CigarStone
For once, knowledge is making me poor!
Steve @Eqwhipped and I went to Whiskey Thief Distillery in Frankfort Ky. to do a barrel pick pick. There were 24 of us involved in the purchase and hopefully, more of you will join in next year.
An amazing day at Whiskey Thief Distillery:
The day began with a hearty breakfast cooked over an open fire at the campsite, and a discussion about how to go about drinking a bunch of bourbon at 9:30 AM. We had a fifteen minute drive to Whiskey Thief through the rolling hills of Kentucky, and after viewing all the various Bourbon Trail distilleries websites, and seeing their beautiful sprawling facilities, it was a bit of a shock to pull into whiskey Thief which looked like a small, spread out, working, farm. After a short drive through a couple fields we came to their Rick house and met our host, Hannah. She was a young energetic girl with a huge smile on her face and an awesome attitude!
We had already cleared with our host that we could bring a bourbon to use as a reference or benchmark, Weller Antique was our choice. Steve and I had decided we would gargle and wash our mouth out with an inexpensive bourbon, Very Old Barton, to cleanse our pallet from breakfast. When I got out of the truck with the bottle of Very Old Barton in my hand Hannah said "whatcha got there?" I told her our plan and she said "that's brilliant let me have some" so I knew the day was starting off great!
She had a table set up for us with our own tasting notes booklet, pen, water, pretzels, and Glencairn glasses. Hannah said we had roughly two and a half hours to spend enjoying the tasting. I have never drank bourbon “only” before, it’s always been a compliment to some other alcoholic beverage. I knew from experience that the first few sips would be harsh but I was committed!
Hannah showed us the five barrels we were going to sample, and suggested that we know nothing about any of them until later. She would reveal the particulars after we had made our choices. And …… she was going to enjoy every sip right along with us so she could understand our perceptions. What a host!
She showed us how to operate the bung puller by pulling the bung from barrel number one herself, and then allowed us do the rest. It reminded me of a dent puller from back in the day when you used to repair body damage rather than replace it. Steve even explained to Hannah what a dent puller was.
I am convinced that munching on a blue corn chip in between sips of bourbon can cleanse the pallet and produce excellent results so we had a bag of blue corn chips ready at hand.
Barrel number one was a very sharp contrast to Weller 107 in that it was spicy, sweet, and I will just say unique. Barrel number two was very similar to Barrel number one, a little less sweet with a somewhat tart or sour impression. The transitions back and forth between Weller 107 and these first two barrels was dramatic to say the least!
This process was very laid back and friendly, we chatted about anything and everything. Now it was time for barrel number three. Steve and I both perked up the minute we put our nose in the glass from barrel number three. There was a bit of caramel, vanilla, and biscuit for me, a very delicious and unique nose and flavor profile.
At this point we have had the equivalent of six or seven shots of bourbon and a few corn chips. Let's just say that Hannah was very generous with the pours from the thief, and we all had a small pour of Weller 107 with each pour Hannah served. We all spent some time comparing the different flavors profile between barrels one and two and now barrel number three. Barrel number three had more of the traditional bourbon flavor I expected but was unique from any bourbon I had ever had.
On to barrel number four. We all quickly concluded that this barrel was rather nondescript, it reminded me of Blantons, smooth and mellow but not much character or flavor. At this point Steve and I began to rank the barrels we have tasted with number three being the clear winner and numbers one, two, and four, being a step or two behind. All very good, and very unique, but three was shining through.
On to barrel number five. The first four barrels had been pulled down and set up for us next to our table, barrel number five was still ricked. Hannah pulled out a drill and a Glencairn glass and drilled a 1/8" hole into the bottom of the barrel because it was ricked on its side. She filled the Glencairn glass and then inserted a small wooden, tapered, dowel and hammered it home to reseal the barrel. She then divvied up the full Glencairn glass she had drawn.
At first, Barrel number five appeared to be indistinguishable from Barrel number three. Same amount of heat, same awesome flavor profile, and same nose. So at this point we are sipping Weller 107, sipping Barrel number five, trying corn chips, sipping water, and then doing it all over again in an attempt to differentiate between barrels number three and five
We concluded that barrel's number three and five would require a second tasting (I hate when that happens), head to head this time. Hannah poured us a healthy serving of Barrel's number three and five for the head-to-head matchup. We tasted these two Bourbons against each other in every conceivable way. In order, and then reversing the order, without a chip in each order, with a chip in each order, rinsing with water and then in each order, large sip in each order, small sip in each order, etc. while continuing to make notes. Did I mention that today was a great day and it was only noon!
Steve and I concluded that we both selected Barrel number three because it had a slightly more buttery feel and a caramel, vanilla, biscuity, flavor profile. I honestly think that if you had one of these two Bourbons today and the other tomorrow, you would not be able to tell the difference. We could only discern a microscopic difference by tasting them back to back.
So now it's time for the big reveal! Barrels one and two were the same Mash bill, 12% barley, 76% corn and 12% Rye, 115 proof, this explains the spicy sweetness. Prepare to have your mind blown unless of course you are already aware of this phenomenon. Hannah then informed us that barrels three, four, and five were the exact same mash bill, 10% barley, 75% corn, and 15% wheat, and not only that but the same production run, the only difference was the barrels that they had lived in for 6 years. Barrel number three was 94 proof and barrel number five was 100.5 proof. Steve and I were blown away that the barrel could make that much difference! Barrel number four was dramatically different than barrels three and five. We then looked for the cooperage markings on the barrels to see if we could see where the barrels came from. We were not really able to determine much from that.
Footnote: By the time we were done, we had something in the neighborhood of 12 or 13 shots of bourbon. Initially, we had joked about how we would probably need to do this several times in order to reach a proper conclusion, we were so wrong, I’m not sure I could have had much more!
Hannah was kind enough to pour us a small four-ounce bottle, from each of barrels number three and five, to take with us so we could do some more bourbon tasting by the fire that evening. Unfortunately, my stomach was not having any more bourbon that day. After the trip to Whiskey Thief, a 2-hour rest at the campsite, and before sitting down by a fire, we went to Buffalo Trace and did a tasting there. We were able to taste Buffalo trace, Sazerac Rye, Blanton's, and Elmer T Lee. All were a huge disappointment after what we had done in the morning.
Now that Steve and I are safely home, I can reveal the additional “fun” from the trip without jinxing us. On the way down Sunday, Steve’s diesel truck kept going into reduced power mode and saying his fuel filter was bad. We would limp along till we could get off the highway, put some fuel in it, let it sit for a while, and then reset the fuel filter and it would run for a couple more hours or until we had a sizable hill to climb when it would shut down again. There is no way I could explain all the bizarre things we experienced with the truck during the trip but I will just say that Steve and I are both fairly mechanically inclined and we are still scratching our heads!
Since being home and tasting our new prize bourbon again, I will simply say that it is smooth, mellow, and amazingly tasty! Think Blanton’s with some actual bourbon flavor LOL. The quality shines through!
In closing, it would be awesome to do this on an annual basis with several of us able to attend. It was truly a great day!
An amazing day at Whiskey Thief Distillery:
The day began with a hearty breakfast cooked over an open fire at the campsite, and a discussion about how to go about drinking a bunch of bourbon at 9:30 AM. We had a fifteen minute drive to Whiskey Thief through the rolling hills of Kentucky, and after viewing all the various Bourbon Trail distilleries websites, and seeing their beautiful sprawling facilities, it was a bit of a shock to pull into whiskey Thief which looked like a small, spread out, working, farm. After a short drive through a couple fields we came to their Rick house and met our host, Hannah. She was a young energetic girl with a huge smile on her face and an awesome attitude!
We had already cleared with our host that we could bring a bourbon to use as a reference or benchmark, Weller Antique was our choice. Steve and I had decided we would gargle and wash our mouth out with an inexpensive bourbon, Very Old Barton, to cleanse our pallet from breakfast. When I got out of the truck with the bottle of Very Old Barton in my hand Hannah said "whatcha got there?" I told her our plan and she said "that's brilliant let me have some" so I knew the day was starting off great!
She had a table set up for us with our own tasting notes booklet, pen, water, pretzels, and Glencairn glasses. Hannah said we had roughly two and a half hours to spend enjoying the tasting. I have never drank bourbon “only” before, it’s always been a compliment to some other alcoholic beverage. I knew from experience that the first few sips would be harsh but I was committed!
Hannah showed us the five barrels we were going to sample, and suggested that we know nothing about any of them until later. She would reveal the particulars after we had made our choices. And …… she was going to enjoy every sip right along with us so she could understand our perceptions. What a host!
She showed us how to operate the bung puller by pulling the bung from barrel number one herself, and then allowed us do the rest. It reminded me of a dent puller from back in the day when you used to repair body damage rather than replace it. Steve even explained to Hannah what a dent puller was.
I am convinced that munching on a blue corn chip in between sips of bourbon can cleanse the pallet and produce excellent results so we had a bag of blue corn chips ready at hand.
Barrel number one was a very sharp contrast to Weller 107 in that it was spicy, sweet, and I will just say unique. Barrel number two was very similar to Barrel number one, a little less sweet with a somewhat tart or sour impression. The transitions back and forth between Weller 107 and these first two barrels was dramatic to say the least!
This process was very laid back and friendly, we chatted about anything and everything. Now it was time for barrel number three. Steve and I both perked up the minute we put our nose in the glass from barrel number three. There was a bit of caramel, vanilla, and biscuit for me, a very delicious and unique nose and flavor profile.
At this point we have had the equivalent of six or seven shots of bourbon and a few corn chips. Let's just say that Hannah was very generous with the pours from the thief, and we all had a small pour of Weller 107 with each pour Hannah served. We all spent some time comparing the different flavors profile between barrels one and two and now barrel number three. Barrel number three had more of the traditional bourbon flavor I expected but was unique from any bourbon I had ever had.
On to barrel number four. We all quickly concluded that this barrel was rather nondescript, it reminded me of Blantons, smooth and mellow but not much character or flavor. At this point Steve and I began to rank the barrels we have tasted with number three being the clear winner and numbers one, two, and four, being a step or two behind. All very good, and very unique, but three was shining through.
On to barrel number five. The first four barrels had been pulled down and set up for us next to our table, barrel number five was still ricked. Hannah pulled out a drill and a Glencairn glass and drilled a 1/8" hole into the bottom of the barrel because it was ricked on its side. She filled the Glencairn glass and then inserted a small wooden, tapered, dowel and hammered it home to reseal the barrel. She then divvied up the full Glencairn glass she had drawn.
At first, Barrel number five appeared to be indistinguishable from Barrel number three. Same amount of heat, same awesome flavor profile, and same nose. So at this point we are sipping Weller 107, sipping Barrel number five, trying corn chips, sipping water, and then doing it all over again in an attempt to differentiate between barrels number three and five
We concluded that barrel's number three and five would require a second tasting (I hate when that happens), head to head this time. Hannah poured us a healthy serving of Barrel's number three and five for the head-to-head matchup. We tasted these two Bourbons against each other in every conceivable way. In order, and then reversing the order, without a chip in each order, with a chip in each order, rinsing with water and then in each order, large sip in each order, small sip in each order, etc. while continuing to make notes. Did I mention that today was a great day and it was only noon!
Steve and I concluded that we both selected Barrel number three because it had a slightly more buttery feel and a caramel, vanilla, biscuity, flavor profile. I honestly think that if you had one of these two Bourbons today and the other tomorrow, you would not be able to tell the difference. We could only discern a microscopic difference by tasting them back to back.So now it's time for the big reveal! Barrels one and two were the same Mash bill, 12% barley, 76% corn and 12% Rye, 115 proof, this explains the spicy sweetness. Prepare to have your mind blown unless of course you are already aware of this phenomenon. Hannah then informed us that barrels three, four, and five were the exact same mash bill, 10% barley, 75% corn, and 15% wheat, and not only that but the same production run, the only difference was the barrels that they had lived in for 6 years. Barrel number three was 94 proof and barrel number five was 100.5 proof. Steve and I were blown away that the barrel could make that much difference! Barrel number four was dramatically different than barrels three and five. We then looked for the cooperage markings on the barrels to see if we could see where the barrels came from. We were not really able to determine much from that.
Footnote: By the time we were done, we had something in the neighborhood of 12 or 13 shots of bourbon. Initially, we had joked about how we would probably need to do this several times in order to reach a proper conclusion, we were so wrong, I’m not sure I could have had much more!
Hannah was kind enough to pour us a small four-ounce bottle, from each of barrels number three and five, to take with us so we could do some more bourbon tasting by the fire that evening. Unfortunately, my stomach was not having any more bourbon that day. After the trip to Whiskey Thief, a 2-hour rest at the campsite, and before sitting down by a fire, we went to Buffalo Trace and did a tasting there. We were able to taste Buffalo trace, Sazerac Rye, Blanton's, and Elmer T Lee. All were a huge disappointment after what we had done in the morning.
Now that Steve and I are safely home, I can reveal the additional “fun” from the trip without jinxing us. On the way down Sunday, Steve’s diesel truck kept going into reduced power mode and saying his fuel filter was bad. We would limp along till we could get off the highway, put some fuel in it, let it sit for a while, and then reset the fuel filter and it would run for a couple more hours or until we had a sizable hill to climb when it would shut down again. There is no way I could explain all the bizarre things we experienced with the truck during the trip but I will just say that Steve and I are both fairly mechanically inclined and we are still scratching our heads!
Since being home and tasting our new prize bourbon again, I will simply say that it is smooth, mellow, and amazingly tasty! Think Blanton’s with some actual bourbon flavor LOL. The quality shines through!
In closing, it would be awesome to do this on an annual basis with several of us able to attend. It was truly a great day!
Last edited:
