Sandhill Crane Noiret

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Maker: Sandhill Crane Vineyards, Jackson, Michigan, USA

Grape: Noiret

Place of Origin: Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2010

ABV: 12.5%

Thanks to Oscar for helping me acquire this wine.

Appearance: Brick red with broad legs.

Nose: Black pepper, rose petals, cedar, smoke.

On the palate: Medium bodied and sweeter than the nose would indicate, but still not sweet. More black pepper, wood, black cherries, blueberries, with a faint herbal note. Gets fruitier as it opens up.

Finish: Slightly bitter and peppery. A bit of cherry juice as it fades.

Parting words: Noiret is a Cornell University hybrid, the result of a cross between Steuben and an unnamed hybrid. Most of the grape’s ancestry is North American, but there are no foxy flavors to be found here.

Going by the name, I was expecting something close to Pinot Noir, but there is no resemblance whatsoever. This is closer to a brash young Shiraz or Pinotage, which is not a bad thing, just something to be aware of. The grape’s peppery, rustic characteristics may be enhanced by the climate of South Central Michigan which is much drier and hotter in the summertime than Northwestern and West Michigan.

At first pour this wine is all black pepper and not particularly pleasant. Once it airs out it becomes enjoyable, especially with food. I can see grape this doing very good things for a red blend, perhaps providing some welcome spice to a less flavorful red, but it does fine on its own here. This price is a bit high (close to $20), but I think it’s worth it  for a chance to try a wine from fairly rare grape. It’s worth giving a try if you are ever in the neighborhood. Sandhill Crane 2010 Noiret is recommended.

Goose Island 25th Anniversary Ale

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Maker: Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois, USA++

Style: Extra Special Bitter

ABV: 6.4%

Appearance: Golden brown with a lacy head.

Nose: Subtle but complex and malty. Breakfast cereal, charred fruit, floral hops.

On the palate: Full bodied but not heavy. Effervescent with a hardy bitterness, some fruit and a hint of spice. It’s a bit overwhelming on its own, but pairs with grilled hamburgers and BBQ very nicely.

Finish: Long and bitter with a hint of cherry or plum. Mostly bitter, though (it is a bitter after all).

Parting words: Goose Island’s Anniversary Ale isn’t a blockbuster like I was expecting, but it is very enjoyable. I love ESB and a good ESB can be hard to find these days. This is a very good ESB, one of the best I’ve had from an American craft distiller. It’s a pity it seems to be a one off. It’s delicious. Goose Island 25th Anniversary Ale is highly recommended.

Round Barn Kölsch-style Beer

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Maker: Round Barn Brewery, Baroda, Michigan, USARB kolsch_

ABV: 5.2%

Appearance: Old gold, with a decent head.

Nose: Malt, hops, hint of lemon peel.

On the palate: Medium bodied and fizzy. Crisp with a classic Kölsh profile, but with more weight than expected.

Finish: Crisp and slightly fruity fading to a long, pleasant bitterness.

Parting words:

I was pleasantly surprised to see one of Round Barn’s beers on my supermarket shelves, since we rarely even get their wines around here. My concern with operations that seem to do a little bit of everything (Round Barn makes beer, wine, and distills spirits) is that they often end up doing nothing very well. Round Barn is a welcome exception to that tendency and I look forward to trying more of their beers in months to come.

This is a delicious, refreshing and very food friendly beer. It is full bodied enough to give it presence but so boozy as to preclude a second glass. The price is a tad high, but not out of line with other quality microbrews. Round Barn Kölsch-style Beer is recommended.

Russell’s Reserve Small Batch Single Barrel

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Maker: Wild Turkey, Lawerenceburg, Kentucky, USA (Campari)RR-Single-Barrel-2

Age: NAS

Proof: 110 (55%)

Appearance: Burnt orange with a nice robe and thick, slow legs.

Nose: Oak, caramel, alcohol, cayenne, plum. Classic turkey profile, but a hint of fruit.

On the palate: Sweetness, then big burn. With water the burn dies down and an unexpected fruity note comes forward. Wine grape jelly, a bit of oak and caramel.

Finish: Sweet but fiery like cinnamon disks. Fades to a pleasant, slightly fruity sweetness. With water the fruit is firmly in charge in the finish. A light jammy flavor lingers and slowly fades.

Parting words: For a Wild Turkey, this is a odd duck. I have never had a bourbon that was this fruity, ever. I have heard people mention a note of grapes in some Wild Turkey products before, but all I had ever gotten was typical caramel sweetness and WT’s characteristic char and oak notes. It’s pleasant, but not very well integrated into the rest of what’s going on here.

Those who thought the Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel would be the second coming of Russell’s Reserve 101 proof will be disappointed. It’s not that, but it is good. I’m not sure if it’s good enough to justify the price (close to $50), especially with another perfectly good barrel proof bourbon (Rare Breed) around $10 less already in the Turkey coop. With all that in mind Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel is mildly recommended.

A brief postscript about the label: In an era in which superfluous words have overrun whiskey labels like ants on an unattended slice of cherry pie, the label on this new expression stands out as one of the most absurd recent examples of the phenomenon. The label calls it a “Small Batch Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey”. A single barrel is the smallest possible batch of barrels so the label isn’t wrong per se, but it is comically redundant and raises serious questions about the minds behind Sky/Campari’s marketing and management of Wild Turkey. My advice to Campari (not that anyone there asked for it) is to remove the “small batch” and save a few pennies on ink while making the label appear less stupid.

Magellan Gin

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Maker: ???, France. Imported by Crillon Importers Ltd, Paramus, New Jersey, USAMAg

ABV: 44%

Appearance: Blue, like diluted window cleaning solution.

Nose: Lots of juniper and iris (I’m assuming the other botanical I’m smelling a lot of is iris, given the fact that iris is emphasized on the label). Citrus peel, grains-of-paradise.

On the palate: Full bodied and semi-sweet with a bit of spice on the back end.

Finish: Sweet and spicy, then a little hot.

Mixed: A little brash with tonic, but goes down ok. Very good in a Tom Collins and good in a dry martini.

Parting words:  Magellan is a good gin. It’s a little too aggressive for my tastes, but it does OK mixed, which is what most gin is going to be used for. The cheesy branding and the blue coloring are distractions I could do without. The $30 price tag is also something I could do without. I’m kind of on the fence about this one, but I’ll err on the side of niceness this time and give Magellan Gin a recommendation.

Atwater Winterbock

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Maker: Atwater Brewery, Detroit, Michigan, USAATWATER_WINTER_BOTTLE

Style: High gravity bock.

ABV: 7.5%

Appearance: Chestnut with a short-lived foamy head.

Nose: Malt, prunes, dark toast.

On the palate: Medium bodied. Bitter with just a bit of sweetness and malt. Like the burnt drippings of off a mixed berry pie.

Finish: Fruitier, but fades into warm toastiness.

Parting words: Bock is one of my favorite styles of beer. This is a decent example and a decent beer. Still, I would have appreciated a little less bitterness, a little more sweetness and a lower price. Atwater Winterbock is mildly recommended.

Rendezvous Rye

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Maker: High West, Park City, Utah, USArendezvous-bottle

Distillers: MGPI, Lawrenceburg, Indiana (6 y/o, 95% rye component) & Barton-1792, Bardstown, Kentucky (16 y/o, 80% Rye component)

Style: Indiana style rye whiskey (high rye)

Batch: 12A31

Age: 6 y/o (but blended with a 16 y/o)

Proof: 92 (46% ABV)

Appearance: Copper with a pinkish hue. Slightly cloudy.

Nose: Cedar, barbecue sauce, fresh cut grass.

On the palate: Medium bodied and soft. Dry with some spearmint. Water brings out a gentle sweetness to balance out the grassiness. Thyme, caramel, allspice, ginger.

Finish: Light, with a little sweetness but mostly tarragon and burn. Some char comes through and then softly fades. Much the same with water, but the burn has been transformed into a pleasant tingle.

Mixed: Very tasty in a Sazerac. Didn’t try it in anything else.

Parting Words: Rendezvous Rye was the first (or at least one of the first) products to be released by High West. The source material has shifted since that first bottling, but Rendezvous has been HW’s most consistant, and to me, most successful product. The tangy ketchup notes that plague Son of Bourye are here too, but they are kept firmly in the background by caramel and herbal flavors and aromas. Through prudent barrel selection and judicious mingling of ryes of two different styles, High West as created a rye that is very much worth seeking out. With rye supplies tightening, I hope they can continue to keep Rendezvous at an affordable price and at its current level of quality. Rendezvous Rye is recommended.

BWW House Red

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Maker: Blue Water Winery, Carsonville, Michigan, USA

Grapes: Chambourcin, Catawba, Concord.

Place of origin: Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2009

ABV: 13%

Appearance: Very dark purple. Nearly black.

Nose: Concord grape jelly, lighter fluid, moldy blackberries.

On the palate: Light -bodied and tangy. Grape juice, brown sugar, lemon peel with the pith attached.

Finsih: Charcoal, iodine, grape pips.

Parting words: When I first saw the name of this wine, I thought it was BBW House Red, not BWW House Red. That made me a little excited, but this wine has none of the voluptuous delights of a BBW. While most wine labels exaggerate, this one goes over the top in declaring this to be a “very drinkable wine”. “Barely drinkable” would be more apt. The label also recommends serving the wine chilled, which is excellent advice. I would recommend drinking it at around 33° F or 1° C or better yet, not at all.

The winery is located less than ten miles away from Lexington, Michigan, a popular vacation destination on Lake Huron, so I suppose the bulk of their business comes from well-meaning tourists looking for something local. I received a half bottle of this wine as a gift from a very sweet lady who also happens to be the mother-in-law of a good friend of mine. I didn’t take it personally. I’m just glad I didn’t spend any money on this.

I have no beef with native grape varieties or hybrids. Long time readers will know that I have given positive reviews to wines made with hybrids and native grape species. I am not a speciesist. I have had 100% Chambourcin , Catawba, and even Concord wines that were much, much better than this. This is just a bad wine.

What makes it worse is the price, $14 a bottle on the website. That is absurd. One can get a very tasty wine from practically anywhere in the world for that much, including all four Michigan AVAs. Why bother with something like this? In case you haven’t already guessed, BWW House Red is not recommended.

John J. Bowman Single Barrel

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Maker: A. Smith Bowman, Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA (Sazerac)john-j-bowman-101106699

Distiller: Buffalo Trace, Frankfort, Kentucky/ A. Smith Bowman, Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA

Style: High Corn Bourbon

Age: NAS

Proof: 100 (50% ABV)

Note: Triple distilled. Twice (column & doubler) at Buffalo Trace and once (pot still?) at Bowman.

Appearance: Light copper with fairly thick legs.

Nose: Caramel, oak, woodruff, alcohol, grape hyacinth.

On the palate: Light bodied and dry. Oak, alcohol, toffee, tarragon.

Finish: Dry, but with a fruity note that slowly emerges as the taste fades.

Parting words: Bowman single barrel is a stylish whiskey worth seeking out. The Buffalo Trace grassiness is apparent but the oak and caramel sweetness do an excellent job of keeping it from overrunning the whiskey.

The first one of these I purchased shortly after its initial release. It was very light with a vaguely coppery taste and aroma. I enjoyed it but it wasn’t great. This one is very, very good. I have had a few other bottles recently including a couple private selections and they have all been good, so I either got a bottle from a mediocre barrel the first time, or the product as a whole has been improved. Whatever the case, John J. Bowman is now one of those whiskeys that I always pick up when I am visiting a part of the country in which it is sold. Bowman Single Barrel is recommended.

Arcturos Riesling, 2011

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Maker: Black Star Farms, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Place of Origin: Montaña Rusa, Montague Estate & Capella vineyards, Old Mission AVA, Michigan, USA

Style: Medium Dry

ABV: 11%

Appearance: Pale straw with not much in the way of legs.

Nose: Lemon thyme, orange zest, ripe peach, mango nectar.

On the palate: Full bodied for a Riesling. Slightly racy but with just enough minerality. Fresh apricots, peach cobbler, hint of limestone.

Finish: Mildly sweet and citric. A little background minerality and then a soft fade.

Parting words: Long time readers of this blog have come to expect gushing reviews of Four Roses special releases and wines from Black Star Farms. This review will not depart from pre-established patterns in any way. This is a delightful wine. The 2011 vintage in northwestern Michigan continues to impress. This wine is like that rare friend who is intellectual but not pedantic and a lot of fun at parties but never embarrassing to be around.

My only regret is that I drank it too soon. I probably should have waited for until next summer but it’s damn good night now. 2011 Arcturos Riesling is highly recommended.