You could tell because, as you walked by the line, you could hear them comparing how much they were hoping to get for them. Not that everyone in line was a Bottle Bro™ but enough were that they were hard to ignore. In my opinion, I think the Festival lost a bit of its charm. It needed to change in order to survive, but maybe not quite that much.

Now, as I said earlier, I paid extra for a VIP experience. I bought the Flask Force 3-day pass for my wife and I. So what did a person get for that extra $380? First of all, as the name suggests, you got a flask. A very nice hand-made copper flask from Jacob Bromwell. You got a KBF exclusive bottle of Maker’s Mark Private Select. I tasted mine and it was really good. You got a cut crystal Glencairn glass with the Festival logo engraved on it. A nice glass if you like Glencairn glasses. You got $25 worth of drink tickets for the lawn plus access to the 3rd floor “VIP lounge” in Spalding Hall where there would be free drinks and pours offered. You got a ticket to the Thursday night Bourbon in the Air event which replaced the All-Star Sampler of previous years. You got a ticket to one educational event on Friday and one on Saturday. Plus little things like a challenge coin, a t-shirt, a poster, and access to a VIP Party Deck. All in all, not too bad. Not too bad at all.

The problem wasn’t necessarily the idea, it was the execution. Mass confusion reigned amongst the attendees and employees. What follows is my experience and those of Festival goers and employees that I talked with. And yes, as I had purchased tickets for classes as well as VIP tickets, this will focus heavily on the things I experienced.

I’m going to start with the good things. I’m just going to do this list style for clarity.

I really liked that they had a vaccination requirement to attend the Festival. You showed your proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test from the last 72 hours and you were allowed in. If you had neither, there was a rapid testing station near the entrance.
The classes I attended were world-class. I had tickets to a blending class led by Brent Elliott, Master Distiller of Four Roses where you got to blend your own Small Batch using the finalists of the Elliott’s Select Single Barrel from a few years back. (I’ll talk more about this in an upcoming post since my wife and I made such different blends that we want to talk about them more and the process we used to come to them.) I also had tickets to a class on aging led by Dr. Pat Heist, cofounder of Wilderness Trail and a barrel chemist named Andrew from Independent Stave (I admit, I was so busy listening that I forgot to write Andrew’s name down). Both of these were extremely informative and fun. The aging class was the most detailed, scientific class on bourbon making that I’ve ever attended. I was enthralled from start to finish. Just fantastic. I said they were world-class and I meant it.

Now the not-so-good things. This was possibly the worst executed event that I have ever attended. And it all comes down to communication. Once again, list style.

To begin with, a couple of days before your event, you were given an instructional email on how to get into the Festival and get your credentials. Between the time that email went out and the Friday start of the Festival, the process changed without notice. Instead of showing your ticket to get into the reserved parking and walking to the VIP area to get your credentials, you got the credentials when you pulled into the reserved parking. Which was great if you drove there but much less so if you were staying in town and walked.
Once you were on the grounds and had your credentials, if you were like me, you needed to find your first class. That was easier said than done since the tent name on the maps and the tent name on your ticket were not the same and the employees working the Festival didn’t know where anything was if it didn’t immediately affect the job they were working. I asked three of them before I found someone who knew where the classes were being held. Luckily they had placed a musical performer right outside the tent so it made the classes super hard to hear at times.
Even though the Festival didn’t seem to be very well attended there were still very long lines.
The VIP bar offered about 5 or 6 cocktails. All but two of them required sour mix…and they were out of the sour mix at 3 pm Friday.
There was a lack of confidence among the attendees I spoke with. They were very confused about what tickets they had and didn’t have, where they were supposed to be, and they lacked confidence that the swag they were promised would be there when they tried to pick it up.
Annnd…that confusion was well placed in a few ways. Right when we arrived, we noticed that there were many people with tickets that would have given them swag that were left off of lists for said swag leading to confusion among the employees as to who got what. Most of those employees went off-script to make it right by the guest, but in talking to them you could see the frustration. There was also a lot of confusion as to where all that swag actually was located. As a personal example, I tried to pick up my bottle, poster, and t-shirt after my classes since my first class was right after the gates opened. By that point, I was told by the lady working at the Justins’ House of Bourbon booth (which was where you needed to pick up your bottle) that they were out and I’d need to come back tomorrow or go “upstairs” to take it up with the folks up there. So I did. You could tell that the poor guy working the info desk up there was beyond frustrated with how things were going, but he remained pleasant and got to work trying to find out how to help us. Eventually, he located the people who had locked up the bottles and someone was able to help us. We were told that we’d be in a similar boat if we tried to redeem the poster voucher as those had been sent to the Bourbon Outfitters Lexington store and not the Festival. However, they were delivered by the time we tried to pick them up. The t-shirt was no problem. It was the only thing that worked smoothly.

So if things had gone smoothly? If the people running it hadn’t shown an almost comical lack of competence from the planning stages onwards? Sure, it would have been an ok event. Not for me, but ok for those who are just there to get, and flip, an exclusive bottle and/or drink bourbon all day long. But for me? Well, I liked the educational aspects, each of which cost extra if you didn’t have the package I had (and even then I paid for my second class because there weren’t any I wanted to attend on Saturday). I guess, at the end of the day I can sum it up best by saying that I bought a three-day ticket for $400 and I opted to go for one day. They took a charming event that you could duck in and out of while traveling the local distilleries and towns and turned it into one large bar that would occasionally have educational classes. And ultimately, I found the new Kentucky Bourbon Festival boring. I’d used my drink tickets (mostly on a delicious non-alcoholic Hibiscus Lemonade), I’d attended the classes I had tickets for, and I was too bored to go back the last two days of the festival. Needless to say, as it will be held the day after my 25th wedding anniversary next year, I won’t be attending in 2022. And if this is the shape of the Festival going forward, I may not attend another one for quite a while. If you went and had fun, this post was not intended to negate your experience. But I feel like I am no longer the target audience. A celebration of the making of bourbon has become, aside from a few of the classes, a celebration of the consumption of it. And that makes me more than a little sad.

Nooku Bourbon Cream

It’s…

It’s been a weird week here in Minnesota. There has been smoke in the air from Canadian wildfires causing air quality and air quality warnings as I’ve never seen before in the state of Minnesota. The smoke was thick in the air. So thick that it impaired visibility and carried the smell of the fires as you breathed it in. It was so bad, that even spending as little time outdoors as possible, I was still dealing with respiratory issues. As such, I decided to pivot away from the tasting I had been planning to do this past weekend toward a couple of small cans I had in my fridge from my recent trip shopping trip in Colorado. I figured it might be best to take a look at something that I wouldn’t be drinking from a nosing glass. Just in case the old sniffer was acting up.

I grabbed these as I was walking toward the checkout at Hazel’s Beverage World in Boulder, Colorado. I hadn’t really been in the market for a Cream Liqueur, but something about the tiny little can, and the fact that one was coffee-flavored, piqued my interest. I figured that for four bucks, I could indulge that curiosity. Might be good in coffee one morning while on vacation. And while I never had the chance to have it in my coffee while on vacation, I did get that opportunity this past weekend as I hid inside from the air outside.

Nooku Bourbon Creme uses two ingredients: dairy cream and Bourbon. In this case, two-year-old, high-malt bourbon from Old Elk. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the coffee version uses some sort of coffee flavor on top of that (not much of one though since it literally says that on the can). And while I haven’t had Old Elk Bourbon, I haven’t heard great things about it. Even so, I was curious to give this a try. I tried each of them straight and then added a healthy amount to an afternoon cup of coffee, just to see if my hunch on these was correct.

Nooku Bourbon Cream

Purchase Info: $3.98 for a 100 mL can at Hazel’s Beverage World, Boulder, CO.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.99

Details: 17% ABV. "Bourbon Whiskey with Real Dairy Cream"

Mouth: Thick, velvety, and sweet. Notes of cinnamon, caramel, and dairy.

Finish: Not much to speak of, as expected.

Thoughts: It's a bit like drinking coffee creamer. I’m not getting a lot of “bourbon” notes in it though. Speaking of that, it works pretty well in coffee. If you take your coffee with creamer, that is. In this case, I liked it about half and half. So make that coffee hot.

Nooku Bourbon Cream, Cold Brew Coffee

Purchase Info: $3.98 for a 100 mL can at Hazel’s Beverage World, Boulder, CO.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $1.99

Details: 17% ABV. "Bourbon Whiskey with Fresh Dairy Cream and Natural Coffee Flavors"

Mouth: Thick and sweet. Notes of cinnamon, chocolate, coffee, and dairy.

Finish: Chocolate Milk.

Thoughts: This is better than the regular version. And it also tastes good with coffee, even more so than the original. Personally I like my coffee black, so I’d probably prefer just a shot of bourbon instead of the cream if I felt the need to spike my coffee. Neither of them are particularly to my tastes when tasted alone either, but they aren't bad for what they are. That said, I can see a lot of people liking this.