Monthly Archives: October 2011

Review: Tequila Gran Dovejo

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Christopher Null| 2 Comments

This new highland tequila is a single-estate spirit, double-distilled in copper alembic stills. It is, of course, from 100% blue agave… the pinas of which are “fermented with the use of champagne yeast while the harmonious sounds of music play in the background as this is found to optimize the sugar conversion.” Hmmm.

We tasted all three of the traditional expressions. All are 80 proof.

Tequila Gran Dovejo Blanco - Unaged and unrested. A really delightful and unique blanco. Very smooth for a silver, it offers surprising sweetness, almost butterscotch in its character. Long, smooth, and lightly herbal finish — it fades into rosemary and bay leaf character in the end. A great sipping tequila for those who like the punch of herbs but don’t like the harshness that often comes along with them. A / $47

Tequila Gran Dovejo Reposado -Aged 6 to 9 months. A touch of wood changes this tequila quite dramatically, pumping it up with cinnamon and allspice notes, further increasing the sweetness, and giving it a bit of a Mexican chocolate character on the finish. This is quite a departure from the relatively delicate Blanco, bold, punchy, and aggressive. Enjoyable but striking in its own way — and perhaps a bit on the brutish side. A- / $53

Tequila Gran Dovejo Anejo - Aged 1 to 3 years (quite a range!). Here, the caramel and vanilla take over — often the case with anejo tequilas — and the herbs (both the Blanco’s green ones and the Reposado’s brown ones) are drowned out with the flavors of flan. Nothing wrong with that, and this is a gorgeous dessert drink. Nuanced? Not really, but sweet tooth tequila fans won’t care. A- / $55

tequilagrandovejo.com

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Posted in Rated A, Rated A-, Reviews, Tequila

Review: High West Silver OMG Pure Rye and Western Oat White Whiskeys

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Christopher Null| 3 Comments

The white whiskey market had a rocky start — mainly because a lot of producers were simply bottling straight-off-the-still moonshine, stuff with no real craft behind it, and selling it for premium prices because of the novelty value. Results: Lots of rotgut on the market.

Finally, there are a couple of white whiskeys — High West calls them “silver” — on the market that are worth your attention, real artisan-crafted products that opened my eyes to how good white whiskeys can be. Both are intriguing and unusual and are highly worth seeking out, whether you want to dip your toe in the white whiskey world, or you’re looking to dive deep into the rabbit hole.

High West Silver OMG Pure Rye Whiskey – OMG? High West assures us it is intended under its old definition: Old MononGahela Rye, named after a river in Pennsylvania. This whiskey is made from 80% rye and 20% malted rye, meant to mimic the recipe for what whiskey would have been like in that area in the early 1800s. Results: Quite engaging for a silver whiskey, rich with apple fruit, nougat, and honey notes. The malted rye makes a difference, giving this whiskey a, well, malt character that you’d normally associate with Scotch and tons of body in comparison to so much other harsh, unaged whiskey — and at 98.6 proof, too. Reviewed: Assay #1, Bottle #106. A- / $37

High West Silver Western Oat Whiskey – That’s right: Oats! Just like your cereal. High West says people don’t make whiskey out of oats because they are a) tricky and b) expensive. We can buy that, and sure enough this is a remarkably smooth and complex spirit: The nose is much less harsh than most white whiskeys, and the body has a lightly sweet, cocoa- and coconut-infused character to it. It helps that this has been cut way down to 80 proof, softening the spirit up further and going out with a smooth vanilla finish. One of the most enjoyable silver whiskeys I’ve ever had. Reviewed: Assay 11G11 (bottled July 11, 2011), Bottle #60. A / $37

highwest.com

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Posted in Rated A, Rated A-, Reviews, Whiskey, White Whiskey

Review: anCnoc Highland Single Malt Scotch 12 Years Old

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Christopher Null| 1 Comment

Don’t let the crazy spelling/capitalization fool you: “a-nock” is all you have to say. It even says so right on the bottle.

This 12 year old malt (the distillery’s entry level whisky) from the northeast corner of Scotland is very youthful and light, heavy on the grain and malt character. There is charm here, but not a whole lot of it, hidden behind an almost funky malt structure that masks what appear to be some charming undertones.

The whisky hints at sweetness but retreats, repeatedly, back to its barley roots — straightforward but unchallenging. Light honey and nougat notes offer some nuance — and a huge promise of something better to come with a few more years in the barrel — but on the whole it is just too youthful for easy drinking.

Produced at Knockdhu Distillery. 86 proof.

B- / $42 / ancnoc.com

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Posted in Rated B-, Reviews, Scotch, Whiskey

Review: Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2011 Edition

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

Like all of us, Old Fo keeps getting older, and this year it’s a 12-year-old bottling of 98 proof whiskey drawn from 62 barrels at the Old Forester rickhouse.

Can 2011′s Birthday Bourbon measure up to 2010′s masterpiece? Sadly, I’ve none of the ’10 left for comparative purposes, but the 2011 immediately strikes me as a bit too hot from the start. A splash of water makes the whiskey more palatable, exposing more nuance than first blush would indicate. On the nose: Caramel, vanilla, some floral notes, and lots of wood. In the mouth, there’s fruit — a bit of apple pie — and more dark char.

Finding the right balance between whiskey and water is tricky, but once you do, Old Fo ’11 is perfectly drinkable. What it’s not is a miracle, as ultimately the otherwise flavorful elements of this whiskey are drowned out by wood — a common problem with some Old Forester bottlings in general. In today’s wood-happy whiskey environment, that may be a welcome thing, but to this reviewer it’s a little sad to see the fruit, flowers, and sweetness get drowned out.

B / $50 / oldforester.com

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Posted in Bourbon, Rated B, Reviews, Whiskey

Review: Hendrick’s Gin

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Christopher Null| 10 Comments

Recently I declared — quite foolishly — that Caorunn was Scotland’s only gin. Pretty dumb: Hendrick’s has been on the market for years, with great success, despite its slogan, “It’s not for everyone.”

Self-described as a “gin made oddly,” Hendrick’s is famous for the addition of cucumber to the standard botanical mix, along with rose flowers. In practice, however, it is still the juniper that is strongest on the nose, with the floral elements a moderate second.

Cucumbers are actually the tricky element: There is more citrus in the body than anything vegetal, and I presume that is intentional. Cucumber is a tricky element to work with in spirit-making, often resulting in harsh and bitter end products. Hendrick’s is wise to tone it down… but why play it up in the marketing? Probably because drinking roses sounds even less appealing when you get down to it.

This is still a quality gin, but, for better or worse, it’s much less unusual and “odd” than it makes itself out to be.

Update: After a berating from a reader (see below) and another try, I found my notes to be largely consistent. The gin is citrus-forward (distinctly lemon on the finish), and moderate with juniper character. Rose petal notes are enigmatic and fleeting, and I still don’t get any real sense of cucumber in the mix at all. I stand by the rating — this is a fine gin for mixing a cocktail with, and the downplaying of the floral element is a wise choice — but it’s not really distinguished in any way, at least in comparison to what the marketing has to say.

88 proof.

B / $32 / hendricksgin.com

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Posted in Gin, Rated B, Reviews

Tasting Report: Ministry of Rum Festival 2011

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Christopher Null| 7 Comments

Last year’s Ministry of Rum event was a tasty yet tiny look at the growing world of rum, and most of the same faces — with a few new ones — were back again in 2011. I focused on unfamiliar brands at this walk-around event… but made it a point to retry a few rums that I considered favorites — and which I didn’t like so much last time out. While most of my notes of the re-reviewed rums were consistent with 2010′s grades, a couple of marks were wildly different. Did recipes change… or was I not on my game last time out? Tasting events are always tricky, with opinions formed on the fly based on very limited (and spit-out) samples… so, as always, take all of these notes with a grain of salt. Or, as it were, sugar.

Ministry of Rum Festival – San Francisco Bay Area – 2011

Bacardi Solera 1893 Rum / B+ / much improved notes vs. last year, when I called this rum “rubbery”; still, not a lot to it; Mexico-produced

Diplomatico Blanco Rum / A- / a filtered Peurto Rican claro style; incredible smoothness and sweetness together; Venezuela

Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva Rum / A / remains a classic; made a fabulous Hotel Nacional Cocktail with Small Hand Pineapple Gomme

Smith & Cross Rum / B- / same rating as last year; huge body and tough as nails

The Scarlet Ibis Rum / B- / hard and rough; same notes as 2010

Brugal 1888 Gran Reserva / A- / just reviewed, tried another sip just for kicks

Zacapa Centenario 23 / A / remains a favorite, citrus and floral notes offering a lighter style rum despite its age; Guatemala

Zacapa XO Rum / A / incredible depth, another classic not to be missed; upgraded since last year’s A-

Crusoe Silver Rum / B+ / coconut finish; both this and the spiced rum are organic

Crusoe Spiced Rum / B+ / huge clove and allspice character

Flor de Caña 4 Year Old Gold / B / smoky and woody, typical of Flor de Cana

Flor de Caña Grand Reserve 7 Year Old / B+ / better balance, but still lots of wood

Flor de Caña Centenario 12 / B+ / improving but wood still holds tight

Flor de Caña Centenario 18 / A- / easily the top Flor, with the sweetness finally balancing out the wood notes

Coeur de Rhum La Favorite Rhum Agricole Blanc / C-

Coeur de Rhum La Favorite Rhum Agricole Ambrè / C / 18 months aged; still really rough (Martinique)

Coeur de Rhum La Favorite Rhum Agricole Vieux / C+ / significantly downgraded from last year; tougher than I’d remembered by a mile; 3 years old

Montanya Platino Rum / A / one of the most exceptional white rums (aged, then filtered) I’ve had lately — and it’s made in Colorado; a full review of Montanya’s rums is in the works

Montanya Oro Rum / A- / aged in Stranahan’s whiskey barrels, left ruddy orange; lots of nut, coffee, and almond character

Lemon Hart 151 Demerara Rum / A- / amazingly clean for 151; very dark, with coffee and cocoa notes

Novo Fogo Gold Cachaça / B+ / rare, an aged cachaca — this one smooths out that spirit’s typical fuel notes

Santa Teresa Claro / B+ / Aged 2 years, then filtered; big citrus notes; Venezuela

Santa Teresa Rhum Orange Liqueur / B+ / citrus + rum liqueur

Santa Teresa Gran Reserva / A- / aged two to five years; bracing sweetness, one of the sweetest of the day

Santa Teresa 1796 Antiguo de Solera / A- / I called this “perfect” last year; in 2011 I’m finding a bit whiskey-like, tons of wood drowning out the sugars

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Posted in Cachaca, Reviews, Rum, Spiced Rum

Book Review: Great Whiskeys: 500 of the Best from Around the World

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

The bad news: Many of the world’s “great whiskeys” are ones you will likely never see in the real world. Pinwhinnie Royale? Dallas Dhu? Braunstein Danish Whiskey?

The good news: If Great Whiskeys is right, there are plenty of whiskeys you can get your hands on, including Early Times, Canadian Mist, and Georgia Moon.

This oddball tome is arranged dictionary-style, one whiskey per page (for the most part), alphabetically: Cutty Sark gets the same ink that Monkey Shoulder does, and they are all lovingly chronicled by editor Charles MacLean in this nearly pocket-sized paperback.

This approach makes for easy skimming, and if it were in a larger format it’d be a credible coffee table book, but as it stands, anyone short of the whiskey expert will be put off by it. Having Usher’s Green Stripe next door to Van Winkle… why, anyone who doesn’t already know his stuff is likely not to “get it.”

That said, the expert won’t learn anything new from the book. Though the pictures are pretty, the writeups don’t give you much else to work with, with most whiskeys barely earning 100 words to describe their distillery’s history, plus a sentence or two of explanation about the product itself.

B- / $12 / [BUY IT HERE]

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Posted in Books, Rated B-, Reviews, Whiskey

Review: Hankey Bannister Blended Scotch Whisky

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

If you can’t love a whisky with a name like Hankey Bannister, you can’t love anything.

Well, maybe a great name can’t buy you love after all. This Scotch blend is fairly typical — Highland and Speyside malt whiskys blended with Lowland grain whiskys to create a simple and relatively inoffensive drinking experience.

My only real complaint with Hankey Bannister is that the grain component really takes over in a way it shouldn’t: The nose is alcoholic and corn-like, almost heady with what amount to something like medicinal fumes.

Push past all this and you’ll find a spirit with at least some charm. Those corny notes evolve into more of a malty bread character as you sip, and the alcohol is much more mellow on the finish than on the attack. A touch of honey offers the slightest amount of extra complexity. It isn’t perfectly balanced, but it at least offers another data point for my theory that cheap Scotch is always better than cheap Bourbon.

B- / $16 / hankeybannister.com

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Posted in Rated B-, Reviews, Scotch, Whiskey

Review: Blowfish for Hangovers

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

How refreshing! Blowfish contains no goji berry. No acai. No kudzu. No N-Acetyl L-Cysteine. None of that new age stuff at all.

Instead it has just two, old-school ingredients: Aspirin (500mg) and caffeine (60mg), delivered in an effervescent tablet.

Complicated? No, but it’s a recipe that works pretty well. I’m not sure what the advantage of dissolving a tablet into a pint of water, leaving it mildly fizzy, chalky, and lemon-limey is… but the taste is harmless enough to at least get you through most of a glass over the course of a half-hour. And, like I said, it’s reasonably effective at getting the job done.

That said, it’s tough to justify shelling out three bucks for what amounts to one tablet of Excedrin, just because it fizzes up like Alka-Seltzer. Still, if you find this delivery mechanism more appealing than a boring old tablet, well, knock yourself out.

B / $3 per dose / forhangovers.com

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Posted in Hangover, Rated B, Reviews

Review: Speyburn Single Malt 10 Years Old

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Christopher Null| 3 Comments

Shop carefully and you can get a single malt whisky for 20 bucks: Though I’ve rarely seen it in bars, Speyburn is a staple of grocery stores around these parts, where it’s cheaper even than Johnnie Walker Red Label.

Based in the Speyside region (of course — though the bottle claims a Highlands origin), this is a surprisingly good whisky for the price. Clean and nougaty, it offers mild sweetness set to a silky, rounded body. It’s not what you’d call a complex Scotch, almost Irish in its character with simple, caramel sweetness and just a few citrus touches. Unpeated and with little of the fruity character common to Speyside whiskys, this isn’t a dram you’ll want to savor on a special occasion, but rather a simple whisky suited for the kitchen, something to have at the ready after a long day at work. Give it a try.

86 proof.

A- / $20 / speyburn.com