out gallivanting I stumbled upon a rare beast I've been coveting from afar.
Okay, "stumbled upon" is mischaracterization. I dropped D at the outlets and drove as fast as I could, a half hour north, to one of the best bottle shops in the state. Big Red Liquors - Cask Strength is well, a store in the Big Red Liquor chain but it's Cask Strength so, you know, way better.
It's is actually better for my tastes. They are close enough to Taxman Brewing to carry all their small release beers I don't get distributed to the southeastern part of the state and they carry beer from Tennessee, I crave, and holy frijoles, beer from the now defunct Trappist brewery in Massachusetts, I've always wanted to try but have never found, despite quite alot of gallivanting.
There were more but, the real surprise, even more surprising than peach saison from Spencer, was this odd bird from Todd Leopold and Dickel.
I first read about this "new" old kind of whiskey more than a year ago. Leopold, considered a bit of a mad genius in the distilling world, posted a video where he proclaimed he'd discovered the long lost holy grail...of American whiskey.
He said, he was looking through some old... nevermind here's the video if your interested
So he had Vendome in Louisville make him a new old kind of (3 chamber) still and used a heritage variety rye. Because he's small fry, in the whiskey world, he partnered with Dickel who had some rye just lying around and they put out this new-old style whiskey. Exciting!
I looked all over but couldn't find it. I checked the plethora of "whiskey by the glass bars" in the Louisville area but nobody had it. After months of looking, I finally found a bottle!.. in the glass case at Total wine. No, I wasn't so enamored by the hoopla, I'd buy the bottle without tasting it first. That bottle was soon gone and - squirrel- I got distracted by other things.
When I saw it yesterday, I checked the price. $115 and my memory, honed by years of price checking, recognized it as the same price in Total Wine. So retail price. I've only paid so much for a bottle of whiskey a handful of times. I've established a firm policy of try before you buy at that price point.
So I asked if there was any bar nearby who might sell this whiskey by the glass. No, they said, so I paid for my beer and walked out. Then I walked back in. I'd noticed they advertised some of their whiskey as being available to taste. I asked if this one was, knowing it wasn't. I said, if I tasted it, and liked it, I'd buy it.
They said, let me check. A phone call later, they were opening a bottle - for me.
This was equal parts exciting and pressure.
I would finally get to taste this whiskey that promised to be...different. If it was, I'd gladly buy it. If it wasn't, I'd sadly buy it.
Well it was different. In that it was rye whiskey that tasted like bourbon...to me. It reminded me of Knob Creek 120 proof, candy in a glass.
Keeping in mind, I'd just come from a brewery selling candied fruit beer in a glass, I was disappointed and relieved. At worst, it was whiskey I liked...but twice the price. Maybe it'll be different on a clean palate.
As I write this, my palate is unclean. I've been drinking
all day. This beer features bitter hops and no candy I can discern. No matter.
Some day I'll try it and will be happy or not.