Old Forester 1920

I had to bring out the siblings to welcome home the newest Old Forester Whisky Row release.  The Old Forester 1920 is "Prohibition Style" and is bottled at the same 115 proof as Owsley Brown bottled his medicinal whisky during prohibition.  At $60, it's just a slight step up in price from the first two Whisky Row releases, which were sold for $50 and $55.

The previous two releases included the 1870 "Original Batch" and the 1897 "Bottled in Bond."  The Original Batch is bottled at 90 proof and pays homage to the "first bottled bourbon" crafted by George Garvin Brown in 1870.  Prior to this, most whiskey was sold in barrel to bars and other establishments, where it was often adulterated with chemicals, caramelized sugar, prune juice, glycerine or even tobacco spit.  The 1897 release is named after the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, which offered further protection to consumers from murky marketing and charlatans.  To be bottled in bond a whiskey must be distilled at one distillery, during one distilling season, be aged for a minimum of four years and be bottled at 100 proof.  This is an upmarket expression of the Bottled-in-Bond category.  Others, that are often high quality or a great value include Evan Williams 100p, Heaven Hill, Henry McKenna, Rittenhouse Rye or even Mellow Corn (a corn whiskey).  A fourth Whisky Row bottling may be released this year under the 1910 label, which has already been approved.

I really enjoyed the first two releases and the third is my favorite of the bunch.  It's darker, richer and more complex than the other two.  The proof has something to do with this, but I would imagine isn't the whole story. 

It is deep mahogany in color.

The nose is huge and bursting with brown sugar, dustiness, wood, dark, wet tea leaves, cherry, cinnamon and vanilla.

There is a bit of alcohol burn on the palate. It's full of maple syrup, brown sugar caramel, black pepper, cinnamon, oak and saddle leather. The most notable thing about the palate to me is the texture. It's incredibly rich, thick, viscous, syrupy and elegant.

A lingering finish with wood, toasty flavors and saddle leather.

I really enjoy this pour. It's on the medium to high end price range, but really over delivers with flavors and mouthfeel. If you haven't tried this yet, and it's available in your area, I'd highly recommend giving it a try.

Maker's Mark Cask Strength

Though the Maker's Mark brand was established in 1805 by Scottish immigrants, the true story behind the brand began in the 1940's.  William Issac and Leslie Samuels tried to bring their distillery back from the brink after prohibition.  Soon after, William "Bill" Samuels took over the business and sold it in 1943.  In 1953 he was drawn back into the business and a distillery outside of Loretto Kentucky to refurbish.  As Kevin Minnick mentions in the current Whiskey Advocate, the first release of the current iteration of Maker's Mark was in 1958.

When Bill Samuels first began Maker's Mark he did away with the traditional family recipe and replaced the spicy rye with sweeter winter wheat. He set his brand up to be a higher end, more luxury related whiskey.  One of the earliest Maker's Mark advertising campaigns used the slogan "It tastes expensive, and it is."  With production on the lower end for larger, commercial distilleries, Maker's mark had positioned themselves correctly for tapping into the expanding wealth of American consumers in the latter half of the 20th century.  Another great advertising move was to be one of the first bourbons offered on airline flights.  Consumers would try Maker's Mark while flying and then seek it out when they arrived at their destinations.

Everything I have read suggests that Maker's Mark has stayed true to their roots as a luxury or family run operation despite moving from owner to owner over the years.  Maker's Mark sold to Hiram Walker in 1981 and was moved through many owners until settling under Beam Global Spirits (now Beam-Suntory).

I like the Maker's Mark products.  They have a wheated bourbon base (which I love) and only have three products in mass production.  Maker's Mark, Maker's 46 (aged an additional time with charred oak staves) and Maker's Mark Cask Strength.  I enjoy the first two, and really, really wanted to like the last one.  I've given it a couple of tries now, and while the air time may help, I just can't get behind it (despite my love for all things cask strength and barrel proof).


The nose is piney and slightly medicinal, with toffee and hazelnuts.

The palate has some caramel syrup, woodiness, it's a tad sweeter and more rounded this time around. There is some astringency and pine sap to the palate. A little water brings out more sweetness and rounds out the palate.

The finish is medium length, fairly bitter and has a light simple syrup character.

I'm not ready to give up on this one yet. It should be something I enjoy. Maker's doesn't make more than a few products, which I enjoy in this day of constant line extensions, and I enjoy two out of three.  I'll keep giving it a try to see if it grows on me somehow.

Henry McKenna 10 year - Bottled in Bond Bourbon

I'd seen pictures of this Bourbon bouncing around the internet for a few months and when I saw a bottle in my local retail shop I had to give it a go.  I'll get to my notes in a minute, but first let me tell you what drew me to this bottle.  It's Bourbon, but also a single barrel and bottled in bond.  There are several requirements for bottled in bond bourbon, but a couple that stand out are that it must be bottled at 100 proof (I love higher proof whiskey) and aged at least four years.  An age statement.  In this age where every brand from trusted bourbons (I'm looking at you Elijah Craig - also a Heaven Hill product) to Scotch are starting to pull age statements to keep up with demand and to differentiate their products and new releases, this is aged ten years.  The Price.  Local retailers have it for around $27 though the SRP is $30. It's a good price for a really solid ten year old bourbon.

The original Henry McKenna brand was started by an Irish immigrant in 1855.  The brand has been sold through the years and in 1994 Heaven Hill began producing the Henry McKenna bottled in bond ten year bourbon.  It has the same mash bill as some other well known Heaven Hill products such as Evan Williams and Elijah Craig among others. 75% Corn/13% Rye/12% Barley.


Now let's get to what is in the bottle.

The color is dark amber.

The nose is full of sweet caramel, hazelnut, vanilla, oak and sweet corn.

The palate had some initial heat (100 proof, bottled in bond). The flavors are rich, with a thick mouth feel, lots of honey notes, caramel, medium woodiness, butterscotch and an oily texture near the back and sides of the palate.

The finish is medium to long with a honeyed throat lozenge character, oak wood, coffee and toffee.


I really appreciate this for what it is. The richness and sweeter character fits a niche on the bourbon shelf, especially at that price point.

More bottled in bond bourbon is coming on the market, but as I recently read, the category is still fairly limited.  One of my go to whiskies has always been the Evan Williams White Label bottled in bond.  it's only aged four years, but is great in most cocktails.  The wood and caramel shines and the proof stands up to mixing.  This bourbon is on a different level.  The Henry McKenna has that same wood and caramel, but everything is ramped up.  The Caramel is richer, it's spicier, there is more wood character, it's honeyed and the mouth feel is all that much better.

At this time, the Henry McKenna bottled in bond should be widely available and at a reasonable price.  If the flavor notes above fit the type of whiskey you enjoy, you owe it to yourself to find a bottle and give it a try.

Alchemy Distillery Boldt Genever Style Gin with Cocktails

Alchemy Distillery released their first products (all unaged) in March of this year.  So far they have been distilling a 100 percent mash bill of either wheat or rye.  Their first two products were a clear Soft White Wheat whiskey and a clear Hard Red Wheat whiskey sourced from Hindley Ranch in Humboldt County.

When they exhausted the local farmers' grain supplies (the grains are also used locally by bakers such as Beck's Bakery in Arcata) they sourced Organic Rye and other grains from just over the border in Oregon.  Humboldt County is a lot closer to Oregon than it is to Napa/Sonoma, San Francisco or even the Interstate 5 corridor.  Alchemy's fourth batch was an organic clear rye whiskey  that is currently available.  Prior to distilling that, they had crafted a gin using Buck Pronto Wheat from Oregon and put it away in a new charred oak barrel to make their Genever Style Gin.

Fifty days later and the gin was ready to be pulled from barrel, cut to proof and bottled.  They so far have bottled all their spirits at 90 proof.  I really enjoyed the full proof gin and thought it had a real warm character, piles of cinnamon, star anise, clove, curry, pepper, smoke and baking spice.  Cutting it down to 90 proof dampened the warmer spices and cinnamon, but brought out more of the gin-like juniper and added more citrus notes.

The nose if full of floral, citrus and warm spices.

It tastes of baking and pepper spice, green notes (juniper and redwood), and more citrus (primarily lemon, but also some orange and grapefruit).

The finish is fairly long, with black pepper and lemon citrus notes.

I made a couple of cocktails to try and bring out some of the unique flavors and meld the other ingredients to this warmer style of gin.  The gin isn't as bright and astringent as a London Dry Gin so for a Gin and Tonic I used lemon instead of lime and put a dash of Woodford Reserve barrel aged bitters in.  The spice and structure in the bitters complimented the cocktail well and brought the whole thing together.

The next cocktail (and one of my favorites in a long time) is a modified and less sweet version of a classic gin based cocktail. 

Blushing Blonde Satan's Whiskers

3oz Boldt Genever Style Gin
1 1/2oz Dry Vermouth
1/2oz Agave Syrup
1/2oz Fresh Lemon Juice
2-3 Dashes Creole Bitters (You can substitute Peychaud's if Creole is not available)

Place all ingredients in a shaker with ice.

Shake, strain and pour into a coupe or cocktail glass. 

Garnish with a long lemon twist.  Make sure your lemon twist whisker curls nicely out of the glass.


The warm, spicy qualities of the gin mix well with the aromatic complexity of the vermouth and bitters, and are buoyed by the brightness of the lemon juice and rounded character of the agave syrup.

Be careful when enjoying this one.  It is deceptively easy to drink and contains about as much alcohol as your average manhattan.

If you are nearby and can try this gin, I highly recommend it.  If you can't make it to the land of the redwoods, then grab a Genever Gin near you and try it out in some warmer, spicier cocktails.

Alchemy Distillery Boldt Rye Whiskey Cocktails

It seems like new distilleries are popping up all over the place.  Partly due to the resurgence of craft cocktails, whiskey/bourbon and the loosening of prohibitive post-prohibition laws locally.  My (smaller geographically) area has seen a surge of new distilleries making everything including vodka, gin, moonshine, rum, whiskey and liqueurs.

Alchemy Distillery is a local husband a wife team who, while interested in spirits, just said one day "why not us?"  They did their research and come up with a plan.  The initial funding was done almost three years ago via a Kickstarter campaign.  They raised the money needed, but didn't jump right into the production of a distilling facility or rush to produce just anything.  They took a distillery tour of the United States towing their Airstream behind them, took distilling classes with the masters and refined their distillery vision (using local grains, buying American made equipment). 

Their first product hit shelves just before St Patrick's day this year.  They crafted two different clear whiskies made from locally grown soft white wheat and hard red wheat, sourced from Hindley Ranch.  These whiskies were different in a sense because the mash bill was 100 percent wheat.  They weren't a wheated bourbon, or mixed with any rye or barley.

Locally these products were a success and the farmers soon ran out of product for the season.  Next they sourced organic rye from a producer just over the border in Oregon.  The 100 percent rye, clear whiskey (a particularly stubborn and hard to make distillate) is their next product to market and the subject of this post.

I wanted to try using their unaged rye whiskey in cocktails that were common enough, but through slight tweaking would show off the character of their new whiskey.  I had previously made a margarita, screwdriver, Boldt Sunrise and a Boldt Julep with their hard red wheat clear whiskey.  They were nice because you could still taste the fresh, dry, dusty grain character of the whiskey.

The top of the picture is the Boldt Rye Whiskey neat along with a Boldt Sazerac.  I used:

3oz Boldt Clear Rye Whiskey
1/4 oz or a splash of Wild Card Absinthe from Oregon
1/4 oz Agave Syrup
2 dashes Angostura Orange Bitters (the original Sazerac calls for Peychaud's, but I was looking for something less sweet with the clear whiskey)
1/2 oz Perucchi Dry Vermouth
Lemon Zest Garnish

-Add the absinthe to your chilled glass, swirl to coat and discard the remainder.
-Fill a shaker with ice and add the whiskey, simple syrup, bitters and dry vermouth.
-Shake well and strain into your coated glass.
-Use a peeler to pull a thick zest from a fresh lemon. Rub around the rim of the glass and twist over the cocktail before adding.

On the bottom left is a Boldt Manhattan.  Being a clear whiskey, you don't want to overdo it with too much spice or sweetness.  Toning down the vermouth by using both sweet and dry will make for a more balance cocktail.  You will need:

3oz Boldt Clear Rye Whiskey
1/2 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
1oz Perucchi Dry Vermouth
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
1/2 t Luxardo Cherry juice/syrup
2 ea Luxardo Cherries
Lemon Zest Garnish

-Combine all ingredients except the cherries and lemon garnish in a shaker with plenty of ice.
-Shake vigorously and then strain into a coupe or martini glass.
-Add the cherries on a skewer and twist the lemon zest over the cocktail before adding it.

The bottom right picture is two different Boldt Rye Mules.  The Moscow Mule is one of my favorite light, bright and refreshing cocktails.  this one uses Fee Brothers Barrel aged bitters to add some structure, spice and tannin to the young whiskey, all things it would pick up with a little time in barrel.  The recipe is for the cocktail on the right.  For the more traditional version, leave out the bitters.

3oz Boldt Rye Whiskey
2 dashes Fee Brothers Barrel Aged Bitters
Juice of half a lime
4-5 oz Bundaberg Ginger Beer

-Mix the Rye Whiskey, Bitters and lime juice in a shaker with ice.
-Strain into a glass filled with ice.
-Top with 4-5 oz of ginger beer and garnish with the zest or a round of lime.

This is the end of my weekend of experimental Boldt Rye Whiskey cocktails, but I'm sure I'll still play around with them.  The Manhattan is my favorite cocktail.  Preferably with a high proof (or barrel proof) bourbon, Carpano Antica, luxardo cherries and Paychaud's bitters.  This doesn't mean that it's the be all end all of my cocktail world. Take a look at your favorite cocktail recipe and change it just a bit.  Try a different liquor or change the proportions of certain ingredients.  You may just find a new favorite.

Braised Chicken Thighs with Green Figs and Balsamic Vinegar

This is one of my favorite winter braised dishes though it is light enough to enjoy any time of the year.  I made it this weekend for a potluck and wine tasting to a great response.  It's chicken thighs braised in balsamic vinegar, port, mushrooms, green figs, onions and bacon.

I went over to a friend's house to pick some plums off their tree and they had a smaller green fig tree.  I was there to grab fruit for yellow plum jam, but this offering put this dish into the forefront of my mind.

You're going to need:

5 or 6 Chicken Thighs
3 or 4 slices of bacon
1 Small Red Onion
2-3 Garlic Cloves
6 Fresh Figs, Stemmed and Quartered
10 Cremini Mushrooms
2 1/14 c Chicken Broth
5T Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 c Port Wine (cooking or whatever you have on hand)
1/2 c Polenta
2T Unsalted Butter
Parsley, Chopped

There is plenty of room to modify this recipe or to add whatever you think would work well.

-  Slice the bacon into 1/4 inch pieces. Saute on medium heat in a medium saucepan until crispy and remove.

- Mince the onion and slice the mushrooms into 1/4 slices.  Cook the onions until translucent and then add the mushrooms.  Sprinkle in a bit of salt and pepper.

- Mince the garlic and when the onions start to caramelize, add it.  Cook for 2-3 minutes.

- Pour in the balsamic and port.  Deglaze the pan by scraping with a wooden spoon.

- Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels and liberally sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add the thighs to the pan and pour in 1/2 cups of the chicken broth and add the figs.

- Simmer for about 20 minutes.

- Pull the thighs out of the pan and remove the meat from the bone.  you can discard or add a bit of the skin to the pan.  You can skip this step by using boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

- Smash or stir the mixture a bit to break down the figs and onions into the sauce.

-In another pan add 1 3/4 c chicken stock and bring to a boil with 1/2 t salt.  Whisk in the polenta and cook for 5-10 minutes until the mixture thickens and the grains soften.  You can also add a splash of milk or half and half to add to the richness.  When the polenta is cooked, whisk in 1 T butter and check the salt and pepper for seasoning.  If the polenta seems to thick, you can always add additional stock or dairy.

- Scoop the polenta into 2-3 bowls.  Top with the chicken mixture, bacon and chopped parsley.

- Serve warm and pair with Chardonnay or Pinot Noir as your taste dictates.

High West Midwinter Night's Dram Act 2.6

High West is a distillery located in Salt Lake City, Utah.  They have largely gained fame for their whiskey over the years by sourcing some amazing barrels and creating delicious mainstream and limited releases.  They have since set up a distillery and have stocks of various whiskey aging. 

The limited edition Midwinter Night's Dram is released yearly (with Act 3 arriving Fall 2015).  It is their standard Rendezvous Rye Whiskey that has been finished in Port and French Oak barrels.  The whiskey inside is sourced from MGP in Indiana (6-year 95% Rye, 5% Barley) and Barton Distillery (16-year 80% Rye, 10% Corn, 10% Barley), and is then finished for a period in the Port and French Oak Barrels.


The color is a deep reddish mahogany.

There is a sweetness on the nose of brown sugar, butterscotch and caramel, along with straw/hay, dill, nutmeg, clove and raspberry.

The palate is medium weight and drier than on my previous tasting, showing oak, vanilla dusty hay, dried herbs, caramel, brown sugar, raspberry, dried cherry notes and cinnamon.

The finish is long, warm and smooth. There are some hay/grain notes, along with vanilla, oak and caramel syrup.


This bottle has been open over a year and it has changed a bit. I still love it however, and would snap up any of it I can find. I think overall the fruit characteristics have toned down (previously I got fig and plum) and the sweetness has tapered from molasses, toffee and a lactic creaminess. I think the bottle has become drier, picking up more hay, dill and dried herbal notes.  Still a favorite, but is becoming more toned down.