Here’s the Cole’s notes on this whiskey. During a business trip in Colorado, Steve (@park.whiskey) and Travis (@edmontonscotchclub), who run PWS Imports, the agency that has Boulder Spirits in their portfolio, tasted a sample of this whiskey at the distillery. They said “We want all of this.” And we all lived happily ever after. The end.

This tale is mostly accurate. Canada got 700 of the 850 bottles from the cask.

Just like Scotch and single malt brands from all over the world, American Single Malt distilleries and blenders are utilizing cask finishing and peated malt as well. Boulder Spirits is among a handful of brands that have had peated malt expressions from the start.

American peated single malt is a very different animal that the medicinal, briny, Lemon Pledge sort of vibe you get from Islay. It’s earthy and rich, like a campfire in a west coast cedar forest. With Boulder Spirits at least, their expressions are only very lightly peated. It’s more about the smoke than the peat.

Cask finishing is another element that is being more frequently utilized in American Single Malt. Sherry barrels of all types are most common, but I’ve seen Cognac, Tequila and Armagnac used too. And the list is growing rapidly.

The Boulder Spirits Trailhead expression, which is what I have in my glass today, is an attempt to take all of these things and pack it into a single bottle. This is a combination of peated and unpeated malt matured separately for four years in new, #3 char American oak barrels. Both casks were then dumped into an ex-PX Sherry barrel to marry for one more year. It’s bottled at 52.5% abv.

Nose: Scotch drinkers may expect the Sherry cask influence to be present right from the get go. Not so here. Even after a one year PX cask finish, the original cask maturation is at the forefront. Ripe, slightly sour cherries, lots of sponge toffee, a bit of dark roast coffee and a dash of cinnamon. After a while in the glass, the smoke from the peated malt starts to waft out of the glass. Underneath all of this is the undeniable signature of the PX cask. Combined with the barrel char of the American oak, it smells like the crispy caramelized edges of a freshly baked Christmas cake. The darker spices, the dried fruit. It’s all there.

Palate: The entry is like eating a milk chocolate fruit and nut bar. Rich and creamy. The PX cask is clearly asserting itself now. This this is quickly joined by still more raisins and a few prunes. Then the peat kicks in during the development. It’s slightly sour, but doesn’t consume the initial sweetness. Cinnamon, nutmeg and a good dose of clove arrive half way through and slowly build rather than crash in like a wave. The stages of this experience slowly ebb and fade so that one builds upon another.

Finish: Slightly sweet with a bigger dose or sour. Almost like the stuff they sprinkle on Sour Patch kids. Makes my mouth water. Rich cocoa emerges pretty quickly and fades slowly. As I breathe in and out after I have swallowed, that campfire smoke comes back again.

With water added

Much more of the PX cask influence now on the nose. Dark chocolate, raisins, nutmeg. It’s a little bit nutty too. Walnuts mostly. Instead of sponge toffee, I get soft Kraft caramels. The fruit and nut bar sticks around a lot longer now on the palate, resulting in a creamier mouthfeel throughout. The sourness from the peat doesn’t dig in quite as hard either. Nor do the spices. Lighter and creamier overall. The finish is less of the sour and more of the cocoa powder.

Conclusion

Any way you cut it, this is a phenomenal pour. It’s not a Sherry bomb. It’s not a peat monster. It’s something quite different, but incorporating enough from each of those extremes to make this a highly balanced experience. The only exception to this is that I feel like the unpeated malt kind of gets lost due to the peat and the PX cask finish. The sour peat note on the development kind of washes away the unpeated spirit too much. However, with everything else that this whiskey offers, it’s a solid “buy” recommendation from me.

Instagram: @paul.bovis

What’s one extra year’s worth of maturation time in whiskey? If you’re talking Scotland with its cool(ish) climate, it hardly makes a difference. Not so in other places around the world. Generally, hot and/or temperate climates really help to supercharge the aging process. Although not known for its searing heat, Boulder, Colorado is certainly temperate to cause noticeable differences from one year to the next.

Since I last wrote Boulder Spirits reviews, quite a lot has happened in the American whiskey world. Most importantly, American Single Malt, like Bourbon, is now an officially recognized category by the American Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). This has been a years long effort by a consortium of US distilleries such as Boulder Spirits, Balcones (Texas), and Westland (Washington). Although the rules are slightly less stringent than Bourbon, it is nevertheless a huge hurdle that has been overcome and will hopefully encourage still more distilleries to hop on board the barley train.

Since Boulder Spirits has been distilling single malt for quite a while now, they are one of the first distilleries in the country to be able to offer a whiskey that is Bottled in Bond (as well as their Bourbon, by the way). In the United States, Bottled in Bond whiskey requires the spirit to be distilled in a single season, matured for at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse and bottled at no less than 100 proof (or 50% abv). Their New American expression is one year less than the Bottled in Bond (which is in my glass today) and bottled at 46% abv. They are both matured in new American oak barrels that have been treated to a #3 char.

Let’s answer that initial question now, shall we? In the process, I’ll compare both the Bottled in Bond and American Oak.

Nose: It’s a bit shy at first. Give it a few minutes to open up. The cask has taken a firmer hold on the whiskey after an extra year. Quite a noticeable change. A nice balance between spirit and cask. The New American expression was bright, youthful, barley sugar with a slight hint of cardamom pods. This Bottled in Bond is much darker and richer. Grilled pineapple, ripe cherries, toasted cinnamon, freshly shaved nutmeg. After nosing more, I get a tiny bit of coconut.

Palate: Quite sweet on the entry. Vanilla cream and caramel with a little bit of zest thrown in. Tart cherries start the development, but dark roast coffee, cocoa powder, and a hint of dark chocolate mix with that not soon after. The sweetness from the entry mostly fades mid-way through the development, drying out the experience a bit. At the end of the development, there’s a ton of cinnamon. It’s kind of overpowering the rest of the spices.

By comparison, the New American retains that sweetness all the way through the development, allowing that spice cake/ginger snap cookie vibe to shine through at the end. That’s what I wanted to see with the Bottled in Bond as well, but instead, I’m treated to a richer experience. It’s a trade-off, for sure.

Finish: The coffee and cocoa powder hang on, but slowly fade along with the cinnamon. There’s just enough sweetness to prevent this from becoming too bitter at the end. The finish is definitely on the long side.

The finish on the New American isn’t as long, but I like the ginger snap cookie/cocoa powder notes more than the Bottled in Bond.

With water added

The grilled pineapple and cherry notes come out a lot more on the nose now, nicely balanced with the cinnamon from the cask influence. Water has made a huge difference in the development. The sweetness from the entry hangs on a lot longer, giving me that spiced cookie note that I love from the New American expression. The finish is sweeter and not as bitter.

With water, I like this more that the New American. Just with one year more, the Bottled in Bond gives me the best of both worlds. The richness that I got without water added, combined with the extra extra sweetness that I like from their New American.

Conclusion

Although I had some quibbles with this Bottled in Bond initially, it not only stands up incredibly well to water, it actually improves the experience dramatically. The same can be said of their New American expression as well. To me, this is a mark of a quality whiskey: one that has enough depth of flavor so that it doesn’t collapse with a few drops of H₂O.

Instagram: @paul.bovis