Whiskey Review: Queen Jennie

This is a whiskey made in Madison, Wisconsin from 100% Wisconsin sorghum and aged in small charred oak barrels from Minnesota. Yeah. The distillery is Old Sugar Distillery, which I visited before this whiskey was being sold. It's great to see it on the market.

Queen Jennie Sorghum Whiskey, 40% ABV

100% Wisconsin Sorghum

Price range, 750 mL: $25-30


Nose: Peaches in syrup with toasted oak.

Palate: Super smooth and fairly thick mouthfeel. Sweet but not cloying: again with the syrup and wood.

Finish: Lingering spice, very clean especially considering the thickness on the palate. The finish is a little bourbon-y in the sweetness, vanilla, and char flavors.

Rating (of 100): 90. It's fairly straightforward but it just feels well-composed. It really is quite distinct from all other whiskeys/whiskies I've ever had.

Whiskey Review: Powers John's Lane 12 Year

This is one of very few Irish whiskey reviews on this blog, so let's hope it doesn't suck.

Whiskey is spelled with the "e" when it's from Ireland, for reasons that may or may not be attributable to drunkenness by those developing naming conventions. This is single pot still whiskey, also known as pure pot still whiskey, which means it was fermented from a mash of a combination of malted and unmalted barley and then triple-distilled in copper pot stills. It's a process unique to Ireland that is making a comeback: there were only two brands (Redbreast and Green Spot) that, until a few years ago, bore the single pot still distinction, but now you can find ten or more different bottlings in this style.

This particular whiskey is 12 years old, matured primarily in bourbon casks with a little maturation in sherry casks (percentages/durations undisclosed). It's supposed to be reminiscent of how the whiskey from the original John's Lane distillery tasted, which the people making this whiskey apparently think the average consumer cares about.

Powers John's Lane 12 Year, 46% ABV

Single pot still Irish whiskey (Ireland)

Price range, 750 mL: $55-70

Nose: Honey and a floral fruitiness with some woody spices.

Palate: A nice, ripe fruit palate backed by a good dollop of alcoholic heat. Smooth mouthfeel.

Finish: More ripe fruit and a good amount of heat as it fades away. The aftertaste turns a little flat after a while.

Rating (of 100): 84. Fairly one-dimensional for a whiskey in this price range. Not sure what all the hype was about in the reviews when this came out. I'd rather have gotten two bottles of Glenmorangie 10 and saved a few bucks to boot.

Irish whiskey has yet to win my heart over scotch.

Whisky review: Old Potrero 18th Century Style, Essay #10-RW-ARM-3-J

I had read about this whiskey in a couple of places, and all reviews were positive. It's made by the Anchor Distilling Company, part of the company that makes Anchor beers in San Francisco. Having read those reviews, I was hoping to try it, but there didn't seem to be any around Boston.

One night, Eileen and I went to dinner near our apartment and the restaurant had a great selection of American whiskey, including Old Potrero. I had to get a glass.

And let's just say that, after that night, I was looking for more. We moved to Arizona soon after that meal, but I hadn't forgotten that whiskey. Once in AZ, I went to the liquor store and found it on the shelves for about $60. Normally, that would be a bit out of my range for an American whiskey, but I made an exception for this one.

The Old Potrero 18th Century Style Whiskey is made from 100% malted rye, which is very rare - usually the rye is mixed with other grains, especially malted barley, in the mashbill. It's a blend of whiskeys aged between 2 years 5 months and 3 years 9 months, and the barrels in which it's aged are toasted but not charred. The "essay" number mentioned in the title of this post is the batch identifier; they make the whiskey in small quantities and, from what I can tell from other online sources, the batches can vary quite a bit.

Oh, and it's bottled at 63.64% ABV, so you're guaranteed to get some bang for your buck.

Old Potrero 18th Century Style, Essay #10-RW-ARM-3-J, 63.64% ABV

 Single malt rye American whiskey

Nose: Chocolate and butterscotch. Hardwood. Dried fruit, yet still maintains a freshnees or greenness. This nose is unlike anything else I've smelled - simultaneously musty and fresh, old and new.

Palate: Gripping with the high alcohol content. Starts off lighter and fruitier (apples, apricots) and then turns in waves of chocolate, aniseed, and malted rye. It feels thick but also light. This whiskey is contradiction in a bottle.

Finish: More chocolate, aniseed, and malt with lingering heat. Try not to drink this near an open flame.

Rating (of 100): 93. What an experience - not for the faint of heart at full barrel strength, but perfect for someone wanting an unforgettable experience. The first time I had this, I was blown away by its flavor waves (flaves?). I also tried the 19th Century Style, which is 45% ABV and from charred barrels (unlike the 18th Century Style, which uses uncharred barrels), but it didn't strike me as much as this one did.

Glad I was able to find this in Arizona, and definitely a whiskey to have if you want to try a unique and profound dram.

Whiskey review: Four Roses

Four Roses was the best-selling bourbon in the United States in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, but was bought by Seagram and sold only in Europe and Asia after that. In 2002, Kirin Brewery from Japan bought the distillery and started selling Four Roses in the United States again. So even though it might seem like a relatively new brand to many people, it has actually been around since the 1800s.

Four Roses makes a wide array of bourbons, including single barrels and small batches. Their especially unique feature is that they use ten different recipes to create their whiskies, employing five proprietary yeast strains and two different mashbills to get them.

In their basic whiskey, the yellow label reviewed here, they combine all ten recipes in one bottle. Others, like their small batch and single barrel, use a smaller subset of recipes.

Four Roses Yellow Label, 40% ABV

Bourbon

Nose: Red apples, green apples, char.

Palate: Floral sweetness with char. Perfumed.

Finish: More char, young fruit. A bit dissonant.

Rating (of 100): 81. Gets the job done if you're looking for a bourbon with some character but not enough to have to stop and appreciate it.