Several months ago, Matt and I tasted Chocorua Rye from the Tamworth Distillery in Tamworth, New Hampshire. I had a chance to get a couple of more bottles of their products and I purchased them. I purchased a bonded Bourbon and a bonded apple brandy. Matt and I sat down to taste them and here are our tasting notes.
The Old Man of the Mountain Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon
Proof:100
Age: Four Years Old
Nose:
- Mike: Corn, yeasty bread dough, apples, vanilla, and oak wood.
- Matt: Caramel, brown sugar, apples, lemon and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Corn, vanilla, apples, black pepper and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the apple and pepper flavors are enhanced. Tasted with a pecan and the vanilla becomes a rich caramel with apples and pepper.
- Matt: Lemon cake, caramel and apples with only a hint of oak wood. The dried cranberry gave it a buttery mouth-feel. The pecan brought out flavors of chocolate, butter pecan, apples and cinnamon spice.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak, pepper and lingering apple. The dried cranberry made the finish very peppery. The pecan made the finish very long and dry with oak and pepper.
- Matt: Medium long and buttery with oak and spice. The dried cranberry gave the finish a minty note. The pecan made the finish very long with a note of chocolate.
Tamworth Garden VSOP Apple Brandy Bottled-in-Bond
Proof: 100
Age: Seven Years Old
Nose:
- Mike: Very simple nose with caramel, apples and oak wood.
- Matt: Vanilla, apples, caramel and a hint of nuts.
Taste:
- Mike: Caramel, apples, allspice, cinnamon and oak. The dried cranberry brought out some wild berry fruit –raspberry and blackberry. The pecan enhanced the caramel and turned the spice to a black pepper spice.
- Matt: Caramel, apples, a note of citrus, oak wood. The dried cranberry added cinnamon to the flavors. The pecan enhanced the caramel and cinnamon.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak, cinnamon and lingering apple. The dried cranberry added some lingering berry fruit to the finish. The pecan made the finish very long with oak wood, pepper spice and lingering apple.
- Matt: Medium long with oak, apple and lingering vanilla sweetness. The dried cranberry added cinnamon to the finish. The pecan made the finish very long with oak, apple, cinnamon and lingering caramel.
I would pair these spirits with a tobacco that has a fruity note and vanilla in the smoke. I would reach for a pipe and my favorite pipe tobacco – Kremer’s Black Royal.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller