Sunday, August 8, 2010

The diminution of George T. Stagg


This was one of the first days in a long while that it wasn't near 100 degrees with high humidity which made it all the more perfect for a scheduled bourbon tasting. In the past I've hosted tastings that focus on mashbill, bonded and distillery but today's theme was something a little different.
On the table, a 2007 George T. Stagg topping out at a hefty 144.8 proof which I cut to 4 distinct proofs of 114, 107, 101 and 121. As many of you know, cutting bourbon can change the profile of a bourbon by taming the proof and bringing out subtle flavor components, etc with the goal of today's tasting to do just that. Taking a big heavy weight like GTS down from barrel strength is not hard and a dilution calculator can be found here at www.Straightbourbon.com which is what I used to determine the water to bourbon ratio. One of the attendee's was late so there were four of us tasting the GTS. Taking the bourbon down to a number of proofs provided insight into how the profile changes with diminished proof. The problem with GTS is that it's still very drinkable at its bottled proof but that's not something I would recommend you do on a regular basis. The high alcohol content can have adverse affects. In any case, the bourbon really opened up and at around 114 which are what two of us picked for being the most well rounded. One picked the 121 and one picked the 107. As you can see, our opinions varied which is what makes an exercise like this interesting and fun to do.
After the tasting we feasted on a eye of round roast that I slow cooked in my Cookshack smoker for around 3 hrs coming out at a rare 125 degrees. The roast was thinly sliced and folded onto Kaiser Rolls with provolone cheese and a horseradish and sour cream spread. On the side, some homemade Austrian sauerkraut which is slow simmered in a chicken stock for about 3 hours. After this bout of gluttony, we settled down to an impromptu tasting of a couple various bourbons. First, we lined up 4 different Four Roses Single Barrel selections which I list as follows (The recipe details can be found here):
Four Roses 100th Anniversary (OBSV recipe)
Bourbon Society Four Roses Single Barrel (OBSK recipe)
Ledgers Four Roses Single Barrel (OESK recipe)
Private bottling from attending member (OBSK recipe)
The consensus was that the 100th anniversary was mediocre which is surprising because at 17 years old, I would expect something with a little more depth and character to it. To me and others, it fell flat. The Bourbon Society bottle was good to very good. This was done back in July 2007 and was picked from 12 different barrels. The Ledgers Four Roses was just recently bottled and was very good; this is one of two barrels that were bottled. The last one was a bottling done by a friend so I'm not going to give out the personal details but I will say this one was big and robust with plenty of spice and heat and came in at 123 proof. This bourbon, while fun to drink is one that I would take down with water or an ice cube. He generously gave each of us a bottle of his Four Roses which is very much appreciated.
Last, and just for grins and giggles, we tasted two batches of Jefferson's Presidential 17 year which is a Stitzel Weller bourbon distilled in 1991. These were bottled 94 proof which is why we reduced the proof of the Pappy Van Winkle 15 year to 94 proof so we could do a comparison. The reason we did this is that there was some discussion about when given a choice, would you choose the Pappy or the Jefferson's? I had stated on a bourbon forum that I would take the Pappy's which a number of board members agreed with. Well, I have to admit that with the Pappy reduced to 94 proof, it was hard to choose between them at the same proof. Head to head, I would take the Jefferson's batch 4 over batch 1 as it had a little more body and mouthfeel, plus the finish was more in line with classic Stitzel Weller. Still, if having to choose between bottlings, I would still take the Pappy 15 over the Jefferson's 17; but that's just me.

12 comments:

  1. A nice conclusion to an intersting discussion.

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  2. OK Greg, you've convinced me to try my 09 GTS at similar proofs like what you did with your 07. For the longest time it seemed like blasphemy to dilute this premium unfiltered bourbon but once I did (about 110 proof)I overcame my bullheadedness and decided it was OK. It's now one of those "what mood am I in today" as to if I'm going to dilute it or not. However I've never gone to the extreme of getting 4 different proofs that close to each other, so it should be fun to see what differences I notice. By the way, sounds like you had a great day!

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  3. Vos - We did indeed have a good time. There's a time and a place for barrel strength manly-man drinking but sometimes, taking those big boys down a couple pegs provides a whole new experience with the same bourbon. I have a number of bottles of barrel strength that I've altered with pretty good results and will continue to do so. For the Stagg, I thought anything below 114 was too soft and approachable to the point of being almost one-dimensional but again, it's all about preference.

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  4. Agreed with your last comment to Vos, Greg. I usually drink my '09 Stagg neat out of a nice little Riedel bourbon glass. On occasion, I will add a touch of water or a small cube of ice (it's hot as hell in Miami) to alter the flavor profile. That's what I love about the Stagg, you can play around with it and have a totally different experience each time.

    For your BBQ, have you ever smoked w/ bourbon barrel chips? I found this site the other day and ordered some along w/ some bourbon sea salt and bourbon peppercorns. It was a little pricey but I liked the company background and figured what the hell. Check em out - http://bourbonbarrelfoods.com/

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  5. Steve - I have not smoked with barrel chips yet although I do have a mason jar full of barrel char. It would be interesting to throw some of that in the smoker with some oak chips.

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  6. Just found your blog. Good stuff. I started aging Evan Williams black label in a 3 gallon charred barrel. I let a batch go too long and it was too charcoaly for me. A couple of runs through a Brita pitcher and I was back in business. I had to show my wife your collection so she would ease up on me. I buy a little of everything but always buy every bottle of GTS I can get my hands on. - Clay

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  7. Clay - I have friends who's bunkers put mine to shame. As I've said a number of times, bourbon varies much like scotch or wine so having bottles from multiple distilleries and from multiple decades gives you a very broad sampling.

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  8. Does anyone know when the 2010 Stagg is scheduled for release? I am in KY every 4 weeks, and don't want to miss out. Last year I got lucky, and procured the last (known) bottle in Lexington.
    -(another) Clay

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  9. Clay - BTAC, of which Stagg is a member, usually comes out late Sept in KY. Other parts of the country is Oct/Nov. I know here in VA it usually doesn't show up until Nov.

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  10. The batch is out and has been out for about a month. I live in Tallahassee, and was lucky enough to purchase 9 bottles of wLw and one bottle of Stagg, the stagg is 143 proof.

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  11. I think this is my first visit to your site. Nice. I too bought 3 cases last year and regrettably have put the last one on ebay. Its hard to let it go. Guys, my vote is for any bourbon from Buffalo Trace but always buy G.T.Stagg every year for the last 3 years, 2 cases each the first 2 years and got a little carried away last year.Anyway, nice read...thanks, Paul

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  12. Paul - thanks for stopping by. I agree, GTS is a great pour. Interesting thing about the 2010 release is that it is 17 years old vice the normal 15 years. The extra two years would maybe cause me to spring for one bottle to compare against previous years.

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