Leopold Bros American Small Batch Whiskey
Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 8:11 pm
I have had the pleasure of drinking some of the Leopold Bros Peach Flavored Whiskey and came across a bottle of their American Small Batch Whiskey. The Brothers have impressed me with both their appreciation of the finer points of distillation and the attention to detail they require.......... and I really like the Peach Flavored Whiskey. I came across a bottle of their American Samll Batch Whiskey today and decided to give it a try. For a craft distillery product, I thought the asking price of $39 was quite reasonable. I could find no age statement for this whiskey, which is a corn/rye recipe, but suspect it is at most a couple of years in the barrel......... not necessarily a bad thing.
The Bros claim that their aim is not to reproduce current styles of whiskey but to harken back to an earlier style. One in which the flavors of the grains were appreciated as highly as those derived from the barrel. To achieve this, according to them, one must use lower barrel entry proof (this whiskey went into the barrels, which are charred white oak by the way, at 98 proof). This allows for a more expedicious extraction of the barrel sugars and hence less time in the barrel to achieve an excellent whiskey which owes considerably less than most bourbons to the barrel itself.
I am tasting this whiskey under a serious handicap because I am recovering from a respiratory infection. I will report back when my tasting and smelling apparati have recovered.
Nevertheless, several things about this whiskey are very apparent. This bottle from Barrel 24 was a wonderfully clean, clear, and pure distillate..... there are zero wayward and objectional flavors or tastes. The nose (even with a handicap) owes a lot, as intended, to the grains used, and the grains are very subtle in their approach. At 86 proof this whiskey offers a nice amount of 'delicacy' to this old fellow who enjoys the shock of an intense bourbon, but has come in the last few years to also appreciate a more subtle touch in whiskey (Irish, and even Canadian whiskies) and has been in the thrall of first rate Cognac since just before birth (my birth, not theirs).
I take this to be an excellent example of what 'craft' distillers can offer in the way of unique and exceptional whiskey. And, the price is very reasonable for such high quality whiskey, necessarily produced at low volumes. I am having a very hard time putting this bottle aside at a moment when I should.
Without, I hope, seeming snobbish about whiskies, I will go on and say that if your palate is capable of discerning the difference between sublte and soft, and rich and robust, and, can give equal weight to either, you might want to seek out this whiskey. My judgement, even absent full faculties, is that this is a first rate whiskey and fulfills every intent of its makers. We on BE are constantly exhorted with the cry, 'why don't they make it like the used to?' Well, (especially considering that perhaps 'dusties' are overrated and, are certainly limited) maybe 'they' do.
'They', in my opinion, has at least one instantiation in the Leopold Bros.
The Bros claim that their aim is not to reproduce current styles of whiskey but to harken back to an earlier style. One in which the flavors of the grains were appreciated as highly as those derived from the barrel. To achieve this, according to them, one must use lower barrel entry proof (this whiskey went into the barrels, which are charred white oak by the way, at 98 proof). This allows for a more expedicious extraction of the barrel sugars and hence less time in the barrel to achieve an excellent whiskey which owes considerably less than most bourbons to the barrel itself.
I am tasting this whiskey under a serious handicap because I am recovering from a respiratory infection. I will report back when my tasting and smelling apparati have recovered.
Nevertheless, several things about this whiskey are very apparent. This bottle from Barrel 24 was a wonderfully clean, clear, and pure distillate..... there are zero wayward and objectional flavors or tastes. The nose (even with a handicap) owes a lot, as intended, to the grains used, and the grains are very subtle in their approach. At 86 proof this whiskey offers a nice amount of 'delicacy' to this old fellow who enjoys the shock of an intense bourbon, but has come in the last few years to also appreciate a more subtle touch in whiskey (Irish, and even Canadian whiskies) and has been in the thrall of first rate Cognac since just before birth (my birth, not theirs).
I take this to be an excellent example of what 'craft' distillers can offer in the way of unique and exceptional whiskey. And, the price is very reasonable for such high quality whiskey, necessarily produced at low volumes. I am having a very hard time putting this bottle aside at a moment when I should.
Without, I hope, seeming snobbish about whiskies, I will go on and say that if your palate is capable of discerning the difference between sublte and soft, and rich and robust, and, can give equal weight to either, you might want to seek out this whiskey. My judgement, even absent full faculties, is that this is a first rate whiskey and fulfills every intent of its makers. We on BE are constantly exhorted with the cry, 'why don't they make it like the used to?' Well, (especially considering that perhaps 'dusties' are overrated and, are certainly limited) maybe 'they' do.
'They', in my opinion, has at least one instantiation in the Leopold Bros.