Cornmuse
Koval Single Barrel Millet Whiskey
Other Whiskey — Illinois, USA
Reviewed
March 21, 2022 (edited August 3, 2023)
This is a very interesting bottle that I likely never would have purchased on my own. I was gifted a membership into the Craft Whisky Club. This bottle is a private cask selection from the club and is offered at 110 proof.
This is a unique, 100% millet grain whisky aged in small 30L casks. My bottle has been open for a couple weeks and this sample was tasted neat after resting the pour for a few minutes.
The pour is a cherrywood color with good sheeting and many small tears running into the bowl of the glass. This is nicely viscous and has a good mouthfeel.
On the nose this has a bit of ethanol, barrel wood, vanilla and burnt sugar. Its a bit sharp but not overly so. There's moderate complexity, with graham cracker, cracked pepper, and a sweet nuttiness emerging after a few moments.
On the palate this oily dram hits sweet with a deep flavor of seeds as in a seeded almond cracker. This is followed by a flare of black pepper, sweet caramel, burnt sugar, light bitter oak and a touch of paprika.
The finish is short and the dram leaves a slightly sweet and sour note with a bit of ethanol heat on the roof of the mouth and in the back of the throat.
This is a really interesting whisky.
A drop of water dials back the pepper and brings forward a bit more of the sweetness, accompanied by a pleasing bitterness that contrasts with a touch of wildflower honey and that baked seed flavor. There's moderate complexity both with and without a drop of water. An ice cube dials things back even more.
I like this. I don't love it, but I like it and its unique and interesting. I haven't had much like it but its not so far off the beaten path that it would be a stranger to a rye or lowland scotch whisky fan. It's not like a "traditional" American malt, whatever that may be. I didn't know what to expect and I got something that's a bit unique.
I'm not sure if I'd buy another bottle, but this sure makes me want to try the other expressions Koval has created. I like this, it will take a little more time for me to love it but I'm certainly not hating on it and I'm going to enjoy every drop.
I have to think this might make a killer Old Fashioned. Maybe with something like a fig or date syrup? I'll be experimenting.
I rate on a scale where a competently made product should map to a bell curve. The majority of whiskies should center at 2.5, with really good expressions heading above 3.0 and exceptional expressions above 4.0.
This is above average with a additional merit for uniqueness and execution.
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@Cornmuse I wish more stores did that. It’s hard to put down $100 on something that you may not like
A lot of the liquor stores near me, at least the better ones, have pretty good tasting libraries of things they want to sell. That said, something like this really does need to be experienced rather than taking a blind flyer on a 50 to $100 bottle.
@PBMichiganWolverine it would be great if more samples were available in general, especially for odd and expensive bottles.
I love their experiments..just wished they’d offer sample try -before buy size.
Really interesting not hear what a millet whiskey is like!