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Posts Tagged ‘Straight’

Review: Basil Hayden’s Straight Kentucky Bourbon

Posted by Arctic Wolf on October 16, 2023

Basil Hayden’s was originally promoted as part of Jim Beam’s Small Batch Bourbon Collection. This collection is composed of Knob Creek, Booker’s, Baker’s  and Basil Hayden’s bourbon whiskies. Although Jim Beam Distillers no longer promotes the Small Batch Collection, I would like to suggest that this selection of premium bourbon played no small part in the explosion of popularity of the spirit for whiskey enthusiasts. (It certainly has a positive impact on me.)

Basil Hayden’s is unique in that it is produced from a distilling mash which has an especially high rye content, twice as much rye in fact as would normally be used in a Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey. The whiskey is aged in American white oak for 8 years, and then bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

Here is a link to my review of this stellar whiskey:

Review: Basil Hayden’s Straight Kentucky Bourbon

“… The normally strong aroma of freshly fallen timbers which we usually find in bourbon is muted as if a light rain has fallen to dampen the effect.What is not muted is a firm presence of spicy rye grain which rises with oak spice and vanilla making this a bourbon aroma which has an immediate appeal for a Canadian like me who loves a rye forward whisky …”

I hope you enjoy this review which continues my look back at the original Jim Beam Small Batch Bourbon Collection. 

Chimo!

 

Posted in American Whiskey, Whisk(e)y, Whisk(e)y Review | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Review: Basil Hayden’s Straight Kentucky Bourbon

Review: Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select Rye Whiskey

Posted by Arctic Wolf on May 16, 2018

Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select Rye is a Straight Kentucky Rye Whiskey, distilled and bottled at the Woodford Reserve Distillery in  Versailles Kentucky. The folks at Woodford Reserve pride themselves in the manufacture of what they call ‘craft whiskeys’. The Kentucky distillery is apparently located over top of a deep limestone aquifer which contains mineral rich (iron free) limestone water. This is of course the aquifer from which the distillery draws the water required for fermentation of their rye rich grain mash. (This mash is composed of 53 % rye grain.)

The fermentation tanks are constructed from cypress which (according to the folks at Woodford Reserve) helps to eliminate unwanted flavours which could arise in a stainless steel fermentation tank. The wash is distilled three times on copper pots stills to a full 158 proof, and the resulting new make is barreled in freshly charred new oak barrels prepared by the distillers own cooperage. The spirit is set down to mature in a temperature controlled warehouse where it is carefully monitored to be bottled when the right flavour characteristic has been achieved.

Here is a link to my full review:

Review: Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select Rye Whiskey

“… I noticed a nice mixture of vanilla, honeycomb and baking spices (ginger, light cinnamon notes and hints of nutmeg) welling up. The robust grain scents are beginning to remind me of graham wafers. There is also a light fruitiness with orange peel moving towards marmalade, as well as green apple and hints of pear. Almond scents moving towards marzipan round out the nose which shows both depth and complexity …”

Please enjoy my review which includes a very nice cocktail suggestion, the Ward 8 Cocktail.

Chimo!

Posted in American Whiskey, Whisk(e)y, Whisk(e)y Review | Tagged: , , , , , | Comments Off on Review: Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select Rye Whiskey