Email this feature to a friend

Straight From The Barrel: Sneak Peak at Evan Williams' New Vintage by Jack Bettridge Senior Features Editor, Cigar Aficionado

Posted August 30, 2001, 5 p.m. e.s.t. Dating bottles is a concept that wine lovers have embraced since time began. But vintage whiskey -- who ever heard of that? Evidently the folks at Heaven Hill Distilleries, who have been dating their Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Bourbon for five years and are now getting ready to release the sixth vintage: 1992. Across our desk today came a prerelease bottle of this year's whiskey, which is due out in stores in January. We couldn't wait until then, of course, and popped the cork immediately, so we could give our readers (as well as ourselves) an advance tasting of what comes from barrel No. 1, barreled on November 12, 1992 and bottled on August 15, 2001. No suspense: it is excellent. The nose on this whiskey is intense, more so even than last year's very respectable model. It smells of maple syrup, walnuts and caramel. In the mouth, the maple falls away somewhat to be replaced by honey, licorice, orange peel, hard candy, and, as one taster noted, some hints of coffee. A long elegant finish follows with the slightest bit of mouth tingle. As the Evan Williams was going down we started to question this concept of vintage bottling for whiskey. It makes perfect sense for wine because the grape crops vary from year to year. But that same reasoning doesn't hold for Bourbon, as the makers try to guarantee that they start with the same quality ingredients -- corn, rye or wheat, barley and water -- every year. Furthermore, the yeast strains are guarded commodities that should not differ. So how is it that Bourbon is worthy of a vintage date? We called Parker Beam, master distiller at Heaven Hill, in Bardstown, Kentucky to find out. His first answer skimmed the surface of the question: "When you get into any single barrel, it's never going to be exactly the same." That's because rather than marrying barrels together through the warehouses to try to get one consistent taste, distillers are selecting single barrels that they identify as the "honey barrels," the best of the lot, to take whiskey from. Whiskey varies from barrel to barrel depending on where it's been storied and for how long. A lot of that has to do with temperature fluctuations. But why is 1992 so good a year? Parker was understandably proud of the 1992 vintage, calling it bolder than the ones he's produced in years gone by. He pointed out that whiskey came out of the barrel this year sometimes as much as five points higher in proof than last year. Higher proof at this stage of the game means more flavor. While he didn't have the data to pinpoint this, his supposition was that in the almost nine years that the Bourbon aged, the summers may have been hotter on average, thereby releasing more flavor from the barrel into the Bourbon. He also pointed out that this year's vintage comes from a different warehouse, one at the company's home base. Last year's formidable vintage came from a nearby facility, the old T.W. Samuels plant. This year, he opted for the other warehouse, believing that they had picked the honey barrels clean at Samuels. The Bourbon now states when the whiskey was bottled. In years gone by, only the date of barreling was stated. Apprised of the new information, drinkers can now calculate the whiskey's age. Parker said the change was a result of conversations with whiskey writers who had suggested it. "We're pretty new at this ourselves, so we took the suggestion." So you see, spirits writers are good for something.

 Cigar Aficionado RSS Feed
Copyright ©2008 Cigar Aficionado Online

All Rights Reserved.
If you're concerned about privacy, click here.