Ransom The Emerald 1865 Straight American Whiskey

The nose reminds me of a malted barley scotch, with a more medicinal than peat smell. The mouth feel is light and airy with a nice herbal scotch flavor, again no smoke no peat. Earthy! The finish is long with a combination of birthday cake and baking spice.

Ransom the Emerald 1865 is a recreation of an Irish mash bill dating back to 1865 that is then matured in a mix of French and American oak for three years and bottled at 43.8%. This seems like an interesting recreation that’s worth a try and thankfully @ContemplativeFox was generous enough to provide me with a sample to find out how this turned out. The nose starts with soured, sitting-in-the-box-a-few-days-too-long fruits of apple, orange and pear followed by lemon grass, charcoal grilled shiitake mushrooms and pumpernickel bread then barrel spices and light oak with medium ethanol burn. The taste is a medium mouthfeel starting with those sour and expiring fruits of apple, orange and pear followed by lemon grass, charcoal grilled shiitake mushrooms and pumpernickel bread then barrel spices and light oak with medium ethanol burn. The finish is medium length with mulled wine, lemongrass, sour fruits of oranges, apples and pears, and pumpernickel bread. This is a funky and well balanced whiskey starting with aromas of musky overripe fruits followed by some herbal spice with a smoky meaty/vegetal note and rye spice that carries over to the taste and finishes with mulled wine that’s been crafted with sour fruits, herbs and caraway seeds, but the main flaw is the youthful abrasiveness due to the limited aging of three years that keeps it from really being exceptional. I’d really like to see what this tastes like with another three plus years of aging, as I think this could possibly develop to be a US version of Springbank. If you’re not a fan of weird and funky notes in your whiskey, this is not for you, but if you’re up to try something different and historical, see if you can find a sample or glass at a bar to try this one.