My Wandering Eye: Berneroy XO Calvados

February 23, 2016 Eric Burke

Bourbon prices are creeping up. So much so that even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. A $50 750 ml bottle of Cognac or Armagnac doesn’t sound outrageous next to a $50 Old Forester 1870 or a $50 375 mL of the Jim Beam Harvest collection. So my eye has started wandering. I’ve done an Aquavit and a rum so far and now I’m about to take a walk down the brandy aisle.

For the last three years, I’ve been making a batch of hard cider each fall. I go to the orchard, buy the varieties I want and proceed to cut, chop and crush my way into 6-7 gallons of fresh apple juice. It’s good fun. I even built the cider press. It takes a few months to ferment, clarify, bottle and age but by the next spring I have enough cider to last me through the following winter.

So it isn’t entirely shocking that the first time my eye wandered in the brandy aisle it landed on an apple brandy. In this case, specifically a Calvados apple brandy. Calvados is an apple brandy made in various subsections of Normandy region of France. As you might have guessed there are plenty of laws governing what can and can not be called Calvados, but I’ll let you google those for yourself. Because the price was right, that wandering eye of mine settled on the XO version of Berneroy Calvados. This should mean it is at least 6 years old.

Berneroy XO Calvados

Purchase info: $15.99 for a 375 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN. (This was listed as a Spirits Direct selection at Total Wine, which they want you to think means that it is cheaper because it is an exclusive.*)

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Dried fruit and caramel.

Mouth: Thick, supple mouthfeel. Dried apple, brown sugar, clove and more than a hint of spirit flavor. Water enhances the sweetness and reduces the spirit presence.

Finish: Dried apples, clove and a little bitterness linger along with a hint of a burn.

Thoughts: Glassware seems to make a difference on this one. My initial tasting was done neat in a glencairn and rated it a solid meh. Nothing wrong with it, but not for me. As I wrote this, I revisited it in a small brandy snifter that I picked up at Jim Beam, of all places. After trying it again and trying it with just a few drops of water, I’m upgrading it to a like. For me, the spirit flavor was accentuating the wrong portions of the dried fruit forward parts of the drink while in the glencairn. In the snifter and after adding a little water, I found that I was actually enjoying the dried apple notes. It also makes a better Old Fashioned than many of the bourbons I’ve had. I used brown sugar and aromatic bitters.

*Not always cheaper. By a quirk of Minnesota law, liquor stores are prohibited from carrying exclusive products. This means many local stores buy the exclusives and then undercut Total Wine’s price. Which is nice since these products tend to have the highest markup at Total Wine. Everyone wins…well except the massive megaretailer.

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My Wandering Eye: Pyrat XO Reserve Rum

February 2, 2016 Eric Burke

Pyrat XO Reserve Rum in the snow, because fuck winter.

I hate winter. I make no secret of this. And today we are in the middle of receiving our first big snowstorm of the year. Which, if forced to be honest about it, is quite nice because it is actually really late for a first major snowfall of the year.

Because I’ve been a fan of rum drinks for most of my drinking life, one of the traditions I have is to drink rum drinks on the night of a large snow storm. It’s my way of giving the storm the middle finger and enjoying something that reminds me a little more of summer. It is only fitting that tonight My Wandering Eye wanders over to rum.

As I discussed in the intro to this series, regular bourbon prices are creeping up. Limited editions are selling at retail for insane prices. And I’m getting a bit sick of it. My eye is wandering. I need to find things that can get me excited about spirits and not break the bank.

This was the first rum I bought for this series. I had an entire list of things that I had tried before, liked and wanted to review. But as often happens when I am in the liquor store, a sale caught my eye. I had a bottle in my hand (I’ll save which for when I actually pick it up) when I saw a stack of Pyrat XO Reserve Rum at the end cap. It was on sale for $19.99 down from $33.99. Figuring that was a decent deal, I put down the bottle in my hands to save a little money. After all wanting to save money was one of the reasons my eye started wandering in the first place.

From what I can tell online, Pyrat XO Reserve Rum is a blend of about 9 different rums, sourced from around the Caribbean, ranging from as young as two years old to as old as 15. Maybe. No one is saying for sure. After blending, they are aged further and then hand bottled in Guyana.

Pyrat XO Reserve Rum

Purchase Info: Purchased on sale at Blue Max in Burnsville, MN for $19.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Details: Bottled in Guyana. Bottle # 3535790. 40% ABV

Nose: Sweet. Molasses and ginger with a warm earthy note underneath.

Mouth: Very sweet. Cola, citrus, mint and baking spices.

Finish: Short and sweet with lingering cola and mint.

Thoughts: Very tasty. This is a little too sweet for me to drink neat, but I find I like it just fine with a splash of bitters and a little ice. Though it isn’t a whiskey replacement, it does just fine as an ingredient in even a simple cocktail.

My Wandering Eye: Gamle Ode Holiday Aquavit on Rye

January 21, 2016 Eric Burke

Disclaimer: I consider Mike McCarron of Gamle Ode to be my friend and in my statement of ethics I promised to disclose when I am reviewing one of my friend’s products and to only review them when it was truly something I really liked. This is one of those times. He also keeps me well supplied with Aquavit so I should also note that this bottle was free.

Gamle Ode Holiday Aquavit on Rye Whiskey Barrels.

As I discussed in the intro to this series, bourbon prices are creeping up. Limited editions are selling at retail for insane prices. And I’m getting a bit sick of it. My eye is wandering. I need to find things that I can get me excited about spirits and not break the bank. So when my friend Mike McCarron of Gamle Ode spirits invited me to have a drink with him and try his new Limited Edition Aquavit, I knew I needed to take a look.

Holiday on Rye is a version of his normal Holiday Aquavit but aged for 18 months in used rye whiskey barrels instead of his usual used wine barrels. It was also bottled with a nice proof bump clocking in at 50.24% ABV as opposed to the 42% of the original. Holiday Aquavit normally sells for $28-$30. Here in the Twin Cities Limited Edition Holiday on Rye is retailing for the very non-insane price of $30-$35.

So you may be asking yourself, “What is aquavit anyway?” That is a good question and before I jump straight into my review I should probably answer that for you. Like gin, aquavit is neutral spirit infused with herbal flavors. In the case of gin, the base flavor is juniper berries. In aquavit’s case it is caraway. And like gin, you are allowed to use more than just the base flavor. In the case of Holiday Aquavit and Holiday on Rye, caraway is joined by dill, juniper, orange peels, mint and allspice. Unlike a sweet and spicy bourbon, this is a savory drink.

Gamle Ode Holiday Aquavit on Rye Whiskey Barrels

Purchase info: This bottle was kindly given to me by the owner of Gamle Ode. In the Twin cities, I’m seeing it online in the $30-$35 range for a 750 mL.

Details: Bottle 425 of 426, 50.24% ABV.

Nose: Mint, dill, juniper and citrus.

Mouth: Delicate on entry with a sweet spice that sneaks up on you as it moves back. Bright and energetic.

Finish: Lingering flavors of mint, dill and citrus.

Thoughts: I like this a lot. Yes, it is produced by a friend of mine, but I can easily say that it is worth a look if you are in a market where it is sold. It is bright and energetic on the palate, probably from 18 months spent in rye whiskey barrels, and the infused flavors are amazingly well integrated. This is a savory treat for lovers of unique flavors.

Old Forester "75th Anniversary of Repeal" gift set

December 3, 2015 Eric Burke

Seventy-second Congress of the United States of America
At the Second Session,

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, the fifth
day of December, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-two.

Joint Resolution
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is hereby proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by conventions in three-fourths of the several States:

“Article

“Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

“Sec. 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

“Sec. 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.”

On December 5th, 1933 Utah voted to pass the 21st Amendment, becoming the 36th and deciding state to do so. On that day the Prohibition was officially ended.

75 years later, the Brown-Forman company put out a special gift set of Old Forester to commemorate the passage of the 21st Amendment. Included in the box was a bottle of 100 proof Old Forester in 375 mL flask shaped bottle with an old timey looking label design, an etched Glencairn glass and a replica of the 21st Amendment.

7 years later, I picked up the gift set at a charity auction during the Kentucky Bourbon Festival for roughly $90. If I was just buying bourbon, I would have horribly over paid. It’s not very old or special, but I was supporting a museum I really enjoy attending (that doesn’t charge people to get in) with my purchase. I paid a relatively low sum to help keep the doors open and the lights on while getting a tiny piece of history back in return. Seems like a fair deal.

Old Forester 100° (circa 2008) “75th Anniversary of Repeal” gift set

Purchase info: ~$90 at the Master Distiller’s Auction to support the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History, Bardstown, KY.

Details: 50% ABV

Nose: Sweet and fruity with brown sugar and apricot layered over the top of the typical “Brown Forman” latex paint note.

Mouth: Spicy with a nice tingle to the mouth. Ginger, oak, vanilla and caramel.

Finish: warm ginger and molasses linger.

Thoughts: I like it. But I’m a fan of Old Forester so that doesn’t surprise me. But there is something that does surprise me. I used to love the Old Forester Signature (100 proof). I recommended it to everyone. But then about a year and a half ago, after not buying it for a while, I got around to reviewing it and found it immensely bitter. This made me sad. So now, I get to taste something from seven years ago and I didn’t find that bitterness. In fact, it tastes just like I remember. So somewhere along the way something happened to Old Forester’s 100 proof expression and like most things in whiskey these days, it wasn’t for the better. Which is too bad.

Anyway, this is what I’ll be celebrating Repeal Day with on Saturday, hope you have something just as fun.

James E. Pepper 1776 Brown Ale, aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels

November 19, 2015 Eric Burke

James E Pepper Ale. Brown Ale aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels.

There is a store in Wisconsin that on certain days, probably get’s more business from Minnesota than it does from locals. I will admit to being one of many Minnesotans who likes buying a beer or whiskey from a store on whichever day I happen to be at it. Unfortunately, many stores in the state of Minnesota don’t feel it is in their best interest to serve their customers on the days the customers want to be served, preferring instead to lobby against changing a law who’s time has long passed it by.

See, in Minnesota, it is illegal for a liquor store to be open on Sunday’s regardless of the fact that it is one of the two busiest shopping days of the week. Many liquor stores prefer it that way. Why? you might ask. Well the thought is that they will make as many sales if they are open 6 days a week as if they are open 7 days a week. Plus they won’t have to pay anyone on that seventh day. It doesn’t matter what the customers overwhelmingly want. And sadly, politicians in Minnesota are just like they are everywhere else. People that pay, get the votes in the legislature and those who don’t, get the shaft.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, its two largest population centers are also on the border with a state who is more than happy to take the tax dollars on Sunday. There are 4.14 million people in the two largest population centers in Minnesota. There are 5.5 million in the state. And though people might not drive an extra hour to get a beer, many places in the Twin Cities metro are about a half hour apart meaning over 40% of the the population of the state* could conceivably make a run for the border while on regular shopping trips without going very far out of the way. Sending tax dollars out of state.

All because some store owners would rather enshrine their dislike of competition in law instead of giving customers what they want. It’s one of the reasons I try to choose places like Ace Spirits who would be open on Sunday if the law would let them. Plus, since I visit family in Wisconsin quite often on Sundays, the purchases I might have made in Minnesota are made at Casanova Liquors in Hudson, just before I hit the border.

One of the things I found on a Wisconsin trip this summer was 1776 Brown Ale, aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels. I held it in the closet until the weather was right for a barrel-aged ale and here it is.

James E. Pepper 1776 Brown Ale, aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels

Purchase Info: Casanova Liquors, Hudson, WI. I didn’t keep a receipt for this one, but it was roughly $10 for a bomber.

Details: Brown ale aged in rye whiskey barrels. 10.4% ABV. Brewed and bottled by Georgetown Trading Co., Sterling, VA.

Nose: Bready and vineous.

Mouth: Sweet caramel layered over typical bready brown ale notes. After a few sips you start tasting the spiciness of the rye.

Thoughts: This is sweet, but not as sweet as most barrel aged beers I’ve had. Whether that is due to the use of rye barrels or from a quirk of the aging process, I have no idea. I like the spiciness in the back of the mouth though. If you like barrel-aged beers, certainly check this out. If it were available in Minnesota, I would definitely pick up another bottle…just not on a Sunday.

*figuring that half of the population of the metro area of the Twin Cities and all of the population of Duluth could make Wisconsin part of their Sunday shopping trips without going too much out of their way. Yes, I get that socioeconomic factors might drop this down quite a bit, but even half of that would be still be 20% of the state population…

Oh no, it's Father's Day.

June 18, 2015 Eric Burke

It's almost Father's Day. And, if you're like me, you're thinking to yourself: "oh shit! I forgot to get my dad something!"

Now my dad is a brandy drinker so I am planning to just spend some time with him this weekend and hope I don't come off as cheap. But if your dad is a bourbon fan, the easy answer is that you could always buy him...well...bourbon. Of course, it's entirely possible that you are looking for something a little less boozy for dear old dad on his special day. Something that won't get you in trouble with mom for encouraging him. In such a case, you could give him something that will enhance his bourbon drinking long after that one bottle you thought of giving him would be emptied.

In that case, it just so happens I might have a few ideas for you. As you might have guessed from the number of reviews I post, I tend to have my share of bourbon along with your share and your neighbor's. And I just so happen to have a collection of favorite things that I can easily recommend to you.

First and foremost is glassware. Drinking out of good glassware is key to enjoying your bourbon. I'm not going to say that I haven't had a mini of Jim Beam out of a plastic glass in a hotel room, but it isn't the most pleasurable way to drink it.

If dad is a taster of bourbon, a set of glencairn glasses is key. I got my set of six off of Amazon years ago and have been very happy with them.
Of course, you don't want to taste whiskey all the time, sometimes you just want to drink it. And honestly, a glencairn isn't real easy to drink out of. In such a case, while I do like a nice heavy rocks glass, recently these small snifters have been the go to whenever they're clean. I bought one from Beam and one from A. Smith Bowman.
But if you don't really feel like giving dad something with a logo emblazoned on it, visit a local antique store or an estate sale and look at the glassware. I've gotten some really cool old glasses that I absolutely love that way. One thing those folks from 50-60 years ago knew was drinking and the glasses they used are some of the most comfortable I've held.

But maybe we are getting ahead of ourselves. Dad needs to get the whiskey into the glass somehow, right? And even before he does that, he may even want to do something with it. Maybe make it into a cocktail? So utensils are essential.

Sure dad could pull the cork out with his teeth and just splash some in the glass, but we aren't cowboys. This is the modern age and in the modern age we have things like measuring cups. My favorite is an OXO Stainless Steel one. This is the one I keep next to the bourbon shelf at all times.
And what about that cocktail? If dad is making a whiskey sour, he'll need a lemon juiced. I have about 4 different juicers in the house, but the one I find most convenient is this hand juicer I got at Sur La Table. It's heavy and isn't too expensive. Plus I can just rinse it off when I'm finished. Most of the pulp stays in the lemon half.
If dad is making something like a Manhattan though, he will need a spoon. I don't have a recommendation. I find that the choice of bar spoon is highly personal. Mine was a cheap one, it doesn't have the muddler end that everyone recommends. But it feels right in my hand and glides nicely in the mixing glass.

And once dad has made or poured his drink, it would be nice for him to have something to sit and read. The book I'm reading right now is Bourbon Empire by Reid Mitenbuler. I'll have a real review coming soon, but spoiler alert, I'm really enjoying it.

So if you don't want to get dad bourbon (due to mom's disapproving looks, or because he has so much good stuff you'd never be able to afford to top it) think about some of these other ways to enhance dad's bourbon experiences. Most of these things I like more than some of the bourbons I've reviewed lately.

Old Forester Ready To Drink Mint Julep

June 4, 2015 Eric Burke

It’s summer and to some of us in the bourbon world, that means it’s also Julep Season. My wife is a big fan of the mint julep. It carries all the lovely flavors of a good bourbon and adds in some sweetness and delicate mint. I normally take my julep without the mint, sugar, julep cup or most of the ice when I make one for her but I can be persuaded on a particularly hot day to partake.

But sometimes making a julep can be a bit too much for me. On a lazy Saturday afternoon? Sure. On that same Saturday when I’ve been working on the landscaping all day? Not a chance. I prefer my cocktail to be whiskey in a glass on a day like that.

I saw somewhere that last Saturday was National Mint Julep Day. I have no idea if that is actually a thing or if it was just a random person on Twitter proclaiming their love for the julep, but it was enough to make my wife want one. The trouble was it was a Saturday that I spent all day shoveling a pickup-load of mulch into various places in my yard and I wasn’t in the mood for making one. So it was with no little interest that when we went to the liquor store for beer that evening that I noticed the Old Forester Ready-To-Drink Mint Julep. My wife seemed satisfied, so we picked it up.

I was curious about just how “ready-to-drink” this was after my wife told me it was better on the rocks than just chilled. And so as a service to you, my dear reader, we took it upon ourselves to do a completely scientific (not at all scientific) discovery as to how ready to drink it really was. We tried it chilled in a Glencairn, 2 ounces made into a mint julep and then in desperation with an additional half ounce of good bourbon dumped in.

Old Forester Ready to Drink Mint Julep

Purchase Info: $24.99, 1 Liter. Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 30% ABV, Caramel Colored

Nose: Heavy spearmint gum and something resembling whiskey

Mouth: Sugary sweet and thick. Spearmint gum and no hint of whiskey.

Finish: None to speak of.

Thoughts (neat): Well this isn’t very good, but then it’s hardly a fair test, is it? Whether it says “ready to drink” or not, I doubt it was intended to be tasted out of a Glencairn glass. Let’s try it next in it something like it’s natural environment. Let’s make a mint julep out of it. It’s already sweet and minty so I’m just going to pour it over crushed ice in a julep cup and shove in a large sprig of mint:

Thoughts (in Julep): Wow, this is still way too sweet for me. My wife tells me it’s better, I’m starting to doubt her good sense. The overpowering mint has been cut some, but a medicinal bitterness remains. In desperation, I decide to mix in a half ounce of good bourbon.

Thoughts (in julep with additional bourbon): So this isn’t terrible and on a hot day, where I’m too tired to make a julep, it should do. In a pinch. If you are out of beer. And don’t have a car. And live too far away from the store to walk.

Never mind, just shove a mint sprig in your bourbon and call it good. (Maybe even Old Forester.)

I do love the frost that collects on these cups though...

Bourbontucky on DirecTV

February 3, 2015 Eric Burke

Do you have DirecTV? Can you get it? Do you have a friend who has it who would be willing to let you camp out on their couch for an hour and a half? You might want to look into it.

DirecTV recently produced a bourbon documentary and is currently showing it on the Audience channel (channel 239). I watched it this past weekend and it is well worth watching.

The show is roughly divided into three parts.

Part one is all about the bourbon. The history, the distilleries. There are interviews with about every distiller you’d want to hear. It has Jimmy Russell, Fred Noe, Jim Rutledge, Harlen Wheatly, and Chris Morris. They talk to corn farmers, coopers and still makers. You see beautiful video of bourbon in glasses, production floors, aging warehouses, and corn falling through a grate. You learn about the yeast, the fermentation, the stills, bottling and some history. In depth looks at Woodford Reserve, Buffalo Trace, Four Roses and Makers Mark are interspersed with stories from Jimmy Russell, Fred Noe and Jim Rutledge. We learn why Four Roses will not put out a flavored bourbon and how Jimmy Russell used to keep an eye on Fred Noe while on the road. The highlight of this section was footage of the Heaven Hill fire. This is something you hear about every time you go to Kentucky, but which I’ve never seen footage of. Video of rivers of fire running downhill into buildings. Stories of cooperation and genuine love. Horrific and beautiful at the same time.

Part two is about other people in Kentucky who are making money off of bourbon. A Louisville bar owner tells you about Beam decanters. Specifically mentioning one that I happen to have. A chef in Louisville talks about how he collaborated with Jefferson’s to make a bourbon. Bourbon Barrel foods is mentioned. Wes Henderson from Angel’s Envy talks about finishing and blending. DISCUS and Bourbon Women help to transition to part three.

Part three is all about bars and retailers across the country. This is the part you can fast forward through. Every interview was about as follows: "We couldn’t give this stuff away ten years ago, now we charge way too much for you to try it. We like bourbon. Yay bourbon." It comes from retailers in DC, bars in LA and hipsters in Brooklyn.

Part four is about the consumers…oh wait. Nope. This is the documentary's major failing. While everyone interviewed was a fan of bourbon, none were people who weren’t also advertising their business where they make money off of bourbon. It would have been nice to hear from fans of the product who have nothing invested but love.

Overall, if you can, I’d recommend pouring a good bourbon and figuring out a way to watch this one. It looks like it is currently showing on DirecTV On-Demand or on Audience (Channel 239) on February 9.

Blog

Berneroy XO Calvados

Pyrat XO Reserve Rum

Gamle Ode Holiday Aquavit on Rye Whiskey Barrels

Old Forester 100° (circa 2008) “75th Anniversary of Repeal” gift set

James E. Pepper 1776 Brown Ale, aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels

Old Forester Ready to Drink Mint Julep