Tastes

Pours a very nice golden orange, coppery color, moderate legs. Smells fantastic, lots of oaky sawdust and a beautiful vanilla note, caramel and toffee with a distinct nuttiness and earthy leather, with a bit of the spice box. All of this screams classic, standard bourbon, but with distinct grace notes that separate it from the pack. Taste follows the nose, perhaps a bit less complex, but the pattern of typical bourbon character elevated by grace notes remains. Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied, but relatively dry in the finish. Overall, this is pretty fantastic, and I’m glad I bought the bottle (even if it’s not selling for bargain basement prices anymore - still pretty accessible for these days where double digit age statements are a rarity). Beer Nerd Musings - Lots of stuff aged in Henry McKenna barrels out there. I haven’t had much, and most of what I’ve had has been part of a blend- like Bruery Black Tuesday Blender’s Choice (2022). It’s a great beer, but the McKenna was one of six different barrels in the blend. I have a bottle of Evil Twin’s Great Northern series #44 coming my way shortly, and its a blend of stout aged 35 months in 11 year Henry McKenna barrel (with a barleywine aged in Lairds). Another blend, but I should be able to get good feel for McKenna influence. Regardless, I’d certainly be swayed by a beer aged in these barrels, they seem ideally suited.

Dark amber color, darkest of a flight of Bluebird spirits. Great nose, super oaky, leather, caramel, vanilla. Taste follows the nose, tons of tannic oak, caramel, vanilla, a bit of earthy complexity. Mouthfeel is full bodied and dry (but not over-oaked levels dry). Overall, a pretty great, surprising pour from a small local distillery. Beer Nerd Musings: Not sure what to make of “double oaked” bourbon barrels as vessels for beer aging. Im assuming both barrels would work well enough, but maybe the second barrel would be better? I’m not aware of any beers aged in either Bluebird barrels or any sort of double barrel bourbon barrels (though I’ve had plenty of beers aged in Woodford or Beam barrels, both of which have popular double barrel offerings). Would think that these Bluebird barrels would work well though, as the bourbon is solid…

Honeyed toast, buttery malt, oak, tasty Scotch-like malt, a hint of char but no peat whatsoever. Soft and easy going, a solid sipper and would make for a steady go-to, but not going to blow you away… Beer Nerd Musings: I haven’t had any beer aged in Yamazaki casks, or, come to think of it, any Japanese malt casks. I did a quick search, and it appears that Suntory makes beer, and they’ve taken the baffling approach of aging a pilsner in Yamazaki barrels. I… don’t get it. That can’t be very good…

Pours your standard coppery orange color. Smells great, lots of the spice box, a very nice earthy note, and some oaky brown sugar. Taste follows the nose, plenty of spice, the earthy character emerges more here, maybe a hint of maple and brown sugar, but it finishes a bit bitter (this is a good thing!) mouthfeel is medium bodied, not too boozy to this baby beer nerd palate, pretty easy going. Overall pretty great stuff! Beer Nerd Musings: I’m not aware of any Old Overholt barrel aged beers (and a brief search yields no results), but I think these 11 year old barrels would be fantastic on a stout or maybe even a barleywine…

Pours a medium amber orange color. Smells nice, lots of vanilla, less in the way of baking spice, but it’s there, cinnamon and the like, some caramel, with hints of oak and a nice fruity note. Taste follows the nose, vanilla, light spice, a bit of caramel, hints of oak and dark fruit. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, with significant alcohol heat. Overall, certainly worth the shelf price, but the hype and secondary market are way out of proportion here… still, it’s a nice, enjoyable dram. Beer Nerd Musings: Lots of beers are aged in Weller barrels, and the hype and status as a Pappy alternative transfers to beer as well. The BCBS Anniversary was aged for 2 years in Weller 12 barrels, and it’s pretty great, a solid upgrade from standard BCBS.

State Line Liquors Erik & Chad selection 8 Years Old, 133 Proof, 66.5% ABV, Barrel No. 6570975 Not quite as oaky or complex as standard 12 year expressions, but it’s still got a good oak character, and the high octane proof hits hard. Oak, vanilla, light spice box, caramel, pretty classic bourbon notes intensified by the high proof. Good stuff, but the 12 year barrel proof expressions are better… still good though… Beer Nerd Musings: I actually don’t know of any beers specifically aged in non-12 year (or older) EC barrels, but EC is generally considered great for barrel aging beers, and this would certainly do well. I’d still be on the lookout for EC aged beers.

Pours your standard golden orange color. Smell has that classic bourbon character, oak, caramel, vanilla, a bit of baking spice, cinnamon, and the like. Taste hits that same standard profile, caramel, oak, vanilla, a little brown sugar, molasses, cacao, some of that baking spice rounding things out. Mouthfeel is pretty good for the lowish proof, not big and burly, but not thin at all either, just a really nice balance. Overall, this is great. Not exactly sure about the hype and definitely not worth secondary, but worth the flier at this bar… Beer Nerd Musings - One of last year’s 2021 Bourbon County Reserve variants was aged in Blanton’s barrels and it was fantastic - It had a distinct brownie batter, fudge, richer and more intense character than regular. I haven’t had a ton of other Blanton’s barrel aged beers, but the ones I have had tend towards that same fudgey character, which is interesting.

Pours a light golden yellow color with moderate legs. Smell has that distinctive new make character to it, but the hops come through strong. More floral up front than I would expect from all the American C hops in Racer 5, but a lemony citrus is peeking in as well. And truth be told, I tend to think of Centennial and Columbus as being more floral than citrusy anyway, so perhaps that’s not too surprising. Taste again features new make booze, but the hops save the day. Like the nose, the hops are floral and almost spicy up front, but provide a more citrusy honey-like note towards the finish. Mouthfeel has a nice spiciness to it, a little heat too. Maybe that’s just may baby palate talking though, as all whiskey has a little harsh heat for me. Overall, this is a fascinating dram of whiskey here. The hops come through, but not quite in exactly the way I expected. Nevertheless, I enjoy drinking this and am quite happy with the purchase (despite the relatively high price tag). Beer Nerd Musings: Aside from several other Charbay variants on the theme, there are a bunch of other spirits that are distilled from drinking beer. There’s one called Son’s of Liberty that claims it starts as an IPA (not specified whether it’s a commercial version or one they make themselves) that is distilled, aged, and then dry hopped with Citra and Sorachi Ace (which are some pretty fantastic choices). This seems to mostly be a small distillery thing, and I do have to wonder how more mature whiskey would react. Apparently there’s a 12 year old version of distilled pilsner that was made for the LA Whiskey Society, and according to some reviews, the hop character has faded somewhat (or been overtaken by the oak, or both), even if it’s still described as excellent whiskey. I would be curious to see what other beers would make a good base for this sort of treatment. In terms of hoppy beer, I’d look at something like a Tired Hands or Hill Farmstead IPA. They both have super citrusy, juicy takes on the style (which I suspect is due partially to the yeast they use as well as the use of newer aroma hops). Would that character survive distillation? Or would that bright citrus turn into dank pine in time (nothing wrong with that either, to my mind)? Anchor made a spirit out of their vaunted Christmas beer called White Christmas, where I assume the spices would come through in the finished product. I suspect the barrels used for this whiskey would not be the best to use for beer. The subtle hop character would get blown away by big, assertive stouts, or would get lost in the mix of a hoppy barleywine and new make whiskey doesn’t quite integrate with beer as well as moderately aged stuff. That being said, there’s really only one way to find out. I’m clearly not an expert on this stuff.

Pours a golden orange color with adorable little legs (i.e. not much). Smells sweet, caramel, toffee, vanilla, leavened with hints of spice. Love the nose on this. Not intense, but it hits the right notes for me. Taste hits the spice a little harder, but the underlying sweetness is still there, a little caramel and vanilla goes a long way. Mouthfeel is soft and approachable, light on the booze (keep in mind by beer palate is unused to this sort of assault, so this is saying something). Overall, this is an all purpose bourbon, great neat and I’m sure it would do fine in cocktails. Would be perfect for bourbon-oaked homebrew. It’s not intense or mind-blowing, but it gets the job done. Beer Nerd Musings: The Buffalo Trace Eclipse variant won the blind horizontal tasting I held several years ago, narrowly beating out Four Roses and Elijah Craig 12 (each of which had a single outlier that dragged them down). Local brewery Neshaminy Creek got in a whole boatload of Buffalo Trace barrels a while back and aged a few beers that I’ve had in them, to varying degrees of success (I think any issues I have with them come down to the base beer). Not quite as local, but Voodoo brewing made a Black Magick variant aged in BT barrels that was phenomenal (if not quite the equal of the Pappy Black Magick). This is much harder to find these days than it used to be - would be great for homewbrew purposes otherwise…

Pours a yellowish orange color with thin legs. Unlike Rittenhouse Rye (which I drank at the same time), this doesn’t smell much like bourbon. Definitely a little spice, more of an anise note than anything else, but an almost fruity note to it (I notice this in high rye beers too), certainly not “new make” but the oak does not tamp down the rye at all, some nice vanilla though. Taste has a lot more of that spicy rye character, anise and cinnamon, not as harsh or boozy as Rittenhouse, though I guess the lower proof will do that to my baby beer palate, a little oaky character pitches in too, but like the nose, it’s not overwhelming and what you really get is the rye. Mouthfeel is lighter than the Rittenhouse, more subtle, less oily, with an approachable booziness. Overall, this reminds me of a more mature Dad’s Hat Rye in that you really get that rye character coming through, but it’s got less of a new make feel to it. I’m sure this is great for cocktails, though I haven’t used it for such just yet. Beer Nerd Musings: Rye has a reputation for contributing spicy elements to both beer and whiskey, but as mentioned above, I find that some higher rye beers tend to also exhibit a distinct, almost fruity note that I got out of Sazerac too (and not at all from Rittenhouse). Funnily enough, one of the few examples I’ve had of a rye wine (Ithaca’s Old Habit) that exhibited this fruity twang was a beer aged in Rittenhouse Rye barrels. Go figure. I’ve never had anything specifically aged in a Sazerac Rye barrel, though there are apparently a few examples out there. To be honest, I don’t know how well it would work, as it seems a little too subtle to really impart that great, rich character that a good barrel aged beer displays. If you think I’m full of it, I will gladly submit to your Sazerac Barrel Aged brew to test it out.