Larry Rice is a local legend in the Bourbon world. He is the founder of both the Silver Dollar and The Pearl of Germantown bars and restaurant. The Silver Dollar has since closed, but that was after Larry sold the restaurant. However, The Pearl is where he held his release for his latest venture, Old Treasure Bourbon.
Larry is famous for his single barrel picks. He was picking barrels from the early days of private selections and one of his best picks was a J.T.S. Brown Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon that was an excellent Bourbon that showed that you did not need to have a barrel strength Bourbon to have an excellent private selection. Larry has used his connections in the Bourbon industry to release his own brand of Bourbon, Old Treasure. There are four expressions of the Bourbon and all are single barrel, barrel strength Bourbon ranging in proof from 130 to 139.
Matt, Becca, Rosemary and I were invited to his release party at The Pearl the other day. It was well attended by many local whiskey writers and other industry people. Maggie Kimberl, Sara Havens, Lisa Wicker and many other whiskey people were there for his release. Larry had a table set up with the four expressions of Old Treasure and was pouring from the bottles. I started with the lowest proof and worked my way up. I liked bottle three the best, but all are excellent bourbons. They all have some nice fruit notes and are oak forward. I regret that I did not try the samples at a lower proof by adding water. That could have changed my choice of favorite expression. However Matt and I agreed that the third expression was our favorite, but we disagreed as to how the others ranked. I like them in the following order – Three, two, one and four. Matt liked three, one, two and four. They are all the same mash bill and age, but very different in flavor. Larry could not sell any bottles that night as The Pearl does not have a license to sell bottles, but he has agreed to come by the house and drop off a bottle of the third expression for Matt and I to review.
It was good to catch up with Larry. We have not seen each other since he sold the Silver Dollar. He misses the Silver Dollar and was sad to hear that it had closed its doors. He is staying busy and working on his latest project of Old Treasure and I hope to find out more when he comes by the house with the bottle for review.
Photos Courtesy of Rebecca Hammer