Editor’s Note: These whiskies were provided to us as free samples to review by the party behind it. The Whiskey Wash, while appreciative of this, did keep full independent editorial control over this article.
It feels like craft whiskey might be entering a new phase. It’s not quite Version 2.0 – more like 1.5 – but the number of craft brands with products aged at least two years (or more!) and actually made onsite seem to be growing.
Low Gap (owned by the impossible-to-Google American Craft Whiskey Distillery) is one of those craft brands producing thoughtful whiskies. These are spirits that avoid the trap of mimicking offerings from older, better-established brands with big rickhouses and lots of aged stock, and actually add something new to the whiskey landscape.
Low Gap doesn’t have a dedicated facility. Instead, founder Crispin Cain makes their products at Germain-Robin Distillery in Ukiah, California, one of the nation’s first craft distilleries. Known for high-end French-style brandy, Germain-Robin has recently started dabbling in other categories through partnerships with distillers interested in using their antique cognac stills. It’s an approach that mirrors the popular “nomad” strategy used by craft beer brands like Mikkeller and Evil Twin.
Cain is committed to a hands-on approach, including mashing and fermenting onsite. The product portfolio includes two-year rye, two-year blended, two-year 100 proof wheat, new make rye, two year wheat, and, most recently, the two products discussed in this review: four-year wheat and a straight bourbon made from a mash bill of 65% corn, 20% malted barley, and 15% malted rye. Like Germain-Robin’s brandies, all Low Gap whiskies are proofed with filtered rainwater.
These are balanced, grain-forward whiskies with a strong sense of prima materia. While they’re not made by Germain-Robin’s distillers, both share the brand’s preference for a soft mouth feel and delicate balance of well-integrated flavors.
Tasting Notes
Low Gap Four-Year-Old Wheat
Appearance: Medium blonde with a soft texture
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Nose: Somewhat dusty and vaporous at first, the addition of water helps calm the sharper notes and reveals ester-forward aromas of banana and milk chocolate chips.
Palate: Beginning with tart tropical fruit, the palate builds with big, successive levels of clove and spice. It’s surprisingly bold.
Finish: On the shorter side, but spicy and lip-tingling. A dry, slightly mouth-puckering finish invites another sip.
The marketing materials describe this whiskey as “dense and complex,” and they’re spot on. Low Gap Four-Year-Old Wheat refutes the notion that all wheat whiskeys are soft and mild, yet this one isn’t harsh or overwrought, either – just bigger and more complicated than I expected. Very enjoyable.
FINAL SCORE: 90/100
Low Gap Bourbon
Appearance: Light, glowing gold with a more viscous texture
Nose: Smooth and buttery, reminiscent of a buttered whole-grain English muffin dabbed with orange marmalade. There’s a fun, almost fuzzy note of honeydew, as well as balanced oak.
Palate: Starts off as innocuous vanilla buttercream frosting before moving into escalating levels of wood spice and savory grain, seemingly a common characteristic of Low Gap’s whiskies.
Finish: Not terribly long, but quite lovely, with a minimal astringency giving delineation and structure as well as lingering flavors of cucumber, peach, and melon.
Low Gap calls this bourbon “friendly and approachable,” and they’re right. It’s clear that this is young bourbon, but it’s fun to drink nevertheless.
FINAL SCORE: 88/100
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