Wakey Whiskey: Four Roses 2017 Limited Edition Bourbon

by Eric Ducote

Good morning Tiger fans (well, LSU Tiger fans to be more specific) and a happy game day to you all! The Fighting Tigers of LSU came through big time last weekend. So, I'm going to stick with a bourbon this week, but still switch it up from Coopers' Craft. 

 Again, thanks to the power of the Bite and Booze brand, I have a limited edition media sample to taste. This week it's the Four Roses 2017 Limited Edition "50th Anniversary Al Young" Bourbon.

This limited edition spirit (approximately 10,000 bottles were produced) is a blend of 23, 15, 13, and 12 year old barrels from the Four Roses warehouse intended to invoke cinnamon, peaches, and cherries. It's bottled at barrel strength and comes in at 108.98 proof, or just under 55% alcohol. With the youngest barrel at 12 years old I would expect a dark bourbon and the appearance of this one doesn't let me down at all. It's a deep reddish-brown color and although sometimes I'll add some ice to open up the flavors of a whiskey, I decided to enjoy this one neat. 

The aroma is rich and complex and can be smelled from a few feet away! I'm not really getting any of the peach or cherry, but there is a strong vanilla flavor, a bit of toffee, definitely a hint of the cinnamon they were going for, and some floral notes. 

 My first thought upon tasting was that the alcohol content is very well masked. I know I'm drinking whiskey but some barrel strength bourbons out there can kick your ass and this one is more of a gentle push. The vanilla charred oak flavors are still strong, and some of those fruit notes they were going for come though -- although I'm getting more prunes and maybe apricot than peaches and cherries. The bourbon finishes with some sweet grain notes and leaves me wanting more... a lot more. This is definitely one of those times when I wish we had more than a media sample to share. 

 If you see a bottle of this one around town, don't hesitate to buy it. It's going to be expensive, but this one is worth the money. Now we just need the LSU Tigers to play up to the level of this whiskey, and we just might see another ranked team go down.

Happy #gameday everyone! #wakeywhiskey and #geauxtigers

Wakey Whiskey: Coopers' Craft Kentucky Straight Bourbon

by Eric Ducote

Well Tiger fans... this season has been pretty disappointing so far, but that's not going to stop me from enjoying a #wakeywhiskey before this afternoon's game against Florida. All hate for Alabama aside, I think Florida is my overall most loathed SEC program, especially after last year's football debacle and the College World Series. So, here's to hoping Coach O gets the boys up to play and they bounce back... if not... at least I have some whiskey.

Today's selection is the Coopers' Craft Kentucky Straight Bourbon out of Louisville, Kentucky. Coopers' Craft is made by Brown-Forman, a large beverage congolmerate that owns Jack Daniels, Early Times, as well as several scotch brands, tequila brands, vodka, and even wine. This bourbon was created to honor the company's history as a cooperage, as one of Brown-Forman's early ventures was raising fresh charred oak barrels for use throughout the American bourbon industry. One thing to note, barrels are not made or built, the proper term is that they are "raised".



This bourbon is a refined toasted wood whiskey taken through a unique beech and birch finishing process for a smooth and flavorful bourbon. It's a "straight" bourbon which means that it has been aged for a minimum of two years, and it shows, as the color is an amber on the verge of a true brown rather than a lighter straw or golden color. The char on the barrels comes though pretty strong and has done its job on this one.

The nose is char with a sweet undertone of apple or caramel, maybe even some brown sugar, and the taste follows through well with some of the more characteristic vanilla and oak notes I would expect from a straight bourbon. The 82.2 proof alcohol is present and pleasant, helping round off each sip with a little burn to balance out the sweet and rich flavors. Overall, very impressive. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect from this one, but it holds it own against several of the better bourbons I've tried recently.

On that note, here's to hoping LSU can hold their own this afternoon. Cheers, and Geaux Tigers!

Wakey Whisk(e)y: Laphroaig Cairdeas Quarter Cask

by Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another beautiful gameday edition of #wakeywhiskey! This round I'll be getting into some scotch courtesy of the good people at Laphroaig. Usually I try to find a connection between the occasion and the whisk(e)y I choose to sip on in the morning, but LSU is playing at Mississippi State and I don't have any spirits from Mississippi in the collection. Honestly, I don't even know if there are any legal distilleries in the state. With that being said, Jay was generous enough to share a sample from Laphroaig with me, and of course I saved some for gameday morning.

Laphroaig's distillery was founded over 200 years ago in 1815 on the island of Islay in Scotland. Islay is known for peaty whiskys overall, although not all Islay whiskys are heavily peated. It's a small island with just over 3,000 residents, but they boast 8 distilleries (with more on the way) and even one brewery, Islay Ales! Laphroaig is situated on the southern coast of the island, about a mile from the Lagavulin distillery, which is less than a mile from the Ardbeg distillery... and those are just three. That's it, I'm putting Islay on my bucket list.

This particular sample from Laphroaig is their Cairdeas 2017 Cask Strength Quarter Cask Edition, clocking in at a robust 57.2% abv. At first I thought that Cairdeas must be some sort of wine that contributed their barrels to this aging, but upon further investigation I learned that Cairdeas is the Gaelic word for "friendship" and this is a special release for the Friends of Laphroaig members. See, you're never too old to learn something new! The whisky is actually aged in first-use bourbon barrels for 5+ years and then finished off for 6 months in American oak quarter casks prior to bottling at cask strength with only simple barrier filtration. Alright then, let's get into it!

My first thought on the nose is that this is a crazy smokey scotch, with a touch of peat and bit of honey sweetness. The flavors are all bold and powerful, and there's an unmistakable burn from the alcohol content, but not as much as I would expect from a 114.4 proof spirit. The taste is the same, with a lot of smoke and char, a little bit of peat, and followed by some more subtle sweet tones of honey and vanilla and a bit of a mineral water finish. After giving it a try neat I added an ice sphere to finish out the pour and that really helped the flavors mellow out and blend together without losing the essence of the spirit. The smokey notes still shine but more of the sweetness and oak character break through.

Overall, a fantastic pour, and it even further cements my desire to spend a few days touring the island of Islay. Now, as I recover from this powerful scotch, it's gameday! Geaux Tigers!