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James Oliver American Whiskey Review

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James Oliver American Whiskey

A few weeks after reviewing Burnside Bourbon, I was contacted by representatives of Indio Spirits Distillery in Portland, Oregon and asked if I wanted to review a few of their spirits.  I agreed and along in the mail came a few (very beautiful) bottles of whiskey. Three in total, including their American, Rye, and Canadian blend whiskies.

The Bourbon Barreled American Whiskey up for review today is particularly exciting to me because it is a high rye whiskey, double-barreled in used bourbon and sherry barrels. On the website, they claim the whiskey is “barreled and bottled” in Oregon, leaving some speculation open that the whiskey itself is being imported from somewhere else (UPDATE: the corn whiskey is sourced from MGP in Indiana, the rye from Bardstown, KY). In any case, this whiskey also won a “Best American Whiskey” Gold Medal at the 2015 International Whisky Competition.

With the background out of the way, let’s begin the review.

james oliver american whiskey label

Appearance

I really enjoy the branding and appearance of all of the James Oliver bottles. There’s a real retro feel going on that satisfies my inner hipster (a small, quiet voice, I assure you). The whiskey itself is golden with a slight reddishness (the sherry finish, I assume).  For what it’s worth, this bottle looks great on a shelf, moreso if you collect each of the whiskies from this producer.  The only thing I’m confused about is “Est. 1931” — an impressive date but seeing as Indio Spirits was founded in 2004, I’m not sure what the reference is to.

Nose

The nose gives away that this is a high-rye whiskey. Spices, some breadiness, oak, and a touch of vanilla. The combined aromas are very pleasant, an added bonus being that there’s very little ethanol burn so I can enjoy the aroma without feeling my nose light on fire.

Taste

To me, this whiskey tastes very much like a high-rye bourbon–it just doesn’t bite like most of the high-rye bourbons out there. The texture of the whiskey is medium bodied, quickly coating my palate. I pick up lots of caramel, rye spices, some vanilla, and a hint of that sherry–very enjoyable.

Finish

The finish here is long and smooth, with just the slightest touch of burn.

Final Thoughts

I give Indio Spirits a lot of credit here for thinking outside of the traditional American whiskey box by double-barreling this whiskey in ex-bourbon and sherry casks.  But they didn’t just think outside the box, they also delivered a quality product. I really appreciate how this whiskey packs a lot of flavor into a very smooth dram. It stacks up well against its other ~$30 competitors and it definitely deserves a bottle purchase.

Final Grade: B+

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Cigar Review: Hiram Solomon Entered Apprentice Gran Toro

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Hiram and Solomon Cigars gained considerable ground this passed year; Cigars & Spirits magazine recently featured them in their Top Ten Boutique Cigars of 2015, they had their first of what will hopefully be many events with us this month of March, and they recently released their first Connecticut wrapper cigar, and the star of today’s review; the most-fittingly-titled the Entered Apprentice! Is this new initiate worthy to run in the same pack as the Master Mason? Only time, about an hour and a half, to be exact, and a smoke-filled trial will procure the answer…

Form and Substance

  • Vitola: Gran Toro
  • Wrapper: Shadez Connecticut
  • Binder: Dominican
  • Filler: Dominican
  • Dimensions: 5 ½” x 56’
  • Country of Origin: Dominican Republic

Aesthetics, Construction and Feel

The Entered Apprentice is much like any new initiate into any organization; it’s exterior is fresh and inexperienced (not aged very long) and its construction is solid. The wrapper has little to no ruggedness, and it exudes no veins, the only exception being the larger central veins of the leaf, which are themselves close to invisible. There are also no loose seams to be found on the wrapper; the seams blend in with the wrapper effortlessly from the foot to the flawlessly constructed cap. There are a few soft spots on the body, but other than that, the Entered Apprentice appears to be more than up to the challenge of honoring the label it wears.

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Smoke and Flavor

First Third: Don’t let the Connecticut wrapper fool you; this cigar ain’t no lightweight. The first third of the Entered Apprentice is a packed house, with a rush of heavy earth and spice on every puff. The draw is rather tight, as would be expected from such a heavily armored stogie, but the smoke clouds get nice and dense after some mildly laborious continuous puffing. The ash holds tight and boasts a whitish grey coloring that contrasts well with the wrapper and label. The burn eventually begins to canoe due to the soft spots, but the ash still holds firm. A touch of bitter cedar provides a smooth transition into the second third.

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Second Third: The second third begins with a good omen as the burn begins to even itself out, albeit slowly. The original heavy earth and spice flavors continue dominating both the foreground and the background, with the occasional small outburst of cinnamon in the background. The retrohale is particularly strong, especially for a Connecticut; a heavily concentrated mixture of basic spice for punch and nutmeg for flavor catch me off balance in a big way. Meanwhile, the cinnamon outbursts that season the background cease, replaced by a solid and permanent hint of sweet barbecue.

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Final Third: The events and flavors of the second third have converged and coalesced by the time we segue into the final third. The burn has by now completely evened itself out. The heavy earth and spice in the foreground remain strong, mixing with the barbecue in the background and becoming both more delicious and intense. The retrohale too intensifies as the nub is neared, culminating in a bang of a finish.

The Final Verdict

Hiram definitely surprised me with this one! As unassuming a Connecticut as it was in appearance, the Entered Apprentice definitely had something to prove. The flavor was strong, solid, and consistent, and the retrohale was a flavorful one-two knockout punch, making it a complete and utter positive shock to the system. Despite the inconsistencies in the burn, the ash performed surprisingly well, only falling off about halfway through the smoke. So while a bit inexperienced, the Entered Apprentice has definitely earned the right to run with the other big boys in the Hiram Solomon lineup.

Final Grade: B+

Total Smoking Time: 01:37:24

 

Tips for a Perfect Smoke Experience

  • Be careful with the retrohale; it’s just as powerful as it is flavorful. Don’t go into it under hydrated; have a good strong drink on hand to keep both the flavor and the power in check. A darker Macallan comes particularly highly recommended.
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Epoca Component Tasting With Michael Herklots and Nat Sherman Cigars

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Nat Sherman Component Tasting

I recently had the privilege of being invited to a component tasting with Michael Herklots at the Nat Sherman Townhouse on Feb 10th. I’m a big fan of cigar education, and I knew that the component tasting would make for a unique educational experience, so I jumped at the opportunity to attend.

I arrived at  7:15pm and made my way down into the Johnson Club Room downstairs, which was already smokey and occupied by around 30 cigar enthusiasts, mainly bloggers and friends of the Nat Sherman brand.

Nat Sherman Component Tasting 2

Herklots began the evening with a brief history of Nat Sherman, explaining that “before the brand was a place, and before the place was a man, Nat Sherman.” The first premium cigar sold by Nat Sherman, I was surprised to learn, was Epoca, which was reblended in 2014 to rave reviews.

At this point, Michael started the component tasting, with Nat Sherman staff handing out a short cigar purely made of Dominican Seco, the first component of Epoca. After lighting and comparing notes on flavor, aroma, and palate impact, we moved onto the second leaf, Dominican Ligero, and after that Nicaraguan Ligero.   The seco cigar offered light, bready notes with some nuts and a musty aroma. The Dominican ligero (my personal favorite), offered similarly musty notes but with richer notes of spice and leather. The Nicaraguan ligero offered much bigger, richer notes, with a lot more of a kick and pepper notes.

All three samples were enjoyable in their own right, but Michael illustrated the difficulty of blending cigars by asking the guests to smoke the first two cigars, then second and third, and finally the first and third at the same time. Each combination was putrid and awful. Then Herklots asked us to smoke all three cigars at once, and that’s where the magic happened: a brief glimpse into the Epoca color palate.  The cigars combined to create an experience of flavor and balance reminiscent of Epoca.

Nat Sherman Epoca
The Final Product

Throughout the tasting, Michael did an incredible job describing the intricacies of cigar construction, tasting, and blending. More than that, he did it with a New York charm that warmed the room up and invited guests to stay and smoke after the tasting concluded.

And so the evening was illustrative of the kind of Nat Sherman that Michael Herklots seeks to build: on one hand, an establishment that carries on the traditional feel and overall aesthetic of Nat Sherman. On the other, a fierce commitment to pushing the bounds of the traditional Nat Sherman flavor profile, creating new blends and experiences for the 21st century that are all at once old and new.

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Whiskey Review: Burnside Bourbon

2 1 8.2k

Burnside Bourbon

A couple of weeks back I stopped by a local liquor store in Astoria and came across Burnside Bourbon. There are lots of new boutique distilleries releasing new products every week, but not many from my home town of Portland, Oregon, so I decided to give it a shot.

And without further ado, here’s the review (that rhymed, right?).

Specifics

  • Spirit Type: Bourbon Whiskey
  • Distillery: Eastide Distilling
  • Age: 4 Years
  • Proof: 96 proof

Burnside Bourbon

Appearance

The first thing that you notice when looking at any bottle of Burnside whiskey is the prominent portrait of none other than General Ambrose Burnside, who (you may have guessed), rocked sideburns so hard that they are named after him. The label on the bottle has a classic shape and a sort of washed out paper character that sings of the Civil War. The color of the spirit is a light amber.

Nose

On the nose I pick up heavy notes of corn, vanilla, and some oakiness, all behind a not so subtle ethanol.

Taste

I like the texture of this whiskey. Medium bodied texture starts smooth, and ends a bit rough — a bit like the Northwest in character if you ask me (though this whiskey might be a bit more on the smooth side). As for notes, I pick up oak, hints of rye, and light vanilla and caramel notes. Not exactly overwhelming on the taste side of things, but enjoyable all the same.

Finish

The finish here is medium length with about an average amount of ethanol burn. Pretty standard for what you’ll get for a $25 bottle of whiskey.

Conclusion

For about $25, this whiskey is worth a shot. It has some nice offerings from a flavor and texture standpoint, but there are dozens of contenders in this same price-point competing for this market.

Final Grade: B-

Soho Cigar Bar: A Modern Period Piece

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Lee Ringleheim re-opened Circa Tabac as SoHo Cigar Bar with the goal of melding the best of the old with the best of the new. He succeeded. A few weeks ago, my dad and I made our way downtown to SoHo Cigar Bar for a special father/son smoke and dram. The cigar bar is nestled on Watts St, near the Holland Tunnel and under the shadow of the Freedom Tower.

SoHo Cigar Bar boasts a luminous facade where you can see a Mercedes or Maserati parked on the curb front at any given time. As I pass by a black Towncar, I half expect to see Carlo Gambino emerge from the passenger door. He doesn’t, fortunately (but we are in SoHo).

My old man and I open the door and enter into a cozy, dimly lit Art Deco-styled grand room with matching tables and booths, and period-piece artwork, which includes a Warhol-esque rendition of Alfred Hitchcock smoking a churchill-sized stick that’s perched upon by a bird. The patrons are all ages dressed in business casual attire. I take immediate notice of one particular patron because he looks exactly like The Most Interesting Man in the World, which makes me wonder if I’ve accidentally stepped into a Dos Equis commercial. I’m only half ashamed to say I snapped a photo.

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The drone of the air purifiers is quelled by the sound system, which consistently churns out the best hits of the 60s through the 80s. Simon and Garfunkel, U2, the Stones, Queen, Modern English, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Idol and, no less than three times, the Beatles, are all heard within the first hour. Perfection.

Immediately to the left of the front door is a brilliant Deco-style bar that proudly displays nearly every whiskey known to man (really, an impressive collection). From Ardbeg and Glenfiddich to rarer Japanese and American whiskies, even the most veteran of whiskey aficionados will find something satisfactory here.

The cigar selection is equally impressive. In addition to having the greatest hits of all the household names (Padròn, Fuente, Rocky Patel, and even the occasional flavored cigar for beginners), SoHo has their very own house blend of premium cigars, one of which yours truly had the privilege of reviewing last year. There is even a small cigarette selection available to those who aren’t quite ready to commit to a cigar. Again, Lee Ringleheim has made sure there’s is something for everyone at SoHo Cigar Bar.

By far the most impressive thing about the menu here is the pre-arranged pairings. One page offers drink pairings (such as the Flight Over Scotland, consisting solely of three different Scottish whiskeys). An adjoining page offers a cigar and drink pairing, combining various cigars on the menu with selected rums and scotches. Sold.

A young lady named Fern is our hostess (one of the many lovely young ladies on staff). She gets right down to business and presents us with the menu, which, in addition to a pages long whiskey and wine selection and the aforementioned All-Star cigar selection, boasts a cast old Ringleheim family recipes for appetizers, tapas and desserts.

She is attentively non-invasive and gracefully to the point, happy to answer any questions about the menu and quick with both her pen and her jokes. She was also game for a photo!

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After enjoying a savory three-cheese dip with chips, a gourmet flatbread pizza, and a divine chocolate soufflé (I know. I may or may not have skipped dinner for this…), I’m ready to finish things off with the Eclipse (SoHo’s Sol D’Oro house cigar paired with Flor de Cana 25-year rum). Just as I had hoped, my old friend the Sol d’Oro is just as fantastic now as it was last year; the salty graham cracker-dominated flavor profile goes very well with the rum’s bitter cherry essence.

After finishing up the Sol, I ask Fern if I can break out my own pipe and pipe tobacco for my old man to try. “No problem!” she says; the cherry is now firmly on top. One shared pipe and a million commemorative photographs later, my old man and I pick up the check and adjourn to the A train, our hearts weighed down by reluctance to leave.

So what is SoHo Cigar Bar? My experience indicates that it is the embodiment of reconciliation between New York City’s golden age and modern resurgence. The aesthetics, though, is just the start: amazing selection and service make this one of New York City’s finest cigar bars.

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