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Darek Bell, his wife Amy and longtime friend Andrew Webber founded Corsair Artisan Distillers in Bowling Green, KY in 2007 and opened a second distillery in 2010 in Nashville, TN where they relocated most of their whiskey production. Corsair has made a name for themselves making experimental whiskey and other spirits using inventive combos of common and exotic grains and thinking outside the bottle er…. box. Their “normal” offerings include Vanilla bean vodka, Red Absinthe, an un-aged 100% rye whiskey called Wry-Moon, a spiced rum and a gin-head style American Gin. Some of their more adventurous creations include a pumpkin spiced Moonshine, a barrel-aged gin, a hoppy whiskey made from distilled Russian Imperial Stout called Rasputin (I’m ordering a bottle of this asap), another one from distilled oatmeal stout and moonshine made from millet. Interesting stuff for sure but that’s just the spirits we’ve seen, who knows what other mad creations haven’t made it out of their KY and TN laboratories (yes I’m imagining them in some spooky castle on a hill, with bats and a moat maybe a few monsters). Making “alt whiskies” with experimental malt bills containing rarely used traditional and rare grains in new combinations seems to be the favorite playground for their co-founder and distiller Derek Bell, a graduate from the Bruichladdich Distilling Academy in Islay, Scotland. Lew Bryson from Whisky Advocate described Corsair and Bell like this:

“If you’re not familiar with Corsair, believe me: you will be. He’s the Dogfish Head to the Stone Brewing of Balcones Distilling founder Chip Tate. Tate is brash and outspoken, and cranks the flavors in his whiskey up to 11, where Bell will try just about anything. “Creativity,” he says, “is free.””

All that hard work, unique perspective and quality products have gotten Corsair noticed. They were recently named one of the top 100 distilleries to visit by Whisky Magazine and they’ve been big winners when it comes to awards taking home a number of them from the American Distilling Institute’s Sixth Annual Artisan American Spirits Awards including: Gold Medal Best in Category for their Grainiac 9 grain bourbon, a Silver for their Nashville bourbon, a pair of Silvers for their Oak Smoked Wheat Whiskey and Cherry Smoked whiskey and a Bronze for the Triple Smoked American Malt whiskey.

Lucky for us some of Bell’s study in Islay involved the effect of smoke on grain which undoubtedly lead to Corsair’s first big hit, the Triple Smoked American Malt Whiskey. They use beechwood,  cherry wood and peat to smoke the malt, and it shows. The Cherry is very forward throughout the whiskey but is always backed by peat smoke. This isn’t overbearing, it’s actually very balanced but the thing you’ll keep hearing from your mouth is cherry cherry cherry.

Nose: Cherry candy and light cough syrup, peat and cherry smoke, honey, malt sweetness.

Taste: All about the cherry and smoke. Smooth, honey, malt, more cough syrup, little alcohol burn,

Finish: more smoke with a little BBQ showing up and of course more cherry with some malt sweetness

Overall impressions: It honestly took me a few rounds with this before I “got it”. That’s not a bad thing,  it’s just that the various notes of smoke and cherry play differently than anything I’ve had. Eventually the peat smoke comes through and really provides a backbone for the cherry almost cough syrup flavors and aromas to shine. And when I say cough syrup it’s just the best thing I could use to describe it. It is not nearly as syrupy as that sounds but it has some of the character. After getting my head and taste buds around the whiskey I’m a huge fan. The smoke and malt definitely give the whiskey some scotch characteristics but don’t dive in thinking you’ve picked up a bottle of American Tennessee ”scotch”. You haven’t.  I’m not a big cocktail drinker but in my mind this is a perfect whiskey for an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan. The Cherry smoke flavor would really blow either of them away. But if you prefer neat, as I do, it is fantastic as well. I did not try it on the rocks or with water but I have a feeling with it only being 80 proof that it might dull the flavors. Oh and I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the funky Reservoir Dogs looking label. Funky. If you’re into whiskey, which if you are reading this I’m guessing you are, prepare to hear a lot more from Corsair.

80 proof – Recommended

There’s gold in ‘dem hills! Ugh. Sorry. As far as I’m concerned, craft distilling is the next “big thing”. Like craft beer is in the midst of a massive explosion of popularity and number of breweries, craft distilling of whiskey and other spirits is next. Now this is no major revelation that I’ll get any credit for, nor should I, as this has been known or speculated about for a while in the beer and whiskey industry and nerd.. I mean aficionado circles. However, I do doubt many mainstream drinkers know much about it. It makes sense as it goes along with a larger trend toward locally sourced artisan crafted foods and beverages.  There are artisan distillers popping up all over the country (as this ADI map can attest) producing excellent products from standard straight bourbon to reviving Rye to wild experimental whiskey (oh, and other liquor too). Some craft distillers have operated in the US for decades but a large many of them are new to the scene. The relaxation of distillation laws, licensing and taxation has helped spur this trend and as far as I can tell will continue to do so.

Founded in 2010 by radiologist Bryan Nolt, Breckenridge Distillery lays claim to the title ”The World’s Highest Distillery” as it sits at 9,600 feet above sea level in the historic western mountain mining and ski town of, you guessed it, Breckenridge, CO. Spawned by his love of whiskey, scotch and rye in particular, he started the distillery to create a malted barley whiskey. On suggestion from a his master distiller (Jordan Via from ADI) he created the rye heavy Breckenridge Bourbon with a mashbill of 38% rye, 56% corn and 6% malted barley. The distillery uses an open top Scottish style fermenter and a  700 gallon custom copper Vendome pot still. Distilled and proofed with water from the Blue River, it is aged in char #3 new white oak barrels sourced from Missouri and then bottled at 43%  after 2-3 years. Breckenridge Bourbon has been garnering a lot of attention, and rightfully so. They won one of three Gold Medals in the 2011 International Wine and Spirits Competition, Double Gold Winner Denver International Spirits Competition 2012 and 96 points – Breckenridge Bourbon – Chairman’s Trophy Finalist Ultimate Spirits Challenge, NYC, 2012.

I went searching for a bottle a few weeks ago and unfortunately they don’t distribute in South Carolina. I’ve successfully ordered other whiskey online but the shipping costs are stout. Luckily Breckenridge Bourbon is distributed to Georgia so I grabbed one on my last visit. The very helpful Director of Operations at the distillery Jen sent over a list of retailers (and endured bunch of questions from me) which made tracking a bottle down in the sea of liquors stores that is Atlanta much easier. One thing that new distilleries making bourbon or any other aged whiskey have to contend with is having a product available to sell while the whiskey they distilled is aging. Breckenridge is no exception. The currently available bourbon (or at least the bottle I got my hands on) is distilled by “a group in KY who prefer to remain nameless” but using Breckenridge’s mash bill. It’s an understandable fix to the issue but I’m looking forward to trying the whiskey distilled on site.

Nose: floral, honey,  starts a little restricted with time some opening with more traditional bourbon oak and vanilla and slight sour, citrus note and pepper from the rye.

Taste: honey but not too sweet, oak,  big hit of rye spice, typical bourbon caramel, vanilla, with dark cherry and a very slight acetone note similar to Elijah Craig 18, some malt creaminess.

A medium finish with rye pepper and cinnamon over classic bourbon oak and vanilla.

Overall impression: I enjoyed the rye heavy character of this bourbon. While a really smooth and sweet wheated bourbon can be nice at times I prefer my whiskey to have some punch to them, be that alcohol or spice or hopefully both. I keep going back to comparisons of a younger Elijah Craig 18 though the Breck has much more rye in the mashbill and the EC18 is sweeter. I think it’s the acetone notes in the EC18 reminds me a lot of the way the rye is presented in this excellent bourbon. I never added water to it so I can’t comment on that. I just enjoyed it neat and went against my usual tasting of at least trying it with water. You can see by the photos I’m cruising through this bottle but I’ll try and get one dram in with a little water to see if it changes the character.

86 proof, recommended.

Ahh yes Islay. That wind battered Scottish island from which the manly whisky comes. Smokey, peaty, peaty smokey, and big enough to put hair on your chest (and other parts). Ok that’s maybe a bit much but yes, Islay whisky has its own style even when it varies from it. While this is the first Islay I’m going to review, it’s not the first I’ve tried (make sure you pronounce it correctly… ‘eye-la‘ not ‘iz-lay’ ,  you’ll only make that mistake once in the company of scotch hounds or Scots). But in this price range it is by far the most bestest, greatest life changing thing ever. Really. I mean it like a 13-year-old means Skrillex is better than the Beatles. Well, sort of. Anyway… It’s a damn fine whisky. Ardbeg is on the south-west shore of the island and is a relative neighbor to a couple other famous Islay distilleries,Port Ellen, Lagavulin and Laphroaig. Though it was officially established by the MacDougall family in 1815, like many older distilleries it was probably in existence in some form or another years before. Cruising along for a century producing whisky mainly used in blends it ran into trouble and ceased production in the early 1980′s but reopened in 1989. Glenmorangie plc. acquired Ardbeg in 1997 and has since made a big push in the whisky world. I guess you can say it is a cult whisky judging by how many of its fans swarm after it. This in some part can be attributed to their slick marketing and fan club called the Ardbeg Committee and also in part to the halt in production in the 80′s and the limited availability that it created during the 90′s. This made the  old casks sitting in blenders warehouses jump in their desirability and value. Smart bottlers seized this opportunity releasing independent bottlings which added fuel to the cult status fire. Some claim quality has suffered under new ownership and management but I would have exactly no idea about that having only tasted their 10-year-old for the first time this past year. And I love it. I don’t care. Really. So much so I’ve savored the bottle since December and have just now purchased a replacement. The first re”peat” performance since diving into scotch… sorry. That was horrible. I’m ashamed.

Tasting notes. It’s a light straw color. Nose is light and crisp but layered with ocean, smoke, light citrus, lemon and some vanilla background. Mouth feel is oily but not heavy. Taste has a big hand-full of pepper surrounded by sweetness, smoke and seawater. Giving it a little time, some oak and more sweetness opens up always surrounded by campfire smoke. It finishes long and warm with more smoke and pepper and some other spice, maybe clove. If you want a smokey peaty whiskey to try, this is your bottle. It’s not going to crush your face like some other Islays, but it’s no kitten either. It’s well balanced. All of its parts enhancing each other. In this price range, easily one of my favorites. It will remain a mainstay. 46% ABV highly recommended

Ah yes, Irish Whiskey. We drinkers and frequenters of bars all know it or of it. We’ve had our share of Jameson on the rocks or shots of Bushmills. They’re good. Nothing wrong with them at all. But because of my experience with them in various smokey underground Irish pubs as purely a vehicle for knee-walking plasterization, that’s all I’ve ever though about Irish whiskey. That is until about a year or so ago. Enter a revival of the technique / product called pure pot still Irish Whiskey, or what is now called, single pot still Irish Whiskey. Single pot still is a traditional method of distilling Irish whiskey, made from a mash of malted and un-malted or “green” barley typically triple distilled in a… you guessed it, pot still. Unlike blends such as Jameson, Black Bush, Bushmills Original and Tullamore Dew among others, pot still whiskey is not mixed with grain whiskey. It is all malt, but not necessarily single malt (though it can be). And it is called “single pot still” because it is whiskey that all comes from one distillery. The story goes that sometime in the late 1700′s some enterprising distillers started adding green barley to their mash as a way to avoid taxes on malt. The resulting flavors and creamy texture ensured this practice would continue (well that and the tax avoidance). Due to a combination of famine, the  Coffey still, world wars, the Irish Civil War, the Volstead act in the USA and the rise of Scotch Whisky traditional Irish Whiskey struggled through various times in the 1800′s and much of the 1900′s. In the 1970′s Irish distillers pooled their resources, added some focus on exports and opened up new distilleries such as Old Midleton distillery in County Cork which included pot stills. Up until 2011 the only single pot still Irish Whiskeys in production were Green Spot and Redbreast.

Redbreast 12 year old is the current darling of the Irish Whiskey world compiling numerous gleaming reviews and awards. I’ve eyeballd it for a while and finally pulled the trigger. I’m glad I did. Color: pale gold. The nose for me started out tight. I couldn’t get much out of it. I let it sit for a while and it started to open up with fresh apples, pear, banana, vanilla oak and citrus with a little creaminess. Very fresh smelling. Taste bore more fresh apples, ginger, toasted sugar and some white pepper spice. Further along some anise and a chocolate like character come across. The whiskey is not what I’d describe as overly sweet, if anything I would describe it as fresh. Mouthfeel is chewy and slightly oily and with some creaminess which I believe comes from the un-malted barely. Really enjoyable. I found the more I spent with a dram the better it got. Opening up to the point I’d describe it as lively. Finish is long with more pepper, some orangey thing (technical term there), anise and caramel sweetness. It’s a keeper. Makes me look forward to trying other higher end Irish Whiskeys that are making their way to the market.  40% ABV Recommended

I recently joined a beer exchange with a bunch of beernerd guys around the country hosted by fellow blogger and photographer beertography. Lucky me I was the first recipient on the chain. I received my box of beer this week and to my delight one of the beers inside was a sparkling 12oz tallboy can of Sixpoint Resin, a beer I’ve wanted to try since it was announced earlier this month. Sixpoint Craft Ales founded in 2004  made a name for itself selling kegs to local bars from their small brewery in an old filing cabinet factory in Brooklyn, NYC.  They made a splash when last year they started releasing their hop heavy style redefining (or undefining, or non defining… hard to say, they don’t mention a style on the packaging and they shy from it on their website) beers in modern cleanly designed cans. One of their newest beers, Resin, is most certainly a big Double IPA at heart with lots of hop aroma, flavor and bitterness but there’s more to it. A big malty caramel sweet background surrounds the hops and gives the beer a heavier “sticky” character. Yes sticky like Resin… well mostly.

It pours a medium mahogany color with a nice lingering tan head. The aroma is, as expected, full of citrusy, piney hops but lets you know there’s going to be some sweet caramel sticking its flavor in your face. Taste is more of the hops right up front, but fighting the sweetness to be first in line. It’s got the expected pine resiny (yes I did that), grapefruit flavor and bitterness expected from the hops with some floral and herbal notes and the ever-present malt sweetness that brings out some not quite dried fruit (huh?)… or something like that [mumble mumble]. It’s more than just straight malt sweetness, it’s got a little more complexity to it. Medium body but has a richness that gives it a feeling of stickiness and almost slick oiliness. Yes I used slick and sticky in the same description, but it works. It finishes long with more malt, light dried fruit with pine hop bitterness. I’ve read a few other reviews that claim letting the beer warm up from fridge temp improves it significantly. Makes sense. I only had the one can to try, but I’ll be sure to give that a swing next go around. And there will be another go around. I think they distribute in NC, hopefully I’ll be grabbing some next time I’m in the old North State. Here’s the final deal, if you like big hoppy IPAs and want to try one that’s not exactly in the same flavor  profile as any number of them and you don’t mind some extra sweetness, this is a beer for you. If you don’t, try something else.  Funny thing was drinking this and then trying an Ithaca Flower Power IPA soon after. Two totally different but fantastic “IPAs”. I’ll probably post my review of that up soon. –  IBU of 103 and ABV of 9.1% Recommended

Are you a wine drinker trying to get to know craft beer? Are you a beer drinker wanting to have something close to wine? Does your significant other like wine but can’t make the jump to craft beer? Well Dogfish Head has a beer for you. Noble Rot is another interesting release from one of the most innovative breweries in the country (and one of my favorites). Delaware based Dogfish Head consistently push the envelope with their inventive, exploratory approach to creating new beers. This is no exception. Brewed with the juice of two different grapes handled in a special way to intensify their flavors they push the boundary between wine and beer. The first grapes are the unfermented juice of viognier grapes infected with botrytis, a fungus that reduces the water content of the grapes concentrating their flavor and sugars. The second are pinot gris grapes that have been cultivated using a technique called “dropping fruit” where some clusters of grapes are removed which helps intensify the remaining grapes. Add that to pils and wheat malts and fermented with a Belgian yeast and you have what comes off like a mix between a tart but slightly fruity white wine and a Saison.

It pours the color of light golden champagne and is finely carbonated like the same (much more so than another supposedly “champagne like beer” recently released). The nose is tart, fresh crisp fruit, floral, lemony citrus, winey, with a Saison background. Flavor is very winey, as much wine character as any beer I’ve had, and it works. It has the Saison background with some tartness, a little funk and more lemon citrus. The finish just reinforces the tart white wine. Really good. Looking forward to having another bottle of this and maybe even springing this on my white wine drinking Mother… maybe. This would go great with sautéed shellfish. Thinking I’m going to try replacing the wine in a steamed mussels recipe with this.  9% ABV Recommended.