To chill filter or not...

[bourbonv]

I have learned an interesting tidbit of knowledge this year from Julian Van Winkle. He had invited me along on two occasions to taste the barrels to be selected for the Pappy 20 and the Pappy 23. I was not impressed with the barrels of the 23 yo during the selection process. They were very astringent with wood at first taste with the caramels and chocolate tones fighting their way through later. The same was true for the 20yo but to a lesser degree. Yesterday i had a taste of the 23 yo after it was chill filtered and bottled and there was quite a difference for the better. Most of those wood tannins were gone and the candy store flavors came through in boatloads. The same was true for the 20yo. These products definitely were improved by filtering. This changed my thoughts about filtering. I have always loved unfilted barrel proof bourbon, but I had never really had the chance to stick a glass under a 20 year old or more barrel as it was dumped. Now I see the value of filtering extremely old whiskey.

Julian was saying as we sampled these barrels that there would be quite a bit of loss of product in filtering because the filters would have to be replaced more often. This was a concern because he had so little to start with and he hated to loose a drop. Even with the loss I can see why he thought filtering was so important. The finished product is great.

As a side note for those purchasing a bottle of this 23 year old Pappy - This is the last of the Roy Hawes whiskey from Stitzel-Weller. After 1982 Roy retired and was replaced by Ed Foote. This whiskey represents the end of an era at Stitzel-Weller.

Mike Veach

[bunghole]

Oh Yeah, Mike I do agree! Judicious chill filtration can be a very good thing. Once you see all the white fatty tannic acids that precipitate out of the whiskey, that's bitterness that is no longer present, and lets the sweetness shine on through.

You can also be heavy handed with the filtration and remove good flavor unnecessarily. I learned that from Joe Dangler - the Master Distiller at A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He is the filtration King, and knows how to do it just right. The major reason that Virginia Gentleman's 'Fox' expression tastes so clean and crisp is due to perfect filtration.

Uncut and unfiltered bourbons do have their place in the bourbonic universe. I have always enjoyed the taste of straight from the barrel Old Forester that you get at Woodford Reserve Distillery (I still would rather call it Labrot & Graham, or Oscar Pepper).

ima pepper!
youra pepper!
hesa pepper!
shesa pepper!

Wouldn't you like to be a pepper too?

bea pepper! Drink Oscar Pepper!