Today I am joined once again by Matt Kohorst. He is becoming my favorite guest taster and his abilities to pick out flavors are improving with every tasting. As my future Nephew-in-law I am looking forward to his continuing improvement of and knowledge about tasting and whiskey as a whole.
Today we are tasting the latest version of the Whiskey Row line from Kentucky Artisan Distillery. I like what they are doing at this distillery. This is still a sourced product but it is a great whiskey. Stephen Thompson, the founder of the distillery is a former Brown-Forman employee who has collected an interesting group of old stills to use in making his whiskey and hired an excellent distiller, Jade Peterson. They are the people Bill Thomas and I picked to make our four barrels of whiskey back in December. The Whiskey Row Bourbon is one of the reasons I have confidence in picking them for this project. They have excellent taste in picking good whiskey so I felt they also have a good idea as to how to make good whiskey, and I am not disappointed in that choice.
Whiskey Row Shipping Port Bourbon Batch 5
Proof: 88
Age: No Age Statement
Nose:
- Mike: Caramel corn with some citrus fruit, baking spices and fine leather.
- Matt: Lemon citrus fruit and tootsie roll.
Taste:
- Mike: Vanilla and citrus fruit with a touch of cinnamon. Tasted with a dried cranberry enhances the citrus fruit and vanilla but reduces the cinnamon. Tasted with a pecan enhances the spice adding notes of nutmeg and allspice.
- Matt: The taste was caramel and buttercream with a note of citrus. The cranberry enhanced the leather and oak flavors while the pecan added notes of dark chocolate and some smoky notes of a charcoal grilled burger.
Finish:
- Mike: Long and dry with oak and cinnamon. The cranberry shortened the finish but enhanced the oak. The pecan added nutmeg to the spice and oak dryness.
- Matt: The finish was sweet with caramel and oak. The cranberry enhanced the oak and the pecan gave the finish a little cocoa powder sweetness.
I chose a My Father “The Judge” cigar to pair with this Bourbon. The smoke has notes of chocolate and vanilla with some cedar spice that I think goes well with most Bourbons. I was not disappointed. The Bourbon enhanced the chocolate notes in the smoke and the smoke brought out the chocolate and caramel in the Bourbon. An excellent pairing.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller