Wheat Whiskey

[tlsmothers]

Well, we were all pleasantly surprised by the flavor of the Bernheim. As Chuck said, it is nothing like you would expect if you've been drinking the wheated bourbons. It has a pleasant grainy, whole grain bread like quality to it without gobs of caramel and vanilla that I expected. I wouldn't call it Scotch like myself as I didn't get any smokiness or iodine flavor. It was much more easily sippable than I have ever found a Scotch to be. It has a nice toasty, nutty quality without any ashy, woodiness. Big hit!

We're having a debut party for it October 2. I got it much earlier than expected. Shocked that NY got it before KY.

[tlsmothers]

Ben and I made it to http://www.brandylibrary.com/ for the industry launch of Bernheim last night. Owner Flavio and sommelier Ethan were great hosts. Craig Beam and Larry Kass were on hand to say a few words. Besides straight pours, cocktails featured included:
Blue Bernheim (Bernheim, lime juice, blueberry liqueur, Peychaud bitters)
Old Fashioned
Club on Wheat (Bernheim, lemon juice, chartreuse, club soda)
Wheat Royal (Bernheim, ginger beer)

Ben and I are eager to begin our cocktailian pursuits with this whiskey.

Craig mentioned that he preferred the whiskey at 100 proof, but was pleased that the proof stayed in the 90's. He said this whiskey below 90 just wasn't worth messing with in his opinion. He also mentioned that he was so surprised to find how smooth it was even at 6 months old. He is keeping a few barrels back to see how gracefully it ages beyond what we see today. He laughed and said that when he goes to a party back home, he sometimes carries a magnum of the barrel strength Bernheim with him. The story of how it came about was told as having extra wheat after running Old Fitz so they decided to experiment.

At the end of the evening, Larry pulled out a small bottle of 20 year old 120.7 proof rye whiskey. I think we can expect some new exciting things coming out of Heaven Hill even beyond Berheim.

[MikeK]

Has the new Bernheim been release anywhere else but NY yet?

Thanks!
Mike

[Chris]

I just bought a bottle last night in a store near Atlanta, GA...

[Bourbon Joe]

I saw it on a shelf at Chuck's, exit 28, I-65 in Bowling Green Kentucky a couple weeks back.
Joe

[Blue]

Any idea when it might makes it way to PA?

[angelshare]

We finally got Bernheim wheat in VA! It's priced at $40 here - in line with Chuck's initial posted suggested retail price.

Tina & I had a small pour last night. We certainly have to spend more time with this one. It is definitely different. Initially, we were both impressed by a hotter mouth than we expected, but it smoothed out after a sip or two. Overall, our first impressions were very positive...though I'm not sure they were $40 positive.

Striking differences aside, to me, there was still a hint of something quintessentially Heaven Hill-ish about it, maybe something out of the Henry McKenna flavor profile? I was struggling to put my finger on it, and Tina didn't really agree.

[EllenJ]

Two ideas come to mind...

(1) No reason to think it isn't using the same proprietary yeast Heaven Hill uses in most or all of its products.

(2) Parker/Craig Beam have a pretty clear idea of what they feel their whiskey ought to taste like, and that's what they look for in selecting what's gonna get bottled with their name on it (so to speak). Some people say there's a distinct "minty" flavor that's common to all HH whiskeys.

I'm not very good at detecting mint (spearmint? peppermint? wintergreen? Scope?), or "dark fruit" (raisins? prunes? olives?, overripe bananas?), or such as mountain heather or rhubarb or gatoraide. I can taste caramel, vanilla, chocolate, and sometimes butterscotch; but those flavors are in just about any whiskey, including blends. What I AM pretty good at is distinguishing distilleries' "signature" flavors (or more often bottlers' signature flavors; sometimes the bottler is also the distiller). I agree with you about the HH-ness of the wheat whiskey. However, until someone else (Buffalo Trace?) comes out with their own all-wheat (whole-wheat?) whiskey, Bernheim gets the distinction of being the definitive flavor for wheat whiskeys.

[angelshare]

You make two very good points. I don't know if you would agree, but I think of HH-ness as a not quite but almost tea-like flavor, and I associate it with the McKenna profile more than others for some reason.

I know this is a horse that gets flogged a lot, but do you think it's "worth"$40?

[gillmang]

I agree with you Dave. It is tea-like or mint tea-like and the signature is in all the rye-recipe straight whiskeys of HH (although not in its version of Yellowstone, why I don't know since HH uses one rye mash bill I understand). Some people call it eucalyptus. It may be from the yeast as John suggests. I like it when well-pitted against proof and age: the Henry McKenna Single Barrel is a good example and a fine whiskey. Personally I would not pay $40 for the wheat whiskey - interesting as an experiment but there are too many good whiskeys for less from HH, IMO.

Gary

[cowdery]

I, too, get the tea-like flavor, especially in the Bernheim but there is a touch of it in everything from that distillery, especially anything with wheat in it (i.e., Old Fitz). It is a characteristic of the Bernheim still and you won't find it in HH products made pre-fire.

[OneCubeOnly]

I tasted the Bernheim Wheat at the last Bourbon Festival. Is it worth $40? I'd have to say no, but they will certainly 'get me' for at least one bottle as, like Angelshare, I want to spend some time with it. I don't forsee it becoming some kind of staple to my bar though...it's more like a novelty.

[Bourbon Joe]

I tasted the wheat whiskey at the Philadelphia Whiskey Fest. I think I'll save my forty bucks for something I like better.
Joe

[gillmang]

I'll have to try the wheat whisky again to see if I can link it to what I call the green plant or eucalyptus taste. By the way people often joke about these terms and how we use them and true enough some of it is "imaginative" which doesn't mean the terms don't convey some real meaning. I will never forget the late great Frank Henriques writing in his Signet Encyclopedia pocket book on wines about a Californian wine tasting of "brambles" and then he added, "anyone had any brambles lately?".

But in fact I understood what he meant and he knew readers would but was unpretentious and independent enough to josh about it and good for him for doing it.

However in my case, and I believe I was the first to call the quintessential HH whiskey note "eucalyptus", I'll tell you where that came from. A few years ago I was lucky enough to do a bicycling holiday in Portugal. That country harvests eucalyptus trees and I became very familar with the scent which is very alluring in fact and (to use a not inapposite expression) intoxicating. When I went to my first KBF shortly after and tasted HH whiskeys, I said, "that's the taste, it's like the trees in Portugal". Everyone will have their term for it. I believe this is what Dave is referring to although Chuck said he gets it particularly from wheat-recipe bourbon. I find it in all HH whiskeys but more in rye-recipe bourbon and found it in pre-Bernheim whiskeys (e.g. the 10 year old bonded Heaven Hill brand which I first tried in 2000). I find it in all the EWSBs, in the Craig 12, and McKenna Single Barrel (a personal favorite) but less in the Craig 18 where perhaps it "ages out". Maybe the signature being spoken of is different from what I am thinking of though.

Gary

[angelshare]

Everyone will have their term for it. I believe this is what Dave is referring to although Chuck said he gets it particularly from wheat-recipe bourbon. I find it in all HH whiskeys but more in rye-recipe bourbon and found it in pre-Bernheim whiskeys (e.g. the 10 year old bonded Heaven Hill brand which I first tried in 2000). I find it in all the EHSBs, in the Craig 12, and McKenna Single Barrel (a personal favorite) but less in the Craig 18 where perhaps it "ages out". Maybe the signature being spoken of is different from what I am thinking of though.

Actually, I think you and I are tasting the same thing because I tend to think of it as a rye recipe HH flavor, too. I'll have to try some Old Fitzgerald BIB this week and see if I get it there more or less than the ryed bourbons. I never really thought about it.

I also agree with you that I have gotten it in EW 1783 and the EW SB - IE, pre-fire products? - as well. Chuck, am I understanding you correctly that you don't get this flavor in the EWSB? Which HH brand do you think has it most prominently?

Before I realized exactly what I was tasting, I also got a lot of it in Pogue. I remember mentioning to one of the Pogues at the gazebo in 04 that I was getting something like tea. Am I remembering correctly that Howie thinks Pogue & the Henry Mckenna "jug" are strikingly similar?