Month: February 2015

Big Bottom Port Cask Finished

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Maker: Big Bottom, Hillsboro, Oregon, USAwpid-20150220_122442.jpg

Distiller: Unknown, likely MGPI, Lawrenceburg, Indiana, USA

Style: Straight bourbon finished in Port casks.

Age: NAS

Proof: 91 (45.5% AVB)

Batch: 7

Note: Not chill filtered

Price: $40 (Binny’s)

Appearance: Dark auburn.

Nose: Alcohol, oak, wood varnish, hint of port.

Palate: Sweet and oaky on the palate. Alcohol, aged tawny, chocolate covered dried cherries.

Finish: Alcohol, wine grape jam, dates. Lingers for a long time.

Mixed: While I don’t usually mix bourbons in this price range, fortified wine finished bourbons usually mix very well in the classier sort of cocktails so I thought I’d give it a go. I tried it in a Manhattan, perfect Manhattan, boulevardier, Dave Wondrich’s Holdfast cocktail (bourbon, bitters, splash of Gran Marnier) and a whiskey sour. It did well in all but it showed up best in the cocktails with as few mixers as possible to let the finishing show through. These were the Manhattans, Holdfast and the sour.

Parting words: Big Bottom (named after a section of the Lewis & Clark Mt. Hood Wilderness Area, and not to be confused with Big Ass Bourbon) offer a range of bourbons but made their name with their wine-finished ones. They bottle wines finished in Rhone, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Port barrels. I decided to start with their Port-finished expression because I have more experience with Port-finished whiskeys than with any of the others. This one is finished in a ten year old tawny cask.

This is probably the best Port-finished bourbon I’ve had. It is a little hot upon first pour but after blows off it gets much better. BB doesn’t have the strawberry flavors of Angel’s Envy (or the Balvenie Portwood for that matter) but has richer fruit flavors like the cherry and date mentioned above.  It works  very well with red vermouth and is damn near perfect as an after-dinner sipper. The price is fair for a product of this high quality. The care they took in selecting the barrels for finishing shows in the end result. Big Bottom Port finished is recommended.

 

Germain-Robin Alembic Brandy Reserve Vine & Table batch 2012F

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Maker: Germain-Robin, Ukiah, California, USAwpid-20150219_171845.jpg

Age: NAS

ABV: 43%

Price: $50

Appearance: Burnt orange with a long, persistent necklace.

Nose: Alcohol, raisins, prunes, mincemeat, black tea.

Palate: Full-bodied and rich. Prune juice, star anise, passito wine, oak.

Finish: Dry and spicy. Fruitcake or mincemeat spices, raisins.

Parting words: Co-founded by a man from a distilling family in Cognac, Germain-Robin is probably the U.S.’s finest producer of brandy. They’ve been in business since 1982 (an eternity in micro-distiller years) and were favorites of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, among others.

This is very much in the style of Cognac but better than most in its price range. As a whiskey drinker primarily, it makes a very pleasant change of pace. I haven’t tried V & T’s other batch, 2012E but I have heard excellent things about it too. Something this tasty at this price is not something I would mix. It’s an excellent value from an excellent maker and an excellent retailer. Germain-Robin Alembic Brandy Reserve Vine & Table batch 2012F is highly recommended.

2 Lads Riesling

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Maker: 2 Lads, Traverse City, Michigan, USAwpid-20150218_213116.jpg

Place of origin: Pratt Farm & Twin Bay vineyards, Old Mission Peninsula AVA, Michigan, USA

Style: Semi-dry

Vintage: 2012

Notes: Harvested 10/18 & 10/22/2012, Sugar: 22° Brix, pH: 3.29, 1220 cases produced.

ABV: 11.5%

Price: $16 (website)

Appearance: Bright gold with thin, streaky legs.

Nose: Under ripe pear, mineral water, mild pineapple, star fruit, woodruff.

Palate: Gently tart on entry, white peach, dried thyme and then minerals.

Finish: Dry and clean. Flint, hint of wildflower honey.

Parting words: It’s hard to know what one is getting into when one sees “medium dry” on a Riesling label. One person’s medium dry is another one’s sweet. This one is dryer than I thought it would be but that’s not a bad thing. It has all the stony, bracing qualities one expects in a dry Riesling, but still has enough sweetness to round itself out and keep it from becoming one dimensional. Does very well with food of all kinds and the price is reasonable for a Michigan Riesling of this quality. Drink now or in the near future. 2012 2 Lads (medium dry) Riesling is recommended.

The Pass Sauvignon Blanc

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Maker: Unknownwpid-2015-02-11-16.39.46.jpg.jpeg

Place of origin: Marlborough, New Zealand.

Vintage: 2013

ABV: 13%

Note: Reviewed 22 hours after opening

Purchased for $9

Appearance: Pale gold.

Nose: White grapefruit, pineapple, lemon juice. Whiff of acetone.

Palate: Bland on entry, but soon turns grassy and acerbic. Like having a pineapple spear shoved into one’s sinuses.

Finish: Harsh. Citrus pith. Leaves the mouth feeling like one has eaten too much fresh pineapple.

Parting words: Believe it or not, The Pass was even worse when I first opened it. After some time breathing in the fridge it is almost approaching drinkability. 2013 was supposed to be a good vintage for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but you’d never know it from this.

The Pass is is a special label for Trader Joe’s from a New Zealand producer with American ownership (maybe something from the Foley group). I can taste why they wouldn’t want this wine under the label of one of their known brands. I enjoy grapefruit notes in NZ Sauvignon Blanc, but this wine is totally out of balance and is more like an assault on the senses than a crisp summertime sipper. My recommendation is that you take a…wait for it…PASS on The Pass.

Collingwood 21

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Maker: Canadian Mist, Collingwood, Ontario, Canada (Brown-Forman)wpid-20150206_163642.jpg

Style: 100% malted rye Canadian whisky finished with toasted maple wood.

ABV: 40%

Michigan state minimum: $60

Appearance: Bright orange

Nose: Rich and bright. Dried orange peel, vanilla sugar cookies, cut oak, ground walnut.

Palate: Soft and mild. Grade A maple syrup, faint notes of clementine, maple sugar, oak.

Finish: A little oak and potpourri, then softly fades into a gentle sweetness.

Parting words: The nose on this whisky is truly amazing. It’s complex, elegant and beautiful from beginning to end. Wood is very much present, both maple and oak, but it’s never overbearing. Everything is seamlessly integrated. I could just sit and smell this whisky for hours.

Then there’s the taste and finish. Anticlimactic would be a polite word for it. Neither is bad, but they don’t even come close to matching the promise of the amazing nose. This is yet another Canadian Whisky that is held back from being the world class spirit is should be by being bottled at 40%. At 45% or, God forbid, 50% this would be world class. As it is, it’s a sad reminder of what is holding Canadian whiskies back. No, forget sad, Collingwood 21 makes me angry. The women and men who made this product deserve better than a showing like this.

$60 is too high but, my anger not withstanding, at $50 or lower, Collingwood 21 is recommended.

Dan-Armor Cuvée Spéciale

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Maker: Cidres Dujardin, Jurques, Calvados, Lower Normandy, France

Place of origin: Brittany, France

Style: Dry Breton cider

Notes: No sweetener added.

ABV: 5%

Price: $5 (Trader Joe’s)

Appearance: Iridescent orange with a quick, foamy head. Head doesn’t last but the bubbles do.

Nose: Mineral water, apples, caramel.

Palate: Medium bodied and semi-dry. Crisp, dry apples up front with a hint of brown sugar, then fades into bone-dry minerality.

Finish: Clean and slightly chalky.

Parting words: In part three (at least) of my ongoing effort to at least understand French cider, if not enjoy it, I head southwest from Normandy to Brittany. Brittany has a long and fascinating history with deep historical ties to Normandy and the British Isles. I would love to go into all of that here but only one aspect of those connections is applicable here: cider. Cider is beloved in all three areas for cultural, historical and geological reasons. Apples grow much better in all three places than grapes do, so the cider making tradition is strong in all those places.

Anyway, this is my first Breton cider and I’m enjoying it much more than the Norman ones I’ve had. It lacks the sour yeasty funk of those and instead has a delicately sweet and refreshing character that is much more enjoyable. At $5 this is an easy buy.  Dan-Armor Cuvée Spéciale is highly recommended.