Rosemary and I were in New York last March and we visited the Great Jones Distillery in Manhattan. I took the tour and Rosemary went to the bar to try some cocktails. We enjoyed our experience and picked up a couple of bottles of their Bourbons. We came home with the traditional Great Jones Bourbon made with corn, rye and malted barley and their four grain Bourbon which includes corn, wheat, rye, and malted barley.
The distillery opened about six months before we visited, so these Bourbons were not made at the distillery. Instead, they are sourced from their sister distillery, the Black Dirt Distillery, located in the Hudson River Valley. The grains are all grown locally to the Black Dirt Distillery and the barrels are aged there as well. Matt and I tasted these bottles and here are our tasting notes.
Great Jones Bourbon
Proof: 86
Age: No Age Statement
Nose:
- Mike: Vanilla, anise, a hint of apples, oak.
- Matt: Corn, vanilla, Cinnamon and oak.
Taste:
- Mike: Vanilla, apples with a hint of citrus, baking spices and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the citrus comes out as lemon drop hard candy and the spice is cardamom. Tasted with a pecan and caramel and white pepper come forward.
- Matt: Cocoa and buttery caramel with a little oak. The cranberry made it a tart cranberry and spicy with white pepper. The pecan made it very creamy and chocolate Rice Krispy notes.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak and baking spices. The dried cranberry added a little lingering lemon. The pecan made the finish very long with oak and white pepper.
- Matt: Lots of oak and chocolate with some peppery spice. The dried cranberry gave it notes of cinnamon red hot candy. The pecan gave the finish a milk chocolate and spice finish.
Great Jones Four Grain Bourbon
Proof: 90
Age: No Age Statement
Nose:
- Mike: Simple nose of vanilla, corn and a hint of oak.
- Matt: Cereal grains with vanilla, cherry and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Vanilla with apricots and citrus, cardamom and oak wood. The dried cranberry enhanced the baking spices – cardamom, nutmeg and a hint of cinnamon with a little oak wood. The pecan enhanced the vanilla and added some caramel notes.
- Matt: Lots of vanilla and cherry with baking spices and oak. The dried cranberry added a little minty note with cherries and strawberries mid-palate. The pecan gave it a ripe apple and vanilla latte coffee note.
I would pair this Bourbon with a RoMa Craft Neanderthal cigar. The rich vanilla and coffee notes of the smoke would pair well with this Bourbon.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller