Dusty Thursday: The Bourbon Heritage Collection

Back in the early '90s, when the bourbon renaissance was just in its embryonic stages, United Distillers & Vintners (the company that would later become Diageo) released the Bourbon Heritage Collection. The Heritage Collection was a series of five whiskeys from the company's US distilleries. These include whiskeys distilled at Stitzel-Weller and labels that no longer exist, so I was pretty happy to find an old set of miniatures (you know I love the minis) representing the entire collection.

I found these in a small Greenwich Village liquor store. They come in a gray, rectangular box with no outside marking and there were two of them tucked away on a back shelf. My guess is no one had opened the little boxes for years. This is a good case of knowing what you are looking for. If I hadn't been familiar with the gray box (or curious enough to ask to see it), I would have easily have passed these over. Instead, I grabbed them up for $18 per set. And because they had been tucked away in their gray boxes, the minis were in great condition, just like new.


Here's a run down of the whiskeys followed by some tasting notes.

Old Fitzgerald 12 and Weller Centennial. These are the prizes of the collection, distilled at the old Stitzel-Weller distillery which closed in 1991. After the closure, UDV continued to sell them for a while until it eventually sold the labels off; Buffalo Trace got Weller and Heaven Hill got Fitzgerald, but the minis in this pack were from the old days. While this set may have been bottled after the closure of the distillery, the bourbon itself was most likely distilled at Stitzel-Weller (which we know from the Louisville address on both labels). Buffalo Trace continued to make Weller Centennial for about another decade and discontinued it a few years ago. Heaven Hill still makes the Old Fitzgerald label. As with all Stitzel-Wellers, they are wheated bourbons.


Old Fitzgerald 12 years old, 45% abv

The nose on this has sweet corn and oak. The palate is a bit flat with soapy notes, and it's hot for its abv. Some caramel and candy notes in the background. Finish is sweet and a bit buttery.

Weller Centennial, 10 years old, 50% abv

The nose on this is really sweet and caramelly. The palate is sweet and woody with a fair amount of acid. The finish is sweet bourbon. I have had a number of bottles of Weller Centennial, both Stitzel-Weller and Buffalo Trace, which were excellent, but this one doesn't quite live up to those.

The Old Fitz is fine and the Weller is good but neither of these match up to the better Stitzel-Wellers I've had. They both had a certain flatness to them.


Old Charter Proprietor's Reserve and I.W. Harper Gold Medal. Since I don't know when exactly these bottles date from, I'm not sure if these two were made at the Bernheim distillery or the old Belmont distillery. Both labels were made by Belmont until UDV bought the distillery and tore it down. In its place, they opened the Bernheim distillery in 1992 and then sold it to Heaven Hill in 1999. The Harper brand is still owned by Diageo but bottled only for export, and the Charter brand is now owned by Buffalo Trace. Trace discontinued the Proprieter's Reserve label around the same time they got rid of Weller Centennial.


IW Harper Gold Medal, 15 years old, 40% abv

IW Harper is probably the least well regarded of the collection. The nose is light but has nice blush wine notes. The palate is a bit on the harsh side with lots of bourbon-corn and alcohol notes. The finish is salty/savory. It's not bad, but it lacks much depth.

Old Charter Proprietor's Reserve, 13 years old, 45% abv

This has a nice rich nose with some floral notes. The palate starts rich with candy notes then turns to chewy, woody notes which last into the finish, accompanied by caramel. It's definitely one of the nicer whiskeys in the set.


George Dickel. Dickel is the only American distillery that remains in the Diageo portfolio. I'm a big fan of Dickel, so I was excited to try this no longer available version.

George Dickel Special Barrel Reserve, 10 years old, 43% abv

The nose has that nice Dickel woodiness. The palate opens well with wood planks (tastes like Home Depot) but then it develops a diluted quality and water seems to drown out the flavor. The finish brings back some of the wood and some maple syrup, but the whole thing doesn't come together very well.


I was excited to find this mini collection (and they say there aren't any dusties in Manhattan!) but overall, while of these whiskeys were decent, none was that exciting. The Weller and Charter were the best, followed by the Fitzgerald, the Dickel and then IW Harper bringing up the rear.

The thing about dusties is that sometimes a weird old mystery bottle turns out to be great but sometimes a fabulous find turns out to be just okay.

The Classic BenRiach

BenRiach is one of the more interesting distilleries around today. Located in the Speyside region of Scotland, it was traded among big companies for many years before being purchased by an independent group of businessmen in 2004. The same group now owns the GlenDronach distillery as well.

One of the things I like about BenRiach is that they make mini bottles of more than just their youngest expression. They sell two four-mini bottle sets: (1) the Classic Collection includes the no age statement Heart of Speyside, 12, 16 and 20 year olds; (2) the Peated & Classic Collection includes the 12 and 16 year old along with the peated 10 year old Curiositas and peated 21 year old Authenticus. Both sets run from $24 to $30, and they are available at Hi-Time and Binny's.

Since I've already written up Curiositas, I thought I'd dive into the Classic Collection (prices listed below are for full sized bottles).


BenRiach Heart of Speyside, 40% abv

I didn't include a price for this non age statement version of BenRiach because I couldn't find it listed for sale on any of the US sites. It may be that the miniature is the only version available here. The nose on this is all fruit with pears, green grapes and Riesling. The palate is white grape juice with malt in the background. The finish is short-lived, a bit fruity, a bit soapy. This is a very light, fruity malt. Not exactly my style but not unpleasant.


BenRiach 12, 43% ($40)

The nose on the 12 year old definitely has some of the fruity notes from the Heart of Speyside, but they are more muted and have more malt. The palate is less fruit juice than fruit wine with some more complex fruit notes, such as berries, overlayed on a malty canvass. The finish is more malty than fruity.


BenRiach 16, 43% abv ($70)

At 16 years, the malt has overtaken the fruit on the nose, but there is still substantial fruit. The fruit on the palate is now more of a dried fruit variety with plenty of malt on all sides; there's also a slight sulphur note. It still has a fairly light character and is quite sweet.


BenRiach 20, 43% abv ($100)

The nose on this one is quite mild with floral notes. The palate has shed its fruit in favor of sweet malt. It's definitely richer than its younger siblings, with malt and just a whisper of ash. The finish gives you lingering malt and a bit more of the floral note that was on the nose.


I can't say I'm overly impressed with the BenRiach line. Sweet and fruity is simply not my favored flavor profile, but if it's yours, you may want to dig into these. I did enjoy the less fruity 20 year old, but at $100, there are many other malts I would pick ahead of it.

Jonathan Gold's Gift to Koreatown: Sun Ha Jang

Pulitzer Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold's last big project for the LA Weekly before moving (back) to the LA Times was a massive paean to my neighborhood. His 60 Korean Dishes Every Angeleno Should Know is a tour de force of culinary completeness, showing the type of mastery of a single cuisine and ability to both highlight well known stars and seek out lesser known treasures that had been absent from many of Gold's recent compilations which seemed like so much warmed over retreads of earlier work.

As I gazed through the list though, one thing spoke to me: Duck Bulgogi. I rolled the phrase around in my brain thinking there was no finer combination of words in any language. Duck Bulgogi showed the promise of gamy meat grilling in its own fat, like a Korean confit with chili sauce. My usual policy is to hold off for at least two weeks before going to anything reviewed by Gold to avoid the "Gold rush" that occurs at an establishment subsequent to his reviews, but I couldn't resist the pull of Duck Bulgogi, and besides, with a full 60 reviews in one issue, the Gold rush effect would likely be muted.

Finding Sun Ha Jang, the site of the dish of my dreams, was a bit challenging. It lies in an Olympic Boulevard strip mall, just east of Crenshaw, but the only English is in very small print on the strip mall sign post. Luckily, I had my Korean speaking daughter with me, but while the English name doesn't appear on the actual restaurant, there are pictures of ducks on the windows, so just drive down the street and look for the ducks. Sure enough, the place was pretty much empty when I got there (though I had come early on a Sunday evening, just in case).

Duck bulgogi is a bit of a misnomer, at least based on my assumptions about bulgogi. The dish you want is listed as "roasted duck" on the menu, and it's unseasoned, more like a duck version of the roast gui you can get at Dong Il Jang and similar establishments than seasoned beef bulgogi.

As usual when tackling a new Korean BBQ dish, I let the waitress set us up. She used a wad of kimchi to plug the grease drain in the pan. "Not for eating," she told us. Then she lit the flame and put the duck slices on with a handful of garlic cloves. That's when the magic happens. The duck cooks down and releases massive amounts of fat which roast the garlic. Most of the panchan provided are actually for directly accompanying the duck as opposed to eating alone. There is a lettuce and onion salad, scallions with chili sauce and wonderful pickled onions (they need to get those into some cocktails pronto). You take a piece of duck, dab on some chili sauce, and then scoop up some combination of salad, scallions and pickled onions with your chop sticks, letting it all roll around on your tongue. The acid of the onions and the heat of the chili cut the pure fat of the duck and make for a balanced combination. On top of that, the little slivers of duck fat that fall off the leaner meat fry in their own grease until they become delightfully crispy little duck chicharrones.

As with roast gui, after the meat is gone, the waitress makes fried rice from the remaining fat, meat bits and panchan. As my wife often asks, is there anything that's not better fried in duck fat? Well, I'm not sure I know the answer, but fried rice is definitely better in duck fat, the rice soaking up the intense duck flavor, the grains blending with the little bits of fried fat. It's like grease with texture.

We ordered some regular beef bulgogi as well and it was very good (barbecued in the kitchen), but the thing to get hear is the roast duck and that's what every table was eating.

It's an amazing meal, though not for those who shy away from fat or worry about the state of their artery blockages. Thanks to Jonathan Gold, and good luck to him at the Times.


Sun Ha Jang
4032 W. Olympic Boulevard.
Los Angeles, CA 90006
(323) 634-9292

Dusty Thursday: Old Taylor 86 (circa 1982)

Old Taylor from the National Distillers days seems to be one of the more prevalent dusties out there. Back in the 1970s and '80s it was made in at least three versions that I've seen in stores: 80 proof, 86 proof and Bottled in Bond 100 proof. Today I sample an 86 proof.

Like Old Crow and Old Overholt, Old Taylor was a National Distillers brand that was sold off to Beam which promptly ruined it. The brand was recently sold by Beam to Buffalo Trace but the standard yellow label Taylor may still be made with Beam bourbon.

Old Taylor 86 proof (43% abv), 6 years old, 500 ml bottle.

The nose is chock full of caramel and toffee notes...candy all the way with just a touch of spice. The palate is rich and syrupy with maple syrup, vanilla extract and just a dash of clove, followed by some citric acid. It's full bodied and full of flavor. The finish is pure vanilla.

I've had a number of these Old Taylors and they all seem to have a lot of flavor going on. Given that they are among the more available dusties, I would definitely recommend picking one up if you see it.

The Laddie 10 Arrives Stateside

Bruichladdich made a huge splash last year with the release of the Laddie 10, the first ten year old malt distilled after Bruichladdich was reopened in 2001. The new malt was given year end awards by both Ralfy
and Whisky Advocate. We in the states didn't have a chance at the malt last year, but it's finally arrived on our shores.

The Laddie 10 (Bruichladdich), 10 years old 46% abv ($55)

For part of the unpeated line, the nose on this is immediately peaty, though not in an overwhelming way, and a bit acidic with some fruity notes, maybe even a hint of sherry. The palate also comes on peat forward with a sweet malty backup. The finish is peaty and yeasty. The peat in this is immediately recognizable though certainly lighter than a heavily peated whisky. The character is more of coal than smoke, and there's plenty of sweetness to keep it in balance.

This is a very nice malt, but it doesn't strike me as the stuff of awards. Because of their independent, fighting spirit and the fact that they reopened a closed distillery, I think all of us whisky fans root for Bruichladdich, and that sentiment surely goes into some of the recognition they get. As I said, this is a very good malt. Sweet with medium peating, it's quite drinkable, but there is not much in the way of complexity. As a standard 10 year old, though, this may be exactly what is intended, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone looking for a peated but not ashtray-sucking flavor profile.

This is not the first expression Bruichladdich has put out from its own distillate; several years ago, they released the Resurrection Dram, a seven year old. Since I still had some left from a previous review, I did a head to head. As one might expect, the Resurrection Dram is a bit more raw and stronger tasting, though they have the same abv. Resurrection is more syrupy and fruity while the Laddie 10 has more peat (which may indicate that they are not the same composition, since if they were, you would think the younger version would have stronger peat). I'd say they are of equal quality but quite different in flavor profile.

The Laddie 10 is surely an accomplishment, but I'm not as ga-ga over it as the rest of the whisky world. I expect that it will settle down and take its place among the very good standard expressions. As the whisky continues to age, it will be interesting to see what other standard age expressions Bruichladdich adds to the lineup.

Whiskey Law: Have a COLA and a Smile

US regulations require the federal Alcohol Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) to preapprove all alcohol labels used in the United States. Companies wishing to sell any form of alcohol must apply to the TTB for a Certification of Label Approval (COLA). Through this process, the TTB reviews the label for compliance with federal regulations.

The COLA approvals are publicly available through the TTB's on-line database. This is actually quite helpful to consumers because it allows you to view the labels for any approved spirit.

For instance, say you hear about the release of a new high-rye bourbon and you're wondering it is sourced from LDI in Indiana. Just go to the TTB, search by the name of the whiskey, click to see the "printable version" and look for the tell-tale "Distilled in Indiana" on the label. The COLA approval will also tell you the name of the company that requested the approval, which can be helpful in searching through whiskeys that aren't forthcoming about their provenance.

Since this is a preapproval process, you can also find out what whiskeys might be coming out in the future. For instance, a search of "E.H. Taylor," Buffalo Trace's new line of limited releases, produces a number of results, including this application for an E.H. Taylor Straight Rye.

Similarly, if you are a Scotch fan, a search for Murray McDavid or any other independent bottler will show you what new Scotch releases might be coming our way. Before any press release goes out, you know the inside scoop!

Now go ahead, spend the rest of the day geeking out and searching for labels.

Dusty Thursday: Eagle Rare 101

Today for Dusty Thursday I get to sample one of the whiskeys that was on my holiday wish list. Thanks to the generous reader who helped me out.

According to Chuck Cowdery, the Eagle Rare 101 brand was established in 1975 to compete with Wild Turkey 101 in the bird-themed bourbon category. It was a Seagram's brand, distilled at the Old Prentice Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky (now Four Roses). In 1989, Buffalo Trace purchased the brand and began making it at their Frankfort distillery. It was discontinued in 2005 in favor of the current Eagle Rare offerings: a 10 year old single barrel and a 17 year old for the Antique Collection, though both come in at lower proofs than the 101. The bottle I'm sampling today is from the Buffalo Trace era of Eagle Rare 101 which we know from the Frankfort address on the label.


Eagle Rare 101, (Buffalo Trace) 10 years old, 50.5% abv

The nose is full of butterscotch with a bit of maple syrup. On the palate the first taste is sweet with some very sophisticated Cognac-like notes, then spice box and some nice brine. The finish is full of spice, almost hoppy at times reminding me a little of Charbay's hopped whiskey.

This is really an amazingly flavor-packed, complex bourbon. I like the current Eagle Rare, but this version is just above and beyond it in terms of complexity. Next time you see a Buffalo Trace rep at a whiskey show, give them a good talking to for discontinuing this fine bourbon.