Quick thoughts from a night at Jack Rose in DC

You have to get yourself to this place if you're ever anywhere near Washington, DC. I went out with my wife, sister-in-law, and her boyfriend last night for dinner and drinks. I was able to enjoy Smooth Ambler Old Scout 10 Year Bourbon as well as the 2014 BTAC Sazerac. Wife had the standard Elmer T. Lee, which is just dynamite stuff. Sister-in-law and her boyfriend are both huge scotch-heads; they got Laphroaig Quarter Cask, Aberlour A'bunadh, Bruichladdich Rocks, and a super-sweet 15 year old sherry casked scotch whose name escapes me. All great, unique stuff. Super grateful to live so close to such a mecca for whiskey!

John Hansell at Whiskey Advocate rates the Sazerac 95/100, and I agree wholly with his assessment in terms of flavor, particularly the unique clove/allspice components:

• A benchmark aged rye whiskey, and it’s similar in profile to recent releases . Vibrant for its age. Complex too, brimming with allspice, clove, mint, and cinnamon. The spice notes are balanced by soft vanilla, soothing caramel, and candied summer fruits. Impeccably balanced, and a pure joy to drink!

Bill at Modern Thirst gave this Old Scout edition an 89/100, and I have to agree that it's good but not great. I just jumped on the opportunity to try it because I haven't seen it available in many places:

• This is a very easy drinking, pleasant sipping bourbon. It has a lot in common with the 7 year offering, despite the difference in mash bill and age, but feels like a more refined, less citrusy version of the same expression. I like it. If there was any complaint here, it’s that this bourbon doesn’t’ really show its age the way I would have expected a 10 year old whiskey to do.  There are some oak hints and some tannins, but by and large, the experience is sweet and creamy bourbon, not really heavy vanilla, caramel, and oak. But that might be due to lower char levels (most distillers us e a #3 or #4 char, and I’m not currently aware of what level MGP uses or from whom they source their barrels).

High West Food/Whiskey/Beer DInner

Had a chance to attend a great collaboration dinner down at Farmers Fishers Bakers at the Georgetown waterfront last week.

Basically, it was a 5-course dinner in which each course featured a beer, a High West whiskey, and delicious food from the restaurant. The beers were from 3 Stars Brewing, a local DC brewery. I'm not a hop fan at this stage in my beer-drinking career, so I gravitated toward their "pandemic porter" and "southern belle" imperial brown ale. Good stuff!

As for the whiskey, you can see the line-up in the picture (4 whiskeys total). I had been exposed to a few of these a couple years back, before I seriously got into whiskey. So it was great to get a chance to taste so many in one sitting.

Double Rye - this was a winner. They combine a 2-year 95% rye (if I remember correctly) with a much older 16 year-old rye with more corn in its mashbill. The end result is a pretty smooth whiskey that features mint and flinty flavors to accent the peppery spice from the younger spirit. Definitely worth seeking out at its $35 price point.

American Prairie - not a huge fan of this one. It's a blend of a 6 year old low-rye bourbon and a slightly higher-rye 10 year old bourbon. They trumpet its sweetness in all their advertising, but to me it was very subtle and didn't bring a lot of flavor to the table. Smooth, to be sure. But I would equate it to a watered-down Blanton's.

Bourye - liked this one a lot, though not quite as much as their double rye. It drinks like you would expect it to, considering its component parts: 9 year old bourbon with 10 year old rye, accented with additional older rye. There's a good balance of sweetness and spicebox flavors, and it's a smooth sipper.

Campfire - interesting, but just sort of an oddball for me. I could add a little scotch to my bourbon and get roughly this whiskey, but I would never want to. Maybe I'm just grumpy about this, but my feeling is if you want to drink scotch, drink scotch, and if you want to drink bourbon/rye, do that instead. Bourbon and rye mix very well together (obviously), but scotch...not so much. The smoky notes just overtook the glass and threw it out of balance.

A. Smith Bowman and Copper Fox Distillery Visits

Just a few pictures from a day trip I took to visit the A. Smith Bowman and Copper Fox distilleries in Virginia.

A. Smith Bowman produces Bowman Brothers (7 year) and John Bowman (10 year) bourbons, as well as the experimental Abraham Bowman periodic releases. Got a chance to taste the John Bowman (~$50), which was excellent. Barrel room is huge and smells amazing, as you'd imagine.

Copper Fox has a very backyard/barnyard feel in a great way, and is an absolute microdistillery in contrast. They produce two single malts (Wasmund's), a rye, and a corn whiskey. I wasn't crazy about the flavors - everything spends a year or two in barrels at the most, so it was all pretty rough around the edges for me. That said, awesome visit and a great day trip from the DC metro area!

Fermentation tank at Copper Fox

Floor malting of barley at Copper Fox

Aging room at Copper Fox

Bowman's barrel room - the smell is amazing!

Barrel room again - different angle

Bowman's workhorse whiskey still

Jack Rose: Four Roses OESQ and Willett 11 Year Bourbon

I live in Washington, D.C., home of America's worst commute and highest cost of living. But it's not all bad - we have Jack Rose! It's north of Dupont Circle in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, and it's a national whiskey treasure. The bar has a whiskey list that is more library than menu (over 2,000 whiskies!), and you can easily spend 45 minutes just reading it. They helpfully offer all of their whiskies in 1 and 2 ounce pours, so you can try bottles you'd never be able to find for a reasonable price. It's whiskey nerd paradise, basically.

I (finally) narrowed down my selections to what you see here: a barrel strength Four Roses OESQ and a "Jack Rose 2015" private selection Willett 11 year bourbon. And damn, did I make good choices!

These are not formal reviews, but my impressions were:

Four Roses: much lighter, sweeter, and fruitier than any other Four Roses bourbon I've had. Definitely picked up the banana bread pudding smell that others have noticed in this expression. The barrel influence was less lumber and oak for me and more tar/rubber in a really interesting (and not off-putting) way. Super smooth going down at 60% ABV, and definitely recommended.

Willett: this was impressive. Look how deep dark mahogany the color is! Nose was an explosion of sweet red fruits and vanilla, and it was very soft and smooth on the palate and finish. This is a real crowd-pleaser of a whiskey, especially considering its proof. Not as much of a chewy, spicy, leathery oak bomb as Stagg or even Elijah Craig Barrel Proof; this is instead an uncommonly smooth and sweet expression and well worth trying if you're in the area.