Potter Jane Distillery Event at Bourbons Bistro

The other day, Matt and I attended a Potter Jane tasting of their Big Vat Liar Bourbon at Bourbons Bistro. Potter Jane Distillery is the distillery founded by Denny Potter and Jane Bowie and they stated at the beginning of this venture that they would never source whiskey barrels. That turned out to be a “lie.” Jane had been asking a heritage distillery to sell her some barrels for three years and they finally agreed to sell them the barrels. This is a high rye whiskey at 115 proof. That is all the information Jane was legally allowed to say because of a non-disclosure agreement and I will leave it at that. You can form your own conclusions from this information as to where they got the barrels.

The event started off with a mingling period where everyone was given a whiskey sour cocktail and a pour of Big Vat Liar Bourbon. Big Vat Liar gets its name from the fact that they said they would never source barrels. However, I am glad they went back on their word as the whiskey is excellent Bourbon. They have taken the whiskey and finished the Bourbon in special made oak casks that include some French oak. The finishing gives the whiskey some very nice flavors.

As the event went on we got to listen to Jane and Denny discuss the brand and the label that features a pair of jeans on fire (Think “liar, liar, pants on fire”) that shows that they have a sense of humor about the original proclamation. Food was served: excellent food from Bourbons Bistro that included barbecue pork sandwiches, a salad and roasted pork tenderloin. However, the highlight of the event for me was that they had two bottles of their own 16 month old whiskey that they had distilled and offered tastes from these bottles. They were both Bourbons, a rye recipe and a wheated bourbon recipe. The rye recipe was excellent with some nice fruit and spice flavors that I would purchase today, even though they are not going to bottle it until it is at least four years old. The wheat recipe Bourbon was also very good, but needs more time in the barrel. It still had that bread dough flavor that young wheat recipe Bourbon has, but it also had some nice apple and pepper flavors coming out in the Bourbon. Jane told us that they may release the whiskey at four years to get sales going, but ultimately want it to be a six to seven year old whiskey.

The event lasted for some time after the tasting and Jane and Denny spent the time answering individual questions. I still need to get a bottle of Big Vat Liar for review. When I do, Matt and I will taste it for the blog. Stay tuned here and the review should be out in the next week or so.