The name “Whiskey Town” was chosen to reflect the history of San Francisco as its “notorious Barbary Coast had crime, depravity and viciousness, yet it possessed more glamour than any other area of vice and inequity on the American continent.” The many ne’er-do-wells who came to the Bay Area “developed a refined taste for California’s fine food, spirits, and adventuring.”
These first Whiskey Town expressions capture this swashbuckling, yet Victorian air with one three-year-old whiskey and one 26-year-old “Lost Barrel” whiskey. The first, assumedly, is their flagship dram, where the second appears to be a cool side project of resurrecting long forgotten barrels and giving them their moment in the sun. Perhaps this arose from the spirit of the 49ers, drawing gold from the rough hewn ground, or perhaps it was something closer to “that sounds awesome.”
Either way, these efforts should be applauded.
The Whiskey Town three-year-old Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a young start for a flagship bourbon (notes indicate it was “distilled and aged in Indiana”), as anything with an age statement with lower than 5 years usually raises eyebrows. However, the distillers’ use of a modern method of finishing the whiskey with oak staves, rather than further aging in a barrel, creates the experience of a more tamed bourbon.
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This method, while unusual, has become more common with distillers, such as Broken Barrel Whiskey Co. The advantage of staves is that distillers, and at home whiskey tinkerers, have more agility to craft the flavor they want. Wanting more oak and roasted flavors? Add a stave with a higher char. Want more vanilla? Consider throwing in a French oak stave.
Tasting Notes: Whiskey Town Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Vital Stats: Aged three years. 90 Proof (45% ABV). Craft finished on oak staves. $55.00.
Appearance: It has orange burst with tints of red and brown like a sunset through clouds.
Nose: Notes of hay and sawdust hit immediately but soften to quieter tones of cherry blossom, and light plum, with roasted hazelnuts filling the center.
Palate: Buttery butterscotch mix with hints of milk chocolate while anise and spice kick in. Cornmeal and vanilla persist through the palate, with a nice finish of darker berries and plum.
