American Whiskey Challenge

Social distancing calls for creative measures. There aren’t any concerts to attend and bars are closed, so I put together a semi-blind tasting of American craft whiskies. The aim was to get familiar with offerings by smaller American producers. Along the way I would rank my preferences in aroma and taste. I had tried all these whiskies before, so the ultimate test was to see if I could identify which one was which.

The method. I selected five bottles off my shelf – I therefore knew what the sample pool comprised. I labeled five tasting glasses A, B, C, D and E. I then asked my Discerning Assistant to randomly pour a tablespoon of each whiskey and to place a label with the corresponding letter on the base of each bottle.

back row: B, A and C; front row: D and E

The contenders, listed in order of the producer’s geographical proximity to my home:

• Putnam Single Malt, 50% ABV (alcohol by volume). Boston Harbor Distillery, Boston, Massachusetts.
• Ryan & Wood Single Malt, 40% ABV. Ryan & Wood Distillery, Gloucester, Mass.
• Fifty Stone Single Malt, 45% ABV. Maine Craft Distilling, Portland, Maine.
• Untitled Bourbon, 63.5% ABV. One Eight Distilling, Washington, D.C.
• Featherbone Bourbon, 50% ABV. Journeyman Distillery, Three Oaks, Michigan.

Single Malt signifies a whiskey made from malted barley at a single distillery; it can be a mixture of barrels of various ages from that distillery. The grain content for Bourbon must be at least 51% corn, and may include other grains (barley, wheat or rye). Featherbone was from a single barrel. Only Untitled carried an age statement: 10 years in a single barrel and bottled at cask strength.

Putnam takes its name from Silas Putnam, the 19th-century operator of a nail factory that now houses the Boston distillery. Ryan & Wood are the last names of the founders of the Gloucester distillery. Fifty Stone refers to the amount of barley it takes to make a barrel of whiskey (50 stone = 700 lb or 317.5 kg). Untitled is One Eight’s designation for a limited one-off bottling outside their core range. Featherbone was Edward Warren’s innovation to replace whalebone in women’s corsets.

So much for the backstory of the names – let’s investigate the whiskies.

The colors ranged from pale straw to deep amber. My glasses were not identical, so relative comparisons could be askew. Here’s how they looked:
A – medium light.
B – dark.
C – dark.
D – the palest.
E – medium dark.

The legs, or the trail left inside the glass after swirling, can give hints to the alcohol content and viscosity of the liquid. There were notable differences:
A – legs all day.
B – minimal, perhaps the alcohol was evaporating rapidly.
C – medium legs.
D – quick legs.
E – long legs, looked the most viscous.

The nose. I spent about 90 minutes sniffing the samples, going back and forth among the glasses; here are the aromas that I teased out:
A – cherry popcorn, plum, cinnamon bun, strawberry Quik mix.
B – hot on the nose; grass stain, touches of molasses, pistachio, candied pecan.
C – dust, brine, caramel apples, apple leaves, a hint of apricot, cinnamon bark.
D – new sneakers, tropical fruit (kiwi? star fruit?), delicate tree blossoms.
E – cherry cola, peanut brittle, a touch of eucalyptus.

I remembered peanut brittle from previous tasting notes, leading me to think that E was Featherbone. Sample A had the softest bouquet, suggesting low ABV. This was my favorite nose. The heat from B suggested the highest ABV (Untitled). My Discerning Assistant, after pouring the samples, had said “One of these is vile”. I suspect she was referring to B; the forward grassiness was off-putting.

Ranking the nose. I had the most polarized reactions to A and B; the other three were clustered somewhere in the middle. From favorite to least favorite: A, C, E, D, B.

tasting notes

The rub. I vigorously rubbed a drop of each spirit on the back of my hand to break down the alcohol and release more aromas. Here’s what I picked up:
A – light fruit.
B – saddle leather.
C – cigarette ash.
D – banana bread.
E – a baseball.

I had experienced the banana bread before, so I had an inkling that D might be Ryan & Wood.

First sip. These were my first impressions as the liquid passed my tongue:
A – bitter. What happened to all the nice fruit notes?
B – spinachy.
C – spicy.
D – industrial. (I’m not sure what this means, but it’s not flattering)
E – nutty.

I recalled a hint of methi (fenugreek leaves) from one of my bottles. Methi gives off an amazing maple spinach aroma when cooked. That flavor plus the alcohol heat confirmed B as Untitled. B moved up a bit in my list of favorites, and A dropped down a lot.

The palate. I gave each sample more time in the mouth and let the liquid play over my tongue. The experience was disconcerting: I didn’t find any of the whiskies particularly appealing.
A – prickle on the lips, red chili powder, meat gristle. Where did the fruit go?!
B – spiced chickpeas.
C – unsweetened peanut butter; the cinnamon carried over from the nose.
D – cinnamon, seaweed.
E – bubble gum. Long, lingering bubble gum.

Fifty Stone smokes its barley with Maine peat and seaweed. The banana bread aroma had suggested that D was Ryan & Wood, but the seaweed flavor led me in a different direction. And the Maine whiskey looked the lightest in the bottle, so I decided that D was Fifty Stone. [spoiler: follow your nose]

Ranking the palate. While the nose of B was the most jarring, it agreed with the palate to make a unified whole. The taste of A was alarmingly divorced from its aroma. It was impossible to call any of these whiskies my favorite; I could only order their palates from least offensive to most offensive. The list was almost an inverse of the nose: B, D, C, E, A.

Identifying the bottles. I felt confident about B and E, and I had a strong guess for D. That left A and C. In an earlier tasting of Putnam I had noticed chocolate on the rub, and spiced soy nuts and brown sugar on the palate. I didn’t pick those up this time. C had a whiff of brine, suggesting a maritime climate, which could mean Gloucester’s Ryan & Wood. Past tasting had detected cinnamon as well.

Here was my final decision. The names in bold are the ones I got right.
A – Putnam
B – Untitled
C – Ryan & Wood
D – Fifty Stone
E – Featherbone

The reveal.

A – Fifty Stone, B – Untitled, C – Putnam, D – Ryan & Wood, E – Featherbone

Final thoughts. This was an engaging sensory exploration. I am a whiskey novice, so it encouraged me that I could pick apart such a wide variety of aromas.

Looks can be deceiving: the Fifty Stone bottle has a dimple in the base that lets the light play through the liquid. The color made me doubt my read on the nose. Next time I will make sure to have identical glassware for more accurate visual comparisons.

I would be happy to spend an evening sniffing Fifty Stone, as long as I didn’t have to drink it. I was captivated by its delicate nose; hats off the the distillers achieving that subtlety. If only they could marry the palate to the nose....

I almost titled this review Tablespoons of Disappointment. None of these whiskies will become a favorite, but perhaps a few months of air in the bottles will temper their harshest characteristics and make them more approachable.

My notes said that Untitled was nice over ice, so maybe I’ll pair it with a spicy Indian curry in the near future. I suspect my Discerning Assistant will pass.

Cheers!