Michter's Unblended American Whiskey - Oh, That's Nice

 

Michter's Unblended American Whiskey shares something in common with its stablemate and previous dram, Michter's Sour Mash Whiskey - a mysterious set of ingredients.

It's not labelled as a rye or a bourbon, which means that it's likely less than 50% corn or rye in the mash. Outside of that, what's in it is anybody's guess. Well, Michter's swears there are no neutral grain spirits in there, so we can rule that out.

My guess is some combination of corn, wheat and barley - if there's rye in the mash, it doesn't seem to be a a lot, as there's not much in the way of the spicy, peppery notes I associate with rye.

Michter's American (my AC is out so I'm in no mood to retype that damn long name in full anymore) is aged in used bourbon barrels, and then cut down down at bottling to 83 proof. How long is it aged? Good question - Michter's isn't saying.

Of course, the real question, the only questions that matters are:

Is the whiskey in the bottle any good?

Is it worth the price ($40-45 in the states)?

The answer to the first question is yes - it's good. There's honey and caramel and vanilla in the nose. Like the Sour Mash, it's a lightish whiskey on the tongue. The flavor is sweet, especially with a little water, more honey and caramel notes and hints of distinctive bourbon flavor that accent but don't overwhelm. The sweetness  fades moderately quickly to light bit of spice, and then it's mostly gone.

Is it worth the price? Just like with the Sour Mash, I'm undecided. It's good, and I'm glad I took the chance on the bottle. Will I buy another bottle when I finish this one? Perhaps. I like it more than the Sour Mash, but for that price, there are still other whiskies I like more.

 

 

Michter's Sour Mash Whisky - Tasty, Tasty Mystery Meat

 

So far, this whiskey wins the title for most meaningless name.

Normally, you can glean a little something from the name of the whiskey. In the US, a straight bourbon whiskey has to be at least 51% corn in the mash recipe - usually closer to 70% corn. A straight rye, likewise, must have a grain bill of least 51% rye, although it can run as high as 95% rye. And a wheated bourbon can be assumed to have wheat in it's grain bill.

A pure malt whiskey will be made from nothing but malted barley, even if the whisky is made by blending the outputs of several distilleries. And a single malt scotch will be the all malted barley product of a single distillery.

However, sour mash refers the process of conditioning or starting the mash with leftover mash from the previous batch. This helps create better fermentation and batch-to-batch consistency. The mash is the collection of hot water and ground grains, some malted, that you add yeast to produce the low wine that gets distilled into whiskey.

The grain bill and the yeast and other microorganisms in the mash combine to produce part of the flavor of the final whiskey. Using the sour mash method helps inhibit the growth of unwanted bacteria whose by-products might produce unwanted flavors in the low wine, and the resulting whiskey.

Almost all bourbon in the US is mashed using the sour mash method, and there doesn't seem to be a distinct flavor profile associated with the method. So using sour mash as the focus of the title is equivalent to saying: American Quality Control Process Produced Whiskey.

Not particularly helpful to the curious whiskey drinker. Especially since Michter's Sour Mash Whiskey is new to the market. Their website claims that it is the resurrection of the deceased whiskey of the same name that went absent from the market for more than two decades after  the previous iteration of Michter's went bankrupt.  There is no way to tell how close the two namesake whiskies are.

In fact, what the label doesn't say is more instructive than what it does. It doesn't claim to be bourbon, so one can safely assume the grain bill is less than 51% corn. It also doesn't claim to be a rye whiskey, so I feel safe in assuming that it's less than 51% rye. And it's not pure malt, so it's made from things other than barley. There's no age statement, but according to the Michter's site, it's aged in new, fire charred, American Oak barrels.

So what's in it? Nobody outside the company really knows, but the consensus of other reviewers seems to be an almost equal mix of corn and rye, with maybe some barely in the mix. That squares with what I'm tasting - a whiskey nicely balanced between rye and bourbon.

In the glass, this has a nice dark gold color. The aroma (nose) is sweet, with hints of honey.

On the tongue, the whiskey is fees lighter than the color suggests. It starts sweetish - the corn, and then smoothly transitions to a pleasant gingery spiciness - the rye, and perhaps the oak. It has a short finish - it does not linger around long.

The light mouthfeel and short finish actually work quite well here. This a very pleasant sipping whiskey with enough complexity to make it interesting. It's a great mingling drink for parties - it's got good flavor, but the short finish ensures you wont miss your conversational openings  because your taste buds are endlessly living that last sip.

Your mouth will, however, demand another sip pretty soon. Which is perfect, because it's good manners to shut up and let others have their say, so as to avoid monopolizing the conversation. You'll be able to offer another brief nugget of wisdom and hilarity soon enough.

Maybe after just one more sip...

Michter's Sour Mash is bottled at 86 proof (43% abv), which means it's been cut down from cask strength. A little water, a splash will do and no more, can open up the flavors a little, but it drinks perfectly well straight.

Michter's Sour Mash will set you back around $40 - $45 a bottle in the US, depending up your locale. If you like bourbon or rye, it's definitely worth trying.

Personally, I'm glad I took a chance on the bottle. I'm not sure yet if it has a permanent home on my bar, though, because in that price range, I have other whiskies that I like more. Still, it seems to be growing on me.

 

A final note, just because it is interesting. Michter's website and bottle talk about the brand's proud Pennsylvania heritage. However, the current owners of the brand are just now finishing their distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. Ever since the brand was purchased from bankruptcy and recreated, it's products have been distilled under contract elsewhere - usually by Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, according to Wikipedia.

Johnny Walker Black Label - The Safe Haven

Johnny Walker Black Label is a 12-year-old blended Scotch. So what does that mean?

For starters, it means all the constituent whiskies have spent at least 12 years aging in wooden barrels, most likely oak. Since it's blended, it means that the whisky in the bottle is a mix of the products of many different  distilleries (several places online claim that about 40 whiskies go into the making of Black Label) .

And finally, since it doesn't advertise itself as a pure malt whisky, it means that whisky made from other grains, such as wheat, corn or rye are involved in the blend as well.

There are two reasons to blend whiskies like this:

• To create rich, complex whisky based on the interplay of flavors;


• To cut costs (usually the reason for the addition of non barley malt whiskies).

Blended scotch has gotten a bad rap among single malt fanciers, because all cheap scotch is blended, and makes liberal use of the non-barley grains. And cheap scotch is generally really bad scotch.

However, blended scotch doesn't have to be wretched. A talented master distiller can mix up a tasty, complex dram using the interplay of flavors from various distilleries as point, counterpoint, highlight and base.

In fact, if you're not buying single barrel whisky, your bottle of single malt (or bourbon or rye) is a blend  of various barrels from that distillery's warehouses, chosen and mixed by the master distiller to produce the consistent signature flavor of that expression. Otherwise, given that different barrels at different places in the warehouse age differently, as well as the effects of weather on the aging process, the final product would be wildly inconsistent.

So, where does Johnny Walker Black Label fall on the crap-to-gold continuum  of blended scotch?

For me, it's definitely drinkable straight, unlike its younger brother, Red Label. That immediately elevates well above most blended scotch.

Black Label is bottled at 80 proof (40% abv), which means it's slightly more watered down from cask strength than most single malts, which are generally bottled at 86 proof ( 43% abv). Even so, I prefer to drink it with a splash of water to open up the flavors.

The nose doesn't give me much, a little sugar, a little oak. It's got decent weight on the tongue, even with the water.

Flavor-wise, there's some honey, some peat, some oak. Black Label has a moderately long finish, with hints of oak and peat and caramel late in the game.

If you sense a lack of wild enthusiasm there, you'd be correct. Black Label is decent enough, and it has the advantage of being almost ubiquitous world-wide. That makes it sort of a safe haven for a scotch drinker - a tolerable dram you can find almost anywhere you end up.

What it does not do for me, is excite me. The flavor is muted compared to a good single malt, or a pure malt blended scotch made from a smaller number of  whiskies, like the Johnny Walker Green Label. It just doesn't have much character.

And, frankly, given the price, it doesn't offer a compelling value. For about the same price, you can pick up a bottle of Highland Park single malt,  Old Pulteney single malt, or  Bowmore single malt, or, if you like bourbon, a bottle of Woodforde Reserve, or Willett Pot Still, all of which have more interesting character and flavor. For significantly less, you can get a bottle of Old Weller Antique Bourbon, which matches or betters Black Label, in my opinion.

Go another $5 to $10 higher, and you start being able to buy things such as Macallan 12-year-old single malt or the Balvenie Double Wood single malt, or Dalwhinnie 15-year-old single malt: all of which a far more interesting drams than Black Label.

If you offer me a glass of Johnny Walker Black Label, I won't refuse it, and I'll enjoy sipping it. But this is not a whisky I would ever seek out, unless the bar was bereft of anything better.