Category Archives: Beyond Scotland

BMC Bourbon – Breaker Bourbon Port Barrel Finish 45%

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When I tried to find out more about this bourbon, it turns out it is more a brand than a specific new distillery entering the fray.

The folks over at Ascendant are quiet about the origins and details on their website. While the company is based in California, according to Distiller.com, the bourbon has a mash bill of corn, rye and malted barley which is sourced from  Indiana where it is distilled and aged for a minimum of five years, then blended and bottled in California.

Breaker Bourbon Port Barrel Finish Batch No 5 45% Bottle 727

  • Colour – Burnished ruby
  • Nose – Sweet and sour, yhesty, herbal, basil, dry spices of cardamon and cloves, black peppercorn… increasingly sweet then sour mash
  • Palate – Yhesty malt on the palate, dry, milder than expected, even a bit bitter
  • Finish – Hmm… there but… what exactly?
  • Water – Evens it out a bit

This was a strange one. There was no discernible influence from the Port finish – none of the stewed fruits or dark berries or even grapes of any kind. We simply weren’t sure about it so we set it aside.

And when we returned? No… just no… seriously no.

Let’s see what the folks over at Ascendant have to say:

This special edition Breaker Bourbon starts with fully matured bourbon and is finished in port wine barrels. It boasts a distinct hue and complex flavors of vanilla, cereal grains, oak, spice, and rich stewed fruit leading to a dry finish. Citrus and spice linger on the palate with baked apple notes beneath.

We certainly didn’t find much in common with the tasting notes. Pity.

BMC’s Bourbon Night

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BMC Bourbon – Clyde May’s Straight Bourbon 46%

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Clyde May’s takes inspiration from the story of Clyde May’s moonshine days in Alabama with their Conecuh Ridge style spirit which was essentially corn moonshine matured for a year in charred oak barrels with dried apples.

As for its modern avatar?  Kentucky Bourbon Distillers stepped in to produce the bourbon, though the branding retained a nod to Alabama. Why? Simply put prior to 2013, it was illegal to distill spirits in Alabama! However once the laws changed, rumour has it plans were hatched to build a distillery in Troy Alabama with developments at “an advanced stage.”

But what about the bourbon?

Clyde May’s Straight Bourbon Batch CM0791 Recipe No 2 92 Proof 46%

  • Colour – Caramel red gold
  • Nose – Musty granary then mellows out, mild wood, ripe banana but not the typical bold bananas of a rough bourbon but instead a soft nuanced banana loaf, peaches, then brewed tea chilled to make ice tea with lemon slices, then the wood comes back on top, followed by apples… almost like a honey sweet apple brandy
  • Palate – Back of the tongue banana, sweet, so much more interesting on the palate than we hand anticipated, honey and fruits, simply beautiful, mild and easy sipping
  • Finish – Oolong tea, truly lovely finish
  • Water – For those who gadded, found it became even sweeter, the fruits came out to the fore even more, burnt sugar with a nice peppery finish

The longer is sat in the glass, the more enjoyable the aromas. Particularly with the revisit, we found this a clear desert dram.

And with ice? Banana cream and baked apple pie, simply fabulous! Then shifts to orange blossoms and vanilla cream. However don’t let it get watered down… overly diluted it becomes sugar water and insipid. Instead, keep it topped up and enjoy!

As for paired with our bourbon soaked Gurkha? First half of the cigar was equally sweet and the Clyde May’s was a perfect complement. However by the time we got to the heavier spicier part of the cigar, this was no longer quite the right fit… instead we shifted to Bib & Tucker 10 year bourbon.

And what do the Clyde May’s folks have to say?

Aged 4 to 5 years in new 53 gallon oak barrels and is non-chill filtered. You get dried orchard fruits on the nose and spice on the palate. A full and smooth choice, best either on the rocks or in a May’s Manhattan.

  • Appearance: Rich crimson.
  • Nose: Soft and sweet on the nose with aromas of brown sugar, baked apricot, wild strawberry, and nutmeg.
  • Palate: Wonderfully soft with complex aromas of barrel spice, fruit, and oiled leather.
  • Finishes long and delicious.

When I reached out to what I could find for a contact of Clyde May’s, John Soden,
International Sales Director of Belfast Distillery Company Ltd/Conecuh Brands kindly stepped in to further share details about the bourbon:

  • Mash Bill is 78% Corn, 12% Rye and 10% Malted Barley
  • Char #4 barrels, non-chill filtered, aged for 4-5 years

While the Alabama element is adding apples, this can’t done with the straight bourbon we sampled for it to qualify as bourbon. They also clarified that while they have plans to build their own distillery, currently the whiskey is sourced with a “very strict set of criteria with regard to age/quality, production methods and ingredients.”

Bottom line, did we like it? Why yes we did!

BMC’s Bourbon Night

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BMC Bourbon – Four Roses Small Batch 45%

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This Kentucky small batch bourbon wasn’t originally part of the trio, however our host received it as a rather timely gift and decided to bring it along as an “appetizer” to our main “meal.”

As we poured, we compared notes on our preferred standard bourbons… names that came to mind included Blanton’s, Elijah Craig and yes – Four Roses… ideally with a nice large chunk of ice.

However, true to our tasting traditions… we sampled each first neat, then some added water, then each bourbon was set aside until all were tasted for a revisit… followed by closing which whisk(e)y we thought could best partner our cigar.

Four Roses Small Batch 45%

  • Colour – Bright yellow straw
  • Nose – Musty sweet mash, wood, bit of citrus, pear drops, oily orange, sweet tobacco leaf or sweet grass, loads of sour mash, hay…
  • Palate – Very smooth and a bit peppery
  • Finish – Orange zest with some thinking perhaps a chaser of anise
  • Water – Makes it spicier initially then once it settles down simply dilutes
  • Revisit – Coming back for a revisit after sampling the others – wow! Pear with sweet white flowers, certainly very easy going

Overall? We were reminded of why this bourbon came to mind in our collective short list. Truth be told, most of us are not typically bourbon drinkers unless it happens to be cocktail hour! In which case, having a base with more power is preferred.

As for what the folks over at Four Roses have to say?

  • Nose – Mellow spice, rich fruit, hints of sweet oak & caramel.
  • Palate – Mellow, ripened red berries, dried spice, well-balanced, rich.
  • Finish – Soft, smooth & pleasantly long.

We tried it from a closed bottle in Mumbai on March 2019.

As for what this would set you back? It remains quite affordable… currently selling on Master of Malt for approx $30.

BMC’s Bourbon Night

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BMC Bourbon Night Take 2 – Four Roses, Clyde May’s, Breaker, Bib + Tucker

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A personal connect often is the magic link in our sourcing efforts… Which is exactly why our Bombay Malt & Cigar group has enjoyed a decidedly Norther American “twang” to some of our tastings…

One member’s spouse is Canadian with a recent trip leading to  a Canadian Club tasting and another’s spouse is American. This member last brought us a Westland Trio and now a special evening focused purely on Bourbon!

But these were no ordinary run of the mill bourbons – nope! Other than Four Roses just to whet our whistles, the other three from Alabama to California are not your standard garden variety brash bourbons.

What did we think? Read on and discover!

BMC’s Bourbon Night

Our favourite? There was zero doubt that the Clyde May‘s came out on top for its delightful sweetness plus made a terrific complement to the cigar initially.

And next up? The Bib & Tucker was the most interesting… and as the cigar became spicier, most of us shifted to pairing with it instead.

For the rest? Four Roses the most accessible – both in palate and as a bourbon.

Whereas the Breaker Bourbon Port Barrel Finish? Not sure it quite worked for us… pity.

Interested in other Bourbon focused evenings? A few memorable ones include:

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Shelter Point’s 2018 Whisky Quartet

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I will admit to a certain bias… there is a good bit of Canadian pride at work when it comes to my experience with Shelter Point. However just because I think their single malt is the best to come out of Canada – sheer happiness in a bottle – doesn’t mean others do too.

Which is exactly I chose to do three rounds with this quartet which came courtesy of the lads over at Shelter Point – first with the Whisky Ladies then a couple weeks later with our original Mumbai tasting group and finally with a couple friends familiar with earlier editions from the distillery.

And what did we have an opportunity to try?

Shelter Point 2018 Quartet

The whiskies were complements of the Shelter Point distillery – shipped from BC to my folks in Manitoba then brought back to India on a recent trip to Canada in February 2019. We opened them in Mumbai late February 2019 with tastings that continued to late March 2019.

I was particularly thrilled to see the Artisanal Single Malt is now available in Manitoba for an exceedingly reasonable price of CND 67 (that’s less than US $50).

Just click on the links of the specific whiskies to read our collective tasting notes.

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Asian Delights – Nikka Whisky From the Barrel 54.1%

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Our Whisky Ladies of Mumbai are no strangers to Nikka Whisky – or this particular dram From the Barrel. Our last tryst was in 2017 when we tasted From the Barrel side by side with Super Nikka.

However our evening exploring “Asian Delights” veered towards gentle uncomplicated whiskies which demanded a close with something having a bit more “Oomph!”

So out popped this beauty to round out our evening… here is what we thought…

Nikka From the Barrel 54.1%

  • Nose – Initially a bit musty, overripe fruit, had a spice kick, needed time to settle down… cloves, sweet vanilla, rum raisins, baked fruit – particularly apple and pear, increasingly fruity as it opened up more, then revealed some flowers, even a bit of talcum powder
  • Palate – Fruity, spice, bold, malty, yet missing something
  • Finish – Lingers
  • Water – Do add! Enhances the character, rounds it, lots of body, wood came forward on the palate, completes this whisky… out comes some marvellous marshmallows, very tasty on the palate even with a chasing dash of cinnamon sweetness

Overall most preferred it with water – enjoying how it brought a more accessible, enjoyable, balanced dram.

What is nice about such a compact 500 ml bottle is that we have enough left over to enjoy a dram or two but not much more. As the last few drops came home with me, it might just be time to enjoy a wee nip!

What the Nikka folks have to say:

From The Barrel is an extremely complex blended whisky bottled at 51.4% ABV. In order to deliver its richness and full flavors, the blended liquid goes into used barrels for another few months for “marriage” before it is bottled.

We enjoyed a few other whiskies in our Asian Delights evening:

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Asian Delights – Kavalan Classic 40%

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The Whisky Ladies of Mumbai began our exploration of Kavalan Taiwanese whiskies in 2016, where we sampled an open bottle of the Concertmaster Port Cask Finish 40%… we then cranked it up several notches with the Solist Sherry cask S1001200358 57.8%. It was so memorable with its concentrated robust flavours that we decided to track down another bottle (this time from cask S090102020 57.1%) and share it in our “Ladies Choice” evening with our Bombay Malt & Cigar gents.

Fast forward and we found ourselves in 2019 checking out the “Classic“… here is what we thought…

Kavalan Classic 40%

  • Nose – Spruce, pine, fresh balsa, sweet with a hint of nuts, very comforting on the nose, loads of fruit
  • Palate – Had some character, spice, nice and dry, tannic, after some time a sugar syrup
  • Finish – Finally a proper finish!

Sweet on the nose, spice on the palate… a good entry level to the brand, bottled in 2016. It was opened a few months earlier and you can see from the photo that after our tasting, there wasn’t much left! However we certainly felt we had a good enough impression of a lively tasty dram.

Talk turned to how nice it is to find value for money… This particular bottle was purchased in Germany, however can also be found at The Whisky Exchange for  £54.45.

For those curious to check out more Kavalan’s tasted over the years, pop over to the Asian whiskies page.

Here’s a few more whiskies we enjoyed in our Asian Delights:

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Asian Delights – Nikka Coffey Malt Whisky 45%

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Much like the Akashi White Oak where we had twice sampled the Red Blend but not the Single Malt, we also tried the Nikka Coffey Grain twice but not the Malt version.

Our first blush of the Nikka Coffey Grain in 2016 made us think of piña colada… two years later when we tasted another bottle in an evening exclusively featuring grains, we still found it had a delightful desert like quality.

Both are make in Nikka’s Coffey still however the difference is that the grain is mostly made from corn whereas the malt from malted barley.

What did we think of the malted version?

Nikka Coffey Malt Whisky 45%

  • Nose – Chocolaty cream, tiramisu, marzipan, toffee, like a sweet Amarula, a caramel Irish Baily’s, candied cherries, a cherry cough syrup, banana, cinnamon
  • Palate – Soft, flat, linear, thin body, cheery and cherry, smooth
  • Finish – Hardly there
  • Water – Spicier on the nose, cream and fruit

Overall it retained a sweet dessert quality yet was heavier and darker than we remembered the Grain one… nothing complex but still satisfying and most enjoyable in its way.

Here is what the folks over at Nikka have to say about their Coffey Malt:

Coffey Malt is made from 100% malted barley. However it is not categorized as “malt whisky” but as “grain whisky” since it is not distilled in a pot still. This unique production method results in extraordinary flavors and texture.

We enjoyed a few more whiskies in our Asian Delights evening:

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Asian Delights – White Oak Akashi Single Malt 40%

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Akashi Japanese whisky is actually a part of the Eigashima distillery which has made sake and shochu since the late 1880s. From 1919, the “White Oak Whisky” distillery was making whisky of sorts… however from 1984, equipped with a new pot still based on Scottish designs, the distillery started to make “proper” whisky under the brand of Akashi. While it predominantly made blends, production of single malts – like this one – started in 2007.

And while it is known as Japanese whisky, the barley and malts are imported from Scotland. In keeping with Scottish whiskies, they are aged for a minimum of 3 years however with the warmer climate in Akashi, the Angels share is considerably more than in Scotland.

For a few years now, Akashi White Oak whiskies – both the blend and single malt – can be found in Mumbai Duty Free for a reasonable price. Largely linked to this accessibility and affordability, our Whisky Ladies first sampled the blend in late 2016. We enjoyed its simple “apple cider” quality so much that we tracked down a 2nd bottle to share with the gents in a “Ladies Choice” evening early 2017.

Knowing one small bottle alone would not be sufficient, I’d called for reinforcements – and got two – both another Red Blended and this Single Malt! Both Red were opened and polished off but this bottle was kept aside, patiently waiting for the right opportunity to opened with its contributor.

Finally in March 2019 the moment came…. and what did we think?

White Oak Akashi Single Malt 40%

  • Nose – Fruity and spicy, green apples, simple and sweet, evolved into a happy candy floss, shifting to cinnamon and vanilla cream
  • Palate – Mmmmm…. apple, a bit of wood, quite pleasant, a nice spice, uncomplicated yet had some character
  • Finish – Easy going, slightly bitter

An earlier experience from an open bottle left me with the impression of bubble gum… this time? “Grown up” bubble gum!

Here’s a few more whiskies we enjoyed in our Asian Delights evening:

And our earlier Akashi tasting experiences?

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Whisky Ladies Eastern Promise – Akashi, Nikka Coffey + From the Barrel, Kavalan

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Over the years, we’ve had the occasional opportunity to revisit or explore a “sibling” of a particular whisky. This was very much the case in our March Whisky Ladies session where each whisky was a variation on a familiar theme… yet distinctly different too!

Whisky Ladies Asian Delights

Even when revisiting the same whisky, each experience is unique – what we discover from a fresh bottle differs from an open one, what we found in a different year, mood, context influences our experience…

That’s the fun of exploring whiskies together – we contrast and compare – both the whiskies and our individual impressions. When it is with terrific company and a lovely setting, what could be more enjoyable?

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