My Handcrafted Opinions on Whiskies, Distilleries and Other Related Stuff
This is a Texas bourbon finished in Pinot Noir red wine casks at the Western Son distillery in Pilot Point Texas. If you haven't heard of Pilot Point, dont worry about it, neither had I and I have lived and / or worked in Texas for over quarter of a century! The nose has some red berry fruits and sweet port wine along with the usual suspects of corn and sawdust. The taste is smooth on palate with some oak, brown sugar and cola. The finish has white pepper, green oak and ends with drying wine notes. It's good... but for me this 42.1% ABV expression misses the fruit from the nose in the taste and finish that would help balance out the bitter / oaky notes of the finish.
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Although the image I chose for this blog is of Einsten I don't try to pretend that this is rocket science. In fact I think Whisky investing it is really so simple that I have summarized it in my Three Laws of Whisky Investing below. I can condense further in two words and in any publication on the subject I would suggest they take their cue from The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy and print on the cover in large friendly letters the same two words "Don't Bother".
Law 1 Investing: Allocate for investment in Whisky exactly the same amount of money you would be willing throw onto a fire and watch burn
Law 2 Buying: If you reading on the internet or in a magazine about a great investment, then it isn't. Law 3 now applies.
Law 3 Selling: Appear in a series of magazine articles and internet postings about how great whisky investing is. Then sell your shit.
This is a Texas bourbon finished in Pinot Noir red wine casks at the Western Son distillery in Pilot Point Texas. If you haven't heard of Pilot Point, dont worry about it, neither had I and I have lived and / or worked in Texas for over quarter of a century! The nose has some red berry fruits and sweet port wine along with the usual suspects of corn and sawdust. The taste is smooth on palate with some oak, brown sugar and cola. The finish has white pepper, green oak and ends with drying wine notes. It's good... but for me this 42.1% ABV expression misses the fruit from the nose in the taste and finish that would help balance out the bitter / oaky notes of the finish.
Location: Bottled barrel-aged Manhattan at 34% ABV
Date: July 2018
Price: Approx. $40.00 USD a bottle (or +/- $5 a 3 oz measure)
Recipe: Described as Manhattan but a little reseach indicates it is a "Perfect" recipe with both dry and sweet vermouth
Garnish: None
Served: Rocks
Comments: Acceptable and at a good price point but I am not a fan of perfect Manhattans and usually prefer the sweeter versions.
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: Black Hat Whiskey Room, Terminal E, Houston Intercontintal Airport
Date: July 2018
Price: 2220 United Airmiles (or $14.00 USD)
Recipe: Same online system as #41 but this time with Knob Creek and I paid with United Airmiles.... cool.
Garnish: Black Cherry
Served: Up
Comments: Same as experiment #41, overall good but lacked bitters
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: Texas Barbeque Q Smokehouse, Terminal E,Houston Intercontinental Airport
Date: July 2018
Price: $15.00 USD
Recipe: Makers Mark, sweet vermouth and a few dashes of Angosturo bitters
Garnish: Black Cherry
Served: Up
Comments: Cool online ordering system and a good Manhattn, lacked some bitters for me.
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: Pearson International Airport, Terminal 1, Toronto
Date: May 2018
Price: $10.50 CAD ($8.08 USD)
Recipe: Described as "Rye whiskey balanced out with sweet vermouth and a few dashes of Angosturo bitters"
Garnish: Cherry
Served: Up
Comments: A very solid offering at a great price made with Crown Royal (*what else in Canada)
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
I don't recall seeing very many 15 - 20 year old Canadian whiskies so I was intrigued when I saw the 20 and 15 year old expressions of Mt Logan in the Liquor Depot in Alberta on a recent business trip. The Mt. Logan brand is exclusive to the Liquor Depot retailer and the juice is made at the Highwood Distillery in Alberta and bottled as Canadian Rye whisky at 40% ABV. The nose is sweet with vanilla, Werthers Candy and lemon peel. The taste is very smooth and creamy with coffee, cocoa powder, butterscotch, vanilla toffee and Scottish tablet. The finish shows some sign of 20 years in a cask with pepper and oak notes and black tea. A little water thins out the creamy mouthfeel and the sweetness goes down (which some might find more balanced) but overall I would avoid water with this as it doesn't handle it very well, for my palate anyway, and would be easy to over dilute. Of the two expressions of Mt. Logan Canadian Rye that I tried (15 year old and 20 year old) I preferred the 20 years old (neat) but both were good.
There was a little debate as to how to classify this as it is described as 40% ABV Canadian Rye whisky on the label but probably has a higher corn than rye content, and one online source suggested it was 100% corn. The nose is fruity, baked apple crumble with vanilla custard and some lemon. The taste is sweet, with candied fruits, milk chocolate biscuits and balnced out with lemon peel. The finish is also sweet and lingers with some pepper spice and charred oak notes. A little brought up more milk chocolate and less grainy biscuit note. I liked this one but prefered the Mt Logan 20 year old.
I am a big fan of sherry cask aged and finished Islay whisky (Bowmore 15 The Darkest is still all time Top 10 for me) and so I was looking forward to this 46% ABV no age statement expression from Islay's youngest distillery (but not for much longer!). The nose is classic "bonfire on the beach" with some cooked fruits as well. The taste is very sweet with caramel, vanilla toffee, green apples and of course some peat which then goes on to dominate the finish while some tannin Sherry notes also push through drying the mouthfeel. With water the sweetness turns to brown sugar and the peat turns more smokey; hot and peppery on the palate. It is good but the sherry feels held back rather than forward on this one.
The label offers no clues as to the provenance of this bottling (other than Spey River) but that still leaves a lot of options for the distillery. The nose has a familar, vegetal, even stale, farmyard malty note plus some dried fruits. Reading my notes it is better than I probably made it sound. The taste has lemon peel, pepper, cloves and oil. Smooth and strongly flavoured btu not as balanced and integrated as I would like. The finish has more spice, including chilli, but quite short. Wiuth water gets a little creamier and sweeter with marshmallow and more spice notes. Overall a bit of a mixed bag, nothing "wrong" with it but doesn't quite come together for me.