Review: El Ladrón Blanco Blue Agave Spirit

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Photo by Chen Design Associates

Free sample bottle received as a gift from 3rd party.

El Ladron Blanco Blue Agave Spirit, distilled by Venus Spirits and bottled at 47% ABV. 

Price Range: $40-$50

Founded by Sean Venus, Venus Spirits is a new craft distillery located in Santa Cruz, California. I met Sean at a K&L tasting event in San Francisco where he was pouring El Ladron (The Thief) blue agave spiritand his gin . Sean has an extensive background in brewing and fermentation. He worked for a number of microbreweries while attending the University of Oregon and spent six years with Gordon Biersh. 

El Ladron Blanco Blue Agave Spirit is made from organic blue agave syrup imported from Mexico, fermented and double distilled in a 600-liter copper alembic still. 

Tasting Notes

Nose: The aroma is has interesting notes of cranberry and raspberry with a hint of sweetness. There is also an underlying green vegetal aroma commonly found in blanco tequilas. Let the spirit sit for a little bit and the aromas open up revealing dried tarragon and more earthy agave notes.

Palate: In the mouth El Ladron blanco is smooth; it is big and round on the tongue and tastes sweet with a light caramel flavor. As it sits the flavor reveals a dry mineral character that thins out. There are notes of black pepper, and cayenne combined with a smokey vegetal note like barbecued asparagus. 

Finish: The finish has a slight sting that mellows out into a pleasant warmth. Sweetness lingers on the tongue almost like caramelized onions. 

Conclusion: El Ladron blanco is an excellent agave spirit. It shows very well neat and it also makes a really tasty margarita. At 47% the agave spirit shines through and adds an solid earthy character that balances against the citrus and sweetness of the other ingredients. This is by far one of the best US agave spirits I have had the pleasure to taste.

Review: Venus Spirits Gin Blend No. 01

Gin Blend No. 01 is distilled by Venus Spirits and and bottled at 46% ABV.

Price Range: $30-$40

Venus Spirit is owned and operated by Sean Venus who worked for 14 years in the craft brewing and organic food industries before opening his distillery. Venus Spirits is located in Santa Cruz, three blocks from the coast and just 2 miles from the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. 

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Free sample bottle received as a gift from 3rd party.

TASTING NOTES

Nose: Smells of lavender and bright citrus with a low malt note in the background.

Palate: Tastes strongly of citrus and lavender.

Finish: The finish is smooth with little heat and a pleasant floral character.

Conclusion: Venus Spirits' Gin Blend No. 1 is a good example of a contemporary gin. In general I prefer more juniper forward gins so my rating has more to do with my own personal preference than the quality of the spirit. Blend No. 1 hits all the right notes for gin drinkers who like like more citrus and floral gins.  This would also work really well in a Corps Reviver #2.

Review: E.H. Taylor Small Batch Bottled In Bond Bourbon

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Bottle purchased by EZdrinking.

Colonel E. H. Taylor Small Batch Bottled in Bond Kentucky Bourbon is distilled by Buffalo Trace Distillery and and bottled at 50% ABV.

Price Range: $40-$50

Buffalo Trace is located in Frankfurt, Kentucky and owned by  Sazerac, a privately held company, headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1992, Sazerac purchased what was then called the George T. Stagg Distillery and after completing renovations in 1999, they renamed it Buffalo Trace Distillery. 

The E.H. Taylor bourbon line consists of four standard variations all of which come in a lovely canister and are labeled bottled in bond except for the barrel proof bottling. The E.H. Taylor Small Batch is distilled from Buffalo Trace's Mash Bill #1, a high corn mash bill which is believed to have 10% or less, rye as a flavoring grain. E.H. Taylor has no age statement so it is legally required to be at least 4 years old, however, most estimates place it between 7 and 12 years old.

E.H. Taylor Small Batch Bourbon was one of nine whiskeys I included in a blind tasting of bourbons less than $50.

TASTING NOTES

Nose: Smells of light vanilla and rose petals with milk chocolate, and a hint of orange zest.

Palate: Tastes slightly sweet, with a smooth texture. The heat from the 100 proof is noticeable on the first sip but it mellows as you continue to drink.

Finish: Full of warm spice notes like clove and ground ginger.  It has a woody character like young pine with medium tannins that leaves the palate dry waiting for the next sip. This wood flavor is non-traditional for a Kentucky Bourbon so it may not appeal those who prefer a more pronounced oak character.

Conclusion: This bottling of Colonel Taylor is very floral and has a light nose, with its young woodiness it is a fun and different kind of bourbon that doesn't taste like everything else. While a solid bourbon, at its price point, I'm not sure it would make it into my regular rotation or that I would buy a second bottle. However, at 100 proof it will hold up well in any bourbon cocktail especially a Manhattan. 

From bark to Bourbon: The Wild Yeast of Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co.

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Design by Gail Sands

Yeast is an amazing organism. It’s a fungus, one we encounter every day—not  only through the fermented beverages we drink and the bread we eat, but also in the very air we breath. For millennia, humankind collaborated with wild yeast to produce wine, beer and bread, yet with no understanding how it functioned on a molecular level. With the invention of  the microscope, we developed the skills and techniques to domesticate a few  strains of yeast suitable to our needs, but the vast majority remain wild, floating on the wind, ready to be discovered (or avoided).

In 2009, Rob Arnold moved from Tennessee to Dallas to begin a doctoral program in biochemistry. Having earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology, Arnold was at home in the labs of the University of Texas. He spent many of his days isolating marine bacteria from samples of sea water. Yet, in his off time, Arnold began to dream of starting a distillery. His family had been in the alcohol industry for generations, and it seemed to him the right avenue for applying his skills and passion.

As Arnold began exploring the idea of distilling, he met Leonard Firestone and Troy Robertson, who were already in the process of starting a distillery in Fort Worth. As the three men talked, they realized they shared a common vision, and that each possessed skills valuable to a potential collaboration. Even from the beginning, Firestone and Robertson had known that they wanted a proprietary yeast strain for their wheated bourbon. And Arnold seemed to be the right man to make that a reality.

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In September 2010, not long after the founding of the Firestone & Robertson Distilling Company, Arnold joined the  team and went to work looking for yeast. But to do it right,  he was going to need a lab. He reached out to local colleges, and Professor Dean Williams of Texas Christian University responded. Williams helped Arnold set up a lab, advised him on using equipment, and even helped him gain adjunct faculty status so he could come and go at the University as needed.

Arnold immediately began collecting samples from the distillery, which is located in a pre-Prohibition brick warehouse. He even took samples from his own home. Arnold applied the samples to petri dishes and waited to see what would grow. The petri dishes, or plates, contained a growing medium similar
to wort, intended to encourage the growth of yeast species suited to fermentation. However, when Arnold examined his first set of plates, none contained a desirable yeast strain.

Because not all yeast species are capable of fermenting the complex sugars within a bourbon mash into alcohol, the three focused specifically on finding Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a variety widely used by brewers and winemakers. Due to millennia  of selective pressure, S. cerevisiae has evolved into an effective fermenter of maltose, capable of surviving in an alcohol solution at concentrations deadly to most other bacteria and micro-organisms.

As the search for S. cerevisiae continued, Arnold headed out of Fort Worth to Rancho Hielo Brazos in Glen Rose, Texas. The ranch manager there, as it turned out, happened to have a background in botany. Arnold spent half a day with the ranch manager traversing the property, collecting samples from the dirt and a variety of plants. Back at the lab, the 20 samples he collected netted hundreds of different bacteria and fungi, including yeast.

Once again, Arnold went through the work of isolating each of the yeast strains by plating and re-plating them repeatedly. In the end, the 20 samples Arnold brought back from the ranch yielded 100 separate yeast strains. To whittle that number down to a manageable size, he used a technique  called Polymerase Chain Reaction to isolate the DNA of each strain. Upon analysis, it turned out 11 of the 100 strains were S. cerevisiae. Arnold checked his notes, and discovered that all 11 came from just three sources on the ranch: a cactus fruit,  an oak tree and a pecan tree.

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Arnold then tested his 11 wild yeast strains against a couple of commercial strains in a series of fermentation trials. For a month, he pitched these yeasts into a standardized wort and recorded when fermentation began, when it stopped, and how well each strain consumed the available sugars. He noticed that almost all of the wild S. cerevisiae strains began fermenting right away, although most stalled after 36 hours. Out of the 11 wild yeast strains, only three were capable of fully fermenting the wort and able to hold up to alcohol without dying.

The team ran fermentation results from the final three wild strains, plus a commercial strain, through a blind sensory analysis. They nosed and tasted the distiller’s beer and the white  dog resulting from each yeast strain to see which they liked best. All three picked the same strain as their clear favorite, which they named Brazos.

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Arnold checked his notes, and he and the team were delighted to find that all their effort had paid off—not only had they all picked the same wild yeast, but it also came from the same source: a pecan nut. Native to Texas and a number of other states, the pecan tree (Carya illinoinensis) has been the
official state tree of Texas since 1906. 

From the beginning, Firestone and Robertson had dreamed of creating a Texas bourbon that represents the home that they love. It was pure serendipity that, after all of Arnold’s hard work to find a wild yeast strain that could imbue their bourbon with the character of Texas, they found it waiting on a  Texas pecan nut. To protect all that they had accomplished, their Brazos yeast strain is now stored in deep freezers at the distillery as well as at a couple of universities in the area. If Firestone & Robertson ever needed to start from scratch, they have a number of ready samples stored for just such a purpose.

Once they settled on Brazos as their house yeast strain, they went into high gear distilling and laying down barrels of bourbon to age. Firestone & Robertson are making wheated bourbon. The wheat, corn and barley are milled, mashed, then fermented in open stainless steel fermenters using the
Brazos yeast strain. Once fermentation is complete, the wash is pumped into the stills grain and all. Firestone & Robertson stills are a pot-column hybrid, custom built by Vendome Copper & Brass Works, designed so they can distill bourbon in a single pass.

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When enough hearts are collected, they pour the spirit into 53 gallon barrels from Independent Stave. Slowly but surely  the stacked barrels are filling up the open floor plan of their brick warehouse, with the oldest barrels in a loft overlooking the distillery floor. According to Arnold, the brick helps to moderate the hot summer temperatures, which can reach into the 100s, and also keeps temperatures stable through the  mild winters.

In the loft, a barrel marked “Brazos” has been quietly sitting  for three years, working its magic with the spirit inside. Arnold, using a copper whiskey thief, drew a small sample and poured it into a nosing glass. Three years in, their bourbon has a fantastic color of deep amber and burnished copper. A nice aroma of vanilla, cinnamon and caramel danced in concert with the oak just above the rim of the glass. Higher notes of floral and fruity esters lingered faintly in the background. At first taste there is an immediate impression of young wood mingled with walnuts, and a lingering maple syrup sweetness that floats on the tongue. Even at barrel strength the bourbon  was supple and smooth, without any harsh heat.

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Firestone & Robertson is one of a very small group of distilleries to isolate a wild yeast strain for making spirits. The micro-distilling industry’s vast opportunities for artistry and creativity drive their passion. In the meantime, their bourbon is developing a uniquely Texas flavor born of the pecan trees
in the watershed of the Brazos River.

Originally published as part of the "Defining Craft" series in Distiller Magazine (Summer 2015): 90-92.

Review: St. George California Agricole Rum (2013)

Photo from St. George Spirits

Bottle purchased by EZdrinking.

California Agricole Rum (2013), distilled by St. George Spirits and bottled at 43% ABV.

Price Rage: $40-$60

St. George Spirits was founded by Jörg Rupfin in 1982 and he spent his first decade producing some of the best fruit eau de vies in the US. In 1996 Lance Winters began working at the distillery and helped develop their single malt whiskey and a variety of other spirits. 

In 2010, St. George distilled and bottled their first batch of California Agricole Rum (initially labeled as Agua Libre) from sugar cane grown in California's Imperial Valley. Like the agricole rums produced in the French Caribbean, St. George California Agricole Rum's  exhibit a very funky profile that can change year-to-year based on the terrior of the sugar cane. 

Tasting Notes

Nose: Very strong notes of decomposing vegetable matter.

Palate: Medium body and soft on the tongue. Tastes sweet with a note of butter up front, Mid-palate it displays a mineral character with the flavor of cooked broccoli that ends with a light hint of pepper.

Finish: Long finish with a slight smokey note and a hint of caramel.

Conclusion: St. George's 2013 California Agricole Rum is true to its style. It has all of the strong aromas and flavors commonly found in rums distilled from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice. However, I am just not that crazy about it. For those who enjoy other agricole rums, St. George's is probably worth buying,  but for me I am still more intrigued by the idea more than the result.