Review 156: Stone Old Guardian Barleywine Oak-Smoked

Review 156

4/22/13

Stone Old Guardian Barleywine Oak-Smoked: 11.4% abv

Background: Old Guardian, as we have established in the past, is a Cali microbrewery that has just celebrated their 16^th anniversary. Apparently, a tradition they have set up in recent years is to release a special edition beer on every odd year. This one has German oak-smoked barley thrown into the mix, in a “healthy dose” as Stone phrases it. They do this in parallel with the regular release of Old Guardian, so you can feel free to get both and see how the difference in ingredients changes the flavor. Since we’ve already tried Old Guardian, we were compelled to do just that. Look what we found!

Nose: The nose comes across as being aggressively malty, with interesting mellow notes of woody character. There are some subtle nutmeg flavors to the nose, with mild vanilla as well. As far as fruitiness goes, there is a mild cantaloupe and strawberry presence there with some baked apples and cinnamon complimenting the flavor. The nose is not very prominent, and does not depict any brutality that is so common-place with bitter Stone beers. There is a savory, maple character in the nose as well.

Arrival: The arrival starts out with a blast of bitterness and sweetness, battling to get the center of attention. The arrival starts off with a big fruity, malty flavor. There are contributions of vanilla, berries, and light citrus notes of lemon as well. The arrival is the most mild part of the beer, contributing a vast range of sweetness and a foreboding, yet minuscule bitterness as a precursor to the intensity to come.

Body:  The body is composed of ripe fruits like bananas and ripe berries, and Moscato grapes. The body contains some notes of sweet agave, but is counteracted by some dry black pepper notes. There is a dry grain, and something reminiscent to Belgian Trippel ale. The body starts a developed yeastiness which resembles sourdough.  There is some raison-like quality to the body, almost close to a Fino Sherry character.

Finish: The oak-smoked barley plays a big part here, showing the oak in center stage as a large flavor contributor. Raw oak, bitter oak, with a long woody aftertaste. There is still a large contribution of malt to the finish as well, trying to impose a failing sweetness to the fading flavor. There is a definite hops and grapefruit bitterness in the finish as well. There is a slightly underplayed strawberry note that gets buried by the bitterness of the finish, not unlike the complexities we found in the regular Old Guardian. There is also a hint of the smoked flavor that comes through in the finish, although not nearly as dominant as you might expect.

Final Comments:  The nose might seem underwhelming, not presenting a large foreshadowing to the beer. The taste, on the other hand, has a dynamic, malty, flavor. This transforms, rather rapidly, into a West Coast, bitter dominant finish which stays with you for quite some time. This is an influential beer, but what makes it the most impressive is when it’s compared to the regular Old Guardian Barleywine. The biggest similarity is the signature bitterness in the finish, but in other ways, this Old Guardian is much different than the original. Surprisingly, we can’t say it’s just “more smokey”, because this oak-smoking of the barley has really brought about some unique and sweet flavors that you wouldn’t really call akin to a campfire. This is no peat-smoking equivalent. It is a different animal, and we like it.

Why you’d buy it: This is a very interesting experiment from the regular Old Guardian.

Why you wouldn’t: You don’t like bitterness or intensity.

Score: 8.75/10

KCM Onsite Report #2: Journeyman Distillery Tasting

KCM Onsite Report #2

4/19/13

Tiffany’s Wine and Spirit Shoppe/Journeyman Distillery

Overview: You might say that KCM hasn’t done a great job of talking about the Michigan distillation scene, and you’d be right. We are rectifying that, starting today, with some onsite reports of distilleries, tasting, and shops and stores where you can find good stuff. Over the summer, we hope to build on these and visit some different places. Today though, we’re going to do a hybrid and talk about Journeyman distillery AND about a place called Tiffany’s. Let’s start with the distillery.

Journeyman: Journeyman Distillery is a new business, not more than two years old, coming out of Three Oaks, MI. Three Oaks is so south-western, it may as well be Indiana. Journeyman, as we’ve said, is a pretty young distillery and they’re still learning some very valuable childhood lessons, but that hasn’t stopped them from jumping into the market with tenacity and vision. They currently have two column stills, one of which is a brand new addition to a second facility, and are aging their spirits in a variety of barrels, including some bigger barrels that they are looking to hold onto for a couple of decades. They have acquired some popularity in the surrounding area, and we hope to help them on their journey (no pun intended there) to success. One thing Journeyman is doing right is experimenting, with ideas like oak-aged gin and cabernet barrel-aged whiskey. So we attended a tasting at Tiffany’s and we’re going to report our finding on a number of their spirits, albeit it will be a general summary, not the detail we generally produce.

Ravenwood Rye: 45% abv

We started with the rye whiskey they produced, naturally being produced in column stills. The rye content in the mash is 60% and the other 40% is all wheat content, which will typically offset the harshness of rye whiskey. There was no mistaking this whiskey’s intentions, because one could easily taste the confused sweetness and underwhelming rye character in the flavor. There was a prominent honey, candied sugar, and vanilla content to this particular whiskey. There was ironically not much rye content to this whiskey, which made us a little disappointed. This is an easy drinking spirit, but it unfortunately didn’t taste like a rye whiskey should, and that’s why we buy rye whiskey.

Score: 7.25/10

Road’s End Rum: 45% abv

We decided to jump to the clear spirits. In particular, silver rum was next in line. We should mention that unaged rums generally don’t contain a large amount of complexity and are purely influenced by the molasses or sugarcane extract used in distillation. The spokesperson for Journeyman told me the rum was distilled with blackstrap molasses, and distilled by a Jamaican technique. The rum itself is pretty fresh and pure, with a mixture of sweet notes and slight bitterness, with a thick mouthfeel, and a very subtle spiciness in compliment. In all honesty, we were happy with this as a new make spirit, so we are excited what the benefits of aging does to this rum.

Score: 8.25/10

Bilberry Black Hearts Gin: 45% abv

You may notice that KCM hasn’t reviewed gin in our year of existence. Well that is partially because none of the panel is all that particular to gin, and partially because most of our stock lies in Scotch. Gin tends to be overpowered by the botanicals that are used for distillation; the primary ingredient of gin is typically juniper berries, which have very bitter and piny tasting characteristics to it. This gin is unique in that way, because, as the name implies, the star of the show is actually bilberry. Some of the ingredients include anise, coriander, lemon and cinnamon. This is not your typical gin then, with a complex list of balanced notes, not over-dominated by the typical pine qualities that gin has. This gin isn’t super dry, but it isn’t overtly sweet. It is a perfect start for what gin should be.

Score: 9.0/10

Barrel-Aged Bilberry Black Hearts Gin: 45% abv

Well now, here is where things get good. Something that has not been touched by a lot of distilleries is aged gin, and here we have some. And it really takes the best of both worlds, without a doubt. This helps the already well balanced gin get some complexity from the oak barrels, and really adds some dimension. It is my deepest hope that we see more things like this. I’d love to see more age to this gin and how it can change the spirit. This is not a mature spirit, and the addition of oak-induced flavors does not completely cover that, but it shows great potential for Journeyman to stand out for something incredible. You will find some vanilla notes, some spiciness, and a hint of herbal notes coming out in the gin. Highly recommended.

Score: 9.25/10

Buggy Whip Wheat: 45% abv

On the other end of the spectrum, this particular bottling represents a good experiment gone dull. We love the thought of new types of whiskey being bottled, and you do not see a lot of 100% wheat whiskies on the market, but maybe there is a good reason for that. This whiskey, although smooth and sweet, lacks complexity and is truly boring. You might, if you are a mixer or a rocks drinker, love that. We do not love that, and it is disappointing. This isn’t poorly made spirit, but it isn’t well made whiskey.

Score: 6.75

Featherbone Bourbon: 45% abv

We are going back and forth, I know, but honesty is our first priority. This bourbon produced some funny reactions at the tasting, where people exclaimed that the plastic cups were adding flavor to the bourbon and that it was spoiled. Folks, bourbon doesn’t really spoil like a glass of milk. In fact, the plastic tasting glasses were not off-setting the flavor. This is just a unique bourbon, and boy did we like it. At KCM, we have tried a number of bourbons, and few of them jump out as being truly away from the back. This particular one, with immense leathery notes, some nuttiness, big wood, and some tasting notes you would attribute with more mature whiskies, did more than just pose as a good entry into the American whiskey market. This whiskey showed that Journeyman can produce something different, although their range of whiskies might be a little under-developed in some areas.

Score: 9.0/10

Silver Cross Whiskey

Alright. Last one of the night. Well it is as I’m typing, and it was as I was drinking. This is an underlying message that hopefully Journeyman Distillery grabs onto. I don’t remember much about this whiskey, and I don’t care much about it. I remember it not being very distinctive, and although it had some small complexities to it, it was rather boring. We were not in the mind to rate this one.

Score: ?/10

Conclusion

At the beginning of this short novel, we told you Journeyman is a new distillery in the micro-distillery scene. This presents some challenges and makes it difficult to produce cheap quality spirits without going bankrupt. A new start up is akin to starting up a car company: lots of capital investment and not much return for years and years. Journeyman seems to be over this initial turbulence and charging ahead boldly with quality spirit production. For this reason, it is understandable for Journeyman to have their feelers out, trying to understand where they fit in the market. What we don’t want is for them to become a jack of all trades, master of none. It will be interesting to see how they evolve, but we as consumers should try to be patrons of businesses like these, who are working hard to make a name for themselves. KCM believes Journeyman Distillery is a worth investment and we should support the products that stand out.

~K

Review 155: Glenlivet Nadurra 16 Year

Review 155

4/7/13

Glenlivet Nadurra 16 Yr: 59.7% abv

Background: Glenlivet is a Speyside malt, as you may already know. If you know any single malt Scotch, you probably think of one of two distilleries: Glenfiddich and Glenlivet. Although Glenfiddich holds the crown for being the bestselling single malt in the World, Glenlivet is more popular in America, being the #1 selling malt whisky in the US. So, with a volume of about 5.9 million liters being produced per year, there is quite a lot of Glenlivet going around. We aren’t huge fans of the 12 year, which lacks a great balance and appears far too fruity for its own good. So why would we review a Glenlivet then? Nadurra, a non-chill filtered, 16 year version of Glenlivet at cask strength, which is aged in French Oak casks, takes Glenlivet to a different level in terms of quality and notability.

Straight

Nose: The nose starts off the with classic Glenlivet notes, including some champagne and green grape notes, along with a cooked apple smell, which contributes a crisp, refreshing aroma to the whisky. If you dig deep enough, you can get the soft, ripe smell of a banana in the nose as well. It is a very malty nose, with wood and grain notes making for a dry, sweet smell coming through. The wood notes include some maple and oak tones, with vanilla influences from the wood coming out as well. There is a subtle citrus note that cuts through, but it doesn’t over-dominate the aromas. Along with the sweet notes, you get some allspice and nutmeg smells coming through.

Arrival: Naturally, in a whisky at this proof, there will be an intense spiciness that presents itself. There is some cinnamon intensity, with vegetal, bitter notes starting off the cadence of this whisky. There is a small amount of honeydew and vanilla that adds to the sweetness in the arrival, which is relatively masked by the burn of the alcohol.

Body:  There are some tropical fruits coming through in the body with pineapple notes. There is a large contribution of maltiness to the body. The cinnamon presence from the arrival continues through to the body, and lingers onward. There is also a dominant vegetal characteristic to it that seems to provide a grassy character to the whisky.

           

Finish: The finish holds some bold malty flavors, with some grapefruit citrus notes coming through. There is some green grape that come through as well. There is vanilla bean flavor that resides in the finish, with some cinnamon notes and fresh mint as well. The vegetal quality of the body lingers through to the finish and does not at all diminish.   

With Water

Nose: With a little bit of water, I would venture to guess you’d find this closer to its distant cousin, bourbon. The nose brings out some soft melon notes, akin to cantaloupe, with a contrasting grapefruit smell. Along with this, it is more creamy and soft. It becomes more vegetal as well.

Arrival: The arrival, after some water, will be much more pleasant than you last remembered it. There is a malty creaminess to it, almost like a vanilla malted shake.

Body: The spiciness is less prominent than before, with a good balance coming about as a result. There is still a big vanilla character involved, which seems to dominate the flavors on the palate in the body. Nothing more really happens in the body at this point, and it isn’t until the finish that big flavor changes happens.

           

Finish: The finish, after adding water, becomes more sugary and sweet, retaining the big malty character from before, and holding onto some of the grape character that came from the arrival. There is some orange rind that we noticed later on in the finish, and some grain bite as well. There is also an odd pumpkin spice note that starts to develop as you focus more on the departure of the flavors. There is still some smooth banana flavor that comes in.

Final Comments:  This is quite a hot whisky out of the gate. You might not expect this out of a Speyside, or even a Glenlivet for that matter. Fortunately, despite its hotness, it has quite a bit of engaging material to offer up to your palate. After water, there is more balance and complexity, but be weary. With too much water, the body will lose some of its rich complexity that you’ll find at the natural presentation. The real problem with this bottling of Glenlivet is that it shows that Glenlivet can make a super-high quality whisky, and people should expect that from them. For this reason, KCM encourages NOT to buy Glenlivet 12 Year, or Glenlivet 18 Year, but if you’re going to buy Glenlivet, this one is the way to go.

Why you’d buy it: Because you enjoy intense cask strength whiskies and want to see how French Oak plays into the taste profile

Why you wouldn’t: It is far too intense or intimidating

Score: 9.25/10

Review 154: Ardbeg Uigeadail

  

Review 154

4/5/13

Ardbeg Uigeadail: 54.2% abv

Background: Ardbeg is another Islay Scotch distillery. They are on the southern coast of Islay, and claim to produce the peatiest whisky on Islay, which is a pretty bold claim with all of the heavy hitters out there. The distillery is currently owned by Hennessy, and is one of the fastest growing Islay distilleries at this time. Ardbeg whiskies can be considered extremely fashionable, albeit this is for a good reason. Ardbeg has distilled whisky since 1798, but didn’t start producing commercially until 1815. Ardbeg’s flagship product is the 10 year, but they don’t bottle this like Glenfiddich would. Ardbeg 10 Yr is bottled at 46% abv and is non-chill filtered, so you can tell this stuff is good. Uigeadail, on a different note, is a unique bottling of Ardbeg, aged in sherry casks. In 2009, Jim Murray made Uigeadail the World Whisky of the Year. So this stuff is pretty good. But we don’t trust it from others. Let’s find out for ourselves.

Straight

Nose: The nose here is a complex and dry, and there is some really interesting things happening here. You get the peat and sherry notes pretty instantly, with a very oily, slightly waxy aroma to it. There is a classic briny character to the nose, and even has some gasoline-type smell to it. Keep digging, and you’ll find cashews, rose, cranberry, wood polish, and slight oak. The contrast of these notes is pretty extreme, and this wouldn’t be a beginner’s nose, but it certainly is a revolutionary nose.   

Arrival: This is a brutal start. Not in a bad way, but it is intense. The taste starts hot and spicy, with big cinnamon tastes. The oak tastes come through quickly, with some vanilla and thick oak notes, also cranberry and subtle apple sweetness.

Body: The body comes in with big peat, with the spice notes holding through. There is minor citrus notes, but is overtaken by ginger and dry spice. There is even some apple and molasses sweetness coming through in the body. Finally, you can find some smoked wood notes lingering in the body as well.

           

Finish: The finish is dynamic and smokey, with a big oily mouthfeel. There are still cinnamon and sherry notes from the body. The initial cranberry presence is back from the arrival, and the briny presence is prevalent as well. There is even some minty and gingerbread notes, with the molasses sticking around and black pepper as a residual flavor.

With Water

Nose: After water, the nose is much more balanced. This is an incredible balance, with some honey notes breaking through, the peat starts to blend in, and there is olive oil notes coming through as well. The nose is very pleasant now, and there is not as much burn.

Arrival: The arrival becomes nuttier after water, less spicy, and slightly peaty. The vanilla notes are big. Even after a substantial amount of water, there is no loss of flavor.

Body: After water, the body remains pretty well the same, but there are some berry-like bitterness to it, and also angostura bitters.

           

Finish: The finish, like the body, remains fairly consistent, with a little less spiciness. The finish is still very woody, and adds brininess to it.

Final Comments: Uigeadail is a statement to the maturation of peated whisky in sherry casks, and how good it really can be. It seems like sherry and peated Scotch doesn’t mix, and they absolutely can. This Ardbeg is powerful and complex, and it shows of a different side to a peated Scotch, where the main focus isn’t necessarily how peaty it can be, not to mention the craft presentation Ardbeg puts on all of their whiskies. There is no reason not to try this one, because in effect, you will learn something about Scotch from trying this whisky. At the price, we think this is absolutely a worthy buy, being one of the better Islay’s we’ve had to date. 

Why you’d buy it: It is extremely well crafted and complex, and from a great distillery

Why you wouldn’t: You’re passionate about not buying good whisky

Score: 9.5/10

Review 153: Short's Hopstache

Review 153

4/2/13

Short’s Hopstache: 6.0% abv

Background: For a second, let’s take a look at the history of Short’s Brewing Company. In Bellaire, Michigan, a brewer by the name of Joe Short purchased an empty hardware store. In the first year, there was only 178 barrels of production. In 2008, Short’s capacity increased to 8,000 to 10,000 barrels per annum. Here ends the history of Short’s Brewing Company. Short’s says they intend to stay small and focus on the Michigan area, producing quality mom and pop style beers. This is a pretty young brewery, but you can bet they have seen more popularity in the last few years.

Nose: The nose contains substantial notes of lemon, lime, and grapefruit, obviously. It has a tart, green apple note in it with a hoppy presence and a definitively floral and earthy, although it is well balanced in this manner. It also contains a little bit of a fresh grass smell to it. This is a pretty fresh nose which opens up the welcoming arms to spring, despite the fact that Michigan refuses to acknowledge this invitation. 

Arrival: Well there’s a lot of grapefruit here. There is slight apple note, and some interesting wheat grain there. There is a mild citrus in the arrival, but otherwise this is a pretty weak arrival. There is nothing really all that special about this arrival. There are also no mustaches.

Body: Besides having grapefruit, there is a small introduction of hops, but this becomes more prevalent in the finish. Otherwise, the body is also horribly anticlimactic, lacking any sort of event to it. We were sorely disappointed in the complexity, although the balance is satisfactory.

Finish: You guessed it: hops and grapefruit. There is a hint of grain in the finish as well, as you get a sense for a dry, bitter ending. Sweet lemon is also in here as well. It is a medium length finish, and the beer comes off very refreshing. It certainly comes off as a summer beer by any standards.

Final Comments: As we said before, this beer shouldn’t take you more than three big gulps to finish, as this is no Stone IPA. There are no mustaches to be found in this entire beer, and frankly, with the standard set by microbrewery IPAs, this does not match their intensity or complexity. We look for something more out of an IPA, and this should sit in a Pale Ale shelf.

Why you’d buy it: Because everybody else is.

Why you wouldn’t: You want to drink an IPA

Score: 7.0/10