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Barrell Rye 13 Year Canadian Rye Single Barrel Cask Strength
Barrell Craft Spirits is a new(er) whiskey maker. If you recall, one of my early reviews was for the company’s other label, Stellum, which focuses on younger and a more affordable price point. Barrell Bourbon and Barrell Ryes, however, tend to be more Batch focused with higher age statements, as well as a few staple labels that are ongoing releases (I’ll review more of those at a later date).
This particular release is a store pick from Gordon’s Wine. Barrel # L941 (Bottle No. 127) which is a 13 year old Canadian Rye which was aged both in Canada and in Kentucky…..
Eagle Rare Bourbon 10 Year Old
I don’t know how I have done this many reviews and I’m just now getting to Eagle Rare Bourbon. The Eagle Rare 10 year, like the Stagg Jr. I recently reviewed, is the younger sibling of a Buffalo Trace Antique Collection release (Eagle Rare 17), but unlike the Stagg, this one is readily available year round….or rather, it used to be…..
Glenmorangie “A Tale of Cake”
Glenmorangie A Tale of Cake is the second “A Tale of…” Limited Edition series release that I will review, but the first that was released chronologically……Let them have cake?
Redbreast 12 Year Cask Strength
The final St. Patty’s Week Irish Whiskey review is for Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength. I have had both the Redbreast 12 and the Redbreast Lustau before, but not the Cask Strength. The standard 12 Year Old is great, but my only qualm is the 40% ABV it’s bottled at. The Lustau, for those that do not know, is a NAS whiskey (rumored to be made from 9-12 year old juice), that is then finished in Oloroso sherry casks. I really liked the Lustau as well (bottled at 46%) and will have to pick up another bottle down the road for reviewing purposes. I am excited for the Cask Strength version to see what the Redbreast tastes like in its raw form without being watered down to 40%. Let’s see how it goes.
West Cork Single Malt Aged 12 Years Rum Cask Finished
We will be tasting Glendalough 13 Year Mizunara Finished Single Malt for our fourth Irish Whiskey of the week.
Initially, my good friend mentioned this bottle to me as something he had heard from his local liquor store guy. I remembered reading about this bottle in Whisky Advocate so I bought one the next time I saw one in my own local store. I figured I would crack it when my friend visited next….but things kept coming up and then COVID happened and well, this is my long winded way of saying that this bottle has collected dust, unopened on my shelf for 3+ years now. What better time to crack it open than for my debut St. Patty’s Day Week of Tastings?
Glendalough 13 Year Mizunara Finished Single Malt
We will be tasting Glendalough 13 Year Mizunara Finished Single Malt for our fourth Irish Whiskey of the week.
Initially, my good friend mentioned this bottle to me as something he had heard from his local liquor store guy. I remembered reading about this bottle in Whisky Advocate so I bought one the next time I saw one in my own local store. I figured I would crack it when my friend visited next….but things kept coming up and then COVID happened and well, this is my long winded way of saying that this bottle has collected dust, unopened on my shelf for 3+ years now. What better time to crack it open than for my debut St. Patty’s Day Week of Tastings?
Yellow Spot 12 Year Old
We will be tasting Yellow Spot 12 Year for our third Irish Whiskey of the week.
Previously, we reviewed the Green Spot Montelena Cask Finished whiskey. At its core, the Green Spot is a 7-10 year old expression that is aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The Yellow Spot has a similar core, except aged for at least 12 years, with Malaga casks added to the maturation process in addition to the ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks.
Teeling Single Pot Still vs. Teeling Small Batch
Next up for St. Patty’s Week is Teeling Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey.
We reviewed Teeling Small Batch a while back so now we will set our sights (tastes?) on another one of Teeling’s whiskeys, the Single Pot Still. This whiskey is made from 50% unmalted spring barley and 50% malted barley, which was then tripled distilled and aged in a variety of casks including ex-bourbon barrels, virgin American Oak barrels (new barrels), and sherry casks. This particular bottle was bottled in September of 2019.
Jameson Irish Whiskey vs. Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition
The first review of St. Patty’s Week 2022 is the O.G., Jameson Irish Whiskey. In addition to what was posted on Instagram, we will also review the Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition and compare it to the original. Let’s get started…
Willett Family Estate Straight Rye Aged 3 Years
The Willett Distillery has a very long history and can be a post in its own right, but the story of this bottle, the Willett Family Estate Straight Rye Whiskey, is much shorter. After sourcing whiskey for a number of years the Willett Distillery started distilling in earnest again in 2012. I happened to visit the distillery in 2017 with a friend and picked up this bottle, which I swear I had opened at some point over the past ~5 years, but upon opening the tube last night, apparently I had not! So I have a fresh review for a 3 year old Rye that I bought 5 years ago which had to have been made within Willett’s first 2 years of distilling. Confused? Me too.
Stagg Jr. Bourbon (Batch 17)
Stagg Jr. Straight Bourbon Whiskey is the younger sibling of George T. Stagg Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Unfortunately, older brother George took a sabbatical in 2021. Luckily, Stagg Jr., which is rumored to be aged 8-9 years, had 2 releases (as usual) in 2021. The one I will be reviewing is Batch 17, which was the last release in 2021 and is said to be the last that will carry the “Jr.” in the label.
Maker’s Mark 46 Cask Strength
The Maker’s Mark No. 46 Cask Strength is a Limited Release which, in my opinion, benefits from both the No. 46 stave profile as well as the higher-octane proof point. Don’t get me wrong, I like the traditional Maker’s as well, but I have found myself gravitating towards the No. 46’s more often.
Loch Lomond 12 Year Old
Previously, I did some reviews on affordable whiskies but I wanted to do another single malt that I have on my shelf that was at the same price point as the Glen Moray Elgin Classic Port Finish (SPOILER: I didn’t like the $30 Glen Moray). This is the Loch Lomond 12 year old. My previous attempt at this price point failed, but it was also a NAS. I’m not sure if a cheap “well aged” one will be better or worse, but let’s find out.
SMWS 68.59 “Crunch or Crackle”
The next review will take a look at another Scotch Malt Whisky Society release, No.68.59 “Crunch or Crackle” which is a 12 year old single malt distilled in Aug. 2008. For those that do not recall from my previous SMWS post, the first number in the “code” represents the distillery, which while they do not market the name of the distillery, it is widely available to find on the internet. This particular bottle comes from Blair Athol, a Highland distillery.
Bib & Tucker Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey Aged 6 Years
Since in the last review we did a “newer” big-distilery bourbon release, today we will do a newer small-distillery bourbon release. I had read some good things on Bib & Tucker’s 6 year old small batch bourbon so I figured I would pick up a bottle and give it a go. I don’t know much about Bib & Tucker but they seem to want to be a “brand” as opposed to a distillery. With a lot of the smaller start-up distilleries, they source product while they build up their own stocks….
Thomas S. Moore Kentucky Straight Bourbon Finished in Chardonnay Casks
Thomas S. Moore Kentucky Straight Bourbon is a newer whiskey on the market from Barton 1792 Distillery, sister distillery of Buffalo Trace, all under the Sazerac umbrella. This newer series released three Bourbons with an “extended cask finish” in Port, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay wine casks. According to the labels, these bourbons were aged “many years” and then finished for “several more years”. Typically, you see “finishing” for 6-12 months, so having something finished for “many years” should impart more of the wine cask elements to the final product. We will be reviewing the Chardonnay finished version of this series. While I do love me a nice port finish, I wanted to try something new, and Chardonnay finished bourbons are not that common. So here we go.
The Balvenie DoubleWood 17
I asked some of my Instagram followers what I should review next and The Balvenie DoubleWood 17 Years was suggested. Just in luck, I had a bottle on hand. As those that have read some of my previous reviews know, I am a big The Balvenie fan so I was more than happy to jump on this suggestion.
Cream of Kentucky Estate Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
Cream of Kentucky is an old brand that was purchased by Jim Rutledge’s new distillery, J.W. Rutledge Distillery. For those who aren’t familiar with the name “Jim Rutledge”, he was the Master Distiller at Four Roses, working there for almost 50 years (from when it was still Seagrams) and reviving the brand here in the U.S….
Ardbeg Corryvreckan
We are heading back to Islay to take a look at Ardbeg Corryvreckan, one of the two NAS whiskies in Ardbeg’s core line (the other being Uigeadail). We don’t know much about how this one was made, but if we read through the lines on the Ardbeg site we can infer that the Corry was aged in both ex-Bourbon (as the standard 10 year old is) as well as new French Oak barrels. French Oak is said to give more spicy/peppery notes compared to the American Oak (used for Bourbon aging) which is more vanilla forward. We do know that this is the highest proof of the core products, coming in at 57.1% so I expect this to have some extra horsepower and may use some water to open up other flavors as well.
Wilderness Trail Single Barrel Rye Whiskey - Barrel Proof
Our next review is Wilderness Trail Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Settlers Select Rye Barrel Proof Whiskey. Wilderness Trail is a “newer” distillery located in Danville, KY. I say “newer” because it has been around for 10 years, launching in 2012, however, instead of rushing out to market they seemed to have focused on building up aged stock. I live in the Northeast of the U.S. and we didn’t get Wilderness Trail distributed up here until mid-late 2021.