Employee Of The Month: American Maturation at Heaven Hill

To Dream, The Impossible Dream...

America: land of dreams and opportunity. Visiting is always a joy (despite ever increasing security checks at Heathrow- yawn) and it highlights one of the great things about being UK based- our closeness to the US and to Europe. We really do occupy a funny middle ground between our friends on the other side of the Atlantic, and those just across the Channel.

Having recently returned from another trip to the States, it is easy to draw on the similarities (language, popular culture, most foods, sense of humour, etc) to feel very much at home, but to look at the 'differences' (currency, costs, weather, architecture, style, accent, a lack of social responsibility to look after the poor and sick...) to realise you are elsewhere.

And these differences do not stop at currency, politics and tastes, for America also makes whisky, but an entirely different style of whisky that we make here in the UK and these differences, along with some striking similarities, were highlighted to me on a recent trip to Heaven Hill distillery in Kentucky.

Heaven Hill is composed of two main sites, both huge in scale; the result is a company whose fingerprints are seen across the whole whisky category, in Scotch, Irish and Japanese whisky bottles because most of ex-Heaven Hill barrels end up being used to mature spirit from producers in these countries. To put it simply, the ripples of distilling here spread far and wide, on a truly global scale and all this under the influence of the owners, the Shaprio family.

It is unusual to find a place with such influence, such standing and such fame that is still ‘family owned’ and it is in this fact where we see, in all the differences between Scotch and American whisky production, another small similarity, another mirror of authenticity, as Scotland is home to William Grant & Sons, producers of Glenfiddich, The Balvenie and Grants blended Scotch, and also still family-owned and operated. In both you see a friendship and a working relationship between the two dynasties, with much of the William Grant Scotch distillate matured in ex-Heaven Hill casks.

As is the way with Kentucky bourbon production, one distillery can accommodate the production of many brands, and the Heaven Hill distillery is no exception. Spread over two sites, one for spirit production (the Bernheim distillery in Louisville), and one now specifically for the maturation of spirit (just on the edge of Bardstown, Kentucky), the former contains column stills producing various base spirits with differing mash bills, which will go on to mature, at their second site, into individual, unique expressions such as Elijah Craig, Fighting Cock, and Parkers.

At this juncture, we could get bogged down in the differing spirit profiles and make-up, looking at Heaven Hill’s portfolio and drawing comparisons between their different brands. But seeing as this task could encompass a blog in its own right (and not just a blog post), I want to look at something more fundamental: maturation.

The one thing we can be sure of is that prohobition had a huge impact upon spirit production in the USA. Not only did it create a vacuum of quality spirit (often filled by Scotch smuggled into the country), it provided a fertile ground for the cocktail to thrive and stuck the nail in the coffin of several distilleries around the world, as well as in the States itself. But for all the negatives, what it did do was create almost a clean slate for the distillers of America to embrace new technology.

As a regular visitor to Scotland and someone who writes a lot about Scotch, there are certain touchstones which can nearly always be relied on: ancient distilleries, copper pot stills, small dunnage warehouses, pagoda roofs... these are the 'shortbread tin' stereotypes which don't just nod in the direction of heritage and history, but positively support it. But let’s not forget that the original distillers who first came to the newly discovered land of America would have been Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish and European distillers, arriving to farm the land which would have included running the occasional still, as they would have done back home.

However, prohibition served to wipe these small pot still artisans from the landscape and, once the Great Experiment ended, it was time to rebuild the distilling business to quench the thirst of a nation.

 Now, if you’re starting a new business today, you don’t head out to buy a typewriter, headed note paper and stamps. You go and purchase a laptop, register a domain and set up an email address. In the same way, the distillers of America didn’t opt for pot stills (yesterday’s technology) but for the new, efficient column still. They didn’t build small dunnage warehouses, only three barrels high because that is the height a man can lift a cask to. Nope, they built enormous cathedrals of casks, because items like forklift trucks existed, to lift barrels into place. And thus the slow drift from the similarities of the Celtic settlers and their relatives in Scotland, and the modern distilling and maturation techniques seen in the bourbon business today, commenced.

Column stills can also be found in Scotland and it is the production of grain which keeps the industry alive through blends (and now a growing category in its own right thanks to single grain whisky from the likes of Girvan), and of course there are huge technical differences in the base production of bourbon and Scottish grain whisky (the basic grain make up, sour mashing, etc) but it is the maturation which really is striking.

As with all Kentucky bourbon whiskey, brand new American oak casks are used, imparting a strong, robust and sweet flavour to the maturing spirit inside. But unlike those hobbit-esque warehouses to be found on the distillery doorstep in Scotland, the warehouses at Heaven Hill are, quite frankly, enormous. Seeing their sheer size put me in mind of the first time I saw an Airbus A380 descending over London for its arrival at Heathrow. Massive and a little bit scary.

Entering one of these huge, white spaces (which look they might have been designed by someone with a fetish for Soviet-era prisons) you are simply hit with a staircase, leading to a series of floors and doors: The Maturation Zone in the Crystal Maze, perhaps. Perfectly constructed, each level (of which there were thirteen!) houses an intricate system of barrels, all holding a different style of spirit, designed to mature for different lengths of time, becoming different brands of bourbon.

There was no musty smell of earth and bung cloth as there would be in Scotland. But a sweet aroma of spirit, oak and freshly cut pine. The temperature was warmer than outside (something you don’t get in Scotland) and the barrels, all uniform, were organised by row. Walking around them, up and down between the floors, was like flying around in the 3D grid system in Blade Runner. Sadly, without an iconic glass of whisky in my hand, as these casks were very much sealed.

Climbing the stairs to the very top and peering down thirteen floors to the ground level, taking in the scale of maturation, surrounded by other enormous warehouses, this couldn’t have been anywhere else but America. This was maturation, supersized.

Back inside the safety of Heaven Hill’s visitor centre, I was finally able to experience some of the magic of a single barrel bourbon when I was handed a glass of whiskey, and one which represents some of the best value for money of any bourbon on the market today:

Evan Williams Single Barrel - 2003/2013 - 43.3% abv - 75cl

Nose: Rich vanilla, red summer berry compot, a big splash of new oak, builders tea with about 15 sugars and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Rich with a big attitude, but not over-oaked.

Palate: This is where this badboy really delivers. The palate is seriously easy going, yet there is a foundation of big flavour with more vanilla, aprcot jam, some smoky BBQ sauce (without this being smoky, oddly) and rasberry travel sweets.

Finish: Robust, rounded and very well balanced with more vanilla and a hint of oak spice.

Overall: If you want a great example of a single cask bourbon, at ten years of age, this is a real corker. I paid about $25 for this bottle (well under £20) and I'm note sure I could have spent $25 better, really. An absolute corker of a dram which is still only about £35 over here in the UK.

I had the chance to pop into the new Evan Williams experience in Lousville and the plans there are fantastic. They’ve just built a small pot still operation which fills a barrel a day (when it is running) to bring a craft, pot still element to Evan Williams, so look out for stocks from that in the future. This scaled down visitor experience, in a former shop in the heart of Louisville is, quite simply, one of the best whiskey-based attractions I have ever visited, so if you find yourself out there, make sure you go.

 

In visiting Kentucky to discover the joys of bourbon, you get to see the legacy of The Great Experiment and how it has forever changed the landscape of distilling in America. With the craft distilling revolution bringing back the pot still, and the stalwarts of the business such as Heaven Hill offering seriously good liquid at such great value, the future for American whiskey looks incredibly positive. 

Mon Sherried Whisky: The Balvenie SIngle Barrel 15 Year Old and The Glenlivet Nadurra Oloroso Edition

There is something quite glorious about a summer’s day. To be honest, here in London, it isn’t quite summer just yet, but we are at the start of a rather warm snap which will, fingers cross, will last across the weekend.

In the UK, this is the sign for women to raid their wardrobe for flowery Laura Ashley dresses and for men to bare their legs; but when it comes to whisky, our thoughts turn from heavily peated numbers, to lighter whiskies (grains and blends), served up in a highball glass with ice, topped up with soda water and a slice of something zesty.

And herein lies the exact reason why we all need a cabinet of drinks: there is no one ‘cure all’ spirit for that moment when you want to pour yourself a dram or mix yourself a cocktail.

Our advice for putting together a basic drinks selection is to build up your cabinet from the basics, making sure you have a good quality gin and vodka in your freezer, with plenty of ice and some glasses, too (if you don’t have a lot of room, then make sure you have four Martini glasses at the very least). If you can store highball glasses too, then a top tip is to put a small amount of water in the bottom of each glass, so you have a natural layer of ice in each one; brilliant for G&T’s.

Moving from the freezer to the fridge, ensure you have some cans of tonic and soda water, as well just some filtered water too.

Topping all this off, a good drinks cabinet should contain a nice brandy (go Armagnac for better value than Cognac), a good rum (two if you can afford it- one for sipping, one for mixing), some Tequila and cocktail bitters (Angostura at the very least). And then some whisky.

You’ll notice here that, save for the rum where you can reach out over several varieties and Tequila / Mezcal where you might want a sipping option as well as a mixer, whisky is where the greatest variation is to be found. If we were being honest, you probably could do with having the following in stock:

A Smoky Whisky: Preferably a single malt with a good level of peat smoke. Example: Lagavulin 16.

A Sipping Whisky: Not everyone likes peat, so have a non-peated offering, too. Could be a blend, single malt, a bourbon, Irish or Japanese whisky. Example: The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Years Old.

A Sunshine Whisky: A grain whisky or blend helps for those summer days when you want a long drink. Example: Cutty Sark Original.

So, in a basic cabinet we’d look at three different whisk(e)y offerings; quite a lot more than the others, but all playing different roles in the team.

In this blog we focus on all styles of whisky, trying to review them with their purpose in mind. As became evident in our look at flavoured whiskies recently, you can’t review something like J&B Urban Honey in the same way that you would a 40 Year Old Brora. Equally, as with Dave Broom’s new book The Manual, you shouldn’t be ashamed of mixing a ‘sipping single malt’, either.

When it comes to these single malt sippers, there are more and more appearing on the market all the time; some brand new offerings from indie distillers, others being released from major distillery names as range extensions.

One distillery who is undertaking a re-jig of their more niche offerings, is The Balvenie who have recently launched a couple of new single barrel expressions. It was a year ago when we reviewed their ‘new’ 12 Year Old First Fill American Oak Single Barrel, and the time has come again for another release from them, this time a 15 Year Old Oloroso Sherry cask.

The Balvenie – 15 Year Old Sherry Cask – Single Barrel – Cask Number 4440 – 47.8% avb – each batch has no more than 650 bottles – RRP £79.99

NOTE: These tasting notes are for one specific cask release, no. 4440. Other casks may differ.

Nose: Certainly a sherry cask whisky, this gives ginger and honey up front, some dusty oak and golden syrup, this isn’t hiding its roots. There is a slight Piri-Piri sauce element which develops over time. Returning to the nose after a while, the key elements have died a little and the spirit remains, giving a punchy youthfulness to the dram, but always with that Oloroso backbone of sweet spices.

Palate: Fresh apricots drizzled in honey sit atop cinnamon spices, some over ripe banana and rum and raisin milk chocolate. It is powerful with a hint of complexity, and some spiritus elements. Mouthfilling, the wood influence shines through towards the back of the palate giving plum chutney and more raisins.

Finish: Lots of ginger, runny honey and spices, which develop into nutmeg and cardamom.

Overall: This is a very tasty dram, which packs in big flavours with a good ABV balace, too. My preference is with a splash of water, which opens up the dram to reveal red cherries and heather honey, giving a better example of the smooth Balvenie spirit for which it is famed.

Another giant of the Speyside distillery world, who is also expanding a diffusion range (if you will) with an Oloroso matured edition, is The Glenlivet who welcome the ‘Oloroso Matured’ batch to the already popular Nadurra line. This will be the first ever 100% sherry matured offering from the distillery, under their own label. At the moment this is only available in Global Travel Retail, is a No Age Statement and is bottled at 48% abv but, as with other Nadurra releases, will see a ‘full strength’ edition hit local markets in the future.

The Glenlivet – Nadurra Oloroso Matured (batch OLO314) – NAS - 48% abv RRP TBC

Nose: More tropical fruits than the Balveinie, which is focuses more on ginger and honey. This is a fresher dram (I’d wager a touch younger, but not by a lot) and gives peach melba, fruit cake, cardamom and mango on the nose. A hint more summery than the Balvenie.

Palate: Cinnamon and Cardamom come through with a sprinkling of nutmeg. Blood Orange and fresh mint are backed with cigar box and a distinctly meaty tone of well aged rare steak, slightly peppered. It sits well on the palate, with the pepper and sweet sherry partnering well together.

Finish: Bloody orange meets vanilla macaroons to give a hearty, sweet finish which is mouth watering with a back drop of gala melon.

Overall: Again, this really opens up with a drop of water, smoothing it out reflect the distillery character and would be my preference to serve with a splash of H2O. It is going to be interesting to see how this works at an even higher abv. Bring it on!

These two new expressions are both excellent and with a splash of water both reveal their true distillery characters, which is pleasing as it is easy to lose track of the true DNA of the base spirit once sherry casks are involved. Both are perfect examples of ‘sipping whiskies’ which make themselves available for team selection in your drinks cabinet. Now it is up to you to decide which you want to be part of your team...

  

Family Values: Newly Released Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon

Take a second to think... when was the last time you did something really meaningful with your old man?  I'm not talking about having a conversation about football, cars, golf, politics or whisky, but actually took the time out to cook a perfect steak, carve something out of wood together, catch a fish, build a wardrobe or jam for a while on your guitars. 

Reason I ask, is that last Saturday, whilst my wife, mother and daughter were out shopping,  my father and I decided to bang out a few old Stones riffs, reminisce about some classic albums and enjoy a couple of decent drams before lunch.  It was a real spare of the moment thing, but something which reminded me how much I missed spending time with my dad -  now we live nearly 150 miles apart.

Papa Ridley is an extremely creative and practical man.  Not only has he been performing in bands for over 50 years but has always been my go-to guy for repairing my collection of old guitars, amplifiers and anything electronic, despite how knackered it may appear. I realised just how great and supremely practical a dad he was on Saturday April 5th, 1994 - amazingly 19 years ago today when, together, we built a speaker cabinet in his garage from some old plywood and some throw away speakers he had lying around.  

Reason I specifically remember this date is that a little after 1pm, a BBC news report came through on the radio we had on in the background that Kurt Cobain had just topped himself, leaving me as a teenage fan in a state of utter disbelief. That speaker cabinet has subsequently been used for nearly the past two decades and whilst I could never quite conjure up the screaming guitar tones that Kurt used to, it still reminds me of a symbolic moment bonding with my father over music.  To be honest, my dad never much cared for Nirvana, but felt compelled to help me as best he could in educating me with his own superb record collection.  

Now where am I going with all this?  Well, yesterday a rather interesting bottle of bourbon arrived at our office, fresh from Messrs. Russell & Russell.   I am of course talking about Wild Turkey's Jimmy and Eddie, the remarkable father and son combo, who have between them a collective 90 years of experience making bourbon. Now, if there's anyone who can probably talk about creating something meaningful with their father, it's Eddie Russell.   And I'd be willing to bet that pretty high up on that list would be Russell's Reserve, the duo's brand new small batch, single barrel bourbon.  

Created using a selection of alligator charred casks, (the heaviest level of char available) the Russells earmark a number of these casks for their Reserve selection, this being the latest in the line.  The result is a whiskey that is bottled at 110 proof.  Despite there being no indications as to the age of the spirit (a six year old RR rye and a ten year old RR bourbon have also been released prior to this) doing some research shows up that there are around 800 bottles of this new Russell's Reserve. Unfortunately, for those outside of the US, you may have to wait a little while to source one -  there are no plans to release in Europe, but the odd bottle might float its way via the usual channels (ala Whisky Exchange or Master Of Malt etc) 

So have the Russell's joint endeavours been in vain?  More's the point, like my father and I -  have they hit a few bum notes during their jam together?  Let's find out...

Russell's Reserve - Small Batch Single Barrel Bourbon - 110 Proof -  750ml - $49.99

Nose: A wonderful spicy, peppery rye note greets you initially, with fat vanilla pods, golden syrup, a hint of cedar wood, toasted orange peel and a little liquorice/anise note.  At 55%/110 proof you'd expect there to be some prickly notes, but everything is refined, soft and velvety.  Given time in the glass, some plump raisin notes emerge alongside some vanilla pipe tobacco and a hint of flat cola.  It has an effortless about it often seen in single barrel bourbons that will really appeal to the single malt drinker in spades. 

Palate:  Oily and very spicy, with lots of liquorice, clove, white pepper, sweet vanilla, a touch of brazil nut and marzipan.  This really doesn't need any water, but if you're planning to add some, be gentle: too much will ruin the oily/spicy balance completely.  

Finish:  Long lingering notes of drying aromatic wood, liquorice and a wonderful creaminess.   A second finish with some darker earthiness emerges too, with tobacco leaf notes and dark chocolate nestling on the back palate. 

Overall:  This is a stupendous bourbon, make no mistake.  It's refined, controlled and supremely complex.  Lord knows what age it is, but age really doesn't matter in this instance.  What the Russell clan have done here is triumphant.  One thing's for sure, it's certainly inspired me to spend more time with my old man...