Bourbon Special

 

The full line-up

Our September tasting had us take a trip over the Atlantic for half a dozen top class bourbons.

Old Forester

And where better to start than Kentucky, the state probably most associated with the golden liquid. We kicked off with Old Forester, as an example of the sort of entry level bourbon that's widely available and won't break the bank. Part of the Brown-Forman group, the Old Forester brand is therefore loosely speaking a sister of Jack Daniel's.

We thought this was a good drop, pleasant and excellent value. It's 43% and £25, although you can sometimes pick it up for less if there's a deal on in your local supermarket. Nothing here to go too deep on but there's a nice aftertaste. Gentle with a bit of spice.

1792 Single Barrel

Moving onto the second whiskey and we stayed in Kentucky for a single barrel 1792, a brand referencing the year it formally became a state. It's owned by the spirits group Sazerac.

The bourbon itself was sweet, and the flavour really hangs around with this. Sugar puffs thought someone (other 1980s breakfast cereals are available), and it's certainly distinctive while also packing a bit of a sweet punch. Approachable at the same time. Among those less keen, one more negative tasting note was that it was a bit on the "grassy" side.

It's 49.3% and will set you back a shade under £60.

Four Roses

Four Roses, next, and their Small Batch Select. This is a whiskey made from a combination of six of the ten recipes used by the distillery, and then matured for six years. The distillery itself is another Kentucky one, although these days it has Japanese owners in the form of Kirin.

Spice and fruit were the key tasting notes here. Fruitcake and grapes were other shouts. Someone also suggested liqourice allsorts (although the ones which aren't entirely liqourice, you know the ones). As someone said "I forgot to add water because I was enjoying it so much." Although praise wasn't completely universal, and others felt there was a bit too much going on, and all those different recipes didn't quite marry together as they might have done.

It's 52% and is £57 - as is typical for bourbons, though, it's a 75cl bottle rather than 70, so offers very slightly better value than it might first appear.

Penelope Barrel Strength

There was a half-time break as ever, allowing us to get another pint from the bar of the Britons Protection, before resuming for bourbon number four.

You might say we went from a pitstop to a Penelope, as in our glasses was the Penelope Barrel Strength. A brand named for the co-founder's new daughter, this was billed as a "high-octane whiskey experience" and for once the marketing bumph had some truth in it. "It costs 72 pounds but tastes more like 72 percent" as someone suggested.

Very whole and well-rounded, salty, and nice despite the big ABV (which in reality is 57.9%). Those who tried it with a bit of water said that opened the flavour out and took away the big kick, although I have to admit I'd finished my glass by then.

The Cadenheads

Cadenheads is the oldest independent bottler around, and we've had many great expressions from there down the years, drawn from all kinds of distilleries. Tonight's choice was an 18-year-old Tennessee, certainly taken from George Dickel, the Diageo-owned distillery, which uses the Scottish spelling of 'whisky' (the label is a bit of a giveaway here).

At £125 we thought this was actually outstanding value for what we got, because it really was something extra special. Smooth and a bit buttery, the way to sum it up is the phrase "like a crème brûlée in a glass" which was so uncanny that we all more or less agreed with it. Spectacularly good. It's 46%.

Elijah Craig

And that brought us to the final dram of the evening, a cask strength monster from Elijah Craig, a bourbon again produced in Kentucky at the Heaven Hill distillery and named for a preacher considered one of the fathers of whiskey in the area.

This 65.7% Barrel Proof expression was from September 2018, and very powerful it was. Quite a lot to handle after the smooth subtlety of the previous dram, this was big and heavy and needed a bit of water. "What if bourbon, but too much?". It cost £100-ish.

For the dram of the night voting, despite the fine array of bourbons on show, it was a clear win for the Cadenheads George Dickel with 12 votes. A worthy winner!

Thanks to all club members old and new for another great evening, and to the Britons Protection for again playing hosts.

An action shot