Late last summer, I had some friends from Connecticut visit me and we shared several whiskeys on a nice warm day in my backyard. They brought me this Litchfield Batcher’s Cask Strength Bourbon as a gift. They said they liked the Bourbon and that it is made near their home. The distillery was founded by David, Jack and Peter Baker. They say they grew up in the bottled water business with three generations producing Crystal Rock bottled water.
They decided to enter the distilling business about six years ago and they have distilled this fine Bourbon. They also produce a 92 proof Bourbon, a double barreled Bourbon, a port wine finished Bourbon and a rye whiskey, along with several flavored products. If this bottle is a sample of their distilling skill, I will have to try to get some of their other products. Matt and I tasted their Cask Strength Bourbon and here are our notes.
Litchfield Batcher’s Cask Strength Bourbon
Proof: 122
Age: Four Years Old
Nose:
- Mike: Vanilla and fruit – apples and apricots with some baking spices and sweet oak wood.
- Matt: Lots of vanilla with cherries and spice –nutmeg and ginger.
Taste:
- Mike: Vanilla and apricots with a hint of citrus, cardamom, allspice and sweet oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and notes of cherry come out to join the apricot and citrus and the vanilla becomes a rich, French vanilla. The spice notes move to the background with the oak wood. Tasted with a pecan and the citrus comes forward with notes of orange and lemon zest and some white pepper notes join the baking spices and oak wood.
- Matt: Lots of vanilla and cherry notes with a little nutmeg spice and sweet oak wood. The dried cranberry added a citrus note of lemon zest. The pecan gave it a note of buttered popcorn with a hint of chocolate.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with sweet oak wood – not even a hint of bitter tannins with baking spices, mostly allspice. The dried cranberry shortened the finish but added a note of cinnamon. The pecan made the finish long with lots of sweet oak and white pepper.
- Matt: Very spicy with oak and cinnamon red hot candy. The dried cranberry made the finish shorter with sweet oak wood and a hint of ginger joining the cinnamon. The pecan made the finish longer with a note of leather and nuts joining the sweet oak and spice.
I think I might pair this Bourbon with a cigar that has a Connecticut tobacco wrapper. These cigars tend to be milder with vanilla and cedar spice being the main component of the smoke. I would reach for a NUB Connecticut wrapper to pair with this Cask Strength Bourbon and let the fruit and spice of the whiskey enhance the smoke of the cigar.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller