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Chattanooga Whiskey Experimental Barrel 166 Review

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Sunday Evening Review

 

My day job is in innovation and there is a concept in innovation called fail fast. The idea is not to wait to build the perfect mouse trap but build one, fail quickly, learn, make better and then repeat. Chattanooga Whiskey has an Experimental Single Barrel program that lets their distillery do the same. The nice part is they let the public see if they failed, they are on to something or hit a home run. This week I review one of these experiments. Let’s see where they are at in the process.

 

Make sure you put in the comments any bottles that you would like me to review.

 

NAME – Chattanooga Whiskey Experimental Single Barrel #166

 

PROOF – 121.2

 

AGE – 4 years, 3 months and 14 days

 

COLOR – chestnut hair (1.4 tawny on the Whiskey Magazine Color Chart)

 

NOSE – CHOCOLATE BOMB right when you put your nose to it. Then you start to get butterscotch, vanilla, malted cereal, almond butter, little campfire smoke, cherry cobbler, tobacco leaf.

 

TASTE – The campfire note comes more to the front but not overwhelming. Chocolate malt, warn leather, cigar tobacco, black tea, and dark roasted coffee grounds.

 

FINISH – I would call this a long finish. The malted chocolate, charred oak and tobacco hang around for a long time.

 

REVIEW – I really like this but I could see where a lot of people might not like it due to the absence of a lot of the traditional sweet notes of caramel, brown sugar and vanilla. Even the chocolate is chocolate malt, so it isn’t sweet. This is very dark and earthy whiskey. If you are a cigar smoker, this is similar to drinking a whiskey that is like a good cigar with very similar characteristics. So if you were wanted to smoke a cigar somewhere that wouldn’t let you, this whiskey just might scratch the itch for you. Would also never guess it is 121 proof. Seems closer to 100. Dangerous the lack of ethanol burn.

 

FINAL COMMENTS – If you have read previous reviews of Chattanooga Whiskey that I’ve done you know I like their rebellious nature and the willingness to push the boundaries. This Experimental Series does just that and allows them to explore and go places you wouldn’t if you want to make any money as a distillery. What it can produce is things very different and interesting. It also allows them to learn. I have no doubt that there will be a day when all things will align with one of these experiments that they will add it to the line of 111, 91 and the Rye but until then you get to explore along with them without all the hard work.

To find out more check it out here – Chattanooga Whiskey Experimental Single Barrels

You can look at all the past Sunday Evenings Reviews and I would still love to hear what your personal reviews are from each of the whiskies reviewed.

Dexter Three Wood Straight Bourbon Whiskey Review

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Last weekend the Ohio Distiller’s Guild put on their first Craft Whiskey Festival that brought together 11 craft distillers that allowed many of the 450 visitors try whiskies they may have never had the opportunity to try. This week I’m going to review one of those whiskies from the Brain Brew Custom Whiskey distillery as I give a taste to their Dexter Three Wood bourbon. Let’s see if this three wood bourbon makes company or its overcrowded.

 

Make sure you put in the comments any bottles that you would like me to review.

 

NAME – Dexter Three Wood Straight Bourbon Whiskey

 

PROOF – 100.6

 

AGE – non-age stated

 

COLOR – Harvest gold (1.3 russet muscat on the Whiskey Magazine Color Chart)

 

NOSE – Butterscotch, orange peel, buttered grits, spicy wood notes, cinnamon, and a slight walnut

 

TASTE – Vanilla comes forward along with cherry, cinnamon, barrel, and rye spice. An amber honey is underneath along with an ever so subtle citrus note.

 

FINISH – I would call this a medium to long finish. The cinnamon, wood spice and rye spice linger for a decent amount of time and give you a slow burn on the tongue.

 

REVIEW – This was the most interesting whiskey I tasted at the festival that I had never had before. It has 36% rye and then adding the 200-year-old oak (my guess would be French oak), cherry and maple wood, this has a fair bit of spice to it. If you like an interesting bourbon that adds that tingle on the tongue, you will like this. You can do a lot of things with this whiskey. It can drink it neat, on ice or easily would hold up on a cocktail. For $50 for a craft whiskey and a good-looking label with this type of versatility, its not a bad buy. Most likely your friends won’t have it either.

 

FINAL COMMENTS – This whiskey is named in honor of the world famous 1800s bourbon blender –  Edmund Dexter.   He was so renowned –  Charles Dickens and King Edward VII stayed with him at his home on 4th street in Cincinnati.

 

The Dexter Three Wood Straight Bourbon is finished with 200 Year Oak, Maple Wood & Cherry wood. Based off the conversation I had with the people that were at the whiskey festival, the process that they use is similar on how Maker’s Mark does their Private Selects as they add the three different woods into the barrel of whiskey to create the different taste profile.  This bourbon is produced at Brain Brew Custom Whiskey in Newtown, Ohio.