Yellowstone is another old bourbon brand. The most recent iteration of the Yellowstone distillery, owned by Glenmore, closed in 1991, with some of the bourbon after that time being made at the Medley, distillery, now also closed. Eventually, the label was sold off to the Luxco Company, the independent bottler that also bottles the current incarnation of Rebel Yell. Chuck Cowdery has a brief two part history of the brand on his blog. The bottle I'm trying today appears to date from 1979, so it's from the Glenmore era.
Yellowstone Bourbon, 86 Proof (43% abv), 200 ml bottle.
The nose on this has a lot of fruit candy. I'm talking Juicy Fruit gum (or maybe it's Fruit Stripe gum), also some Kraft caramel cubes and vanilla, very nice stuff. The palate also has a lot of candy notes, but now I'm getting salt water taffy, more caramel, and English Toffee ice cream. The finish has toffee. Despite all of the candy flavors, this isn't cloyingly sweet and has a richness of body that makes it quite pleasant and drinkable, if not overly complex.
I have a bottle from the 60's I think it is and it is fine juice, made in Louisville if I am remebering right. The original still at Yellowstone I have read had a reflux chamber in it shaped like an umbrella, and I think I read in the same book that they sclaed the corn instead of bring it to a full boil. That would keep a lot of corn flavor in the product I would think.
ReplyDeleteSounds awesome! this is honestly the taste profile that got me into bourbon back in the day, and I've kinda been missing it... Hey Sku, what would you recommend hat could be purchased today with a similar flavor profile?
ReplyDeleteRookie, great question. That fruity taste is something that has really disappeared from the modern bourbon flavor profile. The closest I've found is in some of the wine finished bourbons that are around today such as Angel's Envy or Hooker's House, though the fruit in those is more wine-like and less candy-like.
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