Historic Tasting notes

There's a lot of history and 'lore' behind bourbon so discuss both here.

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Historic Tasting notes

Unread postby bourbonv » Mon Jan 09, 2006 11:50 am

This one is for you, Gary! I have a very nice, long letter from J D Thompson to E H Taylor, Jr. Thompson is a whiskey broker in San Francisco who also wants to write a book on rectifying whiskey. The letter has many different formulas for adjusting whiskey proof using water and fruit juices as well as nuetral spirits. His P.S. is very interesting as he discusses some of Taylor's whiskey:

"The whiskey I examined at W T Coleman's is a pure copper whiskey but it is not rich enough to be made profitable to wholesale liquor dealers as they make their profits by cutting their whiskey, consequently they require a rich whiskey. I will predict that your whiskey is either a wheat in combination with rye and corn or that it is rectified in Charcoal."

He is wrong in both cases since Taylor used White Corn, rye and barley malt - up to 25% barley malt, to make his whiskey. Even so this is as close to maodern tasting notes that I have found in this collection so far.

Mike Veach
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Unread postby gillmang » Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:11 pm

Very interesting, Mike, thanks. Clearly he thought Taylor's whiskey was light-bodied, since whiskey with a high wheat content has a light taste (e.g., HH's new wheat whiskey) and of course a whiskey filtered in maple charcoal also is lighter and less rich than one not so treated. I believe the Taylor whiskey of the day may have tasted a lot like Heaven Hill's current straight wheat whiskey, based on this comment. True, it was made as you said from a traditional bourbon mashbill, but it must have been a light, delicate whiskey. A heavy rich whiskey would have been preferred by someone, as Thompson, with blending and cutting in mind. Perhaps the heavy whiskeys of the day were somewhat like Woodford Reserve is today. For my own blending I find WR is ideal, for the very reason Thompson disclosed.

Gary
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Unread postby bourbonv » Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:28 am

In the book "Kentucky's Distilling Interest" there are some brief flashes of description that might help illustrate what the 19th century drinker thought about how whiskey should taste. The first thing is that there seems to be two categories for flavor - "Heavy bodied" and "Clean and mellow". The closest it come to tasting notes as we know them is in an R. Monarch - Glenmore Distillery Company advertisement that reads:

"All People do not like the old fashioned, hand-made, sour mash whiskies such as R. Monarch, Kentucky Club and the like, because they are too heavy and have too much flavor to suit some drinkers. What the want is a light bodied, mild and fruity whiskey, that mellows at an early age and in youth is free of the heavier oils. Such a whiskey is the famous Glenmore."


This advertisement is telling customers that R. Monarch makes both styles of whiskey so he can please any person's tastes. The advertisement ends by saying of R Monarch's whiskeys that "It is Pure and it is as fine as silk."

While not describing what they thought of Bourbon, the Freiberg and Workum pages describe their export business to Mexico, Central and South america as well as the Hawaiian Islands. Here is what they say about Kentucky whiskey in foriegn countries.

"While the natives of these countries superstitiously reject our overtures at civilization in almost every respect, they eagerly set aside their heathenish mescal and other fiery liquors for the velvety richness of such beverages as the "W T Snyder", "Lexington Club", etc."

One company uses silk to describe their product while yet another Velvet. Fine clothe is a very good example for comparison in the 19th century since only the well to do could afford such fine fabrics. It is similar to modern advertisers comparing the product with Rolls Royce or Cadillac. In this case though, you can get an image of the taste as very fine and smooth with silk and smooth yet slightly fuzzy for velvet. You can imagine these taste on your tounge. A very good mouth feel is what the modern writer might say.
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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