Limited Release Premixed Cocktail: Orange Label Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock and Rye, 100 proof

September 6, 2016 Eric Burke

Limited Release Orange Label, 100 proof Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock and Rye

It is my wife's birthday tonight. The one night per year where if I am going to be lazy about serving her a cocktail, I had better be serving something good. Something with a good whiskey presence. My wife knows her whiskey and I can't slip something subpar past her—not that I'd try mind you.

Luckily, I saw an email a few weeks ago from Ace Spirits that said they had this in stock. I ran up to Hopkins the next day and picked up a bottle. Immediately upon trying my first sip, I tweeted :

Picked up a bottle of limited edition 100 proof Low & Slow Rock n Rye @AceSpirits. Wow! Look for the orange label on this one. Very good!
— Eric Burke (@arok) August 26, 2016

Hochstadter's Slow & Low Rock and Rye, Limited Orange Label, 100 proof

Purchase info: $36.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN

Details: Made with 8 year old whiskey, 50% ABV.

Nose: Orange zest with floral notes backing it. You can tell there is whiskey in here.

Mouth: Warm in the mouth with orange zest, honey and light floral notes. Once again, you can tell there is whiskey in there though it isn't the main flavor component.

Finish: Lingering orange floral notes

Thoughts: Wow! This is amazing. The regular Slow & Low made me want to try making my own. This makes me realize that I don't need to, not while I have this bottle at least. The orange label is much less sweet than the black label and has much more whiskey presence. It holds up to ice well, but is tasty enough right out of the bottle as well.

If you find this and like orange with your whiskey, pick it up. I don't think you will be disappointed.

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Premixed Cocktail: Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock and Rye

September 1, 2016 Eric Burke

It should come as no surprise by now that I like cocktails. Especially if they have whiskey in them. Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Toronto, Whiskey Smash, Sazerac are among the favorites in my house and Michael Dietsch’s Whiskey cocktail book is never far from where I keep the cocktail making equipment.

It was during my research for the review of that book that I noticed the Rock and Rye batched cocktail recipe in the book. Which reminded me that there is a bottled version for sale as well. I’d never had a Rock and Rye in any form so before I committed an entire bottle of whiskey to the endeavor of making my own, I decided to pick up a bottle and make sure it was something I might want to try making for myself.

Which is how I ended up with a bottle of Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock and Rye. This is the regular release black label version. I picked up the limited release orange label as well, but that will have to wait for another post.

Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock and Rye

Purchase Info: $17.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndal Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Details: 42% ABV

Nose: Honey and bitter orange peel

Mouth: Honey, orange zest and an alcohol bite

Finish: Some whiskey shows up in the finish along with lingering orange zest. There is a nice warmth that settles in the chest.

Thoughts: This is very tasty. And it’s a cocktail that I don’t have to make before I enjoy it. It is very sweet so giving it a chill helps it out. It’s good over ice, but I just keep mine in the fridge so I don’t need to dilute it. After trying this, I would say that I’d be happy to donate a bottle to trying to make some for myself.

Recommendation: The Bourbon Country Reader

July 5, 2016 Eric Burke

Way back when I was a young bourbon-lad, transitioning from a bourbon drinker to a bourbon geek, Chuck Cowdery's The Bourbon Country Reader was the first whiskey publication I subscribed to. Over the years, I subscribed to other whiskey publications, Whiskey Advocate, The Bourbon Review and others. But one-by-one I let those subscriptions lapse. Sometimes it was because I didn't find anything between the pages that I found valuable enough to pay for. Sometimes it was due to lack of time or interest on my part.

The one publication subscription I've never let lapse is The Bourbon Country Reader. The content is well-written, well-researched and isn't available anywhere else. Chuck knows bourbon and though he has his opinions, that's part of the draw. The subscription, being about the price of a cheap-ish bottle of bourbon, is inexpensive at $20 for six issues. These appear roughly 4-6 times per year but your subscription is issue based, not time based. They appear frequently enough that they become part of your routine and not something that you've forgotten that you subscribed to by the time the next issue arrives. And in what might seem a paradoxical statement I like that it is short. It is 4 pages long with three to four articles per issue. I can get through it in one sitting. There is no filler.

If you are reading bourbon blogs, you are probably reading Chuck Cowdery's blog. If you read bourbon books, you might have read his books: Bourbon, Straight and Bourbon, Strange among others. But if you read only one bourbon publication, it should be The Bourbon Country Reader. Go to Chuck's blog to subscribe.

My Wandering Eye: Dusty Cognacs from the 1970s

June 28, 2016 Eric Burke

This post is only part of the My Wandering Eye series as a tangent. It wasn’t cheap. It isn’t readily available. But it was inspired by the exploration of other aged spirits that I conducted as part of the My Wandering Eye series. You see I was trolling eBay looking for photos of old bottles for a project that I’m working on when I happened across a listing from Canada that was offering old miniature bottles from the collection of the seller's deceased parents. In that lot were bourbons, scotches and cognacs. To be honest, the price wasn’t bad…until I got into a bidding war with another person. At which point emotion took over and I ended up dropping about $100 for 15 minis from the 1970s. Of which nine were still full and sealed.

I’ve already reviewed the Wild Turkey I received in the lot, but I was really interested to see what the cognacs in the lot would taste like. I’ve had good brandy and I’ve had terrible brandy. But when I was a kid, cognac in a snifter was visual shorthand for wealth. I was a kid in the 1970s. The fact that these were from that timeframe (even if they were possibly the lower shelf versions) was interesting. So let’s get into it.

Courvoisier V.S.

Details: Pre-1975 is as close to a date as I can figure. The top was dipped in paraffin by the previous owner. Sealed. 80 proof.

Nose: Dried, dark fruit (raisins or figs), sweet baked goods. Basically this has the nose of a Fig Newton.

Mouth: Sweet and rich with a ton of fruit present. There are some baking spices on the back end.

Finish: Short with lingering fruit.

Thoughts: Overall, this is ok. Nothing to write home about and I wouldn’t seek out another, but it was interesting to taste a bit of history. It is sweet and fruit forward. A bit too sweet for my tastes.

Marnier-Lapostolle Cognac

Details: Sept 1972 is printed on the back of the label so I’m going with that for an age. Sealed. 40% ABV

Nose: Birdseed, rubber and a hint of spoiled fruit juice.

Mouth: Sugar sweet with an unpleasant spoiled fruit undercurrent to it.

Finish: Short with lingering spoiled fruit.

Thoughts: There are two options here. One is that maybe there is a reason that, here in the US, Marnier-Lapostolle is known more for their Grand Marnier liqueur than they are for cognac. Maybe they aren’t good at this whole unflavored spirit thing. The other option is that this little bottle has seen some hard times over the last 44 years and the juice just didn’t hold up. I don’t know which it is and am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt since, of it’s 40 plus years of history, I only know that this bottle was made in France and ended up in the collection of a Canadian collector before coming to me. But wow. This is downright bad.

Hennessy Fine Cognac

Details: Pre-1975 is as close to a date as I can figure. The top was dipped in paraffin by the previous owner. Sealed. 80 proof.

Nose: Ripe peaches along with floral and oak notes.

Mouth: Very sweet. Caramel, dried flowers and hints of baking spice.

Finish: Fairly short with lingering dried fruits.

Thoughts: This was hands down the best of the three. Mostly on the strength of the nose. Peaches are one of my favorite fruits and that ripe peach note grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. Once it got into my mouth though things fell off and since ultimately the point of the liquid is to be consumed, that’s where I judge it. Once again it was ok. There wasn’t much that would lead me to seek it out again though if a friend were pouring, I wouldn’t turn it down. I will say it was much better than the modern day release of the same that I have on hand for making cocktails.

This was an interesting exercise for me. It’s fun to taste what our parents or grandparents tasted. And it’s good to be reminded from time to time that not everything that comes from prior to the time we were born is necessarily as good as we are sometimes lead to believe...it’s just harder to come by.

Elijah Craig 18 Year Old Bourbon: Pre-Hiatus vs. Post-Hiatus

June 23, 2016 Eric Burke

An Elijah Craig 18 year old bottle that has been empty for 4 years plus a sample from it and a sample from a current bottle that have been empty for 4 days.

I used to work with some amazing people. My wife was going through chemotherapy for ovarian cancer and was suffering from immense bone pain due to it. They put together a collection to get her a night in a hotel with a private hot-tub to help alleviate the pain. It was an immensely nice gesture and very much appreciated.

While we were there I was an attentive errand boy, as I was every time a chemo weekend came up. But there were times when she was sleeping or we were watching tv when I could hop on twitter and spend a little time escaping from the reality we were living by reading about whiskey. And then I read a post from Pops over at Bourbon and Banter that Elijah Craig 18 yer old was going away. I didn’t really care too much. I never cared too much for it, but my wife was very upset. At $45 it was one of her favorite bourbons that wouldn’t break the bank. She likes oak a lot more than I do.

So I did what any good husband would do, I left the hotel to go get two bottles to put away. One I still have, we plan to open it up next year to celebrate 5 years cancer-free. The other we drank pretty quickly, but as always I put aside a few samples in my sample library to have in the future.

It turns out it is now the future. Elijah Craig 18 year is back. It’s almost three times the price, but it has been seen off and on at my local Total Wine. I did not buy it. I didn’t want to spend that much on a whiskey that historically I did not like. But luckily a friend of mine did buy it and knowing that Robin was a fan, gave her a healthy sample. I in turn gave him one of the samples I put away so he could compare. Then I pulled out my other sample so I could compare them as well.

It was a fun tasting. We did it blind in order to gauge which we liked better without any preconceptions being attached. So…is the one we have in the closet better than the one we could find today?

Elijah Craig 18 Year-Old Single Barrel Bourbon Pre-Hiatus Versus Post-Hiatus.

Bourbon A:

Nose: Pear, caramel, oak and baking spices.

Mouth: Light and fruity with lively spices. Pear caramel, baking spices and herbal notes.

Finish: Spicy and warm with lingering herbal and fruity notes.

Thoughts: I would never guess this is 18 years old. It is a lively pour that almost dances across the senses. It is really good. I might even buy this one…if the price was right.

Bourbon B:

Nose: Creme Brûlée, floral notes and dusty oak.

Mouth: A little thin on the mouth feel. Caramel, mint and oak predominate.

Finish: Lingering oak and herbal notes along with a nice burn that sticks around for a while. Much of the flavor comes from the finish on this one.

Thoughts: This is muted and accentuates the oak flavors. It feels old and a bit tired. I don’t know that I’d buy it again based on this bottle. It’s just kinda meh.

So which is which? Can I go buy the energetic, virile, young 18 year old bourbon? Or am I stuck buying a tired, old bourbon at the end of its useful life? Well, I’m happy to say that Bourbon A was the post-hiatus Elijah Craig and that Bourbon B was the pre-hiatus version. And in a rare case of whiskey-math working like regular math, I think the bourbon that costs almost three times as much as it used to, is approximately that much better than it used to be. I’m shocked to say it, but I might even buy one of these if I see it on the shelf. Even at $130. Weird.

Whiskey: A Spirited Story with 75 Classic & Original Cocktails by Michael Dietsch

June 16, 2016 Eric Burke

As I tend to list my favorite cocktail as Whiskey in a Glass, it should come as no surprise that I am not really a cocktail guy. Not because I don’t like cocktails. I like them quite a bit. And not because they are too hard. I love cooking elaborate meals. No I’m not a cocktail guy, because I don’t know what I’m doing. Go beyond a Sazerac, a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned and I’m not sure what to do. There are too many possible ingredients that only seem to come in 750 mL bottles and which you use a teaspoon at a time.

This is why I was looking forward to Michael Dietsch’s new book Whiskey: A Spirited Story with 75 Classic & Original Cocktails. I need help knowing what to make, what types of ingredients I should buy and in what combinations I should use them. Eventually I might be able to get to where I can riff on my own, but for now I’m a relative noob. Plus, I loved his last book on shrubs and even made two or three of them including a Cranberry Apple Shrub that I substituted for the vermouth in a Manhattan for a while.

The first third of the book is a primer on the different types of whiskey. Everything from bourbon to scotch to Japanese whiskey is covered. There is even a separate section for Tennessee whiskey just to make Jack and George fans feel special. The next 20 pages or so are really great for the cocktail noob. Entitled “How to Make a Cocktail” it gives you an overview on equipment, technique, glasses and more.

Then you get into the nitty gritty. The part I wanted to book for. The recipes. The first night I had the book I went through and put flags on the cocktails I wanted to try. Soon I had run out of flags and had to grab a second package. I must have tabbed about half the cocktails in the book. Then it was time for a shopping list. Luckily I was able to buy just a few of ingredients to make a large number of them. Then I got down to research. If I was going to review the book, I wanted to do more than just read it.

There were cocktails in there that I’d always wanted to try, but never had, like the Vieux Carré. There were the standards that are in every book like the Manhattan, etc. But then there were ones I had never heard of as well. Things with exotic names like Algonquin, Bardstown, Lion’s Tail and Fanciulli.

One thing I liked about the book is that along with each recipe you get a little of it’s history. A little information about it. Plus, if you are a history buff like I am, a nice touch was that the recipes are organized by historical period. Feel like having a Prohibition-party? You know what to make. Feel like something modern? Turn to the back.

To say I enjoyed my research would be an understatement. My wife and I spent at least two weeks going through the book and making everything we had the ingredients for and then buying the ingredients to make some of the others. This is a book I can easily recommend to any whiskey fan looking to expand a little beyond Whiskey in a Glass.

Curious about what’s inside? Michael has graciously given permission for me to republish one of my favorite recipes in the book. I really like this one.

Fanciulli

Ingredients

2 ounces of bourbon (Bulleit is suggested though I can attest that other fruity, light bourbons work as well)

3/4 ounce sweet vermouth

1/4 ounce Fernet-Banca

Procedure

Fill a mixing glass 2/3 full of ice
Add bourbon, vermouth, and Fernet-Branca, and stir 15 seconds, or until chilled and diluted.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

My Wandering Eye: Chateau De Laubade VSOP

May 19, 2016 Eric Burke

Tomorrow I am going to visit family in Wisconsin. And as such it is only fitting that I explore my father’s favorite drink. Yep, my eye is wandering again and once again I’m down the brandy aisle.

Last year, I gave my father Chateau De Laubade VSOP Armagnac for Christmas. As I’ve stated before, he likes his brandy, but usually buys regular release Korbel. Because until recently, I’d yet to explore brandy most of the time he got presents that I had never tasted. And though he shares, it’s usually a pull from the bottle or an 80 proof drowned in ice. So I decided to give it a try. Chateau De Laubade is a Total Wine exclusive. As such, this one was available in a 200 mL bottle so I didn’t have to lay down too much cash to try it. In this case, it was $12 or so.

Chateau De Laubade VSOP

Purchase Info: $11.99 for a 200 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Floral with plump raisins, baked apple and sweet caramel.

Mouth: Trending toward dry with a full mouthfeel.

Finish: A long but delicate finish with caramel, raisins, spice and floral notes.

Thoughts: This has a lovely nose and finish. I’d say most of the flavor hits you during the finish. During my initial tasting, I used a Glencairn as I normally do for these reviews and wasn’t impressed. Because when I’m not doing a tasting, I normally drink using different types of glassware, I tried this again using a small snifter style glass. It is amazing what a difference it made. I picked up much more on the nose and mouth and enjoyed it much more. At $40 for a 750, this isn’t a bargain, but it is easily as good as many of the bourbons that have recently entered it’s price point.

My wandering eye is a series reacting to the crazy rising prices in the bourbon world. We’ve reached a place where even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. If I’m going be asked to drop $40 to $70 on a mediocre bourbon, I might as well see what else I can get for that money. See if another spirits category offers something that is downright tasty in that price range. The goal isn’t to find cheap spirits, but to maximize the quality I’m getting at a particular price point.

My Wandering Eye: Copper & Kings American Brandy, Cask Strength

May 12, 2016 Eric Burke

Copper & Kings Cask Strength American Brandy for Ace Spirits

As we all know, 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. If I’m going be asked to drop $40 to $70 on a mediocre bourbon, I might as well see what else I can get for that money. See if another spirits category offers something that is downright tasty in that price range. The goal isn’t to find cheap spirits, but to maximize the quality I’m getting at a particular price point.

Today, I’m playing in the top end of the price range by purchasing a single cask brandy picked by a local retailer. I’ve run across Copper & Kings on numerous occasions while visiting Kentucky. They often have a spot in various BourbonFest events. So I’ve tried a few of their releases in the past. I’d never purchased one though. Until I tried a sample at a local liquor store.

I was in there looking for inexpensive bourbons to include in Bottom-Shelf Brackets for March. I got to talking with my friendly neighborhood booze vendor about the things I was buying when he mentioned their barrel of Copper & Kings. I was intrigued and asked for a sample. Before I knew it there was a bottle in my hand and I was walking to the register before I found two in there. But a lot of things are good in the store so let’s see if this holds up to closer inspection.

Copper & Kings American Brandy for Ace Spirits

Purchase info: $64.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Ace Spirits

Details: 67% ABV. Single Cask. Per the bottle: Non-chill filtered. No added boisé, sugar or caramel colors.

Nose: Caramel and chocolate covered raisins, a slight smokiness and oak.

Mouth: As you might guess at 134° proof this is really hot. If you can push past the heat, you will find a sweet fruitiness.

Finish: Long, warm and fruity.

With Water (about 100° proof): The fruit really comes to the forefront and is backed with caramel, oak a slight smokiness and a really nice level of warmth. The finish is still long warm and fruity but is sweeter too.

Thoughts: This is really too hot to drink neat. Which even the producer admits on the side of the bottle when they tell you to enjoy it on the rocks, with a mixer or in a cocktail. With some water though, this is a delicious spirit and is highly recommended. It has a spot on my bourbon shelf for as long as it lasts.

Now speaking of cocktails, I think I might have to try this one I found on the Copper and Kings website…

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