New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon Review

New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon is made up of bourbon sourced from Indiana, aged for "several" years in new American oak, then spends 3 months aging in beer barrels. While I've seen many beers aged in bourbon barrels over the years, this is the first bourbon I've seen that flips the script on the process.

New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon - Tasting Notes

New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon

Nose: Rich toffee, maple, with a small amount of oak.

Palate: Sweet, slight malt and vanilla. Some flavor from the stout barrels used in the aging definitely seems present here.

Finish: The finish feels like a young, but not under-aged, whiskey. There is not much oak or leather, just more of continuation from the palate.

Proof: 80 (40% ABV)

Price: ~$30

Though I'm not much of a stout fan, I seem to enjoy it in whiskey form. While New Holland's Beer Barrel Bourbon is pretty straight-forward in its flavor, this is a pleasant, soft sipper that can be enjoyed by the masses. After being used to seeing so many artisan distillers release their product at a ridiculously high cost it's nice to see a quality product released at an affordable price.

Beer Barrel Bourbon Rating: 8.3/10

Review: Jameson Distillery Reserve 12 Year

In honor of Saint Patrick I figured today was a good day to post an Irish Whiskey review. This bottle comes to us from the Jameson distillery and from what I understand is only available for purchase there. Sadly, I have yet to visit but my lovely assistant was able to snag one on her visit a couple years ago.

Jameson 12 Year Distillery Reserve - Tasting Notes

Nose: Sherry, pine needles, malty, slightly astringent and citrus-like. There is something familiar about it that I can't quite put my finger on.
Palate: Malty & bold. A light amount of sweetness pops it's head up and quickly disappears.
Finish: Light, pleasant, creamy with a small hint of pepper

Proof: 80 (40% ABV)
Price: ~??

Jameson 12-yr Distillery Reserve

My experience with Irish whiskey is pretty limited and it shows here. The flavor profile is different than what I'm used to seeing in bourbons, ryes and scotches. This seems to be very grain-forward in it's flavor which isn't something I'm a fan of, at least in this instance. While it's something I may grow to appreciate, this just isn't for me right now. Don't let that scare you away however. While some share my opinion, if you are a fan of Jameson you may enjoy it as seen here and here.

Jameson Distillery Reserve Rating: 7.4/10

Review: Thomas H Handy Sazerac Rye

Thomas H Handy Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey is our 3rd review from the highly esteemed Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (George T Stagg & William Larue Weller being the first 2). In my experience this has been the easiest of the BTAC to track down, which still makes it pretty effing tough to find. It's also worth noting that the bottle in question here is from the 2010 release. Let's see how it tastes...

Thomas H Handy Sazerac Rye (2010)

Thomas H Handy Sazerac Rye Whiskey - Tasting Notes

Nose: Strong, spicy heat with the high proof on display. In time some very light oak and a good dose of cinnamon show themselves
Palate: Cinnamon frosting, even at full strength the sweetness comes through at first and the heat follows
Finish: Some burn from the high proof, but a stronger note of candy red hots is there from the start and gives way to the sweet cinnamon flavor seen on the initial sip

Proof: 126.9 (63.45% ABV)
Price: ~$80

For a high proof, relatively young (I've seen it listed anywhere from 6-8+ years old) rye, the Handy is quite impressive. What surprised me is how sweet this whiskey is; if you're in the mood for a high-end cocktail it makes an absolutely killer Sazerac. On a side note, my lovely assistant and I were headed to a Red Wings game one evening and felt like taking a roadie for the ~1 mile walk to the game. We ended up going with the Handy in a tiny paper cup. The high proof juice ended up seeping through the cup and lightly soaking the finger tips of the gloves I was wearing. Though I was sad a little of it went to waste, the gloves I was wearing smelled FANTASTIC for the next month. Needless to say, I like to have a bottle of this stuff on hand at all times.

Thomas H Handy Rating: 9.1/10

Blind Tastings: High End Bourbons & Scotch, Rye, Bourbon

It's been a while since posting a blind tasting, so we remedied that with a two-for-one night. A couple of friends joined the fun and we decided to watch some Wipeout, which is essentially 60 minutes of people taking physical abuse for the chance to be on TV and win some money. They never show anyone getting hurt but there HAS to be serious injuries, I mean have you ever seen the punishment these people take?!? Nevertheless, it makes for some outstanding TV while shooting the shit with friends and enjoying a few rounds - I can't recommend it highly enough.

But we're not here to review Wipeout (though I'd give it a glowing one), so let's take a look at the blind tastings. Each round consisted of 3 pours, with 3 points being given to the favorite, 2 points for second place, and 1 point for the caboose.

Blind Tasting #1

The round 1 contestants

Three high end and high proof bourbons on display here with proofs ranging from 100 to 130+ and all aged for over a decade. They all have pretty unique flavor profiles and it showed in the ratings. Here are how the results panned out (my picks in bold):

1st: 7 points (2nd, 1st, 2nd) - Very Old Scout 19 Year
2nd: 6 points (1st, 2nd, 3rd) - Parker's Heritage Collection Blend of Mashbills 2012
3rd: 5 points (3rd, 3rd, 1st) - William Larue Weller 2012


Initially I was surprised the Weller came in last both overall and for me, but looking back at my review and trying it again I remembered how much water aided this whiskey. I also noticed that I liked the Parker's a bit more than previously. Perhaps it needed some time to grow on me, or maybe the euphoria of watching Wipeout engulfed me. This tasting also  reinforced how much I enjoy the Very Old Scout... if only there were more bottles of the stuff available (sigh).

Blind Tasting #2

The Campfire competition

We can call this one the Campfire tasting as it featured a bourbon, a rye and a scotch (just like High West's Campfire whiskey). Unlike the first tasting the proofs on these were much tamer, checking in at 80-94. Here's how they did:

1st: 8 points (1st, 1st, 2nd) - Elmer T Lee
2nd: 6 points (2nd, 3rd, 1st) - Vintage Rye 21 Year
3rd: 4 points (3rd, 2nd, 3rd) - Singleton of Glendullan

No surprises from how I rated these as I'm a big fan of Elmer and as much as want to like the Vintage Rye 21 (I absolutely adore the Vintage Bourbon 17) it has never really overwhelmed me. This could be due to the bottle being poorly stored... the one I purchased had much of the wax top melted and the cork broke off when removing the top. As for the Singleton finishing last overall, the other tasters are self-admittedly not big scotch fans so I'm not sure it got a fair shake.


So what do you think... agree/disagree with the results? Have you tried some/all/none of the whiskeys that made up the field? Think I'm an idiot for getting this much enjoyment out of Wipeout (you're probably right)?