1792 Ridgemont Reserve Bourbon - Lots of Character, Good Value

Non-circular bottle harkening back to the medicine and whiskey bottles of yore that you see in museums? Check.

Pretentious name? Check?

"Hand-crafted", "small batch", "barrel select", "rich/long heritage" used in on bottle marketing twaddle? Check.

Distiller "stamp of approval" detailing the warehouse or cask spirit was aged in? Check.

Good whiskey? Check, check, check.

1792 Ridgemont Reserve definitely hits all the major points in the super premium bourbon marketing handbook, and adds a braided neck piece, for an extra touch of "authenticity". Fortunately, the whiskey inside the marketing pitch delivers the goods, and for a reasonable price.

And unlike the Hirsch Small Batch Reserve Bourbon, where the marketing is pretty much pure BS, there is some substance to 1792's claims to heritage.

1792 (this refers to the year of Kentucky's admission as the US' 15th state, not the founding of the distillery) is actually the product of the Barton Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky: mashed, distilled, aged and bottled there. This is apparently still the case, even though Barton is now part of the Sazerac spirits conglomerate. The distillery was founded before Prohibition, and brought back to life after that sad, stupid experiment ended. The unsurprisingly convoluted history of the distiller is detailed at the American Spirits site.

When this bourbon hits the shelves in 2002, was named was Ridgemont Reserve 1792 and it carried an age statement of 8 years old. A competitor's lawsuit forced the name change to the current form, and just last year they dropped the age statement from the bottle. The 1792 website continues to state that all of the bourbon that goes into the bottles is aged for at least 8 years in oak.

1792 is bottled at 93.7 proof (46.85% abv) which means it's watered down from cask strength some, but not as much as your average scotch or irish whiskey. It has a lovely reddish amber color. The bottle may look old-fashioned, but it fits my hand quite well when pouring.

According to the 1792 website, the mash is a high rye recipe, and the nose and the flavor bear that out. Straight, the spirit has a feisty sharp nose, with plenty of alcohol, and lots of spicy rye bite...but smoother than you might expect, thanks to those 8 years in that hot Kentucky warehouse.

Add just a little water to 1792, though, and it blooms. The nose gentles and you can now smell the oak from the barrel. The spicy rye bite remains, but now it flows into second act of sweet honey followed by slowly growing oak in the medium to long finish. It's a lovely sipping whiskey.

It's also still a reasonably priced one. In my home state it comes at under $30 for a 750ml bottle. Looking online, prices range from $25 to $33 a bottle. At $25, it's a fantastic value. At $33, it's still well worth buying.

The Best Damn Rye - Willett Family Estate Single Barrel Rye, Rare Release

 

WIllet Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Rye is simply the best rye whiskey I have tasted. All my whiskey-loving friends who like rye rave about it. Even those who don't like rye admit that it's the best rye they've ever had.

If you manage to find this, buy a bottle. It's not too pricey (around $35 a bottle in the US as I write this) and even if you don't like rye, it's a fantastic addition to your bar for your friends who do. It also makes an excellent gift to a rye whiskey drinker - I gave myself a bottle for my birthday, in fact. :-)

This is the whiskey that redeemed rye whiskey for me. My first taste of rye was horrid: astringent and unpleasant and completely off-putting. I was planning to give rye a complete miss, until a friend convinced me to try the Willet Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Rye (hereafter referred to as Willett SBR).

That designation, detailed at length on the label, as a single barrel whiskey, makes this a rare bird in the marketplace. Most whiskies of all types (bourbon, scotch and so on) that are bottled are produced by mixing the contents of many, many barrels to produce the desired flavor and amount of product. This is necessary because different barrels of whiskey age differently, depending upon a host of factors, such as temperature, place in the warehouse, the wood of the barrel, variations in the quality of the grains in the mash and so on.

So, each individual barrel can have its own unique taste. However, successful branding requires a consistent product, and successful business minimizes waste.  So barrels are mixed to smooth out the variations and maximize utilization of the distilled spirit.

Willett SBR is one of a handful of whiskies on the market where the contents of the bottle came from a single barrel of whiskey: no mixing. Flavor consistency is maintained by the taste buds of the Master Distiller, which leads to an interesting phenomenon - WIllet SBR bottles don't carry a consistent age statement. I have bottles that were aged for 4 years, and bottles who had to spend another year in the cask to become "right".

This is also a cask-strength whiskey. The strength varies a little from cask-to-cask, but the bottles I've seen or drank have ranged from 109 proof to 116 proof ( 54.5% to 58% ABV).

In the glass, this has a rich reddish gold color. The aroma is of oak and alcohol and spice.

I occasionally sip this straight, which is frankly amazing for such a strong spirit, but I generally prefer it with a little water. That cuts the hefty alcohol content down and lets some of the other flavors come through.

WIllett SBR has a nice rich mouthfeel. I taste notes of mint and spice, maybe some oak, and a lovely sweetness that's not quite honey.

I think it's delightful. But rye, because of it's spicy notes, tends to divide folks more than a sweeter grain, such as barley, does when it is the primary ingredient in the mash. As an American Rye, WIllett SBR is legally required to have at least 51% of the mash grains be rye. I have found several places online claiming that the mash bill is actually 95% rye and 5% barley, but I haven't found what I consider to be an authoritative source for that information.

As I said at the beginning - if you can find it, buy it. If you don't like rye, buy it for your bar anyway. Trust me, you will find folks who do and will love you for introducing them to the Willet SBR.

Old Weller Antique - Taste Above its Price

Old Weller Antique  (Original 107 Brand) Bourbon proves that sometimes, you get more than what you pay for.

Don't let the plastic cap (no pretentious cork here) fool you. The 107-proof whiskey inside compares well with brands that cost significantly more at your local liquor store.

Weller is a brand that has moved around a lot over the years. Currently, Weller is owned by the Sazerac Company, the largest distiller in the US. The Weller whiskies are among the dizzying array of bourbons pouring out of the  Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky.

The bottle comes with no age statement, but the Buffalo Trace Website claims that Old Weller Antique is aged 7 years. At 107 proof, it's effectively cask strength.

Old Weller Antique's claim to distinctiveness is the amount of wheat used in the grain bill of the mash.

Since it's a bourbon, by law the grain bill has to be at least 51% corn - it can be more. In most bourbons, the non-corn portion is filled out with rye and barley.

Old Weller is one of a class of bourbons that replace the rye with wheat. These bourbons lose the spicy, peppery counterpoint of rye and replace it with the softer, sweeter flavors that come from wheat.

In the glass, Old Weller Antique is  lovely medium amber. The nose is sweetish with hints of vanilla and subdued alcohol, but otherwise simply says: "I'm bourbon."

Sipped straight, it has a medium heavy mouthfeel. It's sweet, with caramel and vanilla notes. The sweet fades to a pleasant alcohol burn that is far less pronounced that the 53.5% alcohol content would lead you to expect. In turn, the burn fades to a long, lingering glow featuring sweet flavors balanced with oaky spiciness.

Add a good splash of water, and the alcohol disappears from the nose, replaced by caramel.  The flavor palate changes some: the corn sweetness and wheat sweetness become discernible as separate flavors amidst the caramel and vanilla, the oak notes become more pronounced,  and the alcohol burn diminishes. The finish loses some potency, fading quickly to a subdued sweet glow on the taste buds that lingers a little and then disappears.

Is this my absolute favorite bourbon? No - but it's damn good, and to my taste buds, better than the most famous American mass market whiskeys and some of the ultrapremium bourbons (such as Knob Creek) and as good as some others (such as Basil Hayden's).

The kicker is the price. As I write this, Old Weller Antique is running between $20 and $28 a bottle, depending on locale. Regardless of locale, it's $5-$15 less per bottle than bourbons I consider to be in the same taste class.

If you like bourbon, you definitely need to give Old Weller Antique a try. Priced where it is, it makes for a great, no guilt, every day sipping whiskey. It's got a permanent home on my bar.