Once again, Michter’s has produced a whiskey that is our whiskey of the month. Michter’s was started in Pennsylvania in the 1950s as a tourist attraction, making a sour mash whiskey in their two pot stills. The whiskey was called sour mash because they did not have enough corn or rye in the mash bill to call it either Bourbon or Rye whiskey. The brand was called “Michter’s” because the owner wanted to honor his sons Michael and Peter. They filed bankruptcy in 1989 and abandoned the trademark and that is when Joe Magliocco purchased the brand and created the company we now call Michter’s. Joe started with sourcing whiskey and later contract distilled his whiskey. He eventually built a distillery in Shively, Kentucky and is now making their whiskey there. He continued to make the Michter’s sour mash, but also expanded the brand’s portfolio with a Bourbon and a Rye whiskey. The Sour Mash whiskey is an excellent product and we were excited when they decided to introduce a barrel strength expression of the Sour Mash. I recently received a bottle of this fine whiskey and Matt and I sat down to taste it. Here are our tasting notes.
Michter’s Barrel Strength Sour Mash
Proof: 111.2
Age: No Age Statement
Nose:
- Mike: Caramel, butterscotch, apples, citrus, baking spices and oak wood.
- Matt: Caramel, honey, apples, cinnamon and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Caramel, butterscotch, apples, orange zest, cinnamon and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry enhances the apple and cinnamon. Tasted with a pecan and chocolate notes and black pepper come forward.
- Matt: Caramel, butterscotch, apples, dates, cinnamon and oak wood. The dried cranberry enhances the apple and cinnamon. The pecan brought forward notes of dark chocolate, peanut butter, anise and pine nuts.
Finish:
- Mike: Long with oak wood, cinnamon and orange zest. The dried cranberry made the finish very long with lingering apple. The pecan made the finish very long with oak wood, chocolate and black pepper.
- Matt: Long with oak and cinnamon. The dried cranberry added lingering apple. The pecan added chocolate to the finish.
I would pair this fine whiskey with a Padron 1926 Serie Maduro cigar. I think the vanilla and chocolate in the smoke would enhance the butterscotch and caramel in the whiskey.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller