Nick, Author at First Pour Cocktails

Maker’s Mark: Crumble Coffee Cake – OHLQ Exclusive 2022

Posted on May 31, 2023March 13, 2023 by Nick

As mentioned in our review of Maker’s Mark Marshmallow Krispy Treat, Maker’s does a fairly substantial presence on the shelves as private selections (or store picks). These picks are made up of combinations of finishing staves to impart different flavors on 5 – 7 year old Maker’s Mark Cask Strength. The finished Maker’s Mark Cask Strength then aged for an additional 9 weeks in temperature controlled conditions. Unlike their Marshmallow Krispy Treat, this offering is going for a more breakfast or dessert approach, as they’ve selected the name Maker’s Mark: Crumble Coffee Cake.

As always, be aware these combinations get reused by other private selections with different names, so double check your stave profiles to avoid duplicates or find your favorites.

Maker’s Mark Crumble Coffee Cake

OHLQ described Maker’s Mark Crumble Coffee Cake as follows:

Complex, velvety mouthfeel with aromas of roasted coffee beans, and rich flavors of brown sugar, warm cinnamon and bold baking spices, pie crust, and dried fruit.

Stave Profile:
- 2 Baked American Pure
- 2 Maker’s Mark 46
- 2 Roasted French Mendiant
- 4 Toasted French Spice
Proof: 111.3 (ABV 55.65%)
Age: NAS

As I split this bottle with a friend, the fill level is at half.

Sight: A pleasant oloroso sherry.

Smell: The nose erupts with vanilla and caramel. Behind them comes in this wonderful unctuous, creamy coffee note. Like a cappuccino with some cinnamon on top. A subtle dessert pastry like note comes in with plenty of brown sugar and a hint of preserved fruits, syrupy cherry, and baking spice.

Sip: The body lighter than the proof would imply, and before you read lots of sweet words, drier than it seems from the nose. A coffee and perfumed vanilla note comes through, before the heat starts joining. The midpalate has a more crumbly brown sugar note going on, with more vanilla, touches of caramel, and a bit of dried fruit. The back end gets vanilla cream heavy, somehow feeling lanolin and thin at the same time, but nailing this vanilla frosting note.

Savor: The ending is a cacophony of vanillas mixing with caramel and some obvious oak. The add in of spice and brown sugars make this combination a bit muddle, but does do a good job of conveying a dessert / cake like element. Perhaps just a bit of bitter tannins on the end.

Maker’s Mark Crumble Coffee Cake has a highly developed nose, and a palate that tries to keep up. The influence of the different finishes on the nose is really stunning, drawing you in like you’re about to have dessert. The taste is good but dry, but has a middling level of complexity that keeps you picking at it. The ending is where it gets a little muddled, throwing every sweet note from the staves at you, with vanilla (capital VANILLA) wherever it can. Overall, it’s fun to sip, but certainly not going to be the sort of bottle you shout from the roof tops about.

In Cocktails

In a Manhattan, this expression of Maker’s Mark does a beautiful vanilla and caramel cream mix across a background of baking spice (leaning toward clove). The coffee notes of the oak really come out here, giving a nice subtle roasty nature to the whole drink. Made with Maker’s Mark Crumble Coffee Cake, the drink comes out like a mature dessert, that would probably pair well with actual coffee cake or a dessert with less sweetness (like flourless chocolate cake).

In Review – Maker’s Mark Crumble Coffee Cake

While Maker’s Mark Crumble Cake seems like it should be a dessert, it’s more dry than the name implies. Despite this, it’s an ok sipper that probably slightly undersells its $70 price tag. The shine here is in making a bang on dessert like Manhattan. It keeps your wanting another sip that goes all the way through vanilla and caramel with a cup of coffee. While this is a good bottle, the price tag means you’ll have to weigh how much you want to enjoy quite good bourbon, versus how much you want look for great bourbon or a new bottle.

Put differently, Maker’s continues to put out solid, high floor / low ceiling bottles that range from good to very good, but slide slightly short of great. This bottle falls toward to the good side of the spectrum, but is still very enjoyable.

Old Forester Single Barrel – Barrel Strength Bourbon – Baytowne Spirits

Posted on March 29, 2023February 14, 2023 by Nick

If you just want to have your Old Forester with a bit more power, then you should consider Old Forester Single Barrel – Barrel Strength Bourbon. As the name implies, these bottles are made up of single barrels, and barreled at barrel strength. Unsurprisingly, they’re quite high in proof, and suggest that they might also be quite strong in flavors. This pick comes from Baytowne Spirits in Rochester, NY – where in addition to an amazing selection of single barrels, they have an outstanding selection of rums.

Old Forester Single Barrel – Barrel Strength Bourbon

This barrel has the following stats:

Warehouse: K
Floor: 2
Proof: 130 pf
Common Abbreviations: OFSBBS / OFSiBBS

Sight: Solid Auburn

Smell: The nose starts with a blast of oak spice and cherry. Notes of more fruity elements come out, such as macerated strawberries and ripe banana. Brown sugar and caramel roll around over a layer of heat. The spiciness grows and builds in ways ranging from peppercorn to chili to clove and allspice.

Sip: The start is smooth and more moderate bodied. Cherries cooked in brandy and chewy caramel come sliding out in thick waves. There are more fruity elements like dried strawberry and banana. Walnut comes in with full force and give more pepper and brown sugar elements room to grow. Things get increasingly hot, not unsurprisingly – with a rip of oak in between.

Savor: The ending keeps plenty of oak, walnut, cherry jubilee, and caramelized sugar notes. The ending is dry, tannic, and maintains a bit of warmth throughout. It lingers for a longer period than you might expect, but maintains the oak flavor – adding some cigar box and dried cherry as it goes.

Old Forester Single Barrel – Barrel Strength Bourbon is both complicated and relatively straightforward at the same time. This seems like a contradiction, but what it delivers is consistency of flavor. In all of the tastings I’ve had of this particular bottle, it tends to pull a very consistent flavor profile, and the glass drinks the same at the start as the beginning. As neat drinking goes, this is a barrel proofer that’s quite good, especially for Old Forester fans.

In Cocktails:

In a Manhattan it immediately makes you aware of its prescience. The weight alone is probably in the top 5 of Manhattans I’ve ever made (unsurprising again, given the proof) and the finish reflects this further with a bit of a heat. In the middle are waves of oak spice, caramel, fire roasted cherries, and cigar spice box. The flavor profile doesn’t really ever relax, but instead either sends spice, bombastic fruit, or oaky notes. Drinking it as it warms up, begs for more heat, but lets a bit more of the vanilla and berry notes through. If you’ve been reading previous Manhattan notes, you might conclude (quite correctly) that this is a bruiser of a bottle in the drink – which might excite some hardcore bourbon enthusiasts.

In Review – Old Forester Single Barrel – Barrel Strength Bourbon

Old Forester Single Barrel – Barrel Strength Bourbon is a powerful, beast of a bourbon. The flavors match the strength, and it delivers a well rounded experience. Fans of Old Forester’s regular offerings should find a lot to like here, and it should be a stretch to grab a bottle. If you’re not a huge fan of Old Forester or barrel strength offerings, this is going to be a stretch – especially at $80, and more than double that on the secondary.

The Classics: Bijou

Posted on March 27, 2023March 26, 2023 by Nick

The Bijou was among perhaps the first cocktails created. Showing up around 1900, this cocktail was originally made by Harry Johnson. The original drink was served with ice, but later evolved to be served up. Like many pre-prohibition era cocktails, this drink owes it’s revival to Dale Degroff, who rediscovered and popularized it.

Bijou

1 oz

Gin

1 oz

Green Chartreuse

1 oz

Sweet Vermouth

1-2 Dash

Orange Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice and stir. Double strain into a chilled coupe or Nick & Nora. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The Bijou is complex, herbal, slightly sweet, and layered in it’s complexity. The herbs of the gin and Green Chartreuse really line up here, giving a big boost to one another with a slightly anise and juniper dominance. There are layers of herbs though, and the caramelized note of the sweet vermouth come in with a nice touch of spice. The bitters give a citrus lift, and the finish lingers with a nice amount of spice and herbs. For all these reasons, this is one of my favorite prohibition era cocktails.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

Most of the variation in the Bijou is derived from the choice of gin and vermouth. Our recommendations are as follows:

Gin – There’s a lot of spice and sweet going on here thanks to the large quantity of Green Chartreuse. For those reason, we recommend making this one with a London Dry to emphasize those herbal elements and help balance things out. We used Tanqueray here (which was fantastic), but any London Dry should do (such as our standard Beefeater or another like Bombay Sapphire)
Green Chartreuse – There really isn’t a substitute for this classic several hundred year old liqueur, so you’ll need to procure a bottle. Be prepared to pay upwards of $50 a bottle for a 750 ml, but be aware most cocktails call for less than an ounce.
Sweet Vermouth – We utilized the more vanilla forward Carpano Antica here (which is our go to) and the strong flavors at work here can tolerate it. Feel free to use your favorite here if you don’t have Carpano..
Orange Bitters – For complexity, I really like complex spice and orange notes Regan’s Orange Bitters* here, but both Angostura Orange* and Fee Brothers* should work fine.

* – This link is an affiliate link which may result in us getting a partial commission from the sale. In 2022 we made $13.34 from affiliate links and made $1.36 so far in 2023, while we’ve spent well over $200 on just webhosting. Help us keep the lights on if you like our content, and please use our links!

Giffard Banane du Bresil

Posted on March 24, 2023February 14, 2023 by Nick

Most people don’t look to add a banana liqueur to their bar unless they either love bananas, or are planning on using it for something really specific. If you happen to be looking for a high quality banana liqueur, Giffard Banane du Bresil might be just the ticket. Made from slow macerated bananas mostly from Brazil, this banana liqueur is heavy on the banana notes and finished with just a touch of cognac. So does this hold up to the high standards of Giffard’s other products?

Giffard Banane du Bresil

Sight: A moderate gold with hints of copper.

Smell: The smell is sweet and initially stands out as a banana candy note. The smell is more dynamic though, giving way to overly ripe, mashed banana notes and a slight caramelization.

Sip: The sip starts sweet and has a correspondingly thick texture. The flavors of overripened mashed bananas bump up against candied banana notes. A subtle caramelized sugar flavor leans toward bananas foster. A range of other banana flavors flit in and out.

Savor: The candied banana carries over to the finish and has a subtle dried banana chip flavor.

Giffard Banane du Bresil is banana forward and does a good job of balancing real banana flavors and candied notes. The flavors here are obviously sweet, which is to be expected, but there’s complexity that underlies the liqueur. The different sugar notes bring depth and dimensions. The net effect is rather sweet to sip on its own, but it has enough character if you were to try to drink it straight that you wouldn’t feel overwhelmed with one note.

In Cocktails

There aren’t really standard classic cocktails that call for a banana flavor, but the Educated Barfly’s reader Chase Hoffman from Denver, was nice enough to contribute the Banana Farmer to the world. This riff on Planter’s Punch and Zombie ends up using almost an ounce of Giffard Banane du Bresil to make an amazing rum forward drink that does a slam dunk of caramelized banana flavor with underlying bruleed sugar. The falernum adds a beautiful spicing, and the lime comes to brighten the whole thing up. While not listed in the written recipe, you’ll find two dashes of angostura bitters in the video presentation of it. I recommend that you try it both ways to find your preference for spice level.

Banana Farmer

1 oz

Smith & Cross Rum

1 oz

Plantation 3 Star Rum

1 oz

Giffard Banane du Bresil

½ oz

Velvet Falernum

1 oz

Lime Juice

¾ oz

Pineapple Juice

2 Dashes

Angostura Bitters (Optional)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin. Add ice and shake. Strain into a Collins glass and fill with fresh pellet or crushed ice. Garnish with caramelized banana and 2 pineapple fronds.

If perhaps a Banana forward Zombie cousin isn’t your jam, we’ll talk about how this works in cocktails in general. To start with, we’ve found that the sweetness is strong enough to replace most one to one simple syrups, but with a strong caramelized banana flavor. This means you can use it in relatively small proportions to add a good amount of banana flavor, like by substituting it in an old fashioned. Doing so gives a subtle caramelized banana note that compliments Jim Beam’s peanut note.

In Review – Giffard Banane du Bresil

Giffard Banane du Bresil is a deliciously flavored with lots of different banana flavors and a good mix of sugars. It has depth, sweetness, and complexity that align well with it’s mid $20 price tag. Despite this, it’s definitely an expansion bottle or one that you target specific drinks you want to make with it. True banana fans should also consider trying a bottle, and spicing up their favorite cocktail with hint of banana.

Old Forester Single Barrel – OHLQ Exclusive #6418

Posted on March 22, 2023February 14, 2023 by Nick

Old Forester offers three different bottlings at 100 proof. We’ve covered two of these, the Signature 100 and the 1897 Bottled-In-Bond, both of which can be found on the shelf easily. What’s less common is the highly sought after Old Forester Single Barrel. Barreled at 100 proof, this offering proposes flavors with less proof than their barrel strength offerings, but also is typically selected by a retailer. While this is priced close to 1897, is it worth the hunt?

Old Forester Single Barrel – OHLQ Exclusive #6418

Warehouse: H
Floor: 4
Proof: 100 (A.B.V. 50%)
Secondary Abbreviation(s): OFSiB, OFSB

Sight: Between Tawny and Russet Muscat

Smell: There’s a surprising amount of warmth coming out of this nose that gives way to caramelized peanut treacle and spicy oak. Caramel, vanilla icing, and powder sugar join in for a very dessert like character. A banana French toast gets in there with a slight red berry compote element. Like it’s on the whipped cream with the French toast.

Sip: The start is on the sweet side, and very approachable with plenty of caramel and vanilla cake notes. The nuttiness quickly catches up with a strong roasted peanut brittle character. There’s a nice amount of cinnamon spice here, and a bit of that caramelized banana again. There’s a build of cigar box and toasty oak that come in as well.

Savor: That sweet caramel and toasty oak spice roll through with a beautiful amount of vanilla icing. The banana foster notes lean in throughout the rest of the palate, but the oak also gets more spicy as it goes, giving off cigar box and clove with a certain sweetness.

Old Forester Single Barrel – OHLQ Exclusive #6418 is complex, sweet, and enticingly layered. The nuttiness is well balanced with the caramelized notes, and the baked goods mixing with the banana tones is really a well balanced mix of flavors. While the influence of the oak is strong, it also doesn’t overwhelm the more delicate flavors. As a single barrel, this bottle is well balanced and enjoyable.

In Cocktails

In a Manhattan Old Forester Single Barrel – OHLQ Exclusive #6418 is smooth, caramelly, lightly banana oriented, and solidly spiced. There’s a good amount of sweetness here, and the general texture is rich. On the finish, it carries forward a blast of spice, ranging from cinnamon to clove to nutmeg, before picking up some notes of vanilla cake. As a Manhattan it’s good, if heavily spiced.

In Review – Old Forester Single Barrel – OHLQ Exclusive #6418

Old Forester Single Barrel – OHLQ Exclusive #6418 is a really a solid bourbon, especially at $50. Single barrel variation should thoroughly be expected to come into play with these, and as such you’re likely to have more success if you’re already an Old Forester fan. If you can’t find this, remember that Old Forester Signature 100 Bourbon comes in at the same proof point. Although in my experience the flavors won’t reach this level, the cost is less than half at $21.

The Classics: Corpse Reviver #2

Posted on March 20, 2023March 12, 2023 by Nick

The Corpse Reviver #2 bursts onto the scene in 1930 with The Savoy Cocktail Book. The naming convention here implies that there is a Corpse Reviver #1. While this is true, it based practically no connection to the delicious 4 part cocktail mentioned below. In fact, it’s a hangover remedy (and one that sounds fairly awful at that). Instead, this beautiful drink uses a similar formula to a Last Word or split base Sidecar, and is refreshing enough to revive most individuals. Assuming you don’t enjoy too many!

Corpse Reviver #2

¾ oz

London Dry Gin

¾ oz

Cointreau

¾ oz

Lillet Blanc

¾ oz

Lemon Juice

2 Dashes

Absinthe

Rinse a chilled absinthe, and pour out the extra. Combine all other ingredients in a shaking tin vessel. Add ice and shake. Double strain into the chilled coupe. No Garnish.

The Corpse Reviver #2 is a beautiful, aromatic, herbal, and bright cocktail that’s wonderfully rounded. I’m careful not to say balanced, as this cocktail is decidedly dry despite the amount of sweetness from both the Cointreau and the Lillet. The wonderful bitter undertones bounce perfectly off the bright lemon and sweet liqueurs. The citrus and herbal notes run across the flavor spectrum, and make each sip enjoyable and complex. The result is dry, yet rich in texture.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

There are two main sources of difference in the Corpse Reviver #2, the ingredient chosen for the Kina Lillet substitution and the approach to the absinthe. The absinthe is the easier of the two, so we’ll start there. The original methodology here is going to be to rinse the chilled coupe with absinthe. This is going to work better for aromatic purposes. If you’re lazy, add the absinthe directly to the ingredients you shake.

The second source of variation, the Kina Lillet is the more discussed issue. Lillet Blanc is the commonly accepted ingredient here, though it will lack the bittering quinine of the original Kina Lillet. To keep that bitter undertone, I would recommend instead looking at Cocchi Americano, which has a similar flavor profile, but include more of the bittering quinine. The resulting drink is slightly less ethereal, but seems like it would be potentially truer to the original.

London Dry Gin – Gin is the backbone here, and it provides herbal notes and structure. London Dry is therefore our recommendation (Beefeater, Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire), but thanks to the complexity of the partnering ingredients, you can move this drink toward spice or citrus with modern gins (Aviation / Bluecoat) or even add malty sweetness with Old Tom Gin.
Cointreau – while you could use another orange liqueur, Cointreau is the gold standard here (which is why we call it out by name). Consider another brand of curacao or triple sec if you can’t find triple sec.
Lillet Blanc – Either Lillet Blanc or Aperitivo Cocchi Americano for this one. Our recommendation is Aperitivo Cocchi Americano to add the original bitterness and texture.
Lemon Juice – For best results, use fresh squeezed.
Absinthe –We used St. George Absinthe Verte, but absinthe can be limited by location. If you can’t find an absinthe, consider a pastis, like Pernod.

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof

Posted on March 18, 2023March 13, 2023 by Nick

While there’s debate about Jack Daniel’s designation as bourbon, there’s no denying amongst the bourbon community that Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof tends to be fantastic. Similar to Wild Turkey Rare Breed, this offering appeals to both high proof hunters and those looking for an amped up flavor experience compared to their normal day to day bottle. Unlike Rare Breed, which comes in at 116.8 proof, Jack Daniel’s Barrel Proof comes in between 125 and a whopping 140 proof. With all that proof, can you even taste the whiskey?

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof

Rick #: L-20
Barrel #: 21-07548
Bottled Date: 8-23-21
Proof: 132.4 (66.2%)
Secondary Acronym: JDSBBP / JDSiBBP

Sight: A rich mahogany.

Smell: Spicy caramel and toasted oak start things off, while a bit of heat always seems to flirt around the edges. Brown sugar and maple roll around. Hits of cedar, cherries, banana, and caramelized stone fruits join in. Baking spices and yeasty notes pile in.

Sip: Unsurprisingly, it’s warm, but not burning. The evaporative qualities come quickly, but they give off beautiful notes of cigar, walnut wood, maple, cherries, and spice. So much spice. There’s a pile of cloves and dark chocolate powder. Toasted nuts and creamy pastry get involved. The flavors are deep, complicated, heavily skewed into desserts, wood, and spice. Make no mistake, the heat is always around the edges.

Savor: The ending leaves a prickly finish that slowly dissipates into a mix of spice, dried cherries, and hardwood. The finish lingers with a good amount of tannin.

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof is spicy, chocolate, and complicated. While it is hot, the flavor profile is exceedingly complex and layered. More importantly, the flavors are discernable through the heat, and allow it to be sipped (if slowly). While this isn’t a starter bottle, it’s an amazing choice if you’re a fan of barrel proofers.

In Cocktails

In a Manhattan it’s unsurprisingly massive. The woody notes come through with lots of walnut, but also dark chocolate and almond. Spice joins in and barrels through with lots of caramel, maple, toffee nuts, and nougat. There’s amazing notes of dried banana, preserved cherry, and intense tobacco / cigar. There’s a spice blend and dark tea going on as well. The flavor profile is incredibly bombastic. The heaviness of the Manhattan makes it feel rich. Overall, this is a delicious Manhattan.

In Review – Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof is simply fantastic at $65. For the price point it delivers incredibly massive flavors neat, and then explodes with more in cocktails. Interestingly, this is not the first bottle of JDSBBP that I’ve had and felt this way about. While visiting the Cleveland Cavaliers last year, I had an opportunity to enjoy a different bottle, which was equally exquisite, with more maple, banana bread, banana’s foster, caramelized walnut notes. This is to say that you can expect typical single barrel variation, but that the quality remains high.

While this isn’t a bottle to start your bar with, it is an amazing choice as an expansion bottle for a relatively available barrel proof offering. Absolutely give it a try if you get a chance.

Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey

Posted on March 15, 2023March 13, 2023 by Nick

Teeling’s history ultimately ends up with it being the first new distillery built in Dublin in nearly 125 years. To get to this point, you have to start back in 1782 when Walter Teeling starts his Teeling distillery. According to From Barley to Blarney*, it went for over a century before being bought by Jameson and then all be disappears. In 1989, John Teeling (a distant relative), opens the Cooley Distillery in County Louth, reviving brands Tyrconnell and Kilbeggan before being acquired by Beam Suntory in 2011. As part of the sale, 16,000 casks are negotiated, becoming the foundation stock for Teeling. With an established brand, the new distiller was opened with 3 pot stills in 2015, and Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey is just one of the products to come out of this distillery.

Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey

Mash Bill: 3:1 Grain to Malt
Aging: Ex-Bourbon Casks
Finishing: Up to 12 Months in Central American Rum Casks
Filtration: Non-Chill Filtered
Proof: 92 (46% A.B.V.)

Sight: Old Gold to Amber

Smell: The nose is soft with a nice amount of grain and subtle oak notes. Apple, pear, lemon, and marzipan all jump in. There’s a subtle vanilla here with a little bit of pineapple or tropical fruit. A subtle pastry and spice exists in the background with a bit of wet slate. There’s a heat that comes and goes here.

Sip: The palate is smooth and has this amazing cinnamon, vanilla, brown sugar, and raisin that wraps around the tongue from the word go. The spice has a bit of gum drop / banana and dried stone fruit. The slight yeasty notes are still here and a little candied nutty flavor is there. There’s a nice dessert like cinnamon spice sweetness here that runs through out.

Savor: The ending gets a briefly peppery hit but then is smooth again, with a toned down version of the spice, a good vanillin like character, and subtle woody note with a hint of fruit.

Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey is a little hard to read on the nose, but really shows out on the palate. The spicy, sweet flavors are fun, deep enough to savor, and easy going. The subtle bready elements really work well here to add some dimension. The ending is a little pedestrian, but the fact that it doesn’t beg for attention might also be beneficial depending on what you’re doing.

In Cocktails

In a Cameron’s Kick Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey really stands up to the orgeat, scotch, and lemon. The dark brown sugar notes and hints of spice play well against the nuttiness of the orgeat. The vanilla and the stone fruit push up against the brightness of lemon. There are some underlying tropical fruit notes here, like banana and pineapple. The result is a complex and layered Cameron’s Kick that plays well throughout.

In Review – Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey

Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey is a really solid and amped up Irish Whiskey with a rum finish. While the flavors are very consistent for Irish Whiskey, they do get that extra little darkness of flavor from the rum. This might sound gimmicky, but thanks to the underlying whiskey being well made it feels robust and well crafted. While it isn’t the smoothest or complex whiskey, it is relatively good value at under $40.

Thunderbolt

Posted on March 13, 2023March 13, 2023 by Nick

We’re almost to St. Patrick’s Day, and we wanted to squeeze in one more cocktail featuring Irish Whiskey. There sadly aren’t a ton of cocktails that feature Irish Whiskey as their primary ingredient, so I turned to The Dead Rabbit’s From Barley to Blarney* for idea. The book is fantastic if you’re interested in Irish Whiskeys or visiting Ireland, covering distillers in the Provinces as well as the bars. As homage to the distilleries, there’s a small section in the back that also highlights some Irish Whiskey cocktails that connect to the distilleries. Among them is the Thunderbolt, which features Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey.

Thunderbolt

1 ½ oz

Teeling Small Batch

½ oz

Giffard Creme de Banane

½ oz

Giffard Ginger Liqueuer

¼ oz

St. Elizabeth’s Pimento Dram

2 Dashes

Xocolatl Mole Bitters

2 Dashes

Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing vessel. Add ice and stir. Strain into a double rocks glass over a large cube. Express an orange peel over the drink, then discard. No garnish.

The Thunderbolt is sweet, rich, and spicy. Right off the bat the ginger, vanilla, and allspice come out in spades – exploding forward with flavor. The sweetness takes hold almost immediately, before the spice of the chocolate bitters meets the richness of the banana. The whiskey provides a solid base layer here, adding touches of vanilla, spice, grain, and citrus fruits. Ice helps to continue to dilute this extremely rich old-fashioned variant. If you like intense drinks with diverse tropical, spiced, flavors – then you’ll love this.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

I’ve given the verbatim recipe from From Barley to Blarney above, but have made some substitutions in order to be able to make the Thunderbolt This is pretty common as when drinks get this complicated, you’re unlike to have the exact ingredient listed for everything. The exception to this is Teeling Small Batch, which I’ve explicitly went out of the way to buy a bottle of. The reason for this is the rum finish, which felt critical given the pseudo-tiki nature of this old fashioned inspired drink.

If there’s anything I’d see with this drink it’s that you may want to consider upping the Irish Whiskey or reducing some of the modifiers. The sugar is very strong in this one, and some may find it a touch sweet.

Teeling Small Batch – Teeling Small Batch is an extension of the experimentation that’s occurring at Teeling. As such, this small batch is finished in rum casks, and given the mix of flavors, feels like one you should have on hand if you’re planning to make this cocktail. From a substitution standpoint, look for an Irish whiskey finished in a rum cask.
Giffard Creme de Banane – We didn’t have Giffard’s Creme de Banane on hand, and instead went upscale, with Giffard’s Banane du Bresil. Either should work here.
Giffard Ginger Liqueur – As much as we love Giffard, we don’t have every ingredient they make. As such we opted for the cheaper, and on hand, Stirring’s Ginger Liqueuer. This is very sweet, so much so that you might consider reducing it or the banana if you’re feeling overwhelmed.
St. Elizabeth’s Pimento Dram – This is our go to Allspice Dram, although labeled with the American available St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram, as opposed to the Pimento listed in the recipe.
Xocolatl Mole Bitters – While we don’t have this on hand, you can find it at Amazon*. In place, we used our Fee Brother’s Aztec Chocolate Bitters* which worked well.
Angostura Bitters – There’s no substitute here for these, and if you’re planning on making cocktails, we recommend you have a bottle. Your local grocery store should have them, or you can get them from Amazon*.

Redbreast 15 Year Old Irish Whiskey

Posted on March 10, 2023February 20, 2023 by Nick

We started at the entry level with Redbreast 12, before slightly escalating things to their Lustau edition. While three more years are only a quarter of the age of Redbreast 12, they represent a near 100% increase in price when going from the 12 to the Redbreast 15 Year Old Irish Whiskey. Made from exclusively pot still distillate and aged in a mix of first fill and refill casks, can it justify this huge price increase?

Redbreast 15 Year Old Irish Whiskey

Sight: Burnished

Smell: The nose is somewhat subdued, with laces with spices and slight heat. The oak meets pressed apples, with tangy candied notes, and vintage leather. Nuttiness joins in with grapes, preach, touches of floral, and candied plums. The nose has a complex spicing and creaminess to it that under pins things.

Sip: The sip is soft, smooth, and almost lanolin in it’s thickness and character. A soft, ripe apple comes out with plenty of citrus oils. Stone fruits and vintage leather join in. Plum skin and toasted oak come out as well, and the whole thing wraps up with a creamy richness.

Savor: The ending has a beautiful creaminess and light tannic nature. The nuttiness and spice are the primary drivers with plum and peach skins over floral notes.

Redbreast 15 Year Old Irish Whiskey is complex and creamy. The flavors are varied, a bit hard to pin down, but all delicious. As a result, some sips feel malleable and there’s a slight feeling of inconsistency with the variety of fruits, spices, and floral elements. For all these reasons, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable sipper.

In Cocktails

In a Cameron’s Kick the bright apple and plum skin come forward off the bat, and are followed with a nice round citrus mid-palate with an almost fresh nectarine pop. The nuttiness and leather come in toward the backend. There are also good grape notes and touches of floral. It’s well rounded, but doesn’t quite get anywhere near the neat presentation of Redbreast 15 Year Old Irish Whiskey. Basically, don’t put this in a cocktail.

In Review – Redbreast 15 Year Old Irish Whiskey

Redbreast 15 Year Old Irish Whiskey is tasty on it’s own, and does fine in a cocktail. The flavors are on point, rich, and weighty. The question is if they’re twice is good? The answer is unfortunately not quite. At $130 a bottle, Redbreast 15 is more complex than the 12, but doesn’t seem to add enough power to the equation to show where that value is. That said, you might still find a reason if your really going to enjoy each dram neat. For those that want to enjoy a dram, and not over think it, I recommend sticking with the 12 for just past half the price.

Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7

Posted on March 8, 2023February 20, 2023 by Nick

r/Bourbon loves to get locked into a existential argument when the topic of Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 comes up. While Jack Daniel’s is a whiskey, it isn’t bourbon mostly because of an extra step (they actually meet all the criteria to technically be bourbon), charcoal mellowing. Once distilled, their whiskey is passed through maple charcoal for roughly 3-5 days. This process imparts additional flavors that Jack suggests are similar to a couple years in the barrel. Regardless of if this is true, they do have a loyal following, and it’s almost ubiquitously available the world over. So what’s it taste like?

Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7

Filtration – Maple Charcoal Filtered at distillation
Age – No Age Statement (N.A.S.)
Proof – 80 (40% A.B.V.)

Sight: Amontillado Sherry to Deep Copper

Smell: The nose is soft with a nice amount of cinnamon, smokey wood, and vanilla. There’s a nice amount of caramelized sugar, Christmas spiced orange, and maple wood mixing in the nose as well. Beneath all of it is a little minerality.

Sip: The mouthfeel is light to moderate. Notes of charcoal, maple, wood, orange marmalade, and caramel come forward. The light mouthfeel leaves a bit of minerality and spice. A slightly fruity, almost cantaloupe or honeydew note occurs.

Savor: The ending has a slightly green wood and spice note.

Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 is light, slightly spicy, and decently mixed between sweet and earthy notes. There are nice occasional bumps of fruit. All those things combine to make a relatively pedestrian sipper that won’t really inspire much interest beyond mindless sipping.

In Cocktails

In a Manhattan there’s a lot of sweetness present from the caramel and vanilla notes. There’s a good amount of oak and maple (wood) going on here, with a slight amount of bitterness. Fruit is sort of present, but perhaps it’s more so the vermouth. The ending picks up the minerality. The flavor is distinctly a Manhattan, but with middling weight and relatively one note flavor.

In Review – Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7

Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 is a thoroughly average feeling whiskey. The flavor is pleasant if earthy and slightly more sweets forward. There’s nothing particularly deep here, but it also manages to avoid the overlap and cliché profiles of the broader bourbon market. If you like these flavors, then they deliver clearly in spades. Overall, the price point and availability place this right in the correct spot if you find you prefer Tennessee Whiskey to Kentucky Bourbon.

Mo Chara

Posted on March 6, 2023March 6, 2023 by Nick

For this year’s original St. Patrick’s Day cocktail, I’ve chosen the name Mo Chara. Meaning “My Friend” in Gaelic, this drink’s name is a nod to the way in which this cocktail was created. Starting with an Old Pal (or Boulevardier if you think of bourbon whiskey first), it then took a twist through a white Negroni. The result was this beautiful cocktail, whose name is a tip of the hat to the Old Pal it was generated from.

Mo Chara

1 ½ oz

Knappogue Castle 12 Irish Whiskey

1 oz

Aperitivo Cocchi Americano

½ oz

Dolin Genepy le Chamois

1 Dash

Regans’ Orange Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing vessel. Add ice and stir. Strain into a double rocks glass over a large ice cube. Garnish with an orange twist.

The Mo Chara is complex, refreshing, and smooth. The start is filled with a pop of citrus and the brightness of the Cocchi, which gives way to a slightly sweet orange, apple, and herbal flavor. The layering continues with notes of butterscotch, vanilla, nuts, and a hint of cereal. The texture becoming richly lanolin, before breaking into an interesting mix of orange peel candies, spices, herbs, and a nutty butterscotch on the ending. It lingers with herbs and spices over a citrus backdrop pleasantly.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

This drink is modeled after an Old Pal / Boulevardier and run through a white Negroni filter. As such, the ingredients chosen here are more from being on hand, than for specific depth of flavors in most cases. I’ll try to provide some substitutes in describing each.

Knappogue Castle 12 Irish Whiskey – I honestly used this because it was the best available Irish Whiskey in the house. Had I had a bottle, I would have easily used Redbreast 12 here. I recommend something more refined, and leaving the Buskers and Jameson on the sideline here.
Aperitivo Cocchi Americano – Used in place of Kina Lillet, this was picked for the good balance of sweetness and brightness in the wine. The honeyed sweetness really compliments the mix of citrus that focuses on orange, but pulls in mixes of kumquats, tangerines, and other wonderful grape notes. Lillet Blanc could serve as a substitute here.
Dolin Genepy le Chamois – Dolin Genepy le Chamois has a wonderfully aromatic and herbal character, similar to a softer Green Chartreuse or Absinthe. It has almost this sage and spiced gumdrop character with that sage rabbit’s ear softness. Slight mint, slight floral notes add in. Yellow Chartreuse may work as a substitute.
Regans’ Orange Bitters – These bitters have a wonderful spice note to them with their moderately complex orange character. You can find them on Amazon* if your local doesn’t have them, and they’re generally worth using as your house orange bitters.

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