Review: Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Bourbon

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Bottle purchased by EZdrinking.

Evan Williams Single Barrel 2002 Vintage Kentucky Straight Bourbon, distilled by Heaven Hill Distilleries and bottled at 43.3% ABV. 

Price Range: $20-$25

Heaven Hill released their first single barrel vintage bourbon in 1995. While this is not the first single barrel bourbon ever released, that distinction belongs to Blanton's Bourbon, Heaven Hill distinguishes this product by only selecting barrels from the same year the bourbon was put in oak. Many other single barrel whiskies select their barrels based on a similar flavor profile rather than age. Each year, their Master Distillers Parker and Craig Beam select "honey" barrels that come from the upper floors of their rick houses. They explain that these upper floors experience the greatest annual temperature swings which they believe results in a bourbon that is deeper in color and richer in flavor. While the Evan Williams Single Barrel does not list an age statement, each vintage lists the date the spirit went into the barrel and the date the bourbon was bottled, which is usually nine or ten years.

TASTING NOTES

Nose: The nose is rich and powerful, full of caramel and vanilla with undertones of cedar sweet cherries and persimmons.

Palate: The palate is surprisingly light and delicate though the alcohol is initially a little strong. The bourbon is slightly sweet and fruity however it is well balanced with oak.

Finish: The finish had a light dryness from the oak which initially tastes slightly nutty and salty. As the flavors linger, sweet notes of raspberries and cherries come back to the fore.

Conclusion: With its lighter and more delicate flavors, Evan Williams Single Barrel 2002 Vintage is a great bourbon to sip neat, especially for its sub $30 price tag. Given a little time to breath in the glass, some of the strong alcohol notes that are initially intense blow off and you are left with a pleasant and smooth bourbon. Evan Williams Single Barrel is also one of my favorite bourbons to give as a gift because it is often completely new to the recipient, it tastes fantastic and it is super affordable.

Review: Heaven Hill 6 Year Old Bottled in Bond Bourbon

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Bottle purchased by EZdrinking.

Heaven Hill 6 Year Old Bottled in Bond Old Style Bourbon, distilled by Heaven Hill Distilleries and bottled at 50% ABV. 

Price Range: $9-$15

In 1939 Heaven Hill Distillery release their first Bottled in Bond bourbon call Old Heaven Hill. Since then the brand has persisted even though it was supplanted by Evan Williams in 1957 when Heaven Hill decided to make E-Dub their flagship brand. Living in California, I never see Heaven Hill Old Style Bourbon, but this probably due to the fact that it has the same mash bill as Evan Williams. However, while I was visiting Louisville, for ADI's 2015 Conference I found some. I drove out to Liquor Barn and I perused the bourbon aisles I came across Heaven Hill's 6 Year Old Bottled in Bond Old Style Bourbon. I was excited to see this bottle for two reasons. First, because Evan Williams dropped its age statement sometime in the early 2000s, and second, because it was a Bottled in Bond. In the Late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Bottled in Bond used to be the gold standard of bourbon because it guaranteed a certain level of purity and quality. Today, Bottled in Bond bourbons don't have the same cachet that once did but I see rumblings of a comeback. However, since a bottle of the bourbon was only about $12 I grabbed two to take home. 

TASTING NOTES

Nose: After the pour the nose is surprisingly closed off despite the its higher ABV. Once it has had time to breath the bourbon opens up with aromas of oak, apple, brown sugar, pumpkin bread and maraschino. 

Palate: On the palate the bourbon is a little astringent from oak tannins, the whiskey starts warm and crescendos to a nice level that isn't completely overpowering. In the mouth, flavors of cocoa, cinnamon, and nutmeg play against a pleasant sweetness and balanced with oak.  

Finish: The bourbon has a long finish and while the warmth from the alcohol lingers, notes of sweet maraschino fade into dry oak.

With Water: More caramel, toffee, and hazelnut comes through on the palate and interestingly, the oak flavor intensifies.

Conclusion: In the end Heaven Hill 6 Year Old Bottled in Bond Old Style Bourbonis a solid value bourbon for making cocktails. Taken neat the bourbon is a little too hot, the palate is slightly bitter and the nose is closed off. However, this bourbon works well in classic whiskey cocktails such as the Manhattan and Old Fashioned.

Review: Evan Williams Black Label

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Bottle purchased by EZdrinking.

Evan Williams "Black Label" Kentucky Straight Bourbon, distilled by Heaven Hill and bottled at 43% ABV. 

Price Range: $9-$12

Heaven Hill, the producer of Evan Williams, has a long and fascinating history which I will have to go into further detail  at another time. Heaven Hill launched Evan Williams bourbon in 1957, 22 years after the company's founding. Since then, Evan Williams has become Heaven Hill's flagship brand, selling over $50 million dollars worth of whiskey in the last 12 months. Despite the the fact that Evan Williams is touted as being the second larges selling bourbon in the US, it has less than half the market share of Jim Beam white label and less than one fourth the market share of Jack Daniels.

Evan Williams is thought to use a traditional bourbon mash bill of 75% corn, 13% rye and 12% barley. Also, Evan William use to carry a 7 year age statement, but like many other whiskeys, it has dropped its age statement. Since there is no stated age on the label we know that it is at least 4 years old but some estimate the bourbon is probably more in the 5 to 6 year range. While Heaven Hill produces four versions of Evan Williams that vary by proof and the color of the label, (Green Label 40%ABV, Black Label 43%ABV, White Label 50%ABV, Red Label 50.5%ABV) the Black Label is the most common.

Evan Williams, or as my friends and I affectionately call it E-Dub, is an extremely undervalued bourbon. I was first introduced to Evan Williams three years ago when some friends of mine and I put together a blind tasting of whiskeys $20 and under and I was blown away by its flavor, quality, and price point. Since then Even Williams has become one of my favorite all time whiskeys. E-Dub is extremely versatile, it taste great neat, you can drink it on the rocks if that's your thing, and it makes an amazing Manhattan, all for about 10 bucks a fifth!

TASTING NOTES

Nose: The nose is strong with notes of oak, cherries and vanilla. As the bourbon breaths, aromas of green apple and minerally chardonnay are carried up with a hint of the underlying alcohol.  

Palate: The palate is smooth, with a medium body and a pleasant warmth that fills the mouth. The bourbon tastes lightly sweet with notes of oak, fresh bread and baking spice.

Finish: On the finish, the bready character lingers while higher notes of sweet cherry shine through and a light oak astringency drys the palate for the next drink.

Conclusion: Evan Williams Black Label is a high quality everyday bourbon that's easy on the bank account. As I said before, Evan Williams works neat and it is excellent mixed in cocktails. If you are not enamored with the extra aged, high-priced oak bomb bourbons that seem to be all the rage, then Evan Williams is an excellent bourbon to check out.

Review: Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon

Free sample bottle received as a gift from 3rd party.

Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon, distilled by Sazerac Co. at Buffalo Trace Distillery and bottled at 46.5% ABV. 

Price Range: $45-$60

As the story goes, Elmer T. Lee, Master Distiller at Buffalo Trace decided to create a new and innovative bottling for bourbon lovers by producing the world's first single barrel bourbon.  Since 1984, the concept of single barrel spirits has been copied throughout the spirits industry and in part helped birth the "small batch" category which has dominated the growth and sales of premium spirits for the last 20 years.

The bourbon is named after Colonel Albert B. Blanton who began working at what today is the Buffalo Trace Distillery in 1897 when he was 16 years old. Blanton worked his way up the company ladder from an office boy to president of the distillery. During National Prohibition, the government gave Blanton permission to continue making whiskey for "medicinal" purposes which makes it one of oldest continuously operating distilleries in the United States. 

TASTING NOTES

Nose: The nose is light and fruity, reminiscent of candied apple and ripe pear. Underlying these bright top notes are deeper aromas of oak and yeasty bread.

Palate: Neat, Blanton's is very hot and screams for a dash of water. Once my tongue recovered a bit from the impact of the alcohol, the bourbon has a medium body with light sweetness, hints of vanilla and bright lemon zest.  

Finish: The finish is incredibly long with that is semi-dry from the wood tannins. The flavor on the finish shows notes of coffee and an herbaceousness reminiscent of rosemary.

With Water: The sharp heat mellows with the addition of water and the initial sweetness on the tongue intensifies and then transitions to baking spices. The finish is both herbal and sweet not unlike a cough lozenge. 

Conclusion: Blanton's is a fine bourbon though not completely my cup of tea. For fan's of Buffalo Trace, it is definitely worth trying but I felt the balance was off. The heat from the alcohol overshadows most of the flavors and the combination of sweet and herbal flavors are not what I usually look for in a bourbon. I imagine that Blanton's would work well in cocktails that call for sweet vermouth or for those who like to drink their bourbon on the rocks.

Thank you to Rachel for the sample. 

Stoli Kafya & The Tale of Two Stolichnayas

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1997 advertisement for Stoli Kafya.

Free sample bottle received as a gift from 3rd party.

Stolichnaya Stoli Kafya Coffee Flavored Russian Vodka, most likely distilled by Latvian Balsam in Riga, Latvia and bottled at 35% ABV. 

Price Range: Unavailable in the US.

Roughly translated as Capital City, Stolichnaya was first produced sometime around the early 1940s in Russia. In 1972, PepsiCo struck a deal with the Soviet Union which gave Pepsi an exclusive right to export and distribute Stolichnaya throughout the West. In exchange, Pepsi Cola could be produced, distributed and sold by the Soviets throughout the USSR. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the State controlled company that owned the trademarks to Stolichnaya and a few other Russian spirit brands attempted to privatize and transfer their trademarks to a company called SPI Group. However, since 2003, the Russian Federation has claimed that the trademark transfer to SPI Group was not legally valid and SPI does not have the right to produce and sell a product called Stolichnaya. As a result of this litigation, the Russian state-owned company FKP Sojuzplodoimport produces Stolichnaya in Russia and distributes it throughout the Russian Federation, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Meanwhile, SPI Group continues to produce Stolichnaya and its flavored counterparts at a distillery in Latvia and distributes them in the United States and most of Europe.

FKP's Stolichnaya is distilled from a fermented mash of grain and white sugar. After distillation the vodka is filtered through quartz sand and birch charcoal. SPI's Stolichnaya is distilled three times from a fermented wheat mash and it is also filtered through quartz sand and birch charcoal. Neither FKP or SPI give any indication for how their flavored vodkas are produced which likely means they are using flavor additives rather than whole fruits or spices.

Author and gin expert David T. Smith provided me with the 50ml bottle of Stoli Kafya for the review below. David is a fellow drinks writer who lives in the UK, and he was kind enough to bring me the sample on one of his visits to the US earlier this year. 

TASTING NOTES

Nose: The nose is very pleasant and is reminiscent of Bi-Rite's Coffee Ice Cream or a caffè mocha.

Palate: Stoli Kafya tastes like milk chocolate. It is velvety smooth, with no heat and just a little sweetness.

Finish: Despite its smooth texture in the mouth, the finish is dry, similar to eating dark chocolate. And, a long malty note of ovaltine lingers in the back of the throat. Unfortunately the finish also has an off putting medicinal and saccharin character. 

Conclusion: The coffee character is weaker than I had hoped for and what one might expect from "coffee" flavored vodka. However, Stoli Kafya is a pleasant spirit that would work very well in a number of cocktails: A Kafya Milk Punch or a Dry (hold the Kahlúa) White Russian are two that immediately spring to mind. From what I can tell Stoli Kafya is no longer available in the US. So, if you like the flavor of coffee and milk chocolate in your cocktails and you come across Stoli Kafya in your travels, you should snatch up a bottle or two.

Sources Cited.