Tag: Bourbon Turntable

Introducing A.J. Schreiner Spirits

It was a chilly Tuesday night in late January with a heavy mist coming down.  I’m standing in the parking lot with two other damp, shadowy figures.  One is Alan Bishop.  The other is a man I had never met before.  The other man is talking about a new spirits company he’s starting while pouring rye samples from unlabeled bottles he had in the back of his truck.  (This is a totally normal way to spend a Tuesday night and meet people, right?)  That new friend was Ken Schreiner.

A.J. Schreiner Spirits

Ken’s passion for his new project, A.J. Schreiner Spirits, was obvious and contagious, and hearing him evangelize about it made me forget about standing in a dark and cold rain.  Or maybe I didn’t mind getting a touch soaked because of how fantastic this rye from parts unknown was.  A rye that would end up being a component in the blended rye I’ll talk about later. 

A.J. Schreiner Spirits, named after Ken’s great-great grandfather will be releasing a blended rye and a gin on August 1.  These spirits are inspired by Ken’s family’s history in distilling that dates back to well before prohibition.  You can hear more about that history by listening to my conversation with Ken on this episode of Bourbon Turntable.

Ken wisely drafted Alan Bishop (head distiller at Old Homestead Distilling Co.) to be his contract distiller and blender.  Ken told Alan what he was looking for: a profile in both a rye and a gin that is reminiscent of and inspired by the spirits made by his ancestors.  Alan clearly understood the vision of A.J. Schreiner Spirits and I believe he pulled it off. 

The rye, called Heritage Rye, was blended by Alan using ryes from two different distilleries.  Kentuckiana Gin was distilled by Alan and is a new take on the old Schenley gin.  The bottles feature the likenesses of A.J. Schreiner and J.J. Schreiner on the rye and the gin, respectively.

As I’m tasting these spirits again while writing this, I am pairing them with an album that I think has a gritty, speakeasy-feel to it: “Exile on Main Street” by The Rolling Stones.  I think that Charlie Watts shines on this album and the piano work by Nicky Hopkins, Ian Stewart and Billy Preston add a lot of flavor to Exile.  Rip This Joint, Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Sweet Virginia, Ventilator Blues and Stop Breaking Down all capture that pre-prohibition vibe that Ken has captured in these spirits.

Tasting Notes

Heritage Rye

Facts: This is a 100-proof rye blended from two craft distilleries.

Nose: It has a grassy funkiness to it which captures that pre-prohibition feel.  Plum, fig and orange notes also rise up from my Loving Cup.

Taste: The plum and orange notes remain and toffee and dark chocolate show up to make me Happy.

Finish: You can go All Down the Line on the finish as it checks a lot of boxes: Tobacco, mint, oak, cherry and that grassy funkiness comes through again.

Kentuckiana Gin

Facts: This gin is from a rye base.  It will be 93 proof in the bottle, but my sample is at 130!

Nose: On the nose, this gin will Shine a Light on lime.  There is also some honeysuckle, orange and vanilla in there.

Taste: You can drink this Rocks Off or on the rocks.  Chilled, the lime pops through even more.  Without the ice, I get an orange cream saver note (if you remember those old Life Saver products).  If you don’t know what that is then we’ll settle calling it vanilla and orange marmalade.

Finish: I can finally Stop Breaking Down this gin by saying on the finish I find that honeysuckle reappearing.  The lime, orange and vanilla are still there and juniper pops up a bit to remind you that you are, in fact, drinking a gin.

A Vision Realized

Ken could have taken an easy route with his new spirits company. Like many other brand entrepreneurs before him, he could have bought barrels from an overused source, put it in a pretty bottle and told his family’s story that way.  He would have likely sold those bottles and been able to share his family’s history, but missed the opportunity to introduce a product of meaningful interest to the spirits community.  Thankfully, he went another way.  A more challenging, but more rewarding, way.

Ken has a vision for what he wants A.J. Schreiner Spirits to be about.  And with the skill and creativity of Alan Bishop on his team, Ken has added two spirits that will stand out in a crowded landscape.  Heritage Rye and Kentuckiana Gin are both a pleasure to drink and have an important story to tell the spirits consumer. 

Follow A.J. Schreiner spirts on Facebook and Instagram to stay in the know about news, release dates and much more.

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Tasting notes without the contrived Exile on Main Street references:

Heritage Rye

Nose: Funky grassiness, plum, fig and orange

Taste: Plum, orange, dark chocolate and toffee

Finish: Tobacco, mint, oak, cherry and that grassy funkiness reappears (or is it funky grassiness?).

Kentuckiana Gin

Nose: Lime, honeysuckle, orange and vanilla

Tase: Lime, orange Cream Saver (vanilla and orange marmalade

Finish: Honeysuckle, lime, orange, vanilla and the juniper sneaks in to remind you it is a gin.

Unique Finds From Seelbach’s

If you’re unfamiliar with Seelbachs.com, you’re missing out.  Seelbachs carries a wide variety of craft spirits that can ship to your door (in many states).  An occasional visit to the website and just scrolling through their inventory can reveal some interesting items: some you may have been looking for already and some you didn’t even know you wanted. 

The founder of Seelbachs, Blake Riber, has been a guest on Bourbon Turntable.  So, if you want to learn more about Seelbachs, please check out that show.

I recently had two bottles from Seelbachs that are very unique.  Sometimes when you say “unique” or “interesting” it’s code for “I’ve not had anything like this before and I hope I never do again”.  In this case, however, “unique” is a very good thing!

First, we’ll start with a McKenzie single barrel from Finger Lakes Distilling in Burdett, New York.  Finger Lakes Distilling produces some outstanding whiskey in their standard product line.  I’m especially a big fan of their bottle-in-bond bourbon.  They also have single barrel releases, many of which are one-off distillations.  The single barrels are difficult to come by, but, fortunately, some are occasionally available at Seelbachs. 

This particular single barrel is a 100% malted rye, 5.5 years old, non-chill filtered at a barrel strength of 103.2 proof.  A 100% malted rye (or a rye with a high malted rye content) always gets my attention.  These seem to yield some remarkable flavors and this one from Finger Lakes does not disappoint.

Nose: Floral, cedar, fresh cut grass, lemon zest

Taste: Mint tea, honey, blackberry, lemon and hint of oak

Finish: Initially, effervescent Fruit Stripe gum.  Then, old-fashioned lemon drop hard candy (the kind with tiny sugar crystals on the outside).  You can actually feel it coating your tongue.  Also, that hint of oak hangs around throughout.

This one is a fun ride.  But it is a ride that shouldn’t be rushed.  Let each sip of whiskey linger so you get that nostalgic old-fashioned lemon drop hard candy note.  It takes a few seconds to reveal itself.

The second whiskey is one of the experimental batches (#28) from Chattanooga Whiskey.  The mashbill is yellow corn, malted wheat and malted barley and is infused with cacao nibs, cinnamon and vanilla beans.  It is referred to as a “bourbon liqueur” on the label.

Nose: Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory (minus the Oompa Loompas).

Taste: The vanilla hits first, then cinnamon, and Mexican hot chocolate.  The overall taste can be summed up as a chocolate croissant. The croissant feel likely due to the malted wheat.

Finish: It is like a hard chocolate candy melting in your mouth (Riesen’s). 

Like the McKenzie’s, don’t rush the finish.  Let that chocolate “melt” awhile.  This particular experimental batch from Chattanooga will also work really well in certain cocktails.  I’ve played around with it a couple of times already and it is a lot of fun.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Bourbon Turntable Tasting: Rolling Fork Spirits

My Bourbon Turntable co-hosts (Drew Crawley, Benjamin Eaves) and I had the opportunity to sit down recently with Turner Wathen, co-founder of Rolling Fork Spirits.  I’ll share the tasting notes of what we sampled here, but you can enjoy the live tasting, some more background on Rolling Fork and our conversation with Turner about music by going here for the YouTube video or here for a podcast format.

The Rolling Fork Spirits name was resurrected in 2016 by Turner Wathen and his business partner, Jordan Morris.  Rolling Fork was the name of the distillery owned and operated by Turner’s ancestors back in the late 1700’s.  Today, Rolling Fork is a leading importer of rum into the United States with plans to have 500 barrels in their stock by 2023.

Turner provided us with three different Rolling Fork rums to try.   The Bourbon Turntable crew only had the country of origin on the sample bottles.  So, we didn’t know age, proof, etc. It was about as “blind” as it gets.

El Salvador

The first rum we tried was from El Salvador.  The initial impression we had was that this is a “vanilla bomb”.  This rum has a beautiful vanilla note on the nose, palate and finish.  Allspice, raisin, tobacco, and citrus (like grapefruit and orange peel) were other notes we experienced. 

After the first taste, Turner told us that this was a 10-year, 110-proof rum.  Rolling Fork had finished the rum in rye, port, sherry and double oak barrels.  Some barrels went through each secondary finish, but others did not.  Combined, the rum was aged a total of 12 years before being dumped and blended. 

Before finishing, Turner said the rum was like “Crème Brulé in a glass”.  That characteristic carried through, but Ben noted some “port funk” which was definitely from the time in the port cask.  I picked up on some toasted marshmallow which could be attributed to the “double oak” barrel.  All in all, the barrel finishes were properly managed and only added to the flavor without drowning out the original spirit.

Drew gave us the #FatGuyTastingNote we are all looking for when he reminisced about his grandmother’s cinnamon rolls (that included raisin and orange peel) while sipping on this rum from El Salvador.

Turner told us that “if you like this one, we are going to have a very good evening because it only gets better from here”.

Barbados

The nose on this rum from Barbados was full of butterscotch.  On the palate and the finish we detected caramel/coffee flavors that Ben said would appeal to those addicted to their Starbucks’ macchiato.  I caught a spicy pepper note in the finish that the guys thought might be more like a chipotle pepper.  Drew said there was something recognizable in this rum with walnut and marshmallow notes and an earthy finish.

This was a 9-year rum from Four Square that spent a year in an Old Forester 1910 barrel.  Drew, who worked at Old Fo for a time, now knew what made this rum seem familiar to him.

Turner shared that one of the things he likes about Four Square is their process.  They put the rum through a column still and then a pot still.  They also pay very close attention to making tight cuts.

Jamaica

This Jamaican rum carried some of the traits that we found in the rums from El Salvador and Barbados that we had already tried.  Vanilla, caramel, citrus and walnut were all there in a delicious combination.  We also enjoyed a bit of banana, chocolate and Juicy Fruit as we drank.

What we were drinking was a 14-year-old rum at 126-proof.  Each of us thought we detected flavors that indicated a finishing.  Rye?  No.  Sherry?  No.  Bourbon?  No.

This rum did not go through a finishing process at all.  Turner said their policy is that older, single barrel rums will simply be bottled and sold as-is.   They have an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) with the specific distillery for this spirit from Jamaica, but Turner did share that the rum goes through a two-week fermentation process and a wild yeast strain is used by the distiller.  It is also double-pot distilled. 

These rums were truly fantastic.  Rolling Fork is doing an excellent job finding quality barrels of rum to bring to Kentucky.  From there they can either finish them in a secondary barrel or simply bottle them and send these gems of the Caribbean on to the consumer. 

Rolling Fork rum can be found at several retailers in Kentucky as well as a few spots in Tennessee, Chicago and Mississippi.  However, there is a great selection of Rolling Fork products at Seelbach’s.  You can even find a discounted 3-pack special there.  The Jamaican Rum we tried is a Seelbach’s pick called “Mermaid with a Flamethrower” and is available on their site.

The consensus from the Bourbon Turntable gang is that Rolling Fork has some outstanding rum that is well worth your attention.  Even if you are more a bourbon drinker and not familiar with rum, we are confident that you will enjoy the quality and flavor from Rolling Fork Spirits.

What is a “Bourbon Turntable”?

As we say to open each episode, Bourbon Turntable is a show that blends the love of whiskey with the love of music. If you like either…check us out. If you like both…we are your people.

The crew on this program includes myself and two wonderful friends: Drew Crawley and Benjamin Eaves. With us you get three different palates, in music and in whiskey. We each hail from three different eras: I’m the OG, Drew is the youth and energy and Ben is the man in the middle. Three different perspectives on topics we love and you probably do, too.

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, all under Bourbon Turntable. Our program comes to you via YouTube and some of your favorite podcast platforms (Apple, Spotify and Google). Also, be sure to like the Bar Cart Co-op page on Facebook for authentic whiskey-related posts from more of our friends.

Cheers. Love. Free Bird!

Drew,, Kevin & Ben at Bourbons Bistro