Koval Bourbon Whiskey / Koval Four Grain

Koval Bourbon Whiskey

I smelled and tasted the Koval Bourbon Whiskey. I have tasted the millet whisky of Koval and you may find the blog entry Here.

Koval Bourbon Whiskey

Short information list about the Bourbon Whisky:

• It's organic.
• It's kosher.
• It's "Gluten-free". (Question to myself: Isn't all Whisky "gluten-free?)
• It's family owned by Robert and Sonat Birnecker.
• It's independent.
• It's 51% Corn and 49% organic Midwest Millet mash.
• It's fresh American Minnisota white oak.
• It's 47% ABV, 94 proof.
• It's 0.5 Liter per bottle.
• It's unchill filtered.
• It's natural colour.
• It's from Chicaco in the USA.

The nose of this Dram is a tad confusing for me, but there are some notes that I spot rather soon. The is the spice, the oak (now that I know how it smells it is so there!), some saw dust, some orange, vanilla. I thought I smelled rye, but that would be rather odd, since the other 49% of the mash bill is millet. I do pick up some nutmeg as well. Banana? Yup. 

The palate is harder to pin down for me at first. First thing I wrote was "spice". Then it to some time for my mind to find tasted I could bring home. After couple of tastes I wrote down "if mouth full it's pleasantly burning", not to smooth, not to soft. Brown sugar I get. And even though I don't smoke I do pick up a hint of tobacco. Something salty. 

The finish is not to long, but rather ok. Light honey. And, oddly enough something I can only describe as "wokkels". This "Wokkels" is something that view people will spot, since it is a crisp that I think is only sold in Holland. 

Wokkels

Do I like this dram? Yes I do. I do not do ratings, so I will say this is for me a above average dram. How does it hold ip to others? It is not really important how it holds up. I is a dram on its on like all others. Would I buy this? Probably yes!

Koval Four Grain Whiskey

Next up is the sample of the Koval Four Grain Whiskey.

Koval Four Grain Whiskey

The Koval Website mentions:

The Four Grain is distilled from a mash bill of oat, malted barley, rye, and wheat. This whiskey is aged in heavily charred new oak barrels from Minnesota and bottled single barrel at 94 proof. The four grains define its depth with a banana nose, creamy palate, and spicy finish. Only the “heart cut” of the distillate, no “heads” or “tails.” Grains sourced from a local organic farmer collective in the Midwest.

Small Batch. Single Barrel. Unfiltered. Heart cut. Organic. 

Notes of 16 July 2016

My notes say is "Softer"  than the Rye of the Bourbon. 

The nose has a little Spice, oak, honey, banana, pear, and quite oddly something that smells like the butter i put on my sand-wedges. Quite a pleasant nose. 

The palette has Pear, a little Rye, orange, some slight pepper, grainy, creamy, buttery sweet vanilla.

The finish is not long. It changes from how long you let it in the glass. It was bland finish at one point and quite sharp the next ... odd. 

I sorta like this. It's I am not sure if I would buy this again. Even though it has many flavours that I would label on a Rye or a Bourbon, this has a bit of everything. Not to distinct!

UPDATE: 06 November 2016:

HA! apparently this dram according to https://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2016/10/jim-murrays-whisky-bible-2017-the-winners/ has won the US Micro Whisky of the Year (Runner Up) award in the 2017 Jim Murray's Whisky bible 2017. Cool!

Comparing "New Make" and "Aged" Journeyman

I have reveived a Total of 12 samples from the kind people of Haromex. These samples have given me insight in a number of aspects. One of these aspects is the opportunity to compare one distillate in an aged and new make state.

The Drams I compared are from Journeyman:

• W.R. White, 45% ABV, 90 proof
• Raven wood rye whiskey, 45% ABV, 90 proof

The mashbills of these spirits is the same. 
The equipment used to make these spirits is the same.
The ravel wood was age in 15 gallon barrels with a level 3 char. (information profides by the distiller via twitter)

The mashbill consists of 60% rye and "Heavily Wheated".
"Ravens wood" and "last feather" are the same dram, only different labels, since 2015.

The two are tasted side by side while relaxing in the garden.

First the new make Nose: 

• Strong pure rye,
• Sweet banana,
• Predominantly Strong caramel, 
• Alcohol tingle in nostrils,
• Cheese? Yeah young cheese.

Next the aged Nose: 

• Less rye, more subdued, more integrated
• Sweet banana almost gone,
• Caramel almost gone but still there,
• Clove / spice. 

What is clearly noticeable is how the new make nose is totally transformed and the clove / spice note is now predominant. The spice / Clove is the result of a wood/spirit interaction. (Task to myself: Look up the chemical reaction behind it) 

New make palette:

• Nothing registers at first taste. I mean with that, that normally there is at least one note that registers immediately but now I'm at a loss
• Smooth oily at arrival,
• Something sweet like liqourice / anise,
• Alcohol slowly kicks in covering the tonque,
• Light floral note.

Next the aged palette

• Spice 
• Orange 
• Banana 
• Chocolate 
• Vanilla

Here too the wood has completely transformed the palette. Adding wood flavours like vanilla and transforming others. 

What I have learned from this is that there can be and is a bit difference between how a spirit is distilled and how this spirit is transformed by wood and time. This is naturaly such an "open door", but actuelly finding our by yourself is a very powerful experience. 

I will do this again to see if at second comparison I can pick up more notes. I will also try to find out if what smelled and tasted before and after can be explained by standard "Whisky Chemistry". 

Just for fun I combined the new-make and the ages spirit. 

Nose: 

• Caramel still overpowers the nose
• Spice and Clove are the second tone
• The other tones are not registering. Apperently they did something to each other! lol

Palette:

• Very Sharp after a slow arrival,
• Not pleasent,
• Nothing integrated,
• Yuck
• LOL

If you want to try this for yourself and you are in Holland or western Europe these online shops offer both the new make and the "last feather". 

• Neeldrinks
• Luxurious drinks

Koval Distillery's "Millet" Whiskey

The Koval Distillery makes a diverse amount of Spirits and I have been lucky enough to have been send Four Samples of their drams by the kind people of Haromex.

From the Koval Distillery samples were send of:

• Millet whiskey, 100% millet, 40% ABV, 80 proof
• Rye whiskey, 100% rye, 40% ABV, 80 proof
• Four grain whiskey, 47% ABV, 94 proof
• Bourbon, 51% corn / 49% millet, 47% ABV, 94 proof

First dram I will try is the Millet Whiskey. It is made from a mash bill that consists of 100% Millet, which in Dutch translates to "Gierst". I mention this because I'm Dutch and this is my blog. :) Call it a reminder to myself.

Short information list about the Millet Whisky:

• It's organic.
• It's kosher.
• It's "Gluten-free". (Question to myself: Isn't all Whisky "gluten-free?)
• It's family owned by Robert and Sonat Birnecker.
• It's independent.
• It's 100% organic Midwest Millet mash.
• It's fresh American Minnisota white oak.
• It's 40% ABV, 80 proof.
• It's 0.5 Liter per bottle.
• It's unchill filtered.
• It's natural colour.
• It's from Chicaco in the USA.

Just from this short list I am already enthusiastic because I love small independent openminded innovative distilleries ran by, well, Cool Folks!

First impression I had when smelling this dram was one of wood influence. The Roundstone Rye I smelled from Catoctin Creek had a much more Spirit Influenced nose (I think). This nose is quite different. I did feel some kind of spices alcohol tingle in my nostrils that I will need to smell again to make out if this is the millet or the alcohol. A nose that I could not quite put my finger on until I thought "banana". No Solventy notes. No medicinal notes. There is a definite spice/ethanol influence. I had the impression that this is quite simular to a single malt like Corsair Triple Smoke. I will have to smell side by side to investigate.

The taste is a mix between the wood influences you get in a fresh American white oak barrel matured dram. This is my current evaluation of the "wood" influence on a dram. I will compare more to be sure this is "accurate".

Do I like this dram? Yes I do. It is absolutely a "must taste" if you want to learn more about the actual influences of grains compared to woods. Expect a dram that something between a Single Malt from Scotland (but with more wood influence) a Bourbon (but without the corn sweetness). It is not really comparable with a 46% ABV rye since it's missing the overpowering spices such like white pepper. There is a hint of pepper in this, but the main influence in this would be the banana nose.

This tasting helps me understand the influence of wood and grain better. It will also help with my investigation into the actueel Sherry influence of "Sherry matured" drams.

Questions that I have about this dram

• How long did it age for?
• What was the Char?
• What was the size of the barrel?

I got some of the answers strait from Sonat, the owner of Koval. She told me on Twitter that Koval uses 30 Gallon, Medium Char barrels for all their expressions. 

Tasks I set myself to

• Compare to other 100% mash bills to see how the barrel is a constant and which notes are then from the millet. See my Bourbon Whisky blog for notes on it.  

This task has not been done yet, but the Scotch Test Dummies did a comparison in the video you can find below. 

There is lots of information out there about the Koval Distillery but one site https://oukosher.org sums it up quite nicely:

Koval is a Yiddish word for ‘blacksmith’ or ‘to forge,” but the term has also been used to refer to someone who does something out of the ordinary, or a “black sheep in the family.” It is thus fitting that Sonat Birnecker Hart and Robert Birnecker chose to name their company Koval, since it is not every day that one hears of a Professor of Jewish Studies and a Foreign Deputy Press Secretary leaving their careers to make spirits. Indeed they named the company after Sonat’s great-grandfather, a renegade in his own right, who left Vienna at the turn of the century for Chicago at the age of 17, in search of a new way of life, much to the dismay of his parents and gratitude of later generations, earning him the soubriquet, Koval.

More information about the background of the distillery can be found in some of the video's below.

Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye

It's organic.

It's kosher.

It's family owned.

It's independent.

It's 100% organic rye mash.

It's fresh American Minnesota white oak.

It's 40% ABV, 80 proof

It's unchill filtered.

It's natural colour.

It's from Purcellville in the USA.

It's Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye

After pouring a dram I sat down to smell and taste it.

First impression after cleaning my palate with chocolate and a good rinse of water is very interesting. Nothing like I have ever tasted. 

Smooth, spices I like, no "bourbon" sweetness, dry?, rye smell mixed with smell I know from my work but can't put my finger on (Calque drawings cub board), citrus fruit (not sure which) , white pepper, galia Mellon, liqourice? No noticeable smoke. Spice in the finish that's really pleasant for me.  

First thoughts are I like this stuff! It's spicey what I like, warming at the swallow and long after. It lacks the overly sweetness of bourbons. This totally blows my sherry theory out of the water, unless the rye is of such influence that it overpowers wood influences that are alcohol interactions with a fresh American oak barrel. The alcohol in this is smooth, it doesn't overpower the taste and mouth by numbing it. I actually like this and it's a surprise! Nothing like a bourbon, nothing like a barley single malt, but with recognition of notes that I know. 

Questions to answer

After first tasting this dram I formulated some questions:

• Is the rye influence so big it overpowers the wood influence? 
• How big is the wood influence? 
• What was the Char level?
• What was the barrel size?
• How long did it mature? 
• Where did the pepper (nose and pallet) come from? 
• What if I taste this side by side with a sherry matured whisky? 

I asked the distillery if they could take a look at my questions and could provide an answer. They did:

• Is the rye influence so big it overpowers the wood influence?  Yes, we are grain-forward, which you get with a younger whiskey. 
• How big is the wood influence? Hard to give a number, but I'd estimate 60/40 for rye/wood.
• What was the Char level? 3 as you know.
• What was the barrel size? 30 gallon, Minnesota white oak.
• How long did it mature? <3yo +/- depending on weather.  It varies batch to batch.
• Where did the pepper (nose and pallet) come from? Characteristic of rye grain... same peppery note in pumpernickel --same grain!
• What if I taste this side by side with a sherry matured whisky?  Then you will have a very good time. Sláinte, prost, and cheers!

The answers sparked three more questions:

• What does "Grain-forward" mean?
• What is Minnisota White Oak?
• What is pumpernickel?

The aging is "about two years". Please see statement by Scott Harris in the video link 

What do the answer to the questions allow me to learn?

I have also tasted a Koval "Millet" Whisky and from this I learned that the grain is, or can be, of significant influence in the total taste of a dram. If Rye, at 60/40 influence has the highest influence as a grains, then it follows that something else is on the other end, but the on the wood influence scale. Which one I'm don't know yet, but the "Millet" and "Corsair Tripple smoke" are the ones I am looking at now.

Roundstone Rye 92 proof

The immediate nose is banana, the rest of the nose is there as it is in the 80 proof, but more spicey. The added 6% of alcohol gives a nice oomph that I absolutely like without numbing the palate. I have a light preference for this expression over the 80 proof because of that. 

Roundstone Rye Cask prood

This dram tells me the others were initially at 58% ABV and were bottled at lower strenght. How does this help me? It helps me because I now have a reference of how a 58% ABV rye spirit reacts to a level 3 char 30 gallon American White Oak barrel.

This dram has all the other two in it and more since you will be able to play with the ABV as you see fit. Find that sweetspot you like. Is it worth the extra money in order for you to water it down if you see fit? I cannot answer that question, but I do know you have the option.

If you want to try this dram for yourself please check my "hunting for" blog for online retailers http://iladdie.blogspot.nl/2016/04/hunting-for-cotactin-creek-roundstone.html?m=1

More to come later! Fun stuff!!

As a Dutchman I have no trouble pronouncing Catoctin, but if you want to find out how it's done please check the video below.

For more about the Distillery 

This video from the Whiskey Guy is also highly interesting

Innovative Whiskeys From the USA

I'm blessed with having been send 12 samples of Whiskey/bourbon/rye made by some of the innovating distilleries in the USA! All for educational purposes off cause! 

Just to share what a vast amount of studying material I have been send I'm posting these photos below as a thank you to the kind Lads that send them to me! 

The samples were generously send by the Guys from Harimex Development which imports and wholesale a large gamma of drinks. Please see their website http://newsite.haromex.com

From the Koval Distillery samples were send of:

• Millet whiskey, 100% millet, 40% ABV, 80 proof
• Rye whiskey, 100% rye, 40% ABV, 80 proof, 80 proof
• Four grain whiskey, 47% ABV, 94 proof (JIM MURRAY’S WHISKY BIBLE 2017, US Micro Whisky of the Year (Runner Up)
• Bourbon, 51% corn / 49% millet, 47% ABV, 94 proof

From the Catoctin Creek Distillery samples were send of:

• Roundstone Rye, 40% ABV, 100% Rye,
• Roundstone Rye 92 proof, 46% ABV, 100% Rye, Distiller's Reserve
• Roundstone Rye Cask proof, 58,9% ABV (depending on the barrel), 100% Rye

Review can be found in this blog : catoctin-creek-roundstone-rye

From the Journeyman Distillery samples were send of:

• Corsets, Whips & Whiskey, wheat whiskey, Cask Strength 58,5 % ABV, 117 Proof
• Raven wood rye whiskey, 45% ABV, 90 proof 
• Featherbone bourbon, 45% ABV, 90 proof
• W.R. White, 45% ABV, 90 proof

What do I hope to learn from these Whiskeys?

• I have compared the new make journeyman with the end product. You can read about that here. The difference between new make and the final product is rather big! 
• I will compare these with the American Whiskeys I already own, Corsair Tripple Smoke, Noah's Mill and Elijah Craig 12 years.
• I will compare all the rye mashbills and see how 51% rye or 100% rye influences the pallet.
• I will see if what I learn tells me something about the wood influences found in "sherry" matured "scotch". This I'm (still) investigating in another blog

• I should get more information and know how about how all these different corns and malts and grains influence the end result.

Blogs to investigate this task are :
Koval "Millet" : Koval "Millet"
Catoctin Creek : Roundstone Rye
Corsair Distillery: Triple Smoke

Lastly I will probably have loads of fun exploring the distilleries that have produced these drams and seeing what makes them unique!

The Whisky Experiment

I'm (planning on) conducting a Whisky maturation experiment. It's not going to be an experiment that is going to hold up scientifically but it's going to be fun non the less.

What I want to do is finding out what the difference will be between a fresh American Oak matured new make malt spirit and a sherry matured new make malt spirit. 

What I will first do is mature new make single malt spirit in a fresh American Oak Barrel. 

To do this I bought a barrel and new make spirit. 

First thing I noticed was a slight rattling of something inside the barrel. After shaking it out it turned out to be some left over wood from drilling the bung hole.

First question that pops to mind is:

- do I rinse this out and with what?

The experiment has progressed as far as this. Updates will follow as they come depending on my discipline and opportunity to actually write something new 😋

Unboxing Corsair Triple Smoke Whiskey

My order of Corsair Triple Smoke 100% malted barley artisan whiskey from the USA is in! Ordered it at luxuriousdrinks here in the Netherlands.

The box is excellent quality and it sort of wraps itself around the bottle. 

Ones open the empty space is filled with Styrofoam stuff that protects the bottle from moving to much. 

Here you can see how this box seems to be something of a jigsaw puzzle. 

Ones the bottle is out you can use the box again for shipping stuff out yourself. I plan to cell some bottle myself, so this will come in handy!

The bottle was damaged in some places and somehow the batch number was the thing to go first. I'm hoping corsair will know which batch this is based on the number of bottles.

Will put up a tasting blog later! For now it's sitting pretty to some of my other bottles. 

Bulleit Bourbon, Tasting!

Today I visited a local Mitra liquor store here in Lelystad and had the opportunity to taste the "Bulleit Bourbon".

The nose was not bad to be honest. I actually kind of liked it! 

So on to tasting it!

My thoughts on this bourbon after tasting it was :meh! not my cup of tea! (Yet)

I'm not quite sure if this is a typical bourbon, but if it is, then bourbon would need to become an acquired taste. But like coffee, beer, whine and scotch whisky I'm not saying this might not grow on me. Just not at the moment ;)

Bourbons, a starting point for exploration

I For my work I travel sometimes to other nations in Europe and on my last such travel I ended up in Berlin. I was there for two day conference and on the first day we ended up in a bar called Hackendahl

 

I had a look at the liquor menu and I thought I try something new. So I selected a bourbon I had never heard about in my life. It's Noah's Mill

 

It is a 57,2% ABV, 750 ml, Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey (will check the details later)

The experience was excellent and, to be honest, maybe even better then an average Scotch Single Malt. So after that I Took a look what Ralfy had to say about Bourbons and he adviced that you select one bourbon and make it the reference to which you start exploring. Ralfy selected as his reference the Elijah Craig 12yo. 

Both the Elijah Craig and Noah's Mill are available here in Holland so no problems for availability.

To make some sort of a short list for starting bourbon (or USA based Whiskey) exploration I asked my followers on Twitter for advice. This resulted in a list of about 10 spirits:

• Whichever cask of Heaven Hill Cadenhead's
• Elijah Craig 12
• 1776
• 1792
• Eagle Rare,
• Jeffersons Ocean
• Evan Williams
• Balcones Whisky 
• Blantons Bourbon
• Noah's Mill

 

I have no Idea for now why these would be advisable but I will enjoy finding out why. I will lookup all these up and describe them in this blog. So let's start exploring!  

Cadenhead's Heaven Hill

I had received this advice from Klaus Doblmann. He has his own blog DramsOfKlaus which can be found by following this link. So when I googled this stuff I found out two things. Cadenhead is a bottler and Heavel Hill is a bourbon distilley that has multiple whisky brands to its name. Such as Elijah Craig and Evan Williams. So apperently Cadenhead's as a bottling company does something with whiskey's from the Heaven Hill brands. Lets check that out. As it turns out I have been having a very hard time in finding any bottles being sold in Holland. Thanks to The Whisky Jug Blog  some more information is given about one of these bottleings.

One has to get lucky to be able to find any available online on any store. I can not find any of this stuff in Holland. So, I did learn something. I learned that Heaven Hill has a whisky under its own name, but also puts out lots of other brands. The cadenhead bottlings are from all kinds of whisky's from all over the world. The website of cadenheads seemed to be out, but it could be I'm looking at the wrong site! This is what is available in Holland from Cadenheads: https://www.bestofwhisky.com/nl/independents/cadenhead.html

Noah's Mill

The Noah's Mill Straight Bourbon Whiskey is one of the expressions of the Willett Distillery. On the page of the Distillery information can be found about the story behind the bourbon.

What it comes down to is that it has won awards and some guy called Jim Murray gave it a 93 our of a 100 back in 2012. I personally loved it when I had this in Berlin. I was really impressed about this Spirit. The fact that I liked it was the main reason for checking out the prices and getting myself a bottle.

As Ralfy suggest, choose a reference and start your journey based on that point of reference. I am deciding that this will be my referencepoint when exploring Bourbon's and other American Whiskey's. I will also compare this whiskey, I mean Bourbon, to expessions like Bruichladdich Classic Ladie, or a Bruicladdich LaddieMP3 single barel expression.

To find out what this would cost I looked up some pricing information in Holland (Netherlands) and as it turns out one can get a bottle here for as low as €49,95. On Masters of Malt it's priced at €70,32 and is sold out. So I just ordered one and added a bottle of Elijah Craig 12 yo at a price off €28,95 just for good measure. 

I tasted the other day and compared to the Elijah Craig I like this much better. But, compared to the experience in Berlin , where I tasted this for the first time, I was a bit disappointed. 

The nose was good! Nothing wrong there, but the color was less red, less sparkling then I remember. 

After some investigation I found out there are multiple versions of the Noah's mill and I got the one without the wax top and without the 15yo age statement. 

I do not know which one I had in Berlin. So no way to tell if the ambiance was also a factor in my tasting experience, but it probably did. 

http://modernthirst.com/2014/04/14/bourbon-review-noahs-mill/

My comments to this whisky on Instagram were:

• iladdie@lundybendslight i tasted the Noah's Mill . Much better then the #elijahcraig12 i must say. If i add water it really opens up and there is some oil that comes free. Nice slow legs after adding water. Reminds me of a sherry matured Bruichladdich I have. Less in your face vanilla and oak. Oranges, herbal notes. I quite like the Noah's mill !!
• lundybendslight@iladdie get this, if you happen to find a NM with a wax top it will have more oil, almost creamy and if you come across a wax top with an age statement of 15 years it's even better. The foil tops have a little thinner shorter finish. But the foil tops are all that's available unless you find a bottle for sale that someone had been holding. The product has changed over the years. Also look for its little brother Rowan's Creek. Glad you enjoyed it better than the EC12.

I'm concluding I like Noah's Mill better then Elijah Craig! 

Elijah Craig 12yo

This bourbon was the reference for Ralfy to start comparing American bourbons, whiskey and Rhy spirits. 

I opened up a bottle last night and put some in a glencairn. Let it settle for a bit.

After I let it strole I notice the legs were not particularly slow, they were actually very fast. Something I'm not used to since I own a couple of really nice Bruichladdich laddiemp3 bottles. 

James Lundy on Instagram asked me to post my tasting comments. Here is what I replied after nosing and tasting.

• iladdie@lundybendslight I am having one right now, next to a @Bruichladdich classic laddie edition_01. Nose is much more intense then the single malt. It's quite overwhelming where the malt is subtle. Taste is spicey, to much vanilla for me and to much, what I think is, oak. Compared to Elijah the Bruichladdich is more balanced and integrated in my current opinion. Since these are my first step with bourbons it might be that this kind off bourbon needs to grow on me before I start to appreciate it. Interesting though! And fun!!

So, not convinced yet about bourbon. 

What I learned is that, depending on something called a mashbill bourbon can taste very differently depending on the other 49%. I will need to look into that, since I want to prevent jumping to any conclusions based on the three bourbons tasted till now. 

Ok, ok! I tasted Jack Daniels black label too, but I'm not considering that as a serious spirit at all. Snob? Yes! Sorry! 😜 To far gone up the quality ladder in spirits to seriously consider that stuff other than for mixing with cola. 

Whisky or Whiskey

Why is Whisky spelled as Whiskey too?

Whisky (plural Whiskies) is used as the official spelling in Scotland.
Whisky is used as the official spelling in Canada.
Whiskey (plural Whiskeys) is used as the official spelling in Ireland and the USA

It is interesting how different languages spell whisky in different ways.

In Dutch it is allowed to use both, but it shows that you know something about Whisky is you use Whisky to tell something about a Scotch. The plural in Dutch is Whisky's according to the Van Dale dictionary.

In German it is spelled as Whisky with Whiskys as the plural.

In French and Spanish it is spelled as Whisky with Whiskies as the plural.

In Norwegian and Italian the spelling is Whisky for both plural and Singular

In Russian it is another word altogether :  виски [ви́ски] 

To stick to English/American spellings. Is one way of spelling better than the other? Nope! It is just a spelling, but it can help keep track of what your blogging about. So I will be using Whiskey and Whisky to indicate if I am talking about Irish/American Whiskey or not.