Smoky Beast's barrel of Smooth Ambler Single Barrel Rye Shoots The Moon.

There has been a lot of excitement lately about a pretty special private barrel pick of Smooth Amber Old Scout Rye selected by Steve Zeller aka the "Smoky Beast".  Smooth Ambler's Old Scout Single Barrel Rye is typically 7 years old, cask strength, and very good; John Little's nice cherry picks of MGP/LDI's rye barrels.  There was some consternation recently when Smooth Ambler announced that the Single Barrel rye expression were going to disappear off the standard line-up and become a gift-shop exclusive.  That sad news implied that the honey barrels of mature rye in MGP/LDI's rickhouses were becoming scarce.  Hardly surprising:  part of the drum beat of scarcity afflicting high-end American whiskey all over the place these days.  
My connection with the story began in the dimming days of last autumn, October 17th, 2014 when Steve Zeller,  messaged me:

Steven Zeller:  i need your help on an urgent whiskey related matter

Joshua Gershon Feldman:  What's up?

Steven Zeller:  you wouldn't be free to come up to our place for a few minutes after work today would you?  Blind tasting, american. will be the most consequential tasting of my young whiskey career. don't want to spoil it any more than that

Joshua Gershon Feldman:  ...dum dum dum DOHM!

I had been to blind tastings at Steve's before.  Some had involved some of the finest Bourbons possible.  One involved the peatiest whiskies on the planet.  (Finale post of that blind here).

I had no idea what I was going to be tasting - other than it was American.  But Steve was excited and that made me excited.  I was assuming very high end Bourbon.  When I arrived, I was facing this:

The blind flight of 5 with the blank tasting notes.

My job was to rank them.  I did so by writing out tasting notes and then numbering them in order of preference from #1 to #5.  I'll list my blind tasting notes (faithfully transcribed) below the reveal listed immediate below each note: 

1. Color: Amber
Nose: buttery nose (ND OC, IWH). Nougat wax vanilla w/touch of bitter herbal (rot).  Palate: Honey, juicyfruit, yellow florals, light citrus. 100 proof BiB. High corn Bourbon. #5 Reveal:  Michter's 10 yo Rye (2014)  I thought that this was a dusty high-corn Bourbon like Old Charter 7 or IW Harper.  I was completely wrong: it was a rye.  I ranked this one last.  Michter's Rye 10 experienced a big change in 2014 compared to previous years, going from a dark and very mature tasting rye to a much lighter profile, presumably because it stopped being old rye purchased on the bulk market when their contract distillate began hitting 10 years old.  Their contract distillate is apparently Brown-Forman (dsp-ky-354) - thus the same stuff as Rittenhouse Rye from a few years ago - but aged 10 years.  The comedy is that not only did I not recognize this as rye at all, but that I thought it was a low rye Bourbon mash bill!  The perils of tasting blind...

2. Color: Dark Amber red.  Nose: Rancio, herbs, big (high proof) dark KY tobacco peach compote bark. Lush  Palate: Huge lush honeyed herbal malty ivy, licorice (black) caramel cilantro rancio High proof (=- 57% (old Medley Rye). Intense. Bold. Long finish – honey herbal. #1 Reveal:  Smooth Ambler Single Barrel Rye - Barrel 990 (the winner) Yes, I thought this was an Old Medley rye - like Rathskeller or LeNell's or one of the big old Willett's ryes.  Blind, I thought that was a $1,000+ bottle of American classic rye.

3. Color:  Coppery dark amber. Nose:  oak varnish, herbs.  Palate: Big 55-60% high rye bourbon. Candied orange peel \blonde VA tobacco. Peach/citrus stewed fruit.  Four Roses vibe #3 Reveal:  Smooth Ambler Single Barrel Rye (a different barrel, not selected)

4. Color:  Copper penny.  Nose:  Oak sandalwood nougat, honey, citrus, leather, dust, vegetable oil.  Palate:  50-55% high rye bourbon. Candied citrus, blond VA tobacco, honey, vanilla BT (Buffalo Trace) vibe – ER17. Big bold assertive tobacco spice leather rich rancio bitter.  #2 Reveal:  Thomas H. Handy Rye 2012The biggest shocker for me.  Thomas H. Handy rye is among my favorite ryes; a benchmark for me.  Here I didn't even recognize it as a rye.  To my credit, I recognized the distillery (Buffalo Trace), and that it was from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection.  But I thought it was probably the most different member of that group possible: the Eagle Rare 17.  Yes, I'm making my humiliation public.  This was the real kicker of the group.  I had ranked my favorite rye SECOND after Zeller's barrel pick.  This was utterly shocking to me.  Friends who have drammed with me recently know that I have been putting some century old Old Hermitage pro-Pro rye up against Handy 2012 in tastings.  I do that because Handy is a benchmark for me.  Such are the perils of tasting blind.

5. Color: Copper.  Nose: Peanut, rancio, honey, light tanned leather, vegetable oil, floral vanilla, sawn oak.  Palate: Vanilla! Honey. Rancio. Ivy herbs. Mint. High rye Bourbon. #4. Reveal: another unselected barrel of Smooth Ambler Single Barrel Rye
When the smoke cleared I had only correctly identified one of them as a rye at all.  I had incorrectly thought the rest were Bourbons.  Pretty humiliating.  But I knew which ones I liked best - and in that I was dead on correct.

The big reveal.

The rest is history.  Steve picked barrel #990, which yielded a whopping 56 bottles.  The massive amount of evaporation suggests storage in a very hot part of the warehouse.  This would explain the massive amount of wood extraction and rich flavors.  Steve generously gave out samples to a selection of very interesting people who showed pictures of their hoards.  Steve picked the most outrageous ones, figuring they must have a story.  Their notes have appeared on his blog all week.  They are good reading.  Steve's voice, in particular, is often laugh out loud funny.  
http://smokybeast.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-angel-barrel-part-1.html http://smokybeast.blogspot.com/2015/07/angelbarrel2.html http://smokybeast.blogspot.com/2015/07/angelbarrel3.html http://smokybeast.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-angel-barrel-part-4-guest-review.html and my favorite: http://smokybeast.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-angel-barrel-part-5-guest-review-by.html



I recently had another sip.  Here are my official (sighted) tasting notes and score:

Smooth Ambler Old Scout Rye Single Barrel - Smoky Beast Barrel #1 - 8yo 64.1% abv.

Look at that color...

Color: dark reddish amber - a stunning color.

Nose:  Big, forward, dark and rich loaded with swirling kaleidoscope of aromas:  honey, sap, citrus, sandalwood, blond tobacco, balsamic, ivy, licorice, aloe, flax oil, vanilla, char, and oak.
Palate:  Richly sweet and powerful on opening with dark cooked honey, raisin, and citrus compote, then vanilla, the sap of herbs cut vegetation.  The expansion is all about black licorice root - woody, herbal, sweet, and richly "black".  The expansion also adds some delicious cognac-like rancio (a rich nutty flavor of noble rot usually associated with madeira, sherry, and Cognac).  Then, as the mid-palate begins to turn towards the finish, a big dose of acid - like balsamic vinegar or pickle juice which turns to char, and then sweet oak.  The finish goes on and on with plenty of char, herbal bitters, more black licorice and all manner of darkness.

Adding a drop of water - automatic at this big proof amplifies the sweetness and thickens the mouth feel.  This stuff feels big, bitter, dark, rich, and old.  A magic trick of faux maturity from an amazing honey barrel.

*****  93

Bottom line: the best rye I've ever tasted out of MGP/LDI and probably the best 21st century rye yet.  This particular honey barrel, which tastes so rich are dark and mature at only 8 years old, is one of those astounding examples which make you question what you know about maturation.  If a rye can be this good at 8 years old, maybe there's a way to repeat it?  I hope so.  But I'm not holding my breath.  Congrats, Steve (and also Anthony Colasacco of Pour, Mt. Kisco who went in on the barrel with Steve).

Full disclosure:  the blind tasting and follow up tasting was from pours provided by Steve - as a host in his home.  I do own a single bottle of this whiskey - which I purchased.  I would have owned more if I had been allowed to purchase more.

Steve Zeller is a happy man with this honey barrel.

Blind tasting notes.  Read it and weep.

Smooth Ambler Old Scout 10 v.s. Old Scout 5

Smooth Ambler has been selling Old Scout Bourbon for a couple of years.  It's Bourbon sourced from MGP/LDI and is generally available in 6 and 7 year versions.

I originally reviewed Old Scout Batch 1 - a 5 year old, a year and a half ago:
http://www.cooperedtot.com/2012/10/smooth-ambler-old-scout-very-old-scout.html

Last year a 10 year old version came out.  It sports LDI's high corn 75% corn, 21% rye and 4% barley malt mash bill. I encountered it when I volunteered to pour at the Smooth Ambler at Whisky Fest NYC.  I didn't do that purely out of the goodness of my heart.  I couldn't afford the ticket at the time and working the show was a way to get free admission.  When the show was over I took a 1/3rd full heel bottle of the 10 year old with the idea that I'd do a head to head with the bottle of Old Scout 5 I had bought a year earlier at Park Avenue Liquor.  Here it is.  The younger Old Scouts have LDI/MGP's high rye mash bill with 60% corn, 36% rye, 4% barley  Full disclosure - not only was this bottle of 10 year old Scout given to me by John Little, I also poured it for others at Whiskey Fest.  When I was doing so I described to people how John Little is distilling his own wheated Bourbon and white spirits in West Virginia but, while that matures, is also selling sourced Bourbon and rye from Lawrenceburg Indiana's LDI/MGP in a special brand "Old Scout" so that it is immediately apparent which of Smooth Ambler's whiskies are sourced.  I also talked up John Little's excellent palate in selecting casks.  This is particularly apparent in the VOS (Very Old Scout) bottlings, but it's clear in every sourced whiskey in the Old Scout line.  John Little knows his Bourbon and rye and picks good barrels to sell.

FYI - the 5, 6, or 7 year old versions of Old Scout street for around $35 in the NYC metro area.   The 10 year old goes around $50.  

FYI - by way of insight into the fairly mysterious distillery in Lawrenceburg, IN; the other day author, journalist, and photographer, Fred Minnick, posted a photo essay of what it looks like inside the MGPI distillery:
http://fredminnick.com/photo-essay-inside-mgpi-distillery-lawrenceburg-indiana/

Smooth Ambler Old Scout 10 year old - 50% abv Batch 5 6/11/13 (bottled by Sarah)

Color: medium amber with coppery glints.
Nose: musky loamy earthen notes melded to floral (marigolds and lilacs) fruity (sunny peach and citrus) and rich umami protein quality with a dose of salt.  There's also some darker Maillard reaction caramel notes in there underneath.  Like my other encounters with Lawrenceburg Indiana bourbon I'm put in the mind of roasted peanuts, cooking peach jam and marmalade in the midst of lilacs and gardens.

Palate:  Sweet and honeyed on the opening with a strong attack of stonefruit compote, acetone, oak and char on the quick expansion.  Vanilla floral - tangy zippy - a brief flash of mint, and then lovely oak char.  This is bigger, deeper, and has more flavor amplitude than the regular Old Scout.  Or so it seems.

A few drops of water opens this one up beautifully.  Like VOS bottlings I've tried, older Lawrenceburg, IN bourbons are swimmers and become more honeyed, vivid, and fruited with a bit of water.  The nose becomes even more earthy, farm-like, and fruity-floral.  The palate opens more gently and more floral.  The mid-palate's citrus melds with the sweet and dark to take on an old-cognac-like rancio note.  This is very nice bourbon with a drop of water.

The 10 year old is a bit darker than the 5 year old.

Smooth Ambler Old Scout 5 year old - 49.5% abv. Batch 1 10/27/11 (bottled by Nikki)

Color: light amber with golden and coppery glints.
Nose: sawn oak leads, with citrus compote, floral lavender.  Peanuts and violets again - but much lighter and lyrical.

Palate:  Sweet and floral on the opening which waxes more floral and fruity on the expansion.  It's all the same flavors: vanilla floral, tangy fruity notes of the stone fruit variety.  But the honeyed sweetness of the opening carries all the way through the mid-palate and into the turn to the finish.  The finish, when it arrives is more about herbal bitters fading away, with a bit of oak tannins and char in the distance.  Youth is an ally here: with sprightly honey, fruit and estery floral aspects dominating the darker notes that bourbon gathers with age: caramel.

With a drop of water the nose becomes, if anything, more salty, solventy, and fruity.  The palate become a bit more delicate, however.  Lilacs, peanuts, citrus and herbs gain in vividness, but the bourbon becomes more delicate and less gutty.  I'd skip the water on this one.

Conclusions:  The younger Old Scout has some of the charms of youth: a more fruity and floral nature.  The older one has more caramel and a bit more density of flavor.  They are both good and good values for the money in today's market place.  Tasting them side by side I'm more struck by their similarities than their differences, given the disparity between them in age and in mash bill.  They are clearly close kin.

Smooth Ambler Yearling Bourbon - An Infant of Power and Grace.

Smooth Ambler is an exciting, relatively new whiskey project in the heart of West Virginia.  Unlike a lot of craft distillers these days, John Little, Master Distiller, wants to make good bourbon in the classic style.  This is almost a rarity in the Wild Wild West of craft spirits where everyone is trying to do something wildly inventive, iconoclastic, and "break the mold" in one domain or another.  For many craft distillers this mean rapid maturation in small barrels, and sometimes even additional tricks to enhance rapid maturation ranging from high heat, low frequency sound, wood chips and stave chunks to enhance surface area or even mechanical pressure to force the whisky through the wood.  There's also a diverse creativity in mash bills and experimentation with what should go into the mash.  Smooth Ambler doesn't do any of this.  They make traditional spirits in the traditional way.  And they do it well.  The biggest novelty here is that they are doing it in the mountains of West Virginia.

Now a big reason that so many other craft distillers are all about rapid maturation is that they want to start selling whiskey sooner.  Smooth Ambler, like many other craft distillers, also sells a variety of white (unaged) spirits, specifically Greenbriar Gin and Whitewater Vodka (and a barrel aged gin as well).  But whiskey is the primary angle.  Instead of selling young whiskey that has been rapidly "matured", like so many others, Smooth Ambler went the route of bottling casks of bourbon and rye selected ("Curated") from other distilleries to tide them over until their own distilled bourbon was ready.  Many other craft distillers sell bourbon or rye they got from another distillery too (and many of them do not actually distill anything of their own either) - and there has been a bunch of controversy about dishonesty among what Chuck Cowdery has labelled "NDP" Non Distiller Producers because many of them play games with the labeling laws and hide the fact that they are selling someone else's juice.  Chuck asked:

"why do business with someone who makes you play stupid guessing games about the basic question of who made their product?"
http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-rational-way-to-regard-ndp-whiskeys.html

Smooth Amber doesn't do this either.  About a year ago I wrote about Smooth Ambler's "curated" bottlings of bourbons and ryes from Lawrenceburg Distillers of Indiana, now MGP.  They have taken pains to separately brand and label their "curated" whiskeys - labelled "Old Scout" and "Very Old Scout".  They are completely, refreshingly, honest and up front about acknowledging what and where.  In that post I pointed out that Smooth Ambler did the whole brokered bourbon thing the right way - and for the right reasons (i.e. to help finance the development of a native West Virginia true straight bourbon whiskey.)  I said that buying Smooth Ambler was essentially a "patriotic act".   I stand by that assessment just as much today as I did a year ago.

John Little - nice guy - but lethal to fish

John Little, himself, is extremely appealing, by the way.  Craftsman, redneck, intellectual, and what the Yiddish call "Mensch".  Little is a complete person: family man, thinker, passionate, full of integrity.  I enjoy every interaction I have with him.  And I've had quite a few thanks to social media.  John is a redneck who loves to shoot (and teaches his kids to shoot), fish, and build stuff.  He also likes to argue politics.  Being at the nexus of a number of communities (i.e. whisky epicures, drinkers, and his West Virginia small town community) these debates tend to bring together people from across the usual cultural and political divides.  Little is Solomonic in these things.  He sees the good in every position.  In the polarized world of American politics people who can do this are a rarity.  I must confess I have come to like him quite a bit.

But what about Smooth Ambler's native West Virginia bourbon whiskey?  Over the past year or so they have released a product called "Yearling" which is a young taste of their bourbon.  This is analogous to many other new distillery's "work in progress" bottlings like Kilkerran's "Work in Progress"; Ardbeg" "Young" and "Still Young", Kilchoman's "Inaugural", and Mackmyra's "Preludium".  Yearling is Smooth Ambler's "Preludium"

It's made with a wheated mash bill (corn, wheat and barley) and the new batches (batch 11 is the current one) are aged in full size new oak barrels.  Older batches reflect Smooth Ambler's evolution.  Early batches were aged in  small kiln dried barrels and a mash bill with more wheat and less corn .  As they went along they tuned the mash bill, upping the corn, and changed the barrel management to exclusively large sized barrels.  (Specifics of the mash bill follow in Little's comments at the end of this post).   The bottle I picked up and carried around for months and months is one of the old ones.  It's under two years old - too young to be called "Straight Bourbon".  Young wheaters aren't supposed to be particularly tasty - but the proof is in the glass.

Smooth Ambler Yearling Bourbon Whiskey 46% abv.  

375ml bottle.  Aged 1 Year and 10 Months.  Batch 4, Bottled 5/28/12 by TJH.

Color: light amber and dark gold with russet glints.

Nose:  Gentle bourbon aromas of stewed stone fruits, citrus, and candy.  Lightly floral with elements of violets and mint, with a vegetal and nutty quality like unroasted peanuts.  Underneath is a lovely exotic oak aromas that come off like patchouli or sandalwood incense.   The nose is lovely.  It takes 20-30 minutes to really bloom in the glass but when it does it gets bigger and sweeter than you'd think it could.

Palate:  Sweet and gently spicy.  The opening is sweet with treacle, peach, solvent, and corn syrup and spicy with red pepper flakes.  The expansion follows quickly with a prickly warm earthy musky quality I find reminiscent of Beam: loamy and farmy - like digging in the earthen floor of an old barn.  The whole mid-palate has an elegant lean lithe quality that reads "sophisticated spirit" to me.  There's some bready yeasty notes in the late expansion.  This is the area where I most notice the youth.  At the turn to the finish there's a bitter herbal turn that curbs the sweetness of the opening.  There are notes of new leather and classic herbal bitters here.  The finish is gentle with oak and char and earthy glow.  The herbal bitter aspect lasts longer than you'd expect for such a young whisky.

 The mouth feel is gentle and light - but flavor dense and never thin.  Despite the sweet opening the whole balance is almost dry.  This is lovely, nuanced, elegant bourbon already.  At 46% there's head room to experiment with water.  Water adds to the musk on the nose, but notches down the attractive incense aspects.  A few drops amps up the heat and spice on the palate, slightly enriches the mouth feel, but also adds to the bitters on the finish.  I prefer it neat - without water.

Final verdict:  delicious.

****

It's fine bourbon now and it shows enormous promise for the future.  Wheated bourbons, in particular, tend to age well.  This is a fine distillate.  With John Little's shepherding, there is no reason to expect anything less than great things from Smooth Ambler's own bourbons in the future.  

I discussed these points explicitly with John Little.  He described the evolution of Yearling's mash bill and barrel management as follows:

"Yearling started off as 60% corn, 20% wheat, and 20% malted barley. It was all originally barreled in small casks (5-15 gallons). It was kiln dried, I believe. I think it adds to the one real negative in small casks...popsicle stick or sawdust notes. Now the recipe is 73% corn, 15% wheat, 12% malted barley....all in big barrels. So, the first stuff we release will be the old recipe and we will transition into the new recipe...but all will be from big barrels."

My bottle here is the early mash bill small barrel stuff.  That means that later batches of Yearling should be even better.  I'm going to seek out a later sample and do a head to head.  As for when the flagship Smooth Ambler native bourbon will be coming out, Little says:  

"I think it's good now but we are going to wait until 2015 for the release of our "flagship". It will be named something else, but we can't quite nailed the name yet. Suggestions?"

I'll be thinking of names.  If you have any suggestions put them in the comments below and I'll be sure to pass them along.

Smooth Ambler Old Scout & Very Old Scout - Brokered Bourbon As TheRight Thing To Do.

Smooth Ambler is an exciting new craft distillery in Lewisburg West Virginia started in 2009 by John Little (and his father-in-law Tag Galyean) . They make a range of white spirits (a vodka, a gin, and a white dog whisky) but what John really wants to do is make Bourbon. Their young juice, called "Yearling" shows great promise. It's not straight bourbon yet, by law. It just needs more time in the wood to be that, and while their own juice ages they are independently bottling some nice barrels of LDI bourbon. This business of selling brokered Bourbon is a topic that engenders some hand wringing in some quadrants - but shouldn't in this particular case. Why? We want our brands to be "real". Yet many of us enjoy brokered Bourbon, Rye (and Scotch) on a regular basis that is labelled with the names of distilleries that don't exist (or no longer exist). Have you ever tried Black Maple Hill, Noah's Mill, Rowan Creek, Widow Jane, Johhnie Drum, Bulleit, Hirsch, Corner Creek, Jefferson's, Michter's or Whistlepig? These, and many more, are independent bottlings (and or vattings) of other people's juice and are labelled with brands that aren't actual distilleries (or aren't any more). This isn't fraud - it's whiskey brokerage and it was how most of the Bourbon business operated in days of yore.

However, there is a measure of dishonesty in the branding of some of those listed products. I confess I was a disappointed when I learned that Michter's was a brokerage product, and not a product of the historic Pennsylvania distillery of the same name (which is gone gone gone - razed to the ground gone). Read Chuck Cowdery's excellent piece of investigative journalism "The Best Whisky You'll Never Taste" for a detailed account of that distillery and what happened to it (and it's brand name). I wish that American regulations compelled bottlers to make plain the distillery of origin - as Scotland does. I encountered similar feelings with Black Maple Hill.

Well, Smooth Ambler is a different story. It is a genuine Anerican Small Craft Distiller who has chosen the arduous and narrow path of making real West Virginia Bourbon (and soon to be Straight Bourbon Whisky). They are brokering older whisky to pay the bills. They are not alone on this path. Active distillers selling independent bottlings while their own juice matures include Willett's, Breckenridge. There are plenty of other variations too, such as Pendleton's who distill their own white, but bottle someone else's brown. Folks like Willett's, Breckenridge, and Smooth Ambler are real distilleries actually making new real American Bourbon. That, to me, gives them a higher standing for selling brokered Bourbon than companies that are just brokerage houses without stills. The money isn't just profit for a dealer - it's operating capital that acts an investment in whiskey's expansion in America.

Smooth Ambler is fairly unusual, though, in selling both their own young Bourbon, and bottling someone else's older stuff at the same time - often side by side on the same shelf. They are keeping the branding straight by having created a distinct label for their independent bottlings: "Old Scout". They currently have two lines: "Old Scout" at 5-7 years old, and "Very Old Scout" at 11-20 or so years old. The stuff is sourced from Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI). It's from a mash bill that features a very high amount of rye: 36% according to the Smooth Ambler web site. That amount of rye should isn't typical of Bourbon. Smooth Ambler is in pretty good company in getting juice from that big anonymous contract operation LDI. According to a very informative post last year on Sku's Recent Eats called "How do you know it's LDI?" the list of brands that use LDI juice includes: [High West & Templeton Rye] "Redemption Bourbon, Redemption Rye, Bulleit Rye, Temptation Bourbon, the new series of Willett three year old ryes, W.H. Harrison Bourbon, Big Bottom Bourbon, High Whiskey, Riverboat Rye and Smooth Ambler's Old Scout Bourbon."
http://recenteats.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-do-you-know-its-ldi.html

FYI - Sku also recently reviewed Smooth Amber's Very Old Scout, Old Scout, and Old Scout rye:
http://recenteats.blogspot.com/2012/09/smooth-ambler-old-scout.html


So, be clear in your mind, when you buy Smooth Ambler Yearling or white spirits they are local products of West Virginia. When you buy Old Scout labelled whiskies they are from Indiana, but bottled in West Virginia. If this may makes you feel skeptical remember that purchases are political acts. When you buy a product you are supporting that business and that community. To that end, I personally feel good about supporting John Little and Smooth Ambler. I like the idea of someone making Bourbon in West Virginia. Real Straight Bourbon takes years to properly mature. We should nurture this project for the years required for Smooth Ambler's Yearling stock to become fully mature Straight Bourbon. It may turn out to be a significant gift to the world. Furthermore, West Virginia's economy is dominated by coal production - which isn't healthy for the inhabitants of WVa (or the World) from an environmental standpoint - or a long term economic one either. New business ventures succeeding in WVa are good for America. Given that you're going to drink Bourbon anyway - if all else is equal, supporting John Little's nascent project and WVa feels almost like a patriotic act to me. If the Bourbon is good that is...

Old Scout Batch 1 49.5% abv 5 years old

(bottle purchased at Park Avenue Liquors)

Color: Medium-light amber with copper glints.

Nose: Stewed apricot-peach compote, acetone, mint, corn pones with treacle syrup and distant lavender. A lovely nose. With extended time a musky sour & rich aroma like sourdough bread and marmalade and sweat come up. It all reads "Bourbon" to me and I like it.

Sweet & solventy on the open with an immediate salty earthy quality on the expansion. "Peanuts & violets" is how I put it to myself as sort of a metaphoric shorthand. There is floral sweet in sharp and solventy entry. Mint, and lavender play in the strong acetone of youth. The mouthfeel is light, but not thin. The mid palate is black pepper heat and earthy tang followed by a clear flavor of the aftermath of eating salt on the mid and sides of the tongue. I've noticed salty notes like this before in Wild Turkey 101 and Rittenhouse Rye. It meshes with the earthy dusky corn to come at a clear salted peanut effect. In fact, tasted blind I might mistake this for Wild Turkey 101 - buy there is more going on here, with the florals of the opening reflecting the high rye content of the mash bill. The finish is rather gentle compared to the fierce opening and mid. The spicy heat of pepper and drying salt fade without much wood tannins filling in. You are left drying, faintly oaked, basking in warm musky loam.

All in all, a wonderful bourbon experience. It's not state of the art value (Four Roses Single Barrel lives at this price point) but it's solid. Interesting. On the whole worth drinking. Be aware that current batches are older: 6 and 7 years old - but still LDI.

****

Very Old Scout 50% 14 year old

(sample generously provided by Smooth Ambler)

Color dark coppery amber

Nose: Nice bourbon nose of acetone, toffee citrus, phenol polish, faint glove leather and young pale tobacco. A bit more rounded and plummy and less solventy than the younger Old Scout.

The palate entry is sweet with caramel corn and oak filigree (yes, oak perfume up front), daisies and mums florals, and char. The midpalate thins and dries slightly at first, with a surprising lack of density in the mouth feel, but then the expansion hits, focused on a big 100 proof spirit prickle glow that brings radiant stewed stone fruit and citrus flavor slamming the back of the palate, with whiffs of mint. Dark salty olives emerge at the turn to the finish and oak and char join the dark and salt in the embers of the finish which is ultimately tannic, drying, and lighter than you'd think. This is big old bourbon. It's got the lean-ness in the mouth feel and the dryness in the mid palate I associate with age, but sweetness on the tongue up front and isn't overly wooded. I suspect that the vatting is giving additional amplitude fore and aft. There's a lot going on in the palate.

It's interesting to me to see the interplay of sweet and salt read as peanuts and violets in the younger Old Scout ends up like oily Kalamata olives in the Very Old Scout. I like both flavors and they aren't ones you get every day in Bourbon.

****

Update: If you put a nice dollop of water in your dram of VOS and let it air for a half and hour or so thinks open up dramatically with lots of sweet soft apricot peach citrus, leather, jujubes, cinnamon apple candy and red hots on the opening & mid. The back end Kalamata olives tease apart into a dose of complex oak incense trending into bitterness. VOS flirts with glory in this fashion. The dense cinnamon red hots are very very nice. A tad less oak bitters in the balance and this would be a solid five star selection.

Bottom line - these Old Scouts from Smooth Ambler are fine sipping Bourbon and are part of an interesting project well worth keeping an eye on.