We’ve got a lot to tell you about this week, including two new American single barrel whiskies exclusive to K&L. Let’s dive right in, shall we?
CALIFORNIA RYE FOR TEXANS IN NEED
While we were able to raise $5000 on the blog earlier this week for the Red Cross Harvey relief fund, watching the continued reports out of Houston are having an impact on all of us. In deciding how we could continue to donate to the efforts along the Gulf Coast, we decided to look at one of our newest incoming single barrel projects from an American distillery and dedicate all of the profits earned to the cause. Since we’re mostly a group of Californians (although we’re not excluding you out of state shoppers here!), I liked the concept of a California store selling a California-made whiskey to help our fellow Americans in need. With this new single barrel exclusive from Spirit Works, a small distillery in Sonoma County that makes all of its products entirely from scratch (grain to glass), we’ll be donating 100% of our profits earned to the hurricane relief efforts. This is as close as it gets to drinking whiskey for charity.
The thing that first impressed me about Spirit Works, run by the husband and wife team of Timo and Ashby Marshall out of Sebastopol, is that they make all of their own grain neutral spirit in-house. It’s a little known fact that most gin and vodka producers don’t actually distill their own base spirits. They purchase it on the bulk market, then redistill it, flavor it, and water it down. Not at Spirit Works, however. Every spirit made by the company starts with the grain, which gets milled, mashed, fermented, and distilled in Sonoma. In the case of their outstanding rye whiskey, the resulting spirit is matured in traditional, charred, 53 gallon new American White Oak barrels just like it is in Kentucky. There’s no quarter cask maturation and no attempt to skirt Father Time with clever ways to add color. It’s the best craft whiskey I’ve tasted out of California that fits into the classic American whiskey idiom.
Our exclusive cask was aged for two years and five months and proofed down to 45% ABV. On the nose it’s a glorious and expansive aroma of caramel, baked apple, and cedar and the palate brings more vanilla, new oak, and subtle baking spices. It’s not creamy or light like many of the Indiana-distilled products on the market, nor is it bold and herbaceous like some of the classic Kentucky expressions. It’s not grainy or intensely rye dominated like some of the pot-distilled whiskies on the market, nor is it lacking the essence of rye. Spirit Works has managed to create a unique combination of all rye whiskey styles with a mellow textured, yet intensely-flavored addition to the genre, one that’s even more concentrated when bottled as a solo act. The finish has notes of coconut from the oak and there’s a bit of sweet honeycomb as well.
We should raise about $3000 for the Red Cross with the proceeds from this exclusive barrel, so if you’re looking to help the world by drinking more whiskey, now is your chance:
Spirit Works “K&L Exclusive” Single Barrel #14-0084 Rye Whiskey $54.99 – Our first ever exclusive project with the Sonoma distillery, renowned for its grain-to-glass spirits.
OUR FIRST EVER SINGLE BARREL OF OLD POTRERO – AT FULL PROOF 55.3%
There was a time when the Old Potrero rye whiskey from San Francisco’s Anchor Spirits was one of the most coveted whiskies we sold. Locally, it was for years the most requested item from our American whiskey selection, before anyone knew or cared about what Pappy was. We were lucky to get a bottle here or a six pack there; whatever the gang at the distillery could spare each time they bottled a new batch of juice. Spearheaded by Anchor founder and father of American craft distillation Fritz Maytag back in the mid-1990s, the project was originally an homage to the style of rye whiskey Americans might have consumed during the 1800s, distilled from 100% malted rye (hence why it’s labeled as a single malt) on a tiny pot still in the bowels of the Potrero Hill facility. This, remember, was back when few people cared about whiskey whatsoever, let alone an expensive, pot-distilled rye from some microbrew owner in the Bay Area. Today, however, times have obviously changed and the output of the small Anchor distillery has increased significantly to supply the demand. These days we have it on the shelf full-time, but over the last year I’d heard rumblings about an expansion of the portfolio.
It’s no secret that I’m close with the gang at Anchor and when they hinted a while back that a single barrel option might be on the table, I made sure they knew just how interested I was; especially since I could get it bottled at full proof. Seeing that Old Potrero was getting ready to launch a barrel-finished series including beer-barrel editions, there were a number of different casks to choose from and I was given my choice right out of the gate. There were a number of fine expressions to choose from, but there was one Chardonnay French oak barrel that exploded right out of the glass. It was 55.3% and absolutely brimming with baking spices and malty rye goodness, with a chewy, decadent finish that I could practically sink my teeth into.
“That one,” I told the Anchor gang. “That’s the one.”
Opening a bottle today with the Redwood City staff to let them taste the finished product, I saw the same sense of amazement in the eyes of my co-workers.
“It’s not inexpensive,” I warned them. “It’s gonna be about a hundred bucks per bottle.” But it was clear they were all on board. I’ve gone back on four separate occasions already this morning and the whiskey continues to wow me. It’s so rich and dark compared to the standard releases and it is absolutely jam-packed with spice thanks to the oak finishing. It’s almost like an Angel’s Envy type of experience, but without all that red-fruited saturation from the port. At 110.6 proof, it practically explodes in your mouth.
After more than two decades of doing business with Anchor, this is the first time we’ve been able to snag a private cask of Old Potrero, so it’s a big deal. Let’s hope this isn’t the last time, however. If the single barrel editions taste this good, we may see another run on the brand.
Old Potrero “K&L Exclusive” Single Chardonnay Barrel Straight Malt Rye Whiskey $99.99
A NEW SINGLE BARREL FROM OLD FORESTER
While I was out in Kentucky all week, my partner-in-crime David Othenin-Girard was prepping his latest single barrel find from his most recent trip out to Bourbon Country – the first in what will be a trio of stupendous casks that he picked up during his visit to the Old Forester plant last April. He’s been working to get into Old Forester for years and was extremely lucky to get a great tour of the old facility, see one of the few working thumpers in the business and get a better idea of the inner workings of a distillery that’s responsible for a number of great whiskies that are released every year. What’s known as the Early Times Distillery or the Brown-Forman plant was originally built right after prohibition to supply the growing Early Times brand which they had acquired during prohibition. At the time the Old Forester brand was made just up the street in the facility which now houses the corporate offices, bottling and storage facility for Brown-Forman.
In the 1950s, the plant was completely overhauled and production of the premium Old Forester brand moved to this sparkling beacon of efficiency. Now the sparkle may have worn off, but the distillery still makes some serious juice. This is a large scale facility featuring 10+ 42,000 Gal fermenters and two large column stills with thumpers attached. These large stills are all crammed into a tiny space. The thumpers are named for the knocking sound that they make as the steam from the columns is directed into the unusually shaped stills without condensation. There the steam hits a pool of water which quickly condenses and redistills the spirit to a much higher proof through the pressure and heat being forced into the chamber. The noise it makes is haunting. Old Forester considers the thumper one of the most important aspects for getting the signature smooth flavor of their bourbons.
Whether the well received Prohibition 1920 or the excellent every day values like the 100 proof, there’s no question that the distillery’s status is on the rise. It’s a classic operation using a proper souring room, like you’d find at Four Roses or Wild Turkey, and two of the only thumpers left in Kentucky. The result is one of the smoothest, easiest to appreciate bourbon on the market. This great little cask of Old Forester was dumped on July 28th, 2017 and distilled on November 1st, 2012. Incredible how much depth and complexity they achieve after only 4.5 years, the result of several cold winters in patent warehouses no doubt. The nose is toasted brown sugar, fresh mocha and herbal mint. On the palate, a sweet entry that remains super soft and sweet in the middle building toward a dark baking spice on the finish. A long lingering black cherry note persists for a while after that. This whisky is so overt and approachable; almost any drinker will be able to appreciate the wonderful nuance and great drinkability here.
Old Forester K&L Exclusive Single Barrel #2023 Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whisky $39.99
MORE PEAT ON THE HORIZON
For those of you looking to get out of the house next week, let me invite you over to the Redwood City store on Friday, September 8th from 4 to 6:30 PM where you can meet Kilchoman owner and founder Anthony Willis, taste a dram of the new limited cask strength edition of Machir Bay, purchase your own bottle in advance of the release, and even have him sign it! How much will the tasting cost you? Nothing, of course, because we can’t charge for spirits tastings per CA law. So if you’re donating all your extra money to the Red Cross right now, here’s something fun you can do on the cheap (unless you buy a bottle of the Machir Bay, in which case you’ll need about seventy bucks). It’s pretty delicious whisky and it’s one of the better Kilchoman releases I’ve tasted in years.
I’ll see some of you on Friday the 8th!
David Driscoll
