I was at the event last night where Master Distillers Parker and Craig Beam debuted the new vintage. A great time, and a very nice whiskey too. Here are a few pics from my Blackberry. (Some are a little blurry…)
This year’s Evan Williams Single Barrel: 15th vintage!! 2000 vintage.
Master Distiller Parker Beam talking about the new vintage!! Cool!
Parker and Craig Beam pouring. Damn I’m thirsty for a bourbon–out of the barrel, no less! 142.9 proof! Their highest ever!
This is the closest thing I will get to Communion!!
Gary Regan: I poured too much water in mine, can you top it up Craig?
Why didn’t I think of that?
Larry Kass at Heaven Hill (not pictured): ” We have this really cool high speed bottling line. You should see it.”
Me thinking to myself: “Oh no, not another bottling line! The least exciting part of any distillery tour.”
And to end my evening at the bar called Proof: a penguin taking care of business, surprising us all…
No thoughts/reviews on the new release?
Oh, my God. I am all envy!
Looks awesome! What a great experience!
Now where is this EWSB 2000 distilled? I am referring to this post: http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2007/09/evan-williams-single-barrel-vintage-is.html
Dutch, I enjoyed the barrel sample immensely. We tasted that at the beginning of the evening and my palate was fresh. We also tasted a bottled version later in the evening and, after an evening of food and drink, there’s no way I can offer up a critical opinion right now. I enjoyed it, but that’s all I can say. I’ll post up a formal review soon.
Abinash, that’s a very good question! As many of you know, Heaven Hill’s distillery burned down in a fire in 1996. Until they bought the Bernheim distillery and got it up and running, they were having their whiskey distilled in other places (as chuck points out in your link). But Larry Kass, communications director for Heaven Hill, told me on Saturday night that this vintage is from THEIR distillery.
[...] flu!! I somehow picked this up during my weekend with the Heaven Hill [...]
The bourbon was fantastic (I was lucky enough to have a shot of that barrel – really nice), and how about them meatballs and the bread pudding for dessert! What a fantastic event put on by The Bardstown Bourbon Society. (I have to say, the human statues kinda creeped me out a bit, tho). For everyone out there who is a follower of HH’s fantastic products, you owe it to yourself to sign up at their website for the free membership and schedule a trip to KY to coincide with one of their events. Magnifique!
This thread had raised a question which I am sure someone here can answer: how significant are the differences between bottles originating from different barrels in a “single barrel” bourbon? Even if every barrel was sampled before selecting to ensure consistency there must be some variation.
Thanks!
Michael
Mr. Manhattan, that’s a good question, and I’m going to take that issue and expand it to all single barrel whiskeys in a new posting.
Thanks, John. I look forward to hearing what folks have to say on this topic. – Michael
My pleasure, Mr. Manhattan. And thanks for bringing up the topic. I already put up a posting and we’re already getting comments.