GSN Review: Woodford Reserve Bourbon

Woodford Reserve recently announced the release of its annual holiday bottle, which this year features the festive artwork by renowned UK-based architect Nick Hirst. Hirst’s serene painting “Winter Slumber” captures the contrast between the warm, wooden interior of the historic warehouse at Woodford Reserve, and the stone exterior of the building. This snowy scene, recognizable to all guests who have visited Woodford Reserve over the last 24 years, celebrates the fact that whiskey ages year-around, regardless of weather.

“At Woodford Reserve, I was looking for an opportunity to compare the colder exteriors to the warm interiors of the older buildings, while continuing to ‘tell the story’ of how the whiskey was made,” explains Hirst. “There was also a strong connection between the color of the rich wooden interiors of some of the buildings and the color of the bottle itself. The stone walls of the barrel store, with the barrel run leading into the wooden interior, was an ideal composition.”

Specializing in historic buildings, Hirst has worked for 20 years in sites across the world from North Africa to the Middle East and Russia, identifying and analyzing the unique qualities of each building by drawing and sketching. His work has previously exhibited at the prestigious Royal Academy and Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour in London.

The “Winter Slumber” painting is based on a few preliminary pencil sketches from his visit to the distillery in Versailles, Kentucky, later laid onto a handmade watercolor paper with the detail added with gouache and pen-work. “As I worked on the painting, I kept a bottle of Woodford Reserve on the drawing board, as a reminder of the color palette. Inevitably the bottle made its way into a drawing,” Hirst said.

Woodford Reserve Bourbon (90.4 proof)
GSN’s Thoughts: You can’t go wrong with bourbon during the holidays. So many classic cocktails and punches call for it as the base spirit. Woodford Reserve is a rock solid option, both in flavor and price. Plus, this season’s holiday themed bottle makes a perfect gift for the bourbon enthusiast in your life. They make nice keepsakes to display year after year as well.
GSN Rating: A

For more information go to: Woodford Reserve

GSN Original Cocktail: The 1626

1626
2.5 oz. Woodford Reserve Bourbon
0.75 oz. Hiram Walker Gingerbread Liqueur
1/2 tsp Cherry Heering
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Pour ingredients into mixing glass, stir with cracked ice for 20 seconds, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a Luxardo cherry.

(1626 was the year the very first Manhattan was purchased, albeit about 250 years before the cocktail came to be. Prof. Jerry Thomas was the original king of cocktails during the golden era of the late 1800’s.  The first bar he opened was in the same building as P.T. Barnum’s American Museum in Manhattan  If you happened to go through the museum’s egress thinking it was another attraction, you could always console yourself with a cocktail made by the “Professor”.)

GSN: Backbar Review – September 16-20, 2013

Constellation’s Black Velvet Canadian whisky is launching a new flavor extension, Cinnamon Rush, into national distribution beginning this month. Available in 1-liter, 750-ml. and 50-ml. sizes, Cinnamon Rush is 70%-abv and retails at $12.49 a 750-ml. Constellation says Cinnamon Rush is geared toward the shot occasion—where it will take on Sazerac’s Fireball, Hood River’s SinFire and Brown-Forman’s Early Times Fire Eater, among other cinnamon-flavored brands—as well as cocktails. Cinnamon Rush is joined in the Black Velvet flavor stable by Toasted Caramel, which debuted a year ago.

Anchor Distilling is adding four additional Nikka Japanese whisky expressions to its U.S. import lineup. Starting this month, Anchor will add Nikka’s Coffey Grain ($69.99), Miyagikyo Single Malt 12-year-old ($119.99), Taketsuru Pure Malt 17-year-old ($149.99) and Taketsuru Pure Malt 21-year-old ($179.99) to its stable. The four expressions join the brand’s Taketsuru Pure Malt 12-year-old ($69.99) and Yoichi Single Malt 15-year-old labels ($129.99), which joined the Anchor portfolio in November 2012 and quickly sold out following their U.S. launch.

Key West, Florida, once a haven for rum smugglers during the Prohibition era, is set to get its first legal distillery with the debut of Chef Distilled, a new craft spirits company. The brainchild of chef and professional kiteboarder Paul Menta, Chef Distilled is located in a 2,500-square-foot former Coca-Cola bottling plant and plans to begin operations early next month. Menta says initial production will be around eight to 10 110-bottle batches a week. Chef Distilled’s first offering will be a white rum called Legal Rum (around $22), which will initially be available in the South Florida market, handled by Opici Family Distributing. Menta hopes to start shipping to retail by November.  Offshoots currently being considered include vanilla crème brûlée and Spanish lime infusions, and Menta is also planning on launching a “raw” rum bottled straight from the still, as well as a barrel-aged offering.

Brown-Forman’s Woodford Reserve Bourbon brand is releasing a pair of limited edition malt whiskies as part of its Master’s Collection series this November. Known as The Double Malt Selections, the pair—said to be the first fully matured whiskies crafted from malt in Kentucky since Prohibition—include a Straight Malt whiskey matured in new barrels and a Classic Malt whiskey aged in used barrels, offering consumers the opportunity to compare the two aging methods. The individually numbered whiskies are both bottled at 90.4-proof, priced at $99.99 a 750-ml., and will be released in major U.S. metro markets and select international locations.

All information courtesy of Shanken News Daily.

GSN: Backbar Review – February 25-March 1, 2013

Camus Cognac has unveiled a limited edition offering commemorating its 150th anniversary. Camus Cuvée 5.150 is a blend of Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Fins Bois, Bon Bois and Borderies Cognacs, of which 1,492 individually numbered decanters were produced, priced at $13,500 each.

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St. Helena, California-based Charbay Distillers is adding Añejo and Reposado variants of Tapatio Tequila, for which it became the exclusive U.S. importer last June. Tapatio Reposado is aged for eight months in oak barrels and retails for $38 a 1-liter bottle. The Añejo ($44 a 1-liter) is aged 18 months in first-fill ex-Bourbon casks, and the Blanco, which was previously available, retails at $38 a 1-liter and is aged for six months in stainless steel. All three are produced by master distiller Carlos Camarena at the Altena Distillery.

Chivas Regal is debuting three new limited edition offerings of its 18-year-old variant in the U.S. market. Entitled “The Drop,” the collection was created in partnership with Italian design firm Pininfarina. 1,500 bottles of the first expression are available in the U.S. at $140 each, featuring a blue metallic-finish outer case and a wood veneer. The second, of which 120 individually numbered bottles are available in the U.S. at $495 each, takes the same aerodynamic design cues a step further. It features a solid wood inlay and includes two Pininfarina-designed glasses. The third, Chivas 18 Mascherone by Pininfarina, is a seven-foot, four-inch piece—made of an oak internal structure clad in aluminum—that will be made to order by Pininfarina on request at $100,000 each.

Campari’s Wild Turkey distillery has extended its Russell’s Reserve small-batch Bourbon brand with a new single barrel offering. Created by Wild Turkey master distiller Jimmy Russell and his son, Eddie, Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel (55% abv) is Wild Turkey’s first unfiltered Bourbon. The new, high-proof offering will be available starting next month, priced at around $49.99 a bottle.

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Brown-Forman is set to release this year’s special edition Woodford Reserve Bourbon bottle for the 2013 Kentucky Derby. The packaging features art by Oregon-based painter Eric Bowman, which includes a close-up of a racing scene, as well as a sky blue neckband at the top displaying Bowman’s signature and a tag hanging around the bottle with information about the product and the artist. The bottle will be available in 46 markets across the country for a suggested retail price of $43.99 a 1-liter bottle. Woodford Reserve has been a sponsor of the Kentucky Derby for the past 15 years.

Colorado’s Woody Creek Distillers is set to make its debut with six ultra-premium spirits offerings. In addition to its core vodka brands, Woody Creek Potato Vodka and Reserve Stobrawa Potato Vodka, the company’s products include Baby Bourbon, Gin, Apple Brandy and Pear Eau de Vie, all sourced locally from the Aspen Valley. Another label, Olathe Corn Whiskey, is in production and scheduled for release in 2015, after a stint of aging in American white oak barrels.

Heaven Hill Distilleries is rolling out two new flavors—Cherry Cola and Strawberry Banana for the Burnett’s vodka line.  They are line priced at $10.99 a 750-ml. The Burnett’s portfolio now includes 31 different flavors.

All information courtesy of Shanken News Daily