Comments on: Reader Question: American Whiskey Tasting

By: Kevin Erskine

Kevin Erskine — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:57:17 +0000

Sorry Tim, I don’t know why I addressed my response to you and not Matthew. Sorry for the confusion.

By: Tim F

Tim F — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:44:17 +0000

Kevin, I haven’t tried the Stranahan’s whiskey yet, but am very keen on giving it a whirl as we recently started listing it on TWE (I think you are referring to Matthew’s comment).

Before today I had never read anything but great reviews for Stranahan’s, so my guess is that either there was something faulty with the bottle you tried, Matthew or, as Jake suggested, whatever you tasted before affected your perception of the Stranahans. I find this when tasting whisky a lot, which is why I always drink a lot of water in between samples when writing my tasting notes. A strong flavour (of whatever type) can either drown out or badly affect the next drink tasted, as anyone who has drunk orange juice after chewing mints will testify.

By: hwh

hwh — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:20:27 +0000

You’re lucky to have access to as many bourbons as you listed. Here in Ontario we can get 18 whiskies and 9 of them are Jack Daniels so good luck to the other distilleries in lobbying the LCBO. However, the other issue we face is a reluctance of whisk(e)y drinkers to explore new brands. Our scotch club has about 25 members and 6 tastings a year of 6 different whiskies. When we do single malts, our attendance is 15-18 members. When we do Irish or blends or Canadian or bourbons we are lucky to get 12 people- we’ve had as few as 6 , Anyone who has a little experience tasting knows that the there are excellent whiskies out there that aren’t single malts. Our challenge is to get our members to be more willing to experiment. We have a tasting on March 26th ( Greenore Single grain, Jameson 18 year old, Magilligan Pure Pot, Woodford Reserve, Crown Royal Extra Rare and Alberta Premium 25 year old). This is certainly an eclectic tasting and time will tell if our members think it’s worth $30 or so for a night out. I, for one, am looking forward to it.

By: Kevin Erskine

Kevin Erskine — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:44:38 +0000

Both flying Dog and Oskar Blues make excellent beer. But Oskar Blues is, by far one of my favourite American micro breweies. I shit you not, I am drinking a Dale’s Pale Ale as I write this on my phone.
And I stand behind my recommendation of Stranhan’s as an excellent American Whiskey

By: Jake Norris- Head Distiller Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey

Jake Norris- Head Distiller Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:55:30 +0000

I would first of all like to thank you all for taking time to blog about something we are all passionate about.. whiskey. I would also like to thank you for trying Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey and providing us with non biased feedback. That is invaluable! I would like to address a few of the comments I have read here. Matthew commented that the bottle of SCW he tried had a strong pine resin flavor. I cant think of a reason that our whiskey would take on that flavor, it could have been oxidation from a bad cork, (we recently switched cork manufactures for this very reason) it might been that another whiskey you tasted just before it brought out a less pleasant flavor in our whiskey, or it might just have been a batch that didn’t agree with you palate. Either way I would ask that you give us another try. Each batch has subtle differences and nuance, I am sure a different bottling will agree with you palate more.
To address Kevin’s comment about us switching breweries, I would like to assure you that the flavor will not change a bit. If you are not familiar with what Kevin was referring to, we subcontract a microbrewery to ferment our proprietary recipe for our wash. When we contract a brewery to brew our recipe, it is because they have the skill to reproduce our desired results consistently and reliably. The criteria we use to hire a brewery is that they must be able to reproduce our exact flavor profile each and every time. So when we switched from the Flying Dog brewery to Oskar Blues brewery there is no discernible change in the wash. They brew our recipe using the highest quality malted barley, that we specify, using our proprietary yeast, and follow our brewing procedure. We hire a microbrewery to ferment our wash because when we were getting started, it saved us a considerable amount of money in equipment costs. If you have any further questions or comments please go to our website and email them in to me. Cheers Jake

By: Kevin Erskine

Kevin Erskine — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:11:25 +0000

Tim,
re: Stranahan’s.
That’s interesting as I liked it quite a bit.
I know that they switched the wash from one brewery to another – and I have not tried it since that happened. I wonder how much that has changed the character….

By: Matthew

Matthew — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:14:35 +0000

Let me strongly second the Buffalo Trace and Basil Hayden. I’d add Evan Williams Single Barrel.

I recently tried the Stranahan with a group of friends and it was universally disliked. The whiskey had a strong pine resin flavor to it that everyone found off putting.

By: Tim F

Tim F — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:01:24 +0000

I like all the ones you’ve recommended there, Kevin, but would also have to mention the Van Winkle 13yo rye (although it’s getting very expensive on this side of the pond.)

Also a big fan of Elijah Craig 12yo, Old Fitzgerald 1849 and Eagle Rare 17yo.