Tastes

CORN WHISKEY SHOWDOWN: Balcones Baby Blue vs Mellow Corn In some respects, corn whiskey is bourbon’s “purer” older brother. The mashbill for corn whiskey has to be at least 80% corn (compared to at least 51% for bourbon), and there is neither an age nor barrel requirement. Straight corn whiskey has the same mashbill requirements, and must be aged in new or used oak barrels for at least two years. Balcones Baby Blue is labeled Corn Whisky (no “e”), while Mellow Corn is labeled Straight Corn Whiskey, with the addition that it is Bottled in Bond, which means that it’s also 100 proof and aged four years. Balcones Baby Blue (3.75): color of clear turbinado sugar. Breakfast nose serves up maple syrup, Jiffy cornbread, cinnamon, buttered toast, and a whiff of bacon. On the palate, there is some initial heat, followed by brown sugar and vanilla, with lingering vanilla on the finish. Balcones is a distiller that I’m paying more attention to; I recently reviewed their Texas Pot Still bourbon and liked it. Mellow Corn (3.25): bright gold color. Nose offers subtle green banana, summer grass, light butterscotch, light oaky vanilla and ethanol. There is a light glycerin mouthfeel, with a little more heat than the Baby Blue (consistent with the higher 100 proof), some vanilla, and white pepper and vanilla on the finish. I’m 80% done with this bottle, but it’s a nice change of pace to go downmarket and experience other American whiskies. I’ll keep a bottle on hand. I’ll bet it goes well with my pecan-smoked pork butts and Brunswick stew. And I love the 1940s-era label. Balcones Baby Blue is definitely the more complex and nuanced of the two, and is available for around $35; but Mellow Corn is a higher proof, and while not too complex, drinks well and is widely available at roughly $15. While it is usually found on the bottom shelf at the liquor store, it drinks far better than most bottom-shelf whiskies. And while it’s arguably monolithic, so is Compass Box Hedonism (reviewed yesterday) for 8-10x the price. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

CORN WHISKEY SHOWDOWN: Balcones Baby Blue vs Mellow Corn In some respects, corn whiskey is bourbon’s “purer” older brother. The mashbill for corn whiskey has to be at least 80% corn (compared to at least 51% for bourbon), and there is neither an age nor barrel requirement. Straight corn whiskey has the same mashbill requirements, and must be aged in new or used oak barrels for at least two years. Balcones Baby Blue is labeled Corn Whisky (no “e”), while Mellow Corn is labeled Straight Corn Whiskey, with the addition that it is Bottled in Bond, which means that it’s also 100 proof and aged four years. Balcones Baby Blue (3.75): color of clear turbinado sugar. Breakfast nose serves up maple syrup, Jiffy cornbread, cinnamon, buttered toast, and a whiff of bacon. On the palate, there is some initial heat, followed by brown sugar and vanilla, with lingering vanilla on the finish. Balcones is a distiller that I’m paying more attention to; I recently reviewed their Texas Pot Still bourbon and liked it. Mellow Corn (3.25): bright gold color. Nose offers subtle green banana, summer grass, light butterscotch, light oaky and ethanol. There is a light glycerin mouthfeel, with a little more heat than the Baby Blue (consistent with the higher 100 proof), some vanilla, and white pepper and vanilla on the finish. I’m 80% done with this bottle, but it’s a nice change of pace to go downmarket and experience other American whiskies. I’ll keep a bottle on hand. I’ll bet it goes well with my pecan-smoked pork butts and Brunswick stew. And I love the 1940s-era label. Balcones Baby Blue is definitely the more complex and nuanced of the two, and is available for around $35; but Mellow Corn is a higher proof, and while not too complex, drinks well and is widely available at roughly $15. While it is usually found on the bottom shelf at the liquor store, it drinks far better than most bottom-shelf whiskies. And while it’s arguably monolithic, so is Compass Box Hedonism (reviewed yesterday) for 8-10x the price. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

I purchased this bottle a couple years ago based in part on the Distiller rating--97 points from Stephanie Moreno (who I've already learned isn't too correlated with my palate--which is not a knock on her--see my review on Glendronach Allardice 18 Year). Compass Box and John Glaser are iconoclasts in the scotch industry, and do have a quality ethos (this bottle has no added coloring and is non-chill filtered; reports suggest the various distillates are aged from 15 to more than 20 years). I tried Hedonism a couple times immediately after purchasing and recall being unimpressed, although I didn't write a specific note. That opinion is essentially unchanged. Dried hay color. Hedonism is aged in bourbon barrels, and oaky vanilla is present on the nose (the label screams "RICH * VANILLA * ALLURING" in case savorers couldn't notice), as well as Cheerios cereal and milk chocolate. The palate does have a viscous, glycerin-like quality (again, label: "RICH") with more oak and a touch of white pepper (normal scotch-like 43% ABV), finishing with some light, slightly bitter woody tannins. Distiller is massively off-base with this score. The defining characteristics are the label's "RICH" and "VANILLA" minus the "ALLURING." It's not bad; it's just boring. Scotch has such a wide array of styles, smells, and flavors; and there are dozens of them that are far less monolithic, much more complex, and objectively better than this one. And it gets worse when one considers value: prices today range from $100-130 (I paid about $90 as I recall). That's awfully expensive for rich vanilla with a pedestrian ABV. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof: B520 vs A122 Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (ECBP) is one of my favorite bourbons. Heaven Hill, the distillery for Elijah Craig, releases ECBP three times per year (January, May, September), with a four-character code: January is “A1” (A for first release; 1 for the month of January); May is “B2” (B for the second release; 5 for the month of May); and September is “C3” (C for the third release; 9 for the month of September). The second two characters correspond to the last two digits of a particular year. Thus “B520” is the second release, in May, in the year 2020. All ECBP have a 12-year age statement, and proof typically ranges from around 120 to nearly 140. Caveat bibitor. I pulled out B520 and A122 at random because I have them both open (I have most if not all releases going back four years or so). B520: Clear orange mahogany color. Powerful nose: noticeable ethanol (to be expected; this is barrel proof bourbon) almost struggles to be noticed in the explosion of olfactory elements: malted milk balls, freshly mown hay, maple syrup, creosote railroad ties, split oak, sweet pipe tobacco, and vanilla. (NB: nosed after the A122, there is a quite prevalent toasted marshmallow note). Penetrating mouthfeel is spearheaded with heat, with notes of sweet café Cubano, leather, and cigar tobacco, and cinnamon. Faint woody tannins and some vanilla on the medium-length finish. A122: Clear orange mahogany color; indistinguishable from the B520. Different nose: ethanol not as pronounced (120.8 vs B520’s 127.2); more grassier rather than hay; some coconut; chocolate-covered cherries; sweet pipe tobacco and toasted marshmallow like the B520; and pomander and red hots. Palate is more woody and leathery, with noticeable (pleasantly expected) heat, before finishing with lingering notes of coconut and vanilla. Different release years, different months, different proofs: the consistent (albeit slightly different) quality and hedonistic pleasure that both of these bottles affords illustrates why each release of ECBP goes into my inventory whether tasted already or not. Irrespective of release, bourbon afficionados can bank on a good pour. And at $70-80 retail, ECBP represents incredible value in the ever-crazier bourbon world. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof: B520 vs A122 Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (ECBP) is one of my favorite bourbons. Heaven Hill, the distillery for Elijah Craig, releases ECBP three times per year (January, May, September), with a four-character code: January is “A1” (A for first release; 1 for the month of January); May is “B2” (B for the second release; 5 for the month of May); and September is “C3” (C for the third release; 9 for the month of September). The second two characters correspond to the last two digits of a particular year. Thus “B520” is the second release, in May, in the year 2020. All ECBP have a 12-year age statement, and proof typically ranges from around 120 to nearly 140. Caveat bibitor. I pulled out B520 and A122 at random because I have them both open (I have most if not all releases going back four years or so). B520: Clear orange mahogany color. Powerful nose: noticeable ethanol (to be expected; this is barrel proof bourbon) almost struggles to be noticed in the explosion of olfactory elements: malted milk balls, freshly mown hay, maple syrup, creosote railroad ties, split oak, sweet pipe tobacco, and vanilla. (NB: nosed after the A122, there is a quite prevalent toasted marshmallow note). Penetrating mouthfeel is spearheaded with heat, with notes of sweet café Cubano, leather, and cigar tobacco, and cinnamon. Faint woody tannins and some vanilla on the medium-length finish. 4.75 on the Distiller scale. A122: Clear orange mahogany color; indistinguishable from the B520. Different nose: ethanol not as pronounced (120.8 vs B520’s 127.2); more grassier rather than hay; some coconut; chocolate-covered cherries; sweet pipe tobacco and toasted marshmallow like the B520; and pomander and red hots. Palate is more woody and leathery, with noticeable (pleasantly expected) heat, before finishing with lingering notes of coconut and vanilla. 4.5 on the Distiller scale. Different release years, different months, different proofs: the consistent (albeit slightly different) quality and hedonistic pleasure that both of these bottles affords illustrates why each release of ECBP goes into my inventory whether tasted already or not. Irrespective of release, bourbon afficionados can bank on a good pour. And at $70-80 retail, ECBP represents incredible value in the ever-crazier bourbon world. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

I have to chuckle sometimes at whisk(e)y "pairings" with food, which are more marketing or misguidedness than merited. There's no whisk(e)y that will ever pair better with a steak than a good cabernet; no whisk(e)y that will pair better with duck than a good pinot noir; no whisk(e)y that will pair better with fresh snapper than a nice unoaked chardonnay. But I digress. But to regress: I was having sushi tonight. Not time for bourbon. Not time for scotch (sherried, or peated, or both combined). Time for Japanese whisky. Specifically, Nikka Whisky From The Barrel, which was Whisky Advocate's 2018 Whisky of the Year. I've been a huge fan of this whisky since then (not because of the accolade; the 2019 winner, Dickel 13 Year Old Bottled-in-Bond, isn't even good enough for cocktails). Beautiful clear deep kumquat (citrus japonica; apropos). Complex nose shows orange zest, cigar, sandalwood, butterscotch, cocoa powder, leather, and some ginger. Some light viscosity on the palate, where the 51.4% ABV is present, not as a solo voice but in the chorus of flavors that carry over from the palate, finishing with light heat and a touch of vanilla. This is a bottle that I'll always have on hand. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

There's a reason why so many whiskies--all five scotch regions, American bourbon and whiskey, and Japanese whisky--employ sherry-cask finishing: because it imparts color, complexity, and complementary sweetness. Glendronach has been finishing in sherry casks for nearly two centuries. Glendro describes the color of the 18 as "bright deep gold with a tawny centre." Not to be pedantic and argue with the distillery, but: it's pretty dark. I'd call it tawny with deep gold edges. There's more darkness than brightness. But the distillery nails it on the first nose descriptor: fudge. The sherry influence is unmistakable, with brown sugar, frangipane, pomander, and spice cake. These aromas translate to similar flavors on the palate, along with subtle heat; the slightly higher than normal 46% ABV is well integrated. Sweet tobacco and leather round out the finish. The Distiller score of 84 by Stephanie Moreno is off the mark. Glendro 18 is a hedonistic, cerebral scotch that gives a pleasurable drinking experience and can be savored over an entire evening. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

Liquid amber color. Sweet nose of caramel, oranges, apple pie, oak, leather, and vanilla. In contradistinction to the Knob Creek 12-Year Small Batch tasted immediately prior, and despite the much higher proof (117 vs KC12 100), Old Ezra comes across as balanced on the palate, and not nearly as hot. Whereas the KC12's palate was mostly heat, the Old Ezra has noticeable flavors of caramel and pipe tobacco preceding cinnamon red hots. There's a nice sweet vanilla finish with an orange tang. This bottle is about 2/3 gone; I've not had any in several months. While I'd made no explicit notes previously, I recalled liking, but not loving it. Tonight I'm loving it; this could also be a commentary on the KC12's bitterness and disjointedness that preceded it. As I recall, I picked up my two bottles in West Virginia a few years back. I'll definitely be looking to replenish my inventory when this stock gets low. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

Widely available 12-year old bourbons are increasingly uncommon, and Knob Creek 12-Year Small Batch bourbon has little everyday competition in that space. As a result, all else being equal, it is saddled with higher expectations than NAS bottlings. Clear teak color. Nose shows cherries, marzipan, nutmeg, cedar, and a pinch of muddled mint. The 100 proof comes across strong on the palate, buttressed with oak, finishing with some woody, somewhat bitter tannins, and lingering oak. I'm unaware of the char levels of Knob Creek's barrels, but I'd prefer a higher char to mitigate some of the woody tannins. This is not a sipper for me, and there are cheaper (and good) alternatives for a Manhattan or Old Fashioned. Perhaps on the rocks on a hot summer day (which I never do anyway). Once gone, I won't be keeping this on one hand. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.

Fortunately, Wild Turkey as a distillery doesn't have the cachet of Buffalo Trace or even Heaven Hill--and I hope it stays that way. Two of WT's offerings--Russell's Reserve Single Barrel, and Rare Breed--offer some of the best bourbon value out there on a price-per-proof basis. Clear dark copper. Nose shows caramel, mulled apple cider, Chinese five spice, cherry nougat, and a whiff of vanilla. On the palate, the sneaky 110 proof is well integrated, flanked by leather, cedar, and tobacco notes. Silky finish, with lingering vanilla. The heat, like a fine cabernet, is of the iron-fist-in-a-silken-glove variety. Although there's no age statement, the woody notes suggest 8+ years in barrel. Irrespective of age, this is damn good bourbon, and a heck of a value. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.