BourbonBlog.com brings you the first review of the new Wild Turkey 81 Rye in this video segment above with Tom Fischer and in the tasting notes below. This is a unique gem for rye lovers offering a contrast between spicy and light.

Wild Turkey 81 Rye will be released in Spring 2012 available in the US for around $22.99 per 750ml. bottle. This 81 proof rye whiskey  was created  by a mingling of 4 and 5-year old Rye whiskies naturally aged in warehouses without computer temperature controls available.

Like the 2011 release of Wild Turkey 81 Bourbon, this whiskey was crafted by Wild Turkey’s Associate Master Distiller, Eddie Russell.

Wild Turkey 81 Rye Review

Whiskey: Wild Turkey 81 Rye

Distillery: Wild Turkey, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky

Proof:  81 Proof, 40.5% ABV

Color: Light amber

Nose: Mild fruit, slightly herbal with hints of spice

Taste:  For 81 proof, the burn and spice are solid and bold as can be delivered in a lower proof Wild Turkey whiskey. However, within the boldness, there is some restraint shown in an elegant contrast. The rye speaks of youth with a well-balanced “heartiness.”

The spicy rye flavor stays on the tongue for a brief taste and then fades into a pool of light notes including chocolate, baking spices and mild cinnamon with a smooth, gentle texture.

Finish:  Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Additionally, savory characteristics much different from other ryes on the market. In the video, I mention notes reminiscent of  ”Indian” or “Mexican” food, perhaps a hint of cumin.

Review by BourbonBlog.com

Special thanks Annabelle for filming video.

Can the Irish nail the flavors true to Bushmills and deliver the true honey without going too sweet? In short, yes and we recommend the new Bushmills Irish Honey as a fine example of a flavored whiskey.

Are we saying we go for flavored whiskeys often? No. However, this one is worth the try even to skeptics.

In a flavored whiskey, the distiller has the challenge of making the whiskey and the honey distinct, yet a happy marriage.

Otherwise, why use aged whiskey and combine it with honey? Often with the strength of some honey whiskeys, you might wonder, “Why not just make a honey vodka or liqueur?”

Not the case here, a job well-done by Bushmills Master Distiller Colum Egan!

If you like Bushmills Irish whiskey, you’ll find familiar notes along with new ones here. It shows slight nuances rather than pouring a nest of bees and buckets of honey in a bottle.

Suggested Retail Price: $24.99

Bushmills Irish Honey Review

Whiskey: Bushmills Irish Honey

Distillery: Old Bushmills Distillery, Co. AntrimNorthern Ireland

Proof: 70 Proof, 35% ABV

Color: Golden

Nose: Gentle, herbal with ripe apples and malt

Taste: Fresh grain, cereal notes, alive with vanilla and pear ice cream. The flavor that is true to the Bushmills Original walks hand in hand with a real honey mid-palette and provides a floral, juicy support through the end.

Mouthfeel is light as you’d expect from an Irish whiskey.

While the taste becomes slightly “liqueur” like in nature, there is no cloying or annoying grasps on the tongue.

Finish:  Clean, slightly creamy with the Bushmills notes backed by pear, and honey

Review by BourbonBlog.com

Colum Egan Master Distiller at Bushillmills Distillery, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland

BourbonBlog.com gives you a first taste of the new Knob Creek Rye whiskey. Jim Beam tells us Knob Creek Rye be available in select markets starting in March 2012 and released nationally in July 2012 at a suggested retail price of $35.99 for a 750ml bottle.

Here is our review of this new rye, bottled under the Knob Creek name. It delivers some new, bold rye flavors unlike other ryes which are on the market. At the same time, it has detectable, signature Beam whiskey notes.

Knob Creek Rye Whiskey Review

Whiskey: Knob Creek Rye Whiskey

Distillery: Jim Beam, Clermont Kentucky

Age: Blended, with rye whiskeys up to 9 years old, label reads, “Patiently aged”

Proof:  100 Proof, 50% ABV

Color: Medium amber

Nose: Somewhat herbal as often comes through in a rye. Good barrel aged characteristics

Taste: Bold and smooth. Tobacco, cherry, a slight hint of pear flavor. Nice warming and luscious rye, delivers heat but isn’t too hot. Has a nice bite with oak.

Finish: Oily, slightly dry and some charcoal.

Refined, light and gently complex. This Single Malt is the perfect introduction to a beginner in the world of Scotch but can equally be appreciated by whisky enthusiasts with varying degrees of experience. Here is BourbonBlog.com‘s review…

Highland Park 18 Year Review

Whisky: Highland Park 18 Year old

Distillery: Highland Park Distillery, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland

Age: 18 years old

Proof:  86 Proof, 43% ABV

Color: Light to medium gold

Nose: Earth, umami, and a grassy fruitiness. A fiery, luscious honeyed peat.

Taste: Restrained at first, doesn’t come on with bold delivery like some single malts. However, you can often say more in a whisper of delicate flavor, that screaming a bouquet of nothing. Such is the case here with this beautiful whisper. For 18 years old, the sweet, lightness of this is complimented by a increasingly noticeable warming wood tones.

Like many whiskies, the more you sip this, the more the delicate flavors are uncovered, underneath this a candy-like peat. Lovely malts with notes of apple, fresh ginger, toffee and orange marmalade.

Finish: Biscuity, somewhat dry, smooth and brief.

Whisky review by BourbonBlog.com‘s Tom Fischer & Stephen Dennison

BourbonBlog.com receives two of the first, few bottles of the new Spiced Rum that have left the Breckenridge Distillery in Colorado.

While the final version has just been released, we were already impressed tasting an early version of the rum with Master Distiller Jordan Via in October while covering the Breckenridge Craft Spirits Festival earlier in 2011.

This rum is complex like a fine Scotch or rare Bordeaux and sweetly approachable like candied sex. Yes, you read that correctly so Google where to find that one and comment below, because we’re still looking.

The good news is Breckenridge Spiced Rum is easier to find and available at Breckenrdige Distillery. The distillery is the only place to buy a bottle for now, but that may change. Take a trip to Breckenridge to experience one of the most impressive craft distilleries in the nation. Take a video tour with us on this link.

If you want a regular rum flavor, go buy another. Think you’re getting the point, here is our review…

Breckenridge Spiced Rum Review

Rum: Spiced Rum

Distillery: Breckenridge Distillery

Age:6 months in a combination of new oak and used Breckenridge Bourbon casks

Proof: 90 Proof, 45% ABV

Color: Deep brewed tea

Nose: Exotic, baking spices warm the nostrils as if we’re actually smelling and feeling bakery goods being baked. Slightly sweet oak.

Taste: Enters with creamy cardamom and hints of dark chocolate shavings laced with cinnamon. There is nothing that tastes like this in the Rum world as we know it, so welcome to your palette a new breed of Rum. Tangy, juicy and the Breckenridge Bourbon casks impart sticky, toffee, oaky chewiness to the rounded flavor.

Molasses and brown sugar richly coat the mouthfeel toward the end.

Finish: Remnants of the Bourbon drift away, leaving vanilla and brown sugar.

Notes: Label reads “Turbinado sugar and dark molasses, belayed at 1600 fathoms above the sea, are aged in gold-medal winning Breckenridge Bourbon casks then finished with roots, spices, and dried fruits. I5 would taste a lie to say it wasn’t what we always wanted. Cheers, Mateys“

BourbonBlog.com's Tom Fischer and Master Distiller Jordan Via Breckenridge Distillery share a laugh at Breckenridge Distillery

As The Glenrothes 1995 Vintage is released after 16 Years of aging, BourbonBlog.com’s Tom Fischer reviews the both in The 1995 Vintage and 1994.

The Glenrothes was aged for 16 Years, while the 1994 Vintage was aged 12 Years, distilled in 1994 and Bottled in 2006.

The Glenrothes only releases vintages when they are deemed to be at the optimal level of maturity – not in response to a pre-determined 12 or 15 year-old age statement.

“It is far more important what happens to the whisky in the cask than the length of time spent in it,” Ronnie Cox, The Glenrothes’ Brand Heritage Director tells BourbonBlog.com

Both beautifully unique whiskies, The Vintage 1995 is priced $82 (750ml) and will be available from this month onwards; the Vintage 1994 is $79 and is almost out of stock, but you may be able to find a bottle at a specialty retailer.

The Glenrothes 1995 Vintage

Whisky: The Glenrothes 1995 Speyside Single Malt Whisky

Distillery: The Glenrothes Distillery, Rothes, Banffshire, By the Burn of Rothes

Age: 16 years, distilled in 1995 and bottled in 2011

Proof: 86 Proof, 43% ABV

Color: Brilliant medium amber

Notes: 30% Sherry Treated casks (both American and Spanish Oak) 70% refill

Nose: An oaky, toasty spice. Biscuit like, honey and bright alluring quality.

Taste: Starts creamy then goes between a crème brûlée and pink grapefruit. Toward the end, hints of apples become present

Finish: Mellow, relaxing and warming cocoa

                 The Glenrothes 1994 Vintage

Whisky: >The Glenrothes 1994 Speyside Single Malt Whisky

Distillery: The Glenrothes Distillery, Rothes, Banffshire, By the Burn of Rothes

Age: 12 years, distilled in 1994 bottled in 2006

Proof: 86 Proof, 43% ABV

Color: Brilliant medium amber

Notes: 40% sherry treated casks (30% AMerican Oak, 10% Spanish oak) 60 % refill casks

Nose: Toffee apple, buttery, and marshmallow

Taste: Light mouthfeel, citrus and slightly tangy. Buttery burnt sugar with some marshmallow.

Finish: Fruity and apples

You’ve seen the Kid Rock Red Stag commercials, we were first to tell you about the original Red Stag release in 2009, and maybe you’ve even partied with the original Red Stag Black Cherry. Jim Beam now prepares to release two new Red Stag flavors of Red Stag Honey Tea and Red Stag Spiced Cinnamon in early 2012 at $17.99 per  750 ml bottle.

To preface, the new “Red Stags” are flavored Bourbons. If you dont like this category, you probably won’t care for these and we invite you to debate flavoring Bourbons below under comments. Apparently there is market who enjoys these  because they are being released by a variety of distilleries at an increasing rate.

As these are “flavored Bourbons” both at 80 proof, the question we must ask as reviewers is, “Did it strike the right balance of flavor?” and “Does it actually taste like what it says it will?”

With our whiskey and Bourbon reviews, flavors from chocolate and oak to marizpan and vanilla can be detected and subjectively experienced by a variety of tasters. However, with flavored spirits, the intention of flavor by that distiller is on the label. So, “Do these taste like Honey Tea or Cinnamon Spice?

Kid Rock along with 7th Generation Jim Beamy Family Distiller Fred Noe. Jim Beam tells us " Our long-standing Kid Rock partnership is continuing, however he is more focused on Devil's Cut than Red Stag"

 Red Stag Honey Tea

Do we even need to mention the popularity of honey Bourbons whiskeys like American Honey and the category of tea vodkas like Firefly, Deep Eddie to conclude why the two flavors might have decided to get married?

Perhaps smart thinking, but Red Stag Honey Tea falls short of expressing any tea flavors in this marriage. The matrimony in your mouth seems to only taste honey, so not sure where all the tea went. Maybe the Bourbon drank it all? Southerners do enjoy their tea!

On the upside, the texture and flavor is light and fairly approachable. Still, sweetness prevails in the mouthfeel and rather than notes of raw sugar, it is more like a powerful “Splenda” or Equal flavor.

Red Stag Spiced with Cinnamon 

Red Stag Spiced with Cinnamon hits the cinnamon notes more accurately than Honey Tea. It delivers the candy cinnamon red hot candy flavor, so this Stag might  like a “Kid Rock whiskey in a candy store.” There are mild backnotes of mulling spice.

This one might work well in a variety of cocktails and we may play with this a bit to see what we come up with at BourbonBlog.com.

If Beam would have aimed for more a raw, fresh cinnamon flavor right from the stick rather than the candied expression, they would have given the marketplace something new.

We’re giving you some some new cocktail recipes with Reg Stag Honey Tea and Cinnamon below in case they become your thing. If you’ve read this far, maybe they already are!

The new flavored “Stags” don’t deliver enough tempting Bourbon flavor to be a “gateway drug”  for die hard clear spirits enthusiasts to be transitioned into the delightful world of whiskey. We always hope that if flavored whiskeys can succeed in anything, it will be introducing new consumers to sampling whiskey by itself.

Much the same way we drink it with Fred Noe. We’ve been impressed with the new Beam releases Devil’s Cut and Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve  and shared some with Fred in his smokehouse during Kentucky Bourbon Festival.

BUCK TEA

1.5 oz Red Stag Honey Tea
4.0 oz Arnold Palmer Lemonade/ Tea

Build over rocks in a tall glass.
Garnish with a lemon wedge.

HONEY HIGHBALL

1.5 oz Red Stag Honey Tea
Ginger Ale
Dash of bitters (optional)

Build over ice in a highball glass.
Garnish with a lemon wedge.

HONEY TODDY

1.5 oz Red Stag Honey Tea
lemon wedge
2 whole cloves
Steaming hot water

In a heat proof mug muddle the cloves and
lemon wedge, add Red Stag Honey Tea and top
with steaming hot water.
Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

HONEY BUCK’S FIZZ

1.5 oz Red Stag Honey Tea
1.0 oz Fresh OJ (chilled)
3.0 oz Champagne or Sparkling wine (chilled)

Build in order in a champagne flute.

SPICED RED CHOCOLATE

1.5 part Red Stag Spiced
Hot Chocolate

Build in a heat proof mug. Top with whipped
cream.

SPICED CHERRY COLA

1.0 part Red Stag Spiced
1.0 part Red Stag Black Cherry
Fill with Cola

BAKED RED APPLE

1.5 part Red Stag Spiced
Fresh Pressed Apple Juice

Build over ice or serve hot. Garnish with a
lemon wedge.

SPICED OLD-FASHIONED

1 white sugar cube
2 dashes of orange bitter
1 ½ parts Red Stag Spiced
Orange and lemon wedge
Orange Zest, to garnish

Place sugar cube in an old-fashioned glass and
soak it with the bitters. Add fruit and muddle
the mixture with a bar spoon; and add the
bourbon and ice cubes.