Review: Larceny Bourbon

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Bottle purchased by EZdrinking.

Owned and Distilled by Heaven Hill Distilleries and bottled at 46% ABV.

Price: $19-$30

Larceny Bourbon is a small batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon made by Heaven Hill. According to HH, each batch of Larceny come from less than 200 barrels that have aged between 6 and 12 years. Larceny is a wheated bourbon in the line of Old Fitzgerald Bourbon and according to Bill Straub of Modern Thirst it has a mash bill of 68% Corn, 20% Wheat and 12% Malted Barley. 

Thanks to  Sally Van Winkle Campbell and Sam Thomas we now know that John E. Fitzgerald whom the bourbon is named after was a U.S. Treasury Agent who had a knack for picking good barrels of whiskey. Pre-Prohibition whiskey man, Charles Herbst created the Old Fitzgerald brand, which was a bourbon made at the now defunct Old Judge distillery outside Frankfort, Kentucky. In 1999, Heaven Hill acquired the Old Fitzgerald brand and began bottling it from wheated bourbon made at their Bernheim distillery. Heaven Hill introduced Larceny around 2013.

Lastly, Larceny was one of nine bourbons I selected for a blind tasting of bourbons under $50.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Larceny has a strong woody aroma of oak and cedar, with notes of tobacco, leather and sweet cherries carried up on the alcohol.

Palate: The flavor has lots of spicy nutmeg and cove notes, with hints of candy orange and milk chocolate. This is a very woody bourbon with strong bitter tannins and a warmth starts in the mouth and travels down your chest.

Finish: The finish is long and dominated by wood and spice notes with a slight tinge of heat from the alcohol.

Conclusion: Larceny is not what I would call a soft or sweet bourbon. However, it does work well in a Manhattan that emphasizes the baking spice and wood notes over sweet cherry. While this is not my favorite bourbon, I think someone who likes their whiskeys more on the woody side of the spectrum this would be a solid purchase.

Review: Stonecutter Single Barrel Gin

Distilled and aged by Stonecutter Spirits and bottled at 45% ABV.

Price: $53-$65

Located in Middlebury, Vermont, Stonecutter Spirits was co-founded by Sivan Cotel and Sas Stewart. Before Cotel and Stewart began making gin, Cotel got a masters degree in psychology and then went to work in finance, while Stewart worked in fine dining and branding. Through a series connections, Cotel started working at WhistlePig early on in the company's life and helped them build their brand and became fascinated with the process of maturing spirits. After leaving WhistlePig, Cotel worked as a consultant in the spirits industry but he and Stewart decided that rather than give away their best ideas they would use to build their own distillery. 

Both Cotel and Stewart love gin and whiskey so as they developed the idea for their company they focused in on making the types of spirits that they would want to drink. Combining their passions for whiskey, gin and the barrel aging, Cotel and Stewart decided to make an aged gin.

Some aged gins on the market are essentially made as an afterthought, a distiller makes gin so they put some in a barrel an bottle what comes out. In contrast, Cotel and Stewart started thinking about the common barrel notes that come from ex-bourbon barrels and what botanicals would pair well with those. After a number of trials Cotel and Stewart settled on a botanical mix that includes juniper, cardamom, orange peel, green tea and a few others. The botanicals are distilled in a pot still with a neutral spirit made from corn. Fresh off the still, Cotel says the botanical are not quite all in sync but after spending four to five months in once used Kentucky bourbon barrels they harmonize and compliment each other in a new way.

The intentionality that Cotel and Stewart demonstrate in their aged gin makes it one of the best I've ever had and makes me excited for their whiskeys.

Tasting Notes

Nose: There is no hiding that this is a gin. The nose has clear aromas of juniper, and citrus such as orange rind, lemon zest and lemongrass. These are supported by more subtle herbal notes like coriander and tarragon floating on a bed of sweet vanilla.

Palate: Even at 45% the gin is soft, with a medium body and while it warms the tongue it is not hot. Juniper and rosemary like flavors are complemented by barrel notes of oak and sweet caramel.

Finish: The finish is bright (read acidic) with a dry minerality, and a lingering herbal character that makes you want a second drink. After swallowing there is a slight bitterness and zing from the alcohol that holds onto the back of the tongue.

Conclusion: In my mind there are two ways to approach aged gin: one, to use a short maturation which adds a little color and some barrel character to complement the botanical mix; and two, to do a long maturation so that the gin picks up a lot of color and has time to breath and transform the botanical character. In my opinion Stonecutter Spirits Single Barrel Gin is one of the best examples of how a short period in oak can complement and enhance the gin rather than being dominated by it. The gin is well balanced and overall a very nice gin. Because the gin isn't dominated by oak I could see it working very well in a Martini, G&T, and even a negroni. Stonecutter's Single Barrel Gin can be purchased in Vermont or online through DrinkUpNY.

Sipping off the Cuff Cimarron Blanco with Tequila Aficionado

In October, Tequila Aficionado had an open casting call for new "Sipping Superstars" for their video tasting series called Sipping off the Cuff. I applied and Mike Morales was kind enough to give me a shot. For our episode of Sipping off the Cuff I reviewed Tequila Cimarron Blanco. He recorded our skype conversation and if enough people give my tryout video the thumbs up then Mike and Lisa will have me back next year to do some more. The audio has an odd echo effect from the recording process so hopefully next time we can work that out.

Please enjoy! 

Review: Tequila Cimarron Blanco

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Bottle purchased by EZdrinking

Tequila Cimarron Blanco is distilled by Tequilena S.A. de C.V. NOM 1146 and bottled at 40% ABV.

Price: $17-22 per 1 liter

The Tequilena distillery is located in the city of Tequila and run by Enrique Fonseca, a fourth generation agave grower. The distillery is capable of producing up to 15,000 liters of 100% Blue Agave Tequila per day and according to K&L Spirit Buyer, David Driscoll, their aging warehouse has about 20,000 barrels of tequila quietly maturing in the highlands of Jalisco. Along with Tequila Cimarron, Fonseca produces tequila for eight other brands, including T1, Fuenteseca, and ArteNom 1146. 

Fonseca purchased the Tequilena distillery from Bacardi in the 1980s and it has five pot stills and one large column still. According to an interview between Driscoll and Fonseca, their agave is harvested from a number of different altitudes and soil types which lend different flavor characteristics. The pinas are cut with about 2-3 inches of the leaves remaining which gives the resulting distillate a stronger vegetal character. Fonseca cooks his pinas for about 24 hours in large autoclaves at less than 1 atmosphere of pressure and then allows them to slowly cool down for another 24 hours. The roasted pinas are then put into a large screw press which squeezes the juice out of the agave rather than shredding or mashing them. The juice is fermented slowly in large temperature controlled stainless steel tanks, which results in wash around 15% ABV. The wash is sent to both the column and pot stills for distillation. Once distillation is complete the pot and column distillates will be mixed in varying ratios depending on the brand characteristics. After the mixes are made the blanco tequila goes into a tank to rest for a few weeks before proofing and bottling. Since Cimarron is such a clean spirit, my guess that it contains slightly more tequila from the column vs. the pot stills. 

Tasting Notes

Nose: The nose is light and pleasant with notes mineral water, pepper and green agave. The nose is simultaneously earthy and fruity with notes of ripe pineapple carried upwards by the alcohol.

Palate: The tequila has a light body with a light acidity and in the mouth it is smooth and round. Cimarron blanco is spicy with notes of pepper and cumin, an earthy sweetness like slightly charred vegetables from the grill.

Finish: The flavor has a short finish but the tequila has a very pleasant warmth that lingers without any burn out harshness. Lightly sweet notes of green agave hold on at the back of the palate waiting for the next sip.

Conclusion: Tequila Cimarron Blanco is an excellent tequila, a great value and fantastic for parties. Cimarron has been made for the bar and cocktail market which fits perfectly because it is very straightforward and clean. The blanco makes an great margarita and even though it is not the most complex blanco on the market the tequila shines through with it's natural fruitiness. Also, Cimarron Blanco would make an excellent tequila for shots if that's your thing. While the simplicity of Tequila Cimarron Blanco does not make it a great sipping tequila, it is incredibly well executed, affordable and fantastic for mixing.

Review: Skip Rock Distillers Nocino Walnut Liqueur

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

Skip Rock Nocino Walnut Liqueur is distilled by Skip Rock Distillers and bottled at 33% ABV

Price Range:$50-$60 (for 750ml)

Skip Rock Distillers was founded in 2009 by Ryan and Julie Hembree in Snohomish, Washington. In addition to their nocino they make a number of rums, whiskeys, vodkas and three other liqueurs. 

In 2014 when I began the process of making my own nocino, I mentioned it to Ryan in an email. While I picked my unripe English Walnuts from Bill Owen's tree on June 24th, the Feast day of St. John the Baptist (the traditional Italian harvest day for making nocino) in California, Ryan's walnuts weren't ready to harvest until mid July, due I assume to the higher latitude of Snohomish. Most of the unripe walnuts that go into Skip Rock's nocino are grown less than five miles from the distillery and some of them are grown right on Ryan's property.

Once the walnuts are harvested, Ryan crushes them with a hammer mill and puts them in a 300 gallon tank to macerated in a high proof distillate they make just for the nocino. After a couple of months they drain off the infused walnut spirit and begin the process of adding spices and cane sugar which over the next couple of months becomes nocino. Once the all of the spices and sugar has been added, Ryan begins the process of slowly adding purified water to bring the liqueur down to bottling proof. 

Now fresh nocino is very bitter despite the added sugar and spices because of all the tannins that get extracted from the green walnuts. However, over time those tannins breakdown and soften. While most traditional nocino recipes say to let it rest for a year after making it so that it has time to mellow. Ryan has gone a step beyond. The most recent bottling of the Skip Rock Nocino has been resting for two whole years while Ryan brought the proof down. In that time, all of the bitterness has dissipated and the flavors from walnuts and spices have melded together into an incredible harmony. 

Tasting Notes

Nose: The nose is beautiful and fragrant, full of lemon and vanilla with an underlying aromas of nutmeg, toffee and cola. There is just a slight hint of alcohol but just enough to carry the aroma upward. 

Palate: Initially the taste is sweet but not over powering or cloying in any way. The nocino sits coolly on the tip of the tongue with a very pleasant acidity. As you begin to swallow and the nocino moves through your mouth the spirit awakes and becomes warm on the palate with notes of clove and nutmeg. Immediately after swallowing the flavor changes to chocolate. 

Finish: The finish lingers and is like semi-sweet chocolate, lightly sweet and slightly dry at the same time. The nocino made my mouth water which is a good sign for liqueur traditionally drunk to aid digestion after a meal. 

Conclusion: Ryan's nocino can be drunk neat as an after a meal and it works nicely as a substitute for sweet vermouth in cocktails. A Midnight Manhattan with Evan Williams, Ryan's nocino and a dash of Aged Citrus Bitters from 5 by 5 Tonics Co. makes a really great drink that is perfect for the cold winter nights. I also used the nocino in a Negroni Umbria, made from equal parts nocino, gin and Campari with an orange twist. The nocino and Campari work really well together and the drink taste vaguely like one of those chocolate oranges you see around Christmas time. 

While the $55 price tag may seem steep for a liqueur, I don't know of any American Craft Liqueur that lets their product rest for two years before bottling! Which makes this latest bottling of Skip Rock Distillers Nocino a gem and an incredible treat. And, if you'd like to pick up your own bottle you can find it in liquor stores through out Washington state or you can buy it directly through their online store.