J's Whisky Diary

Bull Run Distilling, in Portland, Oregon was founded by former brewer Lee Medoff. The Cask Strength Single Malt was launched in 2016 with a  4 year age statement, while their Single Malt product now carries a 5 year age statement. Just a note for anyone not familiar, the "age statement" of a spirit indicates the age of the youngest spirit in the product; a 25 year and a 2 year spirit, when blended together, are 2 years old. Bull Run produce a range of products including an Aquavit and a barrel-aged Vodka. Nearby Burnside Brewing produces wash for the distillery, which places them somewhere on the grain-to-glass spectrum. This, along with their practice of fermenting the wash hot (relatively speaking, at least 80°F) lend their malt a good amount of character. Ester and phenol formation during fermentation are eventually mirrored in the final product, yielding notes of tropical fruit and clove. Medoff has at least 20 years of distilling experience to his name—hardly an amateur ...

Founded in 2004, Stranahan's was an early comer to the craft distilling scene, and the first microdistillery to open in Colorado. Stranahan's is named for co-founder George Stranahan, notably also a co-founder of Flying Dog Brewery, which went so far as to provide all the wash for the distillery until adequate brewing equipment could be procured. The distillery was acquired, in 2010, by Proximo Spirits, notable for their distribution of Jose Cuervo in the United States along with ownership of several other "premium" alcohol brands. Stranahan's produce a range of Single Malts, each with different finishing characteristics, including the annual, unique "Snowflake" release available for only one day each year. Today I'm trying the Sherry Cask Finish; this is batch 2 (out of 3, so far), it is non chill-filtered, given an age statement of 4 years, finished in Oloroso Sherry casks, and finally bottled at 94 proof. The malt pours a muted yellow-gold w...

The Hillrock Estate Distillery, located in the Hudson Valley, NY, take their name quite seriously. Established on a stunning--well, estate --complete with a mansion built in 1806, Hillrock describe themselves as a "field to glass" distillery; in addition to growing their own heritage barley, they floor malt, smoke, and kiln it in house. The distillery is staffed by a team of industry veterans including Master Distiller Dave Pickerell, of Maker's Mark and Whistle Pig fame. In addition to the painstaking attention paid to their barley, Hillrock also use a solera aging technique for their Bourbon. You can read more about that process here , but it is a complex and difficult technique which allows the average age of the spirit produced to grow continuously over time via fractional blending; the longer a solera is in place, the older and more complex the bottled spirit becomes. Presumably, this process is somehow made compatible with the legal requirement that Bourbon be aged ...

There's a bit of a complicated story behind this 6 year old corn whiskey. Carlos Lovell (profiled here ), a lifelong moonshiner from Mount Airy, GA distilled this whiskey after finally going legit in 2012 and opening Ivy Mountain Distillery. The whiskey, made with a recipe developed by Lovell's family over a 150 year legacy of moonshining in Northern Georgia, contains hickory cane, white dent corn, rye, malted barley, and malted corn. In 2015, the Indianola Distilling company, based in Houston, acquired the remaining barrel stock of Appalachian Corn Whiskey, and are now blending and bottling the "Heirloom" whiskey under the Ivy Mountain name. This product alongside a peach brandy also purchased from Ivy Mountain are limited stock and will presumably be discontinued when the barrels run out. The whiskey pours a slightly hazy amber yellow. The nose is bright and sweet, with a floral, minty finish; hints of dill and oily caramel lend an old-school, appalachian qualit...

A.D. Laws Whiskey House is a grain to glass distillery in Denver Colorado, using sour-mash, open fermentation and locally grown grains. Secale Straight Rye is a 95% Heritage rye mash, with barley rounding out the grain bill, of the rye grains, only half are malted. Column distilled, and aged for at least 24 months on charred oak, it is bottled at 100 proof. It pours a lovely, light blonde copper, with some rosy highlights. The nose brings a bitter, cosmic-brownie chocolate, with a buttery, oily texture over a background of classic rye dill and a hint of vanilla. The palate follows on the herbal, spicy aromas, with a very slight oak presence; the vanilla and chocolate are all but vanished until after the swallow. Quite a bit of perceived heat for the proof, with a lingering reminder of that cosmic brownie. Like snack food on a long bus trip, with a nagging scent of industrial cleaner and not quite enough room to breathe; it's toothsome in a way, but overall somewhat unsatisf...