Not Just The Same Old Booze In New Bottles

Forbes | John Mariani | October 7, 2022

[Excerpt]

More than once I’ve sighed at the number of gimmicky spirits that companies put out as marketing ploys, which have been around ever since they started putting booze into ceramic Elvis bottles. Slapping on a vintage date and some newly coined nomenclature like “fermented by elves in the Mountains of Mourne” and “filtered through diamonds found in Marilyn Monroe’s jewelry box,” they differ not at all from what the same producer had been making for decades.

Competition in the spirits market has, however, gotten fierce and there is a lot of novelty that has resulted in a really interesting array of spirits that don’t taste the same as ever. Here are several I’ve been enjoying this month.

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Old Elk Straight Bourbon ($49.99) —Old Elk claims it uses four times more malted barley than conventional bourbon recipes (51% corn, 34% malted barley, 15% rye), with an 88 proof, which gives it a noticeable smoothness. According to master distiller Greg Metze, “All bourbon is taken out of the barrel at cask strength . . . then ‘proofed’ with water to bring it to bottle strength. Traditionally, this process takes 24-48 hours. However, we choose to do it for significantly longer at very small increments . . . by adding the same total amount of fresh Colorado mountain water over multiple weeks (instead of days) to keep the bourbon cool, allowing us to bottle every last drop of flavor.” This adds to the caramel flavors imparted by the casks, as well as nuttiness on the finish.

Read the full article at forbes.com