Very Olde St. Nick Bourbons

Earlier this week I posted reviews of the Very Olde St. Nick Rye Whiskeys from the recent Southern California Whiskey Club tasting.  Today, I'll review the bourbons.


Very Olde St. Nick 8 year old, 45% abv

The nose is sweet and slightly soapy. The palate is much more complex then the nose with some savory notes and orange rind and the finish is mild and not too sweet.  This is a beefy bourbon which is nicely balanced and not overly sweet. Very nice.

Very Olde St. Nick Cask Lot No. 15, 53.5% abv

The nose on this one is sweet with banana candy. The banana continues on the palate with a very sweet, liquid candy type of taste.  The profile is in the Evan Williams family.  The finish has some cinnamon.  This one was fine but nothing special.

Very Olde St. Nick 19 year old, 47% abv

The nose has heavy rye notes and caramel.  The palate has some dark caramel notes without being too sweet, then some spice which continues into a peppery finish.  This one was great with a great balance of sweetness and spice.

Very Olde St. Nick 22 year old, 40.6% abv

The nose is spicy in an Armagnac like way with some wine notes.  The palate is sweet with milk chocolate and the finish is very sweet.  This one started with a very complex nose, but then got simpler and simpler. It's good but I was disappointed that the spice on the nose didn't show through more on the palate and finish to counter the sweetness.

Very Olde St. Nick 23 year old, 40.6% abv

The nose is sweet with some oak providing  nice balance. The palate has sweet iced tea with a slight spice infusion. The finish is mild.  This is one of those "smooth" bourbons; it's very easy to drink and fun.

Very Olde St. Nick 24 year old, 40.6% abv

This has a very light nose.  The palate is very straight forward with sweetness and baking spices.  There's a surprising lack of oak for its age.  The finish is vanilla ice cream.  This another easy drinker.

Conclusion

The 19 year old was easily my favorite of the bunch and that seemed to be the consensus of the tasting.  The 8 year old was my second favorite, though it wasn't as popular with the other tasters.  All of these were good and worth trying, though the Lot 15 was probably my least favorite.

Thanks to the Southern California Whiskey Club for holding these excellent tastings.

Very Olde St. Nick Rye Whiskeys

Thanks to the Southern California Whiskey Club, I've been able to sample the full line of Very Olde St. Nick bourbons and ryes over the past few months (and attend a really fun tasting).

Very Olde St. Nick was a line of American whiskeys made exclusively for the Japanese market by the a California company. There were a multitude of sources for the whiskeys.  Julian Van Winkle bottled some of the earlier editions, Kentucky Bourbon Distillers bottled the later ones and the the company went directly to Diageo to acquire bourbon stocks, including Stitzel-Weller.

With all of that action, it's tough to tell where the bourbons are from, and of course, they could be from multiple sources.  The ryes, based on their age and when they were released are mostly likely from the Medley and/or old Bernheim distilleries.

These are exceedingly hard to find, especially in the US, but there is a lot of interest around them, so I thought I would share my reviews.  I will start with the ryes, and later this week, I'll cover the bourbons.

 
Very Olde St. Nick Summer Rye, 40%  abv

The nose has big, spicy rye notes with lots of sweetness and fruit cocktail.  The palate is light and fruity, very diluted tasting.  There is some spice at the very end which fades into the finish where it's met with sweetness.

This is pleasant enough with its sweet, fruity notes and a touch of spice, but it's lacking complexity and too weak.  Still, it's plenty drinkable.

Very Olde St. Nick 15 year old Ancient Rye, 43% abv

The nose is nice and spicy with sandalwood. The sandalwood spice continues on the palate combined with some rock candy sweetness. The sweetness is lightly present in the finish which is more dominated by spice. 

This one is nice and spicy with good balance. I wish it was higher proof because I would like more of those flavors, but it's good stuff.

Very Olde St. Nick 16 year old Rare Perfection Rye, 43% abv

The nose on this one is pure, old rye with lots of sandalwood spice.  It's really beautiful.  The palate is spicy with licorice and fruit.  It's got a lot going on and is a bit soapy.  The finish has muted spice, black licorice sticks and some soap.

This one is bold, and if it weren't for the soapy notes, it would be perfect, but the soap brings it down a few notches.

Very Olde St. Nick 17 year old Ancient Rye, 51.85% abv

This has a more muted nose than the younger VOSNs with hay and coastal notes.  It's almost more like a coastal Scotch. The palate has a sort of generic whiskey taste. It's not discernibly rye. There's some very muted spice, but it's mostly just a vague sweet, grain note.  The finish has candy and wood.

I wonder if this might be a different distillery than the younger ryes from this series. Either that or 17 years was just too long for this particular rye and the wood got the better of it. It's not bad. There are some light chocolate notes and some decent oak, but not much in the way of distinctive characteristics. While this one didn't do much for me, I should note that for many others, this was their favorite rye of the series.

Very Olde St. Nick 18 year old Ancient Rye, 52.3% abv

The nose has rye spice and oak.  The palate comes on very oaky and then has sweet baking spices.  The finish, again, is very woody.

This one is heavy on the oak but a nice whiskey.

Conclusion

These are all good whiskeys, though none of them were amazing.  They certainly share a lot of characteristics with those old Bernheim ryes, but none are anywhere near as good as the best of those that we saw in the US (Rathskeller, LeNell's, etc.).  My favorite of the bunch was probably the 16 year old, probably because it was the most similar in flavor profile to those great old ryes, but I also really liked the 15 and 18 year olds. 

Very Olde St. Nick Tasting Part 2: The Bourbons

Back in June, I wrote about the Southern California Whiskey Club's tasting of Very Olde St. Nick Rye.  Now they have set a date for part 2 o the meeting.  On August 17, they'll be tasting the Very Olde St. Nick bourbons.  Like the Rye, the Very Olde St. Nick series was bottled by the Van Winkles and then Kentucky Bourbon Distillers for the Japanese export market. 

The lineup for the meeting will include:

•  8 year old, 90 proof
• Cask Lot No. 15, 107 proof
• 19 year old, 94 proof
• 22 year old, 81.2 proof
• 23 year old, 81.2 proof
• 24 year old, 81.2 proof

 The meeting will be on Sunday, August 17 at 7:00 pm at Far Bar, 347 East 1st Street in Los Angeles.  There is a fee of $69 which includes food. You can sign up at the Southern California Whiskey Club website.

As with the rye tasting, its unlikely that a tasting like this will come around again anytime soon, so even if you're not in the Southern California area, you might want to consider attending.

Note:  Sku is not affiliated with the Southern California Whiskey Club and receives no compensation from them.  He just thinks this is a really cool tasting.

Very Olde St. Nick Tasting with the SoCal Whiskey Club

Very Olde St. Nick is a whiskey label that was bottled by Julian Van Winkle and Kentucky Bourbon Distillers exclusively for the Japanese export market back in the early 2000s.  Back then, the Japanese market was much more interested in super-aged bourbons than the the American market. These bourbons and ryes likely came from some of the same sources that went into the legendary Willett and Black Maple Hill bottlings from that era.  The ryes are most likely to be from the old Bernheim or Medley distilleries; the bourbons could be from any number of sources.

These are extremely rare.  Even in Japan, they haven't been available for years, except for the occasional dusty. I've never seen one in the flesh.

For the first time that I know of in the US, there will be a public tasting of the entire line of Very Olde St. Nick whiskeys.  The Southern California Whiskey Club is hosting two tastings in which they will run through the entire line up; the first tasting, later this month, will cover the ryes.  In August, a second meeting will taste the bourbons.  The club was formed last year, and the great thing about it is that anyone can join, and meetings are open to all comers, first come, first served. 

The Very Olde St. Nick rye tasting will be Sunday, June 22 at 7:00 pm at Far Bar in Little Tokyo.  The fee is $59 which includes a half ounce sample of each whiskey and food.  The whiskeys being sampled in that meeting are:

• Summer Rye, 80 proof
• 15 year Ancient Rye, 86 proof
• 16 year, Rare Perfection Rye, 86 proof
• 17 year, Ancient Rye, 103.7 proof
• 18 year, Ancient Rye, 104.6 proof

 You can sign up for the tasting on the Southern California Whiskey Club website.

I doubt a tasting like this will come around again anytime soon, so even if you're not in the Southern California area, you might want to consider attending.

Note:  Sku is not affiliated with the Southern California Whiskey Club and receives no compensation from them.  He just thinks this is a really cool tasting.