Review: Maker's Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Summer vacation.  With the sun high in the blue sky, I, the wife, the kids and luggage loaded into my big black Ford and headed south, crossed the border into the US, continued south on the I-95, took exit 187 and a quick left put me on the Hogan Road.   Another left at a Honda dealership put me on the road to the Hilton Garden Inn, Bangor, Maine. 

After day spent spent entertaining the children in the pool, a science museum and supper, I found myself at about 8pm in the lobby while my wonderful spouse put the children to bed in the hotel room upstairs.  What's a fella to do for a while?

The well-appointed lobby has the burnished, dark wood walls, leather couchs and wing-back chairs, and most importantly a bar.  I pay a visit, scan the bottles along the mirrored wall and thought since I am in America, I should enjoy one of the great fruits of American industry, namely bourbon.  Maker's Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon to be precise. 

Once ensconced comfortably in a leather chair facing an LCD TV, I am in fine form.

Nose (undiluted)
Vanilla.  I am not able to discern much else. 

Palate (undiluted)
As lawless and unruly as Woodford Reserve can be, Maker's Mark is not.  Woodford Reserve can be fiery on first sip.  Maker's Mark is balanced, refined and even elegant.  This bourbon starts out sweet, a corn sweetness, followed by powerful oak.  The body of this spirit is rounded.  The flavors are soft.  Black cherry makes an appearance.  Oak re-enters with charcoal and makes for a cleansing of the palate in a very fresh fashion.

Finish (undiluted)
Nice and long.  I am impressed!  Oak and a little brown sugar/charcoal remain and zing for quite while.  There is no ugly burn in the throat.  Just warmth.

General Impressions
How does this rank in comparison with other bourbons?  Well, at it's price point, the small batch premium bourbon competition would include:  Woodford Reserve and Knob Creek.   While Woodford Reserve can at times be more complex, it can also be wilder and more alcohol infused. 

Knob Creek is more complex and more interesting when one seeks a real toure-de-force of flavors.  Nevertheless, Maker's Mark is a bourbon I will pick up from time to time when I am seeking a bourbon that is not offensive, refined, and a flavor profile that's a crowd pleaser.  A certain pick if I am having a party.

This is more interesting than Basil Hayden's, another small batch bourbon.

Value for Money?
Maker's Mark is not cheap.  I think the price is fair, but it is no bargain.  If you want a bargain bourbon, try Jim Beam Black.  Maybe a little simpler flavor profile but a lot easier on the pocket book.

What No Age Statement?
As mentioned above, Maker's Mark is a premium small batch bourbon with a high price to boot.  You would expect an age statement on every bottle.  Not so.  Competition in the same price range make age statements.  Knob Creek is 9 years old.  Eagle Rare is 10 years old.  Baker's Bourbon 7 years, and so on.  Maker's Mark has no fixed age.  Age is dependent on taste.  A panel of tasters determine when the barrels of bourbon are ready to be bottled as Maker's Mark.  No bottling of Maker's Mark that is less than six years, nor more than seven and a half years has taken place.

Age statements are not necessarily indicative of superior quality when it comes to whisky of any kind.  They mostly function as a tool of marketing to reel the likes of you and I in.  To believe that older whisky is better than younger is to be terribly mistaken.

Bottom Line
I like Maker's Mark.  I have been drinking it for years and have always found it to be reliable and pleasant like an old friend.  Highly recommended!

Cheers!


Jason Debly

Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2012. All rights reserved except for photographs: (1) Maker's Mark in hand taken by Flickr member: Adie Reed.  Check out her great site for more photos: http://adiereed.wordpress.com/ She has graciously granted a Creative Commons license which permits its reproduction on this blog.  (2) Photograph of line of Maker's Mark bottles taken off web but I could not find any credit for it.  If you are the photographer, please contact me so I can credit you, with your permission.  (3)  Photograph of Maker's Mark whisky glasses taken by Flickr member: thewhiskeyroad, who holds all copyright and no reproduction permitted without his permission.

Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 - Tennessee Whiskey Review

I spent the past week in Halifax, Nova Scotia for a work related conference.  Trapped in a meeting room by day and bored by night, my habit when travelling for work is to seek out great restaurants and the best purveyors of fine whiskey.  My trip to Halifax would not deviate from this practice.

I landed in the early evening, hopped in a cab and headed for the hotel down by the harbor.  Check-in involved slapping down a credit card, tossing my luggage on the bed and a quick double-back to the concierge's desk.

"Where's nearest liquor store?" I inquired.

"They are all closed," the blue blazer wearing early sixties gent replied with a Magnum P.I. Higgins character English accent.

"There is of course our mini-bar . . ."  His voice trailed off as precipitously as Thelma and Louise headed off that cliff in the closing scene of that stupid movie that I had to endure with some long forgotten girlfriend in a living room with red shag carpet, wood paneling on the walls, and her ever watchful, military, father down the hall. 

"Mini-bar . . . mini-bar" I fumed as I headed back to my room.  As I unpacked, I debated whether or not to wait until tomorrow, find a nice liquor store, select a great whisky and enjoy it in the evening.  On the other hand, I said to myself, "ya never know, there could be a real gem in the mini-bar just like that time I was in Maine and in a grocery store and all they had for whisky was Jim Beam Black.  That was a gem!"  More than a gem, it was a revelation of the tallest order, up there with Moses coming down Mount Sinai.  Anyway, you get the picture.  I was a tortured soul.

To distract myself, I flicked on the television, started unpacking and thought about going to the gym and doing some running.  One time I was in Vancouver for a meeting and was up every morning at 4am, ran for an hour on a treadmill, did a day of meetings and still had pep for a restaurant at night and touring that delightful city.  This time around, the urge for running didn't seem to come so effortlessly.

To make a long story short, I opened the mini-bar, peered in and saw the usual array of light beer for middle aged men worried about carbs and calories.  I surveyed some spicy Clamato juice, Grey Goose Vodka, yeesh!, and a 375 ml of Jack Daniels Old Number 7.  My first thought was "what the hell is Tennessee whiskey doing in a refrigerator!"  What depraved soul could commit such an inane indignity upon a bottle of this American whisky?  I knew what I had to do.  God himself would have commanded me to do it if I asked him.  Matter of fact Moses probably had it chiseled into the tablet, "Thou shalt rescue all Tennessee whisky from bowels of any refrigerator!"  The commandment or mitvah must have got lost at some point.  I am sure of it.  It is such a self-evident truth.

Of course, I did what any God fearing man would do, I plucked the chilled bottle from the fridge and set it down on a table next to a rather comfortable wing-back chair.  It needed to warm up.  Coincidentally, so did I.  I retrieved two glasses, one filled with ice water, the other empty, waiting for Ol' No. 7.

The last time I had Jack Daniels was in a trendy wine bar a couple of years back that was so trendy they didn't have any scotch.  I reluctantly asked the waitress repetitively "what else do you have?" until she finally remarked there was Jack Daniels.  I said sure and tried it on ice.  It was not what I expected.  First of all, I was ready for a snake bite taste coupled with a burning sensation that would leave me writhing on the Italian tile floor winded like Dustin Hoffman in the Marathon Man.  That was not the case.  I recall it was corn sweet with no burn.  The ice softened it nicely and there was some vanilla and charcoal.  In a flash it was gone.  Tasty drink.

Once the bottle warmed up, I tasted it neat.  The ice water was for drinking in between sips of Jack Daniels.  Over the course of the week, (except for one night when I went to a sushi restaurant and enjoyed some Yamazaki 12 and 18), I sampled this Tennessee whiskey and finalized the following tasting note:

Nose
Damp leaves; big American oak; a whiff of turned over earth with a spade in the early morning in search of worms to take brook fishing; big time vanilla.

Palate
Starts on sweet, that's the corn.  Moves to oak, charcoal and vanilla.

Finish
It's short.  The sweetness leaves and it dries across the palate.  Flavors of oak and vanilla dissipate almost instantly.  Nothing lingers very long.

General Impressions
I was again surprised at how mild this whiskey turned out in the glass.  No burn, rough or out of balance flavors.  It's very easy drinking.  Kinda reminds me of Basil Hayden's bourbon, but without the complexity.  If you drink Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 with ice, it is about as easy drinking as one can get.  Trouble of course is easy drinking runs the risk of not being overly interesting.  That would be the weakness of this whiskey.  It is not complex.  The flavors roll out in a straight forward manner.  Mind you, this is the entry-level, standard bottling of Jack Daniels, and so this observation has to be tempered by that fact.  Just as we do not expect wondrous complexity from Jim Beam White Label, or moving across the pond, from Famous Grouse, Johnnie Walker Red label and others, it would be unfair to place such demands on this standard, entry level offering from Jack Daniels.

For my tastes, I enjoyed it for what it was, a simple, mild American whisky.  Would I buy it?  No.  I require some complexity, even when I want an easy-going whisky.  Accordingly, I would buy Jim Beam Black Label but that is an 8 year old bourbon.  I am sure that Jack Daniel's premium lines like Gentleman Jack and Single Barrel would offer the complexity I seek. 

Do I dislike it?  No.  Would I recommend it?  Sure, for someone who has never tried American whiskey.  This is a good place to start.

Cheers!

Jason Debly

Copyright © Jason Debly, 2010. All rights reserved.

Basil Hayden's 8 yr old Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Great discoveries are often made by accident. Jeff Dufour wrote, in a 2006 article entitled, The History of Bourbon, a happy accident, (click here) that in the late 1780’s, Elijah Craig, a distiller of Bourbon County, Kentucky, took old fish barrels and used them for whisky that was to be shipped to New Orleans. In order to clean out the inside of the fish barrel, he observed the cheapest and most efficient way to do so involved burning the inside with an open flame. The charred interior of the barrel cured any smell or remnants of fish. Thereafter, Mr. Craig would send the barrels of Kentucky whisky by boat to New Orleans, a trip in those days that could take a couple of months. The whisky that arrived in New Orleans tasted better than when it left Kentucky. Suddenly, charring the insides of barrels became a must for Kentucky whisky distillers. The charred wood imparted flavors of vanilla, oak and smoothed out the roughness of the whisky.

What the above story has to do with Basil Hayden’s 8 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky, I do not know, but just felt compelled to impart that interesting anecdote to you. “Eric,” a reader of this blog, kindly provided me with a link to Mr. Dufour’s article that enabled me to learn this interesting tidbit in the history of American whisky. Thanks Eric!

In any event, moving right along, lately, I have been sampling Basil Hayden’s bourbon. I first tasted it at a whisky festival in November 2009. I was impressed and decided I needed a bottle for further study and eventual posting of a tasting note. Unlike a lot of reviewers on the web, I try to only post tasting notes based on my sampling of a bottle. I do not think an adequate opinion of a whisky can be formulated from a tiny 200ml bottle or at a whisky tasting. I need a bottle that I can return to several times over different evenings before coming to a conclusion as to a whisky’s merits and defects.

Nose (undiluted)
Floral, vanilla, corn husk.

Palate (undiluted)
Light bodied, gentle corn and rye tang, distinctive of bourbon, graces your taste buds like a tiny dancer. Summer easy sweet charcoal, like a wheeping willow tree graced by a light breeze. Caramel flavors hang in the background throughout the tasting.

Finish (undiluted)
Sweet corn, a little rye warmth, and the flotsam jetsam charcoal/vanilla flavors culminating in some of the mildest spice I have ever experienced in bourbon.

General Impressions
My immediate impression of this bourbon is that it is very light bodied and consequently easy drinking. Very easy! This is not spicy. Yes, there is some spice, but it is so mild that the word “spice” hardly seems appropriate. It would be the perfect ingredient in mixed drinks calling for bourbon, except it is too expensive to be used as mix. It is a mere 80 proof and tastes like less. This bourbon is so mild that if you have never had bourbon or always added ice or water, well if there was ever a time to try it straight, it would be now.

As a general statement, it is fair to say that when bourbon is sweet, it is due to the corn grain used. Rye provides spice. Without checking Basil Hayden’s website (click here) I was sure there was less rye (meaning more corn) in this bourbon recipe than typically found in other bourbons. Well, guess what? I was dead wrong. There are exceptions to every rule and Basil Hayden is one.

A visit to the website indicates that Basil Hayden’s 8 yr old bourbon is based on a recipe of twice as much rye as corn when compared to the recipes of the remainder of the Small Batch collection marketed by Beam Global Spirits and Wine Inc., namely: Knob Creek, Booker’s and Baker’s. Trouble is: Knob Creek and the others are a helluva lot more spicy, robust and challenging than Basil Hayden’s, but I guess it is not due to the rye content.

Anyway, back to my impressions of this bourbon. I am a bit underwhelmed (is that a word?) given the premium price for a whisky marketed as an ultra-premium bourbon. Why? This bourbon just lacks pizzazz. It’s too smooth, no burn going down, so gentle that you can never mind all that advice about taking little sips I make in other reviews. It lacks any challenge or intrigue. It's belongs in the featherweight bourbon division (there is no such division, I just made that up!).

Something can be simple yet interesting or memorable. We see this all the time in music. Take the catchy guitar riff in Daytripper by the Beatles or Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. The music is simple but its gotta 'hook' that brings you back for more. Whisky may be understood the same way. Jim Beam Black, Johnnie Walker Black are not overly complex, but have that “hook” that brings you back again and again for another sip. Basil Hayden’s lacks that hook in terms of flavor. For that reason, I would not buy it again, not because it is bad but rather because it is not "great."

So, who should buy this? If you are trying bourbon for the first time, this would be worth getting to know before you try much more robust and superior bourbons of the heavyweight division like Wild Turkey 101 and Knob Creek. Trust me, the latter whiskies will knock you out with a punch you won't see coming!

Cheers!

Jason

© Jason Debly, 2010. All rights reserved.

Review: Wild Turkey 101 Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Before I ever tasted bourbon, I associated that particular type of American whisky with a stream of images like: the Alamo, tumbleweed, cowboys and late night John Wayne westerns. Countless great, as well as utterly forgettable, westerns have actors like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood saddle up to the bar and order a bourbon that came in a little shooter glass. They would gulp it down and promptly wince in pain that would flash momentarily across their face.

Nick Passmore in an article entitled “The Kings of Bourbon” for Forbes magazine recounts the history of bourbon following the end of prohibition:

“When repeal of Prohibition came in 1933, people could start drinking again (legally), and the distillers could start making whiskey again (legally). But it takes a long time to make good whiskey. In the interim, imported Scotch, imported gin and imported Canadian whiskey all came flooding in, and imbibers soon developed a taste for them.

As its customer base deserted it, bourbon struggled. Instead of trying to refine it, distillers were forced push their whiskey out the door as quickly and as cheaply as possible. And pretty awful whiskey it was too.”

Given the above cultural mosaic that cluttered my spotted brain, coupled with the above checkered history of bourbon, it is understandable that I did not have an overly positive view of bourbon.

My opinion changed when I tried Jim Beam Black bourbon during a visit to the United States. I always make an effort to try the libations of the locals wherever I travel, and so I found myself, much like those cowboys in the western, sitting at the bar staring at amber liquid in a glass. Ahh, a legend in my own mind.

Besides Jim Beam Black, I have also reviewed Knob Creek. It get’s a big thumbs up too! So, when my brother showed up at my place at Christmas time with a bottle of Wild Turkey 101, as per my request, I knew I was in for a treat.

Wild Turkey 101

The ‘101’ in the name of this brand is an allusion to the 50.5% alcohol/volume or 101 proof! Not a trifling amount. Now, I know what you are thinking “. . . this is gonna taste like battery acid!” Not at all. You will be surprised if you give this Kentucky bourbon a taste.

At this point, I just have to tell you the quaint Norman Rockwellesque story of how the Wild Turkey 101 brand name came about.

In the 1940’s, Thomas McCarthy, the president of the Austin Nichols company (the company that owns this particular bourbon distillery), was going on a wild turkey hunting trip. He decided to select some choice 101 proof bourbon, from the company stocks, that would be shared with his friends during the trip. In subsequent years, McCarthy’s friends “always requested that Wild Turkey bourbon” and so a brand was born.

Nose (undiluted)
Classic bourbon bouquet of big time vanilla and sweet corn rising up from the bottom of my brandy snifter. The scent of red licorice also makes an appearance. I like this!

Palate (undiluted)
A rip roarin' entry of sweet corn and warm caramel, reminiscent of the hardened top surface of crème brûlée explodes across the palate. Mid-palate is where the spiciness of the rye says: “Hello!” or maybe “Whatcha doin’ there neighbor? C’mon over!” Besides the rye is that hickory wood smoke that is present, but not over-powering.

Mid-palate transitions to dark French toast drizzled with maple syrup, some old-fashioned molasses, charcoal, oak and of course, lots of vanilla. While the initial entry upon the palate was distinctly sweet corn, the middle and final stages of the tasting are dry, concentrated layers of oak, vanilla and cigar smoke.

Finish (undiluted)
The longest lasting flavors left lingering are of spicy rye, uncrushed peppercorns and, to a much lesser extent, vanilla. The flavors hang upon the palate for a considerable amount of time, about as long a rodeo cowboy on a bucking bull.

General Impressions
Big bodied, concentrated, powerful. Somewhat smoother than Knob Creek, but don’t worry, this is by no means a Plain Jane whisky. Plenty of flavors kick that palate into high gear. Please note, I am not saying Knob Creek bourbon is rough, but rather a more robust flavor profile than Wild Turkey 101.

Wild Turkey 101 delivers a robust, challenging bourbon to the palate that must be savored in small sips if consumed neat. In a nutshell, you will enjoy flavors of oak, vanilla and charcoal. Wild Turkey is among the most powerful bourbons, as opposed to the very delicate, ethereal ones like Four Roses and Basil Hayden’s.

As much as I like it, I would not recommend it to someone who is not familiar with bourbon. This is a big drink with a lot of punch. At the very least, if someone was interested in trying this as their first venture in the bourbon world, I would strongly recommend trying it with two big ice cubes in a tumbler, wait two to three minutes and then sip. The ice will tame the wild aspects of the flavors that roll into the palate like a Mac truck.

I am astounded that it is 50.5% alcohol/volume, and at the same time delivers an enjoyable taste without a nasty bite of alcohol. Matter of fact, you do not taste any alcohol. No need to add water in order to tame the flavor profile. If you prefer to add ice, it will be a beautiful marriage that you just arranged!

Value for Money?
“Uh huh, you betcha pardner . . .” The price is very reasonable. Good value for your dollar spent. Wild Turkey 101 can be purchased for as little as $19.99. It does not come in a fancy, cardboard sleeve like many whiskies or scotches (i.e. Johnnie Walker Black), and so it does not carry the cachet or snob appeal of those others. The marketing of this bourbon no doubt is like the philosophy of many Americans of Kentucky, unpretentious, honest and to the point.

Cheers!

Jason Debly

© Jason Debly, 2010. All rights reserved.

Review: Jim Beam Black

Bourbon
Bourbon is a classic American whisky. A spirit with a poorly recorded past, but the general consensus is that it was originally distilled in and around the county of Bourbon, in the state of Kentucky, during the 18th century. The Jim Beam brand can trace its existence back to the earliest beginnings of bourbon.

Composition
Barley malt, corn and rye grains, in varying proportions, are mixed together with Kentucky water to produce a “mash.” You will note on many bourbon bottles, “sour mash” and this refers to the the mash of a previously distilled batch being added to a new one. The distillation process is fairly complicated, and I will stop at this point because I do not pretend to fully understand it, nor do I want to lose you, the reader.

Charred Oak Barrels
Bourbon is aged in charred oak barrels. When I say “charred” I mean these barrels were subjected to flames! The spirit is clear when it goes in the barrels, but during the aging process acquires its amber color from the barrels and more importantly that wonderful charcoal flavor.

In any event, that’s enough chit-chat, let’s turn to the matter at hand. What does the widely available Jim Beam Black taste like?

Nose
Delicate, slightly floral, more oak and lots of vanilla. Maybe a little charcoal too. Impressive. Not what I expected from a bourbon.

Palate (undiluted)
The palate fulfils the promise made by the nose. Initial mild sweetness that I had difficulty putting my finger on. Eventually, I figured it might be corn or rye flavor, but still not sure. What I am sure of is that it’s damn nice. Anyhow, following entry to the palate, the flavor moves to big, soaring oak, followed by, at the mid-palate point, wonderful, tremendous cleansing wafts of charcoal. The charcoal flavor is fantastic! Very cleansing! Last but not least, tsunami waves of vanilla wash across the palate.

Finish
Short to medium finish begins with a sweet burn of cinnamon and candy cane, after which it moves onto a grand finale of charcoal and vanilla, fading like embers of a late night campfire. It’s nice.

What is such a pleasure about drinking bourbon is that sweet charcoal flavor that you will never find in scotch. No nasty bite, heat or aftertaste. Lingering vanilla, oak and charcoal woven carefully like a hand rolled cigar. Very, very nice!

General Impressions
I like this! It’s pleasant, easy-going, not pretentious. I keep thinking about the charcoal flavor. It’s perfect. I really enjoy drinking this straight. I tried it with ice, but did not notice any improvement. If anything, the addition of ice degraded the flavors.

This is so easy-going that people who generally take a little ice or water with their whisky should consider trying this one ‘neat.’ If I were salmon fishing, overlooking a brook in an Adirondack chair with a friend, I would be sipping Jim Beam Black. An unpretentious whisky that compliments a memorable moment of kicking back.

This is a "premium" bourbon due to the lengthy (8 yrs is a lot for bourbon!) aging process. Accordingly, it is not surprising that this is superior to the entry level bourbon offered by Jim Beam, the "White" label. The difference in price is a mere $8 to $10, but what a world of difference. Well worth the few extra dollars. Don't be cheap! Spend a few extra dollars and get a drink that you will still be thinking about days later.

I guess the only criticism that could be voiced (not by me) is that it is not very complex. The presentation of the principal flavors (oak, charcoal and vanilla) is rather straight forward. I can understand how one might raise this criticism, but we are not sipping scotch, we tasting bourbon. Bourbon, by its nature is does not need to have a complex flavor profile in the same tradition of scotch. Why? Because it is bourbon. Bourbon can get a way without such a requirement, but if it is not complex, it better be damn pleasing to the palate. Jim Beam Black is very pleasing. I am not saying bourbon cannot have a complex flavor profile. There are some high end bourbons (ie. Woodford Reserve), but the fact that Jim Beam Black is not, cannot be regarded as a flaw, especially given its reasonable price point.

While I might concede the presentation of flavors is “straight forward” as mentioned above, I would add that the presentation is very elegant and sophisticated, without being over the top (ie. Woodford Reserve).

Jim Beam Black is aged for eight years and I think that makes a big difference. Bourbon aged less than that amount of time tends to have excessive heat, bite and roughness. Jim Beam Black is a classy bourbon that is sure to impress your whisky fan friends!  However, Jim Beam Black exported outside the United States is not aged 8 years, but rather 6 years.  I notice some difference in the quality of the bourbon.  While it is good, it is not as good as the 8 year old bottling only available in the United States.  This will explain why Jim Black bottles outside the US do not have any age statement on the label.

Recommendation: Buy it!

Cheers!


Jason Debly

© Jason Debly, 2009-2011. All rights reserved.