In writing more of these in-depth reviews, I’ve really enjoyed researching not only the history and stories behind the brands, but also the related histories of the regions in which the spirits are made. This week is no different. We’ve reviewed the entire core range from Taconic Distillery over the past two years, including their Maple Barrel finished Bourbon. Located in the Hudson River Valley of New York, farm to table whisky production has existed in the region for over 350 years!

The history of whisky distilling in the Hudson Valley dates back to the late 17th century, when Dutch settlers established the first distillery in the region. The Hudson Valley was well-suited for whisky production due to its incredibly fertile soil. In the 18th century, the region became an important center for whisky production, with many distilleries operating along the river itself. Farmers were also known to distill their excess grain into whiskey. Hudson Valley’s proximity to large towns along the eastern seaboard of the United States allowed distilleries to grow and flourish.

However, the American Revolutionary War had a significant impact on the Hudson Valley’s whisky industry. Many of the distilleries in the region were destroyed or abandoned during the war, and the industry struggled to recover in the years that followed. Despite this, some distilleries were able to rebuild and continue operating, and its whisky industry began to recover in the early 19th century. One of the key developments that helped this revitalization along was the advent of the steamboat, which made it much easier to transport grains and other raw materials to distilleries, as well as to ship the finished products to market.

In the 20th century, the Hudson Valley’s whisky industry continued to thrive, with many distilleries operating in the region. However, the industry faced a number of challenges, including increased competition from other regions, changes in consumer preferences and, of course, a little thing called Prohibition.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence in craft whisky, and many new distilleries have opened in the Hudson Valley. Distilleries, such as Taconic, are using traditional production methods and local grains. Now sporting over 180 distilleries in the state with a fair number in Hudson Valley, the region’s whiskey history has, once again, come full circle and shows no signs of slowing down.

I’ve seen a lot of barrel finished Bourbon’s lately, but this one is new to me…stout beer! This Taconic Straight Bourbon was matured for at least five years in new American oak before being finished for six months in ex-stout beer casks. It’s bottled at 45% ABV.

Nose: Like the Maple Barrel Bourbon, the finishing cask isn’t super strong on the nose. Rather, it helps to enhance existing scents and add an extra depth of character here and there. More than anything, I’m getting a slightly funky dark chocolate vibe from the stout finish. Not sure how else to describe that. Over time, a rich coffee note comes up as well. That’s got to be the stout talking as well. I think the finishing cask is enhancing the toffee from the original maturation in new American oak. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Now I’m getting a cooling menthol.

The Bourbon is still shining through though. Don’t get me wrong. There’s still that toffee along with cinnamon and vanilla. There’s still a hint of orange, which I get off of their core range bourbon, but it’s lightly grilled this time around.

Palate: Not super sweet on the entry. Quite creamy though, with a hint of honey and a light squeeze of orange. That citrus builds during the development. A few shavings of semi-sweet baker’s chocolate give this a slightly sweet/sour/bitter flavour, although heavier on the latter two. Perhaps a touch too heavy. The spicing on the back end of the finish is cinnamon, along with a touch of nutmeg and allspice. Not finding any clove. The richness really builds as you hold this in your mouth for longer. Doing that will give you that rich coffee from the nose. Almost chocolate covered coffee beans. There’s a a small dollop of nutty rye bread as well.

Finish: More than anywhere else, this is where you taste the actual beer. Again, it’s subtle and helps to tie together all of the stout notes that were acquired through the whole experience. There’s some lingering toffee, but not a huge amount of spice. That chocolate and coffee sticks around for a long time though, along with some lingering citrus.

With water added

Quite the transformation on the nose, I must say. Very dark roast coffee and citrus forward. That funky dark chocolate has stuck around. This is very close to Terry’s dark chocolate orange now. A bit of sour cherry has joined the mix too. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect on the palate!

This isn’t as characterful as I had hoped it would be, now that I have taken a sip. I’m missing that lovely chocolate and coffee that I got without water. Towards the end, I’m getting a woodiness which, combined with the cinnamon, isn’t to my taste.

Conclusion

Although this fell apart on the palate with water added, up until that point, this was very characterful and unique. Taconic’s Bourbon is the perfect base for cask finishes and I have enjoyed every one I’ve tried so far. It’s this nice balance between the initial maturation and the finishing cask that makes these all so compelling.

Out of all of them, this was the one I was most hesitant about as I am not a fan of stout or beer finished whiskies in general. I never got on with that Lagavulin Offerman Guinness cask finished scotch. This is something entirely different, perhaps helping me turn the corner towards beer cask finished whiskies after all.

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How you place your product in a particular market is something that every entrepreneur thinks about very carefully (or should do, at least!). Think about Apple with its Macintosh, iPod or iPhone or any number of social media platforms, for example. Some filled a niche that was untapped. Others filled a niche no one had even thought about.

Let’s think about the American whiskey industry and the market it serves. Up until recently, it was dominated by a few really big firms that served up a stable of brands that could be found on most shelves for a pretty decent price. Yes, there were a few premium brands and limited releases, mostly of older whiskey, but that was pretty much it.

With the explosion of new whiskey distilleries in all corners of the United States over the past decade, some have chosen to fill niches in the small batch, craft whiskey space. Others have tried unique mashbills or grain-to-glass approaches, special cask finishes or a combination of these. More often than not, all of this comes with a premium price. In many cases, this is understandable due to the lack of productions of scale, but the cost to many consumers can be prohibitive.

This brings us back to Broken Barrel. Instead of attempting to place their expressions in the now crowded, premium-priced craft whiskey market, Broken Barrel founder Seth Benhaim looked to those buyers who bought more affordable bottles distributed by the big brands. That market seemed like a prime target for something new, but not so out of left-field as to be difficult for buyers to understand. After all, stave finishes had been popularized by expressions such as Maker’s Mark 45 and barrel finishes like Woodford Reserve Double Oak.

Offering multi-stave finished whiskey (something that had only really existed in the premium market) for an affordable price was a magic bullet for Broken Barrel. Combined with savvy marketing and a proven track record with Seth’s initial venture, Infuse Spirits vodka, Broken Barrel became an instant success that is now available in 40 states (and now Canada) after only around five years in the market. Consider that niche fulfilled!

Offered at around $80 CAD in Alberta, the Broken Barrel Cask Strength Straight Bourbon, which is in my glass today, certainly impresses with its appealing price tag. It has a mashbill consisting of 70% corn, 21% rye, and 9% malted barley. Aged for at least two years in new American oak, the whiskey is then dumped into a tank along with Broken Barrel’s signature Oak Bill^TM of cask staves: 40% French oak, 40% ex-Bourbon, and 20% ex-Sherry. After the cask stave finish is complete, it is bottled at a healthy 57.5% abv.

Nose: Four words…uncooked Christmas cake batter. And I mean that in the best possible way. This takes me way back to my childhood (waaay back. Man, I’m old) when I helped my mom make Christmas cake in November. You’d store it in a cool place to let all the flavours sink in. Like their Heresy rye that I reviewed earlier, the Sherry and French oak staves are speaking the loudest. Dried figs, sultana raisins and medium dark chocolate from the ex-Sherry staves. Cinnamon, from the new American oak maturation and ex-Bourbon staves, as well as allspice from the French oak are in there too. Like their rye, there is a youthful grain note (corn/frosted flakes here), but the stave finish more than balances that out. But I keep coming back to that rich cake batter, really just a combination of all these notes…corn flakes excepted, of course.

Palate: The entry is surprisingly light and creamy at first, but also very sweet. Regular Kraft soft caramels, I think. The development builds slowly. For a cask strength Bourbon, there is not the stereotypical, abrupt spice wave. The early to mid-part of the development is more youthful than the back half, but there’s not a harsh graininess, which is tempered by the staves. That second half rewards you for keeping it in your mouth that long. Lovely rich, dark notes, but also a moderate drying once the spices kick in. Speaking of which, I’m getting a dash of earthy nutmeg and clove on top of what I got on the nose. A pinch of dark coffee and cocoa powder. The caramel has transitioned to sponge toffee. Toasted walnuts as well when I smack my lips to let in some air.

Finish: Wonderfully balanced and medium to long in length. Those dark baking spices continue to dry out the experience, but there is enough toffee sweetness to counteract it somewhat. The slight bitterness comes from the fading cocoa powder. Really couldn’t ask for more here.

With water added

This is nosing more like a young Bourbon now. I’m not getting as much of the ex-Sherry staves, but some of the spices from the French oak remain. The dried fruits are strawberry and blackberry now. Quite a bit of vanilla as well. The initial character of the entry and development is much the same as without water added, but the back half has a spicier kick. The extra heat actually gives the finish a bit more personality and helps to lengthen it a bit.

Conclusion

At its price point, this whiskey is a steal. Maybe one of the best values you can find on the Bourbon shelf. This is proof, once again, that Seth’s process turns a young whiskey into something totally unexpected. Water gives off more classic Bourbon notes and, without, highlights the staves more. This lets you choose your own adventure, depending on the season.

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I have an admission to make right off the bat. Reading up on four grain Bourbons sent me down a bit of grain rabbit hole. As I start to learn more about whiskey, the scientist in me is starting to delve more into why whiskey, or really any spirit, tastes the way it does.

For Bourbon specifically, there is this common notion that it gets most of its sweetness from the high amount of corn  (at least 51% by law) in the mashbill. This is not wholly true. It’s the new charred oak barrel that provides those sweet notes of vanilla, caramel and toffee that so many Bourbon lovers crave. Corn does have some inherent sweetness, of course. It’s just not the main factor. How sweet a Bourbon is depends on the other grains in the mashbill, the char level of the new oak barrel, how fast it matures in the barrel over time and so on.

It’s to that first factor that we turn to now. One way to make a bourbon slightly less sweet (or drier) is to reduce the corn. Boulder Spirits does this with their high barley mashbill, but other distilleries have taken a different approach…why not add another grain to the mix?

Enter four grain Bourbons. Al Laws, founder of Laws Whiskey House, was one of the first distillers to popularize the addition of wheat to the mashbill (along with the traditional corn, rye and malted barley). Others, such as Cooperstown Distillery, add oats instead. Including Boulder Spirits’ approach, the goal here is to introduce new flavours into a spirit whose overall profile has remained fairly consistent over many generations. For those consumers willing to open their minds to these new possibilities, they will likely rediscover their favourite whiskey all over again.

The four grain Bourbon I have in my glass today belongs to Laws Whiskey House, which is aged for at least three years in #3 char new American oak before being bottled at 47.5% ABV. The mashbill is 60% corn, 20% heirloom wheat, 10% heirloom rye and 5% heirloom malted barley.

Nose: The wheat in the mashbill is apparent right from the beginning. Wheated bourbons sometimes give me a paint thinner note that can be really off-putting, but I’m not getting that here. Instead, I’m getting the sponge toffee insides of a Crunchie bar. Definitely getting some Frosted Flakes too. There’s a youthful grain note in here for sure. Not overpowering though. Over time, a little bit of dried strawberry wafts up. Besides a little bit of cinnamon, I’m not getting much in the way of spices, either from the barrel or the rye (not surprising as there’s only 10% rye in here).

This is a whiskey that is just on that cusp between youth and maturity. There’s that youthful grain, but also toffee and faint spicing from the cask, which is only starting to take hold.

Palate: That strawberry note carries forward onto the entry. Strawberry cream, more specifically. I’ve never had that in a bourbon before. This fades a bit after sipping this over time, but the creaminess remains. There’s just a little bit of a citrus tang as this tips into the development. At this point, there is Crunchie bar toffee, grain and dark coffee fighting for my attention in equal measure. It’s a bit difficult to pay attention to them all at once. From the entry through to the development, the experience dries out slightly. Cinnamon and nutmeg round this out.

Finish: Interesting, the sweetness comes back a little bit here. Still getting that Crunchie bar toffee served with an equal dose of cocoa powder, which I love on a Bourbon finish. After earlier sips, I was getting wet oak, but that has faded significantly. There’s also a pronounced menthol note as I breathe in and out.

With water added

That grain note is even stronger now on the nose, but the Crunchie bar toffee remains. A nice dark coffee note lingers underneath. Water has really opened up the development. Much less of that youthful grain note now. Instead, I get lots of dark hot chocolate and cocoa powder, mixed with a bit of toffee sweetness. Those darker notes carry over into the finish.

Conclusion

Sometimes a whiskey needs a little water to show its true character and this one is no exception. I love cocoa and coffee notes in my Bourbons and a few drops really brought those out on the development. Their older stock has received some pretty insane reviews and I can see the beginnings of what they really like in this whiskey, that’s for sure.

Instagram: @paul.bovis