Next up in our “out of the ordinary” North American evening was a return to AD Laws. A few months ago, we sampled their core AD Laws Four Grain Bourbon – enjoying its robust character.
So when an opportunity arose to try a pair of their grain experiments, thought why not?
When this bottle was pulled out and the type of wheat declared… speculation ran rife that triticum just might be the grain mentioned in Star Trek’s “Trouble with tribbles“… Turns out it was triticale – which is a hybrid of triticum wheat and secale rye. Bravo for our Star Trek trivia lady! And amusingly, the AD Laws folks also have a Secale Straight Rye too.
What did our ladies think?
AD Laws Triticum Straight Wheat Batch 1B, 2 years 50%
- Nose – Initially sour curd, uncooked porridge, soaked wheat, dry powdery quality, mulch, fermaldahyde, wheat, wheat and more wheat, slightly sweet, husks, mould
- Palate – Grain, sweet grains – like chewing on raw grains til it becomes ‘gum’
- Finish – Grassy, grain
- Water – Even more grassy if that is even possible!
Overall we found it exceedingly rustic. Like returning to farm life.
One lady reached for taco chips and found the salt mixed well with the grainy quality of the whisky.
Another joked that this is the kind of whisky that… if it was a blind date, at some point you politely excuse yourself to go to the washroom… and escape without returning!
One wondered… if tribbles had got into this triticum wheat, would they have so rapidly bred and multiplied?
Needless to say, while we admired the ingenuity and effort to craft something unique, we were underwhelmed by the result.
In their recommendations of how best to sample the Triticum, the bottle notes to have with a splash of water and cube ice. Wanting to give it another chance, I tried just this the next day at home.
What did I think? A significant improvement. Sunshine and honey sweetness with the overwhelming grainy quality subdued. Not such a bad recommendation.
Here is what the folks over at AD Laws have to say about their Triticum:
A.D. Laws Straight Triticum (Trit-e-come) Whiskey is our homage to wheat, the “Grain of Civilization.” Skillfully mashed, fermented and distilled to accentuate the welcoming character of this high-mountain, Colorado-grown wheat, Triticum is exceptionally smooth and approachable with fruit, caramel and baking spice notes.
- Classic open air, sour mash fermentation
- Distilled twice through our Vendome 4-plate pot/column still
- Aged no less than than 3 years in full-sized 53 gallon new American white oak barrels
- Bottled at 100 proof
There are apparently two recipes:
- Recipe A – 100% Colorado-grown wheat
- Recipe B – 96% Colorado wheat, 4% Colorado barley
We sampled Recipe B and our bottle indicated it was aged for 2 not 3 years.
What all did we try in our “out of ordinary” evening?
- Shelter Point Single Malt (2016, Batch #1) 46%
- Westland Single Malt 46%
- AD Laws Triticum Straight Wheat 2 year (Batch #1B) 50% – This post
- AD Laws Hordeum Straight Malt 2 year (Batch #1B) 42.5%
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