Month: July 2014

Beefeater 24

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Maker: Beefeater, Lambeth, Greater London, England, UK (Pernod-Ricard)wpid-20140731_173501-1.jpg

Style: London dry gin.

ABV: 45%

Michigan State Minimum: $24

Appearance: Clear with a pearl necklace.

Nose: Juniper, citrus peel, grapefruit, hint of black tea.

Palate: Thick mouthfeel, but light flavor. Some bitter orange but mostly alcohol burn and sweetness.

Finish: Sweet and spicy with angelica, horehound and sugar.

Mixed: The best way to describe the way it mixes is “crisp”. Makes a nice crisp G & T and Tom Collins which is good. The 24 dry martini and Negroni were also crisp which is fine if you like that quality in those drinks, but I prefer mine with more spice.

Parting words: Beefeater 24 is a step up from the standard Beefeater at six dollars more and, curiously, 2% lower ABV. I didn’t get a chance to taste them side by side like I wanted but based on memory, it’s an improvement.

Besides the lower proof, the difference seems to be in the botanicals. Bitter orange, grapefruit and tea are singled out on the label and their presence is certainly evident in the glass. My knock on the standard Beefeater has always been that it’s dull. 24 narrowly avoids that fault through the added earthy depth of the tea. There’s also some gibberish on the label about 24 being made from a handmade cut from the “heart of the run”. I’m not sure how one makes a “cut” by hand in this instance. Karate chops, maybe?

At any rate, 24 is a step up from the snooze-fest that is the standard Beefeater. $24 isn’t all that expensive in the grand scheme of things and the bottle is really pretty for what that’s worth. Beefeater 24 is recommended.

Chateau Grand Traverse Botrytis Riesling

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Maker: Chateau Grand Traverse, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Place of origin: Old Mission Peninsula AVA, Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2007

ABV: 12.5%? (label partially rubbed off)

Purchased for: $18/500 ml (Original price around $25)

Appearance: Dark gold with thick legs that disappear quickly.

Nose: Wildflower honey, tart apples, oregano.

Palate: Full bodied and sweet. Orange blossom honey, orange push pops, very ripe peaches, caramel covered pear.

Finish: Clingy. Canned peaches, lingers for a very long time.

Parting words: Botrytis is a class of fungi that attack fruit and can be very harmful to berries of all kinds. Under certain circumstances, though, it becomes a “noble rot” that shrivels grapes into raisins and produces a thick, intensely sweet wine like this one.

I bought this wine many years ago and let it sit in my cellar for just about longer than I have let anything else sit there. My patience was rewarded.

Online reviewers have called this wine “beerenausleselike” but I haven’t had enough of that particular class of wines to evaluate those statements. I’ll just say it is very much in the style of Botrytised Rieslings from Germany and it’s very very good. It’s best as a dessert wine but may pair with salty pork dishes or other snacks.

If you can find it, it will probably set you back a pretty penny, but then again it might not. I got this bottle out of a bargain bin at a local grocery store. It was very much worth the wait and the high price. Chateau Grand Traverse Botrytis Riesling is highly recommended.

Bastille 1789

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Maker: Daucourt , Angoulême, France

Style: Blended (Malt/Wheat) Whisky.

Age: NAS

ABV: 40%

Michigan State Minimum: $27

Thanks to Keith for the sample.

Appearance: Bright gold with thin legs.

Nose: Similar to an Irish whiskey but fruitier. Alcohol, malt, raisins, cherry pie.

Palate: Medium bodied and light. Some burn, malt, sugar plums, dried figs.

Finish: Alcohol burn, cherry juice, then a big weird blast of dried chili chipotle.

Mixed: The Bastille website recommends three cocktails: a manhattan, whisky sour and an old fashioned. The old fashioned was very good. The fruity notes came out without too much of the chipotle. The manhattan was really exceptional. The fruity aromas dovetailed perfectly with the red vermouth. I didn’t try the sour because I was too lazy.

Parting words: My expectations were low coming into this review. I expected it to be boring and flawed. While it wasn’t exactly a barnburner of a whisky, it wasn’t bad and was just different enough to be interesting, at least until the end of the sample bottle. The price is not too bad either. It’s in the same price range as Jameson and it compares favorably to it. It mixes very nicely which is a nice bonus. It won’t knock your socks off but as a curiosity (ever tried a French whisky?), change of pace and mixer it’s worth buying. Bastille 1789 is recommended.

A Capella

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Maker: Black Star Farms, Sutton’s Bay, Michigan, USA

Grape: Pinot Noir

Place of origin: Capella and Montaña Rusa vineyards, Old Mission Peninsula AVA, Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2011

ABV: 13%

Purchased for $25

Appearance: Deep burgundy with slow, medium width legs.

Nose: Walnut, cherry, touch of cedar.

Palate: Earthy. More so than any other Michigan Pinot I’ve had. Black cherries, wet loam, plum, white pepper, toasted oak.

Finish: A little tart, then more mild cherry followed by wood. Lingers for a long time, but faintly.

Parting words: Yes, it’s another Michigan Pinot. This one, unlike the previous two, is very much in the earthy camp. The oak is well integrated into the earth, but the fruity notes not as much. Nothing bad here though. It goes great with pasta and pork and excellent just on its own. Very much worth the price and would make a nice entry in a horizontal tasting of Michigan Pinots. 2011 A Capella Pinot Noir is recommended.

Old Overholt

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Maker: Beam, Clermont, Kentucky, USA (Beam Suntory)OO

Style: Kentucky rye whiskey

Age: 3 y/o

Proof: 80 (40% ABV)

Michigan state minimum: $22

Appearance: Pale copper.

Nose: Burnt corn syrup, white dog, lavender, epazote, wood varnish.

Palate: Sugar, alcohol and an indescribable herbal note.

Finish: Peanut brittle, tarragon, alcohol.

Mixed: Did well mixed in everything I tried it in. Did well with ginger ale and just fine in a Sazerac. The OO Manhattan was very good but I used a strongly flavored vermouth so Overholt was a bit overmatched. I didn’t try anything else but Don Draper once used it to make an Old Fashioned.

Parting words: Old Overholt is one of the oldest whiskey brands in America. It was originally made in Pennsyvania, first under the ownership of Abraham Overholt then his grandson industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The brand became a part of National Distillers after Prohibition. Production was moved from Pennsylvania to the Old Grand-Dad distillery (a.k.a. The Forks of the Elkhorn) in Frankfort, Kentucky after ND shut down its distilleries in PA. Production was moved to Clermont when Beam acquired National Distillers in 1987. It now occupies the bottom shelf of Beam’s rye brands (the others being Jim Beam Rye, Ri1, Knob Creek Rye) at 3 years old and 80 proof.

Old Overholt’s history is neat, but I would never recommend drinking it neat. It’s rough and weak. The best that can be said for it is that it’s easy to find (now that it is finally in Michigan), mixes well and is relatively cheap. On the other hand, Rittenhouse rye is also easy to find these days and is only $2 more. It has the added advantages of tasting great both neat and mixed and being 100 proof. Sazerac and Bulleit rye are more expensive (both are $28) and Sazerac is much harder to find but both taste good either way.

In summary, if all you do with your rye is mix it, then Old Overholt is mildly recommended. If you want a rye to drink neat, with water or on the rocks then look elsewhere. Not recommended.

The Mitten

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Maker: Virtue, Fennville, Michigan, USAThe Mitten

Style: Dry cider aged in bourbon barrels.

ABV: 6.8%

Price: $17/750ml (Binny’s)

Appearance: Light gold and effervescent.

Nose: Apple juice, dry Riesling, hint of oak and corn syrup.

Palate: Light and bubbly. Dry but with a tangy apple flavor. Also some caramel and bitter oak.

Finish: More tart and then dry with a background of oak and caramel.

Parting words: Virtue was founded by Gregory Hall, former brewmaster at Goose Island brewery in Chicago. He founded Virtue Cider in order to make European-style farmhouse ciders. While a bourbon barrel-aged cider doesn’t exactly fit that profile it is very much in the spirit of the thing.

This is my first Virtue cider, having been disconnected from the cider scene for quite some time. It’s very well done and I will definitely be seeking more of these out in the future. The bourbon barrel makes itself known but does not overwhelm the crisp flavor of the cider like it does in other barrel aged ciders I’ve had. It’s priced like a special occasion cider but it does quite well with food. Think Gewurz or Sauv Blanc when pairing it with a meal.

I alluded to the price earlier. It’s listed at $17 at Binny’s but I’ve seen it for even more elsewhere. If you can get it for less than $20, it’s worth a buy. The Mitten is recommended.

Isidor’s Choice Pinot Noir

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Maker: Black Star Farms, Sutton’s Bay, Michigan, USAIsidors Pinot 2011

Place of origin: Isidor’s Choice vineyard, Leelanau Peninsula AVA, Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2011

Price: $22.50 (website)

Appearance: Ruby with medium width, evenly spaced legs. Throws a few crystals into the glass.

Nose: Blackberry pie, cedar, red raspberry, hint of wet earth.

Palate: Fruity but balanced. Mixed berry jam, toasted oak, coriander seed, hint of white pepper and sautéed mushrooms.

Finish: Slightly fruity but moves to a mildly bitter taste. Raspberry, oak, pepper, cedar.

Parting words: As you’ve already guessed, this is another single vineyard Pinot Noir from Black Star farms, done for the owners of Isadora’s Choice vineyard in Leelenau. This is the second bottle of this wine I’ve drank in the last six months, so it’s safe to say I like it.

The profile is classic, well balanced Pinot. It’s got plenty of fruit and oak and earthy notes and everything else you want in a Pinot pleasantly in its place. The best Michigan Pinots can easily stand toe to toe with most red Burgundies in the same price range, and even surpass some. This vintage of Isidor’s Choice can certainly do that. The bottle suggests that it could improve in the bottle for through 2021, although it’s drinking great now, so I would crack it open now or in the next two years.

All that and it’s food friendly too. We had it with BBQ ribs and it performed very well. Isidor’s Choice 2011 Pinot Noir is recommended.