Category Archives: whiskey

Walk the Line: Jack Daniel’s

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jack daniel's whiskies

Welcome to a series at Simple Cocktails called Walk the Line, where I explore the entire product lines of the most popular liquor brands together with a panel of friends and tasters. I realized in a recent visit to the liquor store that there are some huge brands with different versions of their liquors, and I wasn’t really sure which was the best, or why, or how they differ from the flagship brand. I’m sure that there are others who feel the same, so let’s Walk the Lines of these brands together. Click here to view the entire Walk the Line series.

While it almost seems silly to begin with something as familiar and iconic as Jack Daniel’s whiskey, some people take this brand for granted in spite of its rich and fascinating history. We tasted the 3 primary expressions of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. Here’s the breakdown:

Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7. The flagship black-label Jack Daniel’s has been distilled for over 100 years. Jack differentiates itself in the market by being a Tennessee Whiskey, filtered through 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal before it’s aged in barrels. It had been a while since most of our tasters had Jack on it’s own, and we admittedly expected to be tasting “cheap whiskey.” Old No. 7 pleasantly surprised the panel with it’s quality, though, especially for $20 a bottle. This flagship Jack has a familiar sweet corn flavor and a smooth, lingering finish.

Gentleman Jack. Introduced in 1988, Gentleman is the mid-range Jack. The recipe is the same as with Old No. 7, but this version is charcoal mellowed twice: once before and once after barrel aging. Gentleman Jack is sweeter and smoother than Old No. 7 because of the double mellowing, and the tasters really liked the flavor and price (about $30) of this one in particular.

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select. This is the premium Jack Daniel’s product. While it’s life begins the same as the other Jacks, Single Barrel Select is chosen from the top barrels in the aging house at the distillery.  Those barrels experience the biggest temperature fluctuations, and as a result Single Barrel Select has a complexity that warrants the  higher-priced bottle (about $45). This whiskey has a rich color, and the tasters all smelled traces of maple syrup, though the flavor is not as sweet as it’s little brothers. Bottled at a higher alcohol content than the others, tasters felt Single Barrel Select is much more of a serious sip and should share the shelf with other high-quality American whiskeys.

Journeyman Whiskies and Gin

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journeyman whiskies and gin

Journeyman is an organic distillery in Three Oaks, Michigan, who opened their doors in 2011. I was initially attracted to them for several reasons, all of which centered around the care and beauty that they impart on their packaging. Their bottle design is uniquely stunning: they’re wax-sealed in various colors, and the labels are extremely well designed with a rough-printed tactile feel to them. Their distillery and tasting room are beautiful, too, with parts dating back to the 1800’s. Before I’d even tasted their booze, I was pretty damn enamored with the beautiful bottles I was holding in my hands.

Journeyman distills vodka, gin, and a range of whiskies, and I got to try a few of them.

Ravenswood Rye Whiskey. I am consistently running low on my rye supply because it is my favorite whiskey variety. Ravenswood is a quality and terribly smooth-drinking whiskey. As I drank, I tasted the familiar cinnamon-spice grains, but was immediately surprised by a cool, sweet finish. “Is that wheat?” I thought, and after looking it up on Journeyman’s site, I found it contains a “heavily wheated organic rye from Kansas.” The play between the wheat and rye base makes for a spicy-sweet rye that I didn’t dare mix with anything. This one’s going to be drunk neat until the bottom of the bottle. Ravenswood will run you $45.

Bilberry Black Hearts Gin contains bilberries, also called “black hearts” because of the richness of their color. This gin has an interesting flavor profile, beginning with juniper but finishing with a mild, earthy, fruity bite. Not a citrus flavor, like many gins have, but more like a London Dry-style with a faint, berry finish. It tasted very good in a Screwdriver. Bilberry Black Hearts is $35.

Buggy Whip Wheat Whiskey. Like I noticed in Ravenswood, wheat adds some natural, pleasant sweetness to a whiskey, and Buggy Whip very easy to drink. It may remind you of other high-wheat whiskeys like Maker’s Mark. Buggy Whip is a limited release from Journeyman, but when you find it, a bottle will run you about $40.

Hudson Manhattan Rye

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hudson manhattan rye

Hudson Manhattan Rye whiskey from New York is one of a very healthy catalog of spirits from Tuthilltown Spirits. Their whiskeys are packaged in uniquely short, stout, wax-coated bottles, most of them half-sized at 375 ml. These are hand-bottled, hand-numbered, small batch whiskies.

I found Hudson Manhattan Rye to have a pretty complex set of flavors. Rye is the spicy grain in the whiskey world, and this is certainly spicy, but I also discovered a tobacco flavor to Manhattan Rye that is rare in a whiskey of any variety. Imagine the sweet woodiness of a vanilla or cherry pipe tobacco, imagine that in a rye, and you’ll realize this whiskey is one of the more unique flavors in the liquor cabinet.

Whiskey lovers should add this to their wish list. Rye lovers will should enjoy it, too, because the variety of flavors you experience in one sip is significant. Hudson Manhattan Rye will run you about $45 for a bottle.

 

Burnside Bourbon

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burnside bourbon and j.r.'s revenge

Burside is a 4-year-old bourbon from Eastside Distilling. Though Eastside touts it a “bold and spicy,” I found Burnside to be smooth to drink straight and it’s got more corn-sweetness than I expected from their description. My favorite bourbons tend to be the most balanced: sweet from the corn, spicy from rye and barrel aging, strong and smooth. Burnside fits this bill as a strong (48% ABV) and well-balanced booze.

I used Burnside in this cocktail from the Bartender’s Bible:

J.R.’s Revenge

  • 1 1/2 oz bourbon
  • 1/4 oz Southern Comfort (I used Bold Black Cherry)
  • 2 dashes of bitters
  • stir on ice and strain in a chilled cocktail glass

Brenne

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brenne bottle and glasses

Brenne is a single malt whisky distilled in France, aged for 7 years, and finished in Cognac barrels. Launched in October 2012 in New York City, Brenne is available at several locations, in New York and online, for about $50.

Because this is a high quality single malt whisky, the only fitting way to drink it is neat – straight from the glass, no ice, at room temperature. Brenne smells of cognac and dried fruit as you raise the glass, and the whisky flavor comes in as you sip it.  Brenne has a quality scotch-like taste with traces of apricot and spice. It’s got a great flavor and I’m interested to see how its unique qualities make an impact on the whisky market.

Cherry Bomb Whiskey

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cherry bomb whiskey

Cherry Bomb from Eastside Distilling in Portland is one of those unique liquors that when I first heard about it, I was immediately dying to try it. Now I’m really excited to have it in my liquor cabinet.

The bottle contains a rich, maroon, murky liquid – part of Eastside’s vow that real Oregon cherries are actually in there. When you open the bottle, you smell whiskey, and this surprised me as I imagined something more candy-like, I suppose. Here’s the important thing though: this isn’t cherry liqueur, it’s cherry whiskey, and it’s not sweetened by anything other than the cherries themselves.

When you take quality aged whiskey and seep fresh local cherries in it, this is what you get: a very flavorful, sweet, and smooth drink. I imagine this is probably a great opportunity to make some simple cocktails with a cherry twist, but Cherry Bomb tastes so good on its own, I just keep drinking it that straight. This is a great choice for an after dinner tipple as it’s an alternative to a sweeter after-dinner liqueur. Cherry Bomb has a really familiar and comforting flavor, like a glass of whiskey served with a hot slice of cherry pie, a little bit tart and a little bit sweet.

Cherry Bomb will run you $24 for a 375ml half-bottle and it’s available online, at many places in Oregon, or at the distillery in Portland’s Distillery Row.

Templeton Rye

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templeton rye

Happy birthday Al Capone! One of the original gangsters, Capone would have been a very old man if he was still alive today. What better way to celebrate than with Al’s favorite booze, Templeton Rye?

Templeton is distilled in Iowa according to the prohibition-era recipe that made it infamous at that time. As a rye whiskey, you get the liquid-cinnamon spice that you’d expect, but there are a couple of surprises in the taste. First, the 40% alcohol gives this whiskey less of a throat burn than other ryes. Second, there are traces of fruit in the flavor, like orange and coconut. These two elements make Templeton an incredibly smooth liquor.

While Templeton makes great Old Fashioneds and Manhattans, I imagine I’ll be drinking this neat most of the time. I’m really trying not to gush here, but this $40 bottle of rye is tremendous, and a fitting toast on Al Capone’s 114th birthday.

1792 Ridgemont Reserve Bourbon

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1792 ridgemont reserve bourbon

1792 Ridgemont Reserve is a premium bourbon in a wide and stout bottle, the neck wrapped in burlap, and a large carved stopper.

1792 is really meant for sipping but it’s a good cocktail bourbon as well. It’s just over 46% ABV, and I usually take my bourbons on the rocks when I drink them straight. There’s a bit of sweetness present in this bourbon and it brings a great deal of balance to the flavor of 1792. It’s not the sweetest bourdon on the market, nor the spiciest. It’s very smooth, and has the complexity and quality you’d expect from a premium bourbon.

Overall, Ridgemont Reserve is a great middle-of-the road bourbon as it’s flavors are well balanced, and it is certainly as smooth as you’d expect a premium bourbon to be.

Dandy Candy Cocktail

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candy dandy cocktail

I adapted this recipe from Bulleit’s Facebook page. It’s low-volume and quite easy to drink.

Dandy Candy Cocktail

  • 1 oz bourbon
  • 1/4 oz sweet vermouth
  • 1/4 oz triple sec
  • 1 dash Bitter End Jamaican Jerk bitters (buy from Cocktail Kingdom), or other bitters of choice
  • stir with ice and strain into a small cocktail glass
  • garnish with an orange twist

KGB Naranjo, Bourbon, and Absinthe

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KGB Naranjo, Bourbon, and Absinthe

KGB Spirits in northern New Mexico has some new releases in their spirits catalog: Naranjo Orange Liqueur, Taos Lightning Bourbon, and Brimstone Absinthe.

Naranjo is a high proof orange liqueur, 45% ABV where most other triple secs are only about 20%. This means it’s not too sweet and Naranjo works well straight up, as a digestif. Naranjo’s orange flavor is very subtle, though, and you should think twice if you’re considering dumping this into a pitcher of margaritas. The color is pale orange, and the scent of citrus is very muted, but it’s all there on your taste buds.

Taos Lightning Bourbon shares it’s name with KGB’s Ryes-a historical throwback to 1800’s western whiskeys-and it’s sweet, spicy, and smooth. I found myself thinking about it all day after tasting it. Taos Lightning Bourbon is very balanced in it’s flavor, and the expected toasted-wood spice finishes it off.

Finally, Brimstone Absinthe has two unique qualities: first, KGB uses a potato base in their distilling process – just like their vodka and gin, which adds a minty, earthy flavor. Second, Brimstone is bottled at a pretty low proof, the lowest proof I’ve ever seen for an absinthe. Absinthe is typically known for it’s high (60-70%) proof, but Brimstone is a mellow 45%. Because of this, you can actually drink Brimstone on the rocks with no water or sugar added. The lower proof makes it a more viable cocktail ingredient, too.

KGB Spirits are available at retail shops around New Mexico.