Corsair Grainiac 9 Grain Bourbon

The nose is vaguely reminiscent of Trapper Keeper cardboard and plastic, along with faint chlorine, like the smell of hair recently out of a public pool. Underneath, there’s some caramel and wheat flour. The palate is more pleasant, but similarly interesting. Some familiar bourbony flavors, but also the strange notes above. Some chocolate, reminds of whiskeys that use chocolate malted rye. The finish leaves more of the caramel and ends on a positive note, but overall this is a strange whiskey. I don’t actively dislike it, but my experience of it is more one of curiosity than enjoyment. I was actually excited to see this on a local shelf today, knowing I had a sample at home to try. But after sampling, I don’t think I’ll be returning to purchase. I am really grateful to @ContemplativeFox for the sample. And I think this is a good example of how palates differ. Fox, who has a palate much more refined than mine (and whose opinions on whiskey I respect greatly), seemed to really enjoy this, but my experience seemed quite different. It may be that more time with this one is needed to appreciate, or just that my palate is different enough that this one didn’t hit for me.

It feels like I have been on a hiatus but I promise I have been enjoying whisky! Its been a busy past week or so around here but I have been enjoying a new whisky guild I joined locally as well as getting back into brewing beer at home. With that said I do have some catch up to do on both some bottles I have added to my collection as well as some tastings of the wonderful offerings sent to me from @ContemplativeFox ! This is one that I have looked forward to getting to..... Appearance: Dark copper and very oily with legs for days. Nose: Oh my here we go - what doesn't this nose offer? Grains for days, the name is fitting. And as @ContemplativeFox said in his reviews you can in fact smell them clearly. But wait, there is more, so much more and again as CF mentioned so many wonderful aromas to behold. I get a very heady aroma form the grains, milk, brown sugar, sugar cookies, peach, cherries, very light cinnamon, honey buns, apple, vanilla, butter cream - to name a few and in order of appearance on the nose. The longer you allow it to sit the more aromas show up to the party. Mouthfeel: Lightly Creamy, warming, medium fullness. Flavor: Things here are interesting. Yes there is a nice warming sensation, there is a light cinnamon, a lot of grains as in the nose but you really taste them, mostly I am getting barley the strongest although I do detect that buckwheat that CF mentioned. The oat flavor stands out well but more on the finish. There is also something almost refreshing on the backend, like a breeze through a wheat field. I am also getting a nice rush of cherries and peach, sort of like a mixed fruit cup. It is for sure a very unique and lovely bourbon. It is far less sweet than I expected from the nose, and far more green although there is a lovely sweetness to it. Its a grain sweet, a beer sweet, not so much your typical sugary bourbon sweet. This is a hard one to explain and maybe its the drink or maybe its that I am rusty in reviewing since its been a hot minute but its very enjoyable. Finish: Long lingering flavors especially in the back of the throat that seem to hang on well. Finishes green - not as in bad or too young - but as in grassy and fresh cut grass green. Adding one drop of water.... Sweetness really comes out in the nose with the one little drop of water. Wonder what it will taste like now .... actually yes, a tad bit sweeter. Not tons but its noticeable. I do think this would do well with a small cube, a very small cube..... I bit down on a cube from my Yeti so its now cold AF but the cube is not more than a piece of another small "cube"...So small its already dissolved into the remaining bourbon which was about 1 finger in a glencarin, Its very nice like this - I like it a bit colder even though it is barely cool its more flavorful on the sweet side which I admit I do love but it did not lose any of the other wonderful flavors including the amazing grains! Conclusion: This is a solid 4 - would buy if I could get my hands on it. And a sneak flavor on the way way back end is an interesting black licorice flavor that was utterly unexpected! I am not sure if it is due to that I have not taken a sip here in a few or if it was the cooling ice that brought it out but you see, for this reason and all the above reasons this is a winner! This bourbon is so very different.

Rating: 21/23 Another tasting of Corsair's legendary bourbon that shouldn't have worked but somehow did! Is it as amazing as I remember it being? I sure hope so. N: The corn is obviously there, but the rye and spelt jump right out too. It took a minute, but I'm getting the buckwheat and barley as well. I might be getting a hint of creaminess from the oats, but that's usually more a component that affects the texture and palate, so that's no surprise. Oddly, I don't think I'm getting the quinoa right now. There's no way I'm getting the wheat, of course. I still don't no what triticale is, but maybe I can smell it. Wood with light creosote, apples, lemon rind, caramel, spices, clear oiliness, and faint nuttiness. None of the broader scents is anything particularly amazing, but the subtlety that allows the individual grains to show through is really stunning. P: The palate is on the lighter side, which is what allows the individual grains to show through. Unfortunately, this does mean that there's a bit of mineral the comes through. It reminds me of my first impressions of Eagle Rare in that regard. Getting past that though, I get apples, lemon rind, cherries, wood, spices, a little bit of light caramel. I can really pick out all of the grains. Well, except for the triticale and wheat I guess (unless I'm allowed to attribute some of the mellowness to the wheat). It's smooth, light, and tremendously complex. The grain really shows through here, but not in a way that makes the bourbon taste like young spirit, though I'm sure that it can't have been aged for long. I don't pick up any weird notes from excessive heads or tails. A fantastic palate, though not one that will suit those who just want a big, rich, strong bourbon. That bit of smoky creosote does help to give this a bit of maturity in spite of its mellowness, sort of like Eagle Rare I guess. F: Apples and minerals. A bit of spices that mix well with the wood, which still retains a little bit of creosote. There's just a little bit of harshness, but it works well with the spices and lemon peel brightness. It's tragic that this is a one-off. Corsair, if you're listening, this should be your flagship! It's a new take on bourbon with really great execution. I'd love to see how a bit more tweaking might be able to bring down the minerality and bring out more fullness. It's an easy sipper and a surprisingly good introductory bourbon because of its lightness. I'm absolutely amazed that the individual grains are identifiable in this. Well, at least 7 of them are for sure and I understand why I struggle with the other 2. This should have been a muddled mess with a high chance of being completely out of balance. If you pitched this 9 grain premise to me today, I'd say that the best chance you had to make anything decent was to produce a traditional 4 grain bourbon with a few teaspoonfuls of the other 5 grains. That absolutely is not what Corsair did and their boldness had bred great success! This is definitely not one to pass up given the opportunity to taste it. I realized that I found this kind of reminiscent of Eagle Rare in this element of lightness and balance that it has. To get a baseline, I tried them both side-by-side when I had a worn out palate just to get the basic profile. This was a pretty new bottle of Eagle Rare, so I'm not going to commit to it being anything better than a solid 15 or maybe 16, but it's still a useful baseline. The Eagle Rare was richer, but even on a worn out palate, the Corsair's complexity really leapt out. I would give the win to the Corsair here. Since the main point of this bourbon is its complexity, I think that the worn out comparison confidently sets a minimum bar of 16 for it. I can't imagine a 23 given the lightness and minerality, but a 22 is definitely possible. If I just split the difference and called it a day, I would be giving this a 19, which is an excellent rating already. That would tie this with Wild Turkey Rare Breed 116, for example. Realistically, I think I will be giving this something in the 19 to 22 range - though that is not to suggest in any way that my rating will fall in the middle of that spectrum. I've never tried this and thought that it was less than great. It's clearly young, but the complexity is just amazing. It's very different from Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof, but I'm trying them side by side because they're both so incredibly good (particularly for the price). Honestly, it's a tough call between them and Jack Daniel's is a 21 at worst, so there's no way that this is a 19 and I'm doubting a 20 as well. This isn't exactly low proof itself, but it never comes across as harsh and the alcohol never shows through. On a reasonable, though perhaps suboptimal, palate, this is at least as good as the Jack Daniels due to its immense complexity. I really think that this has to be at least a 21. So it's a 21 to 22. It's a really tough call here. I love how complex this is without tasting overly young. Sure, it's on the light side and it's restrained at times, but it doesn't taste weak either. It's more like it's elegant. I think I'd place this at least on par with Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof, but I'm not sure I'd put it as high up as Elijah Craig B520. It's especially tough to rate this because it just is not all that much like the other bourbons that I've rated this highly. I think I'm going to give it a 21 for now, but if it changes, I expect it to go up to a 22.

21: The nose is a delight just to smell on its own. It has all sorts of rich, fruity, earthy, complex character to it. The palate is delightful as well with awesome complexity. There's a maltiness that blends excellently with the prominent rich earthy vegetal oiliness of the buckwheat blending with a hint of quinoa earthy dirt. The corn sweetness forms a clear foundation while some rye minerality lightens the drink without making it seem watery or uncomplex and blends nicely with that hint of spelt bitterness and tartness. There is some delicious apricot flavor that is fairly floral and blends well with the bits of vanilla and juicy cherry from the quinoa. Some of that more savory, vegetal, sweet, herbal, rough side of the rye comes out too at times, giving the bourbon a fuller character. It has a fair amount of spice, which does unfortunately make it seem a little bit harsh both because of its proof and somewhat light mineral flavor and because the cinnamon is lighter and has less of that sweet corn flavor than is usual for a bourbon, really giving the ginger and allspice the center stage and letting a little bit of clove in too. This is a terrific bourbon overall and it's amazing that I can pick out the corn, rye, barley, buckwheat, quinoa, and spelt. I have no idea what triticale tastes like and wheat is always hard to taste, so it may be to blame for some of the lightness and minerality. I have no idea why I can't taste the oats though. Still, being able to actually pick out 6 grains in a 9 grain bourbon suggests expert distilling and blending. This is well worth stocking (if you can still find a bottle). It isn't perfect because of the minerality, lightness and spice imbalance, and it certainly is something that should only be tasted with a clean palate, but it's still excellent. I currently have it at a 21 and I don't think it's a 22. It's definitely a 19 though and I think most likely at least a 20. I'll leave it at 21 for now.

22: The nose is robust with some varied fruit, sort of like Cognac is playing games. There's a woody element that's rich in the background. Spice, vanilla, caramel: this nose has a lot going on and it varies constantly! The palate is likewise very interesting. This is a huge refinement on the Corsair Quinoa that is super interesting with tons of subtle layers of fruit that don't make it taste excessively sweet and blend terrifically with the rich woody backing. This isn't the richest and heartiest bourbon, but it's delicious like a rich XO Cognac mixed with bourbon. I just can't get over all of the layers here. There's a ton of fruit and some spice and a hint of rye, but there's still some really nice wood and spice with a sweet coating of vanilla. The balance is somehow impeccable and it's truly delightful. Corsair has really nailed it with the bourbon, innovating and pushing the boundaries of what a bourbon can be while balancing numerous layers of very good flavor. This is a really special bourbon. I'd like it to be a little richer, but it really is rich and the flavors fit well together. It compares favorably with Wild Turkey Whiskey Jewbillee. It's actually pretty floral at points, but not in that gross, bitter Irish whiskey way.

There isn't much scent. It's alcohol, tartness, and a little vanilla. So, bourbon I guess. There's some red fruity sweetness like apples mixed with strawberries and maybe a little plum. The flavor is very fruity. It's just bursting with strawberry, cherry, and plum. It's obscenely refreshing without tasting like gross cherry. What on Earth is this? Beyond the fruitiness, there is a bit of orange blossom and plenty of vanilla. There is some harshness here from the alcohol, but although there is some ginger, the spice is not overwhelming. This is a really unique bourbon. It reminds me of Knob Creek Single Barrel, but it kicks the fruitiness up a notch. There is some wood that has a bit of bitter coffee to it. The flavor is a bit more bitter than. I would like, but it's still good. There are minerals that come with some hints of honey that add complexity and make this an interesting variation on the usual bourbon formula. Especially at this proof, it's surprising that this bourbon is not terribly aggressive. I like that the spices step back and let the other flavors talk. There might be a little caramel, but its understated and plays well with the honey. The finish is a nice balance of rich and sweet and the spiciness that is present prevents this whiskey from tasting too mild. The orange blossoms blend with apricot in a beautiful manner. There are no bad notes in here and there are lots of good ones. This is a remarkable success. It's a wholey different bourbon, but it is a great one. There's some tartness and mineral, but it isn't too bad. With the toffee elements, there's a surprising amount of malty character in here, but it fades to corn in moderate order. The balance is impressive, but the distinctness of the flavors is more so. With 9 grains, it's amazing that this tastes like anything other than mush. This is a triumph of distilling. There is so much going on here and the flavors are so good, often achieving greatness.

nothing special here. notnsure what I dont love...but I barely like