FEW | Whisky Lady

The beauty of bourbon is how its full sweet flavours can make a killer base for a solid cocktail. The better the bourbon, the better the base, the better the cocktail.

And that’s just what we explored with our FEW Bourbon Manhattan…

First we sampled it blind, then we had it in a specially crafted cocktail.

FEW Bourbon 46.5% Batch 17H30

Nose – Fresh yeasty, flowers… like marigold or chrysanthemums, light citrus, quite sweet, light sacred ash, honey, raisins and apricots, dusty grains, perfume and lightly sour
Palate – Tastes quite different than the nose indicated, spice, cloves and oils, not at all harsh, sweet, with a walnut bitterness, something odd not normally found in whiskies like pulses or lentils
Finish – Minimal and a bit bitter.

While it came across as a bit soft and thin, there was still plenty going on. For the bourbon fans in the room, there was no doubt this was a fine specimen. Too soon our wee snifters with just a few sips were empty and it was time to move on to the next…

But this wasn’t it for us! No siree! After the teasing sample, out came one really quite fabulous Manhattan.

What do the folks at FEW have to say about their Bourbon?

Southern Tradition meet Norther Rye…

This spirit, distilled through timeless liquor-making techniques, utilizes a three-grain recipe that infuses generations of Southern tradition with the spiciness of northern rye and a touch of malt for smoothness. FEW is hand-crafted through a small-batch process in charred oak barrels to age its bourbon whiskey.

In a terrific twist, FEW Spirits takes their name from Frances Elizabeth Willard, a key figure in the Temperance Movement, The craft distillery is based in Evanston which has seen its fair share of Prohibition…. which sparked the creation of a remarkable array of illicit liquor plus import of Canadian rye whisky that was sometimes so harsh it had to be mixed up with various ingredients… making way for the famous flapper accoutrement – the cocktail!

Our Bourbon trio included:

FEW Bourbon 46.5% was the base for a rather delicious Manhattan
Mitcher’s Small Batch 45.7% morphed into a marvellous Sazerac
Cleveland Underground AP Bourbon 45% finished with Apple Wood, Batch 3, frothed into a twist on a Whiskey Sour

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Sometimes its good to shake things up! And that’s exactly what we experienced in our recent session. Literally shaking up some bourbon to make cocktails!

To get us in the mood, our evening began with a pop quiz on Bourbon, with fun factoids like a crash course into the confoundingly confusing mix of prohibition and restrictions (wet, dry, moist, wine, limited, golf…) to be found around alcohol consumption in the very state that boosts of bringing bourbon to the world – Kentucky!

Once our trivia round was finished, we dove into the Bourbons. We started with just a few sips of each… then the “main event” commenced…carefully crafted cocktails playing with the different elements of the drams.