The Tasting Exchange - review samples from our community!

[distiller_dresden]

I'm starting this thread because I thought it'd be nice if there was a place for all of us to come and in one place read and share reviews of tasting samples we've had of our family's skill and hard work. I thought of this because a year and a month into the community and the hobby, I've had an opportunity to sample many of our members' creations. For those who haven't had these opportunities I thought at the very least we can share the wealth of things we read about and dream about but have not or will never get a chance to try ourselves.

Coming soon (tonight or tomorrow) I will be posting reviews of several HBB's by Otis, with different wood treatments, as well as something I've literally daydreamed about and slightly lusted after-- tasting Cranky's apple brandy! I'm also going to post a review of the simple, classic aged molasses rum from a member in CT, and some other things from a couple members in IN, including IrishGnome. Stay tuned, and in the meantime post your own experiences! If you have nothing on hand but you can remember well tasting something in the past, post that too! This is a forum to share and show off the things we've all made or tried, so members can read about a recipe or a project, then come here and learn what it turned out like from an objective taster, versus ourselves.

I'm going to use the sight/smell/taste/finish model;
In the glass-
Nose-
Palate-
Finish-

Like so! Away we go------------

[distiller_dresden]

Forgot to add that my hope is that this thread can become a kind of Library of Alexandria for tastings of all our members; that someone can come and search this thread for a given user, then hopefully in the future as it's had time to grow, read review results of the things that they have read and discussed about with that member and others in the threads. For instance, my 'birth' in the board saw me talking a lot with, and reading, the projects of Otis and Cranky. First, to think I'd one day a year later have a chance to TASTE Cranky's apple brandy (his fruity thread is literally one of the most trafficked and large threads on the board) or Otis' anything, well it never occurred to me I would, but from day one reading about their work and results I had truly dreamt of trying their product. If you aren't lucky enough to have this chance, then perhaps you can at least come here and have that experience in your imagination via the tool of a traditional liquor review (sight, smell, taste, afterglow).

So whenever you send samples for an exchange or tasting, ask that member to please take time out, since you took time and sent them something of value including your effort, sweat, thought, and time, ask for them to come here and post results of that tasting...

[JohnsMyName]

Neat Dresden. I'd like to see some thoughts, post them up!

[distiller_dresden]

Okay! Here we go:

Cranky's 2018 Apple Brandy:
In the glass: It has a wonderful look in the glass, inviting; it's no bubble champagne, or a very Norse golden scotch

On the nose: Immediately I get dried apples, opening the bag; then further exploration of the top of the glass gives apple juice, moscato wine, gold raisins, and the smell of an orchard in summer, pregnant with ripe apples and dying apple blossoms

On the palate: Bitter apple - granny smith to an extreme, sugarless; then a light caramel, and the earth, moist, rich earth, dry white wine

The finish: tart apple pie made without sugar, almost cheek pinching tart impression; granny smith apple skin, green, unripe cherries, roasted oakwood in the oven to dark brown



Johnsmyname 2018 Molasses Rum:
In the glass: golden honey with legs for days

On the nose: split, fresh oak, fermented molasses, whisky

On the palate: Toasted oak golden brown, molasses and burnt sugar: walnuts

The finish: dried white oak and cocoa powder/baking chocolate, walnut 'dryness'




Otis reviews to come as well as others!

[distiller_dresden]

Here's a review, via email, I just received today from a member in OR with whom I've been talking with and debating rum science, as well as sharing our results of individual testing with each other. I was experimenting with/learning about fatty acids and ester development with 'salt' forms of about 7 different carboxylic acids, in wash and in thumps/cook. He's been experimenting, in QUITE a lot of advanced tech toys and instruments he makes himself or modifies, with aging methods, or rather fast-aging methods and blending for ester creation. It's been truly fascinating! Anyway, here's the email I received tonight:

Your package arrived today. Thank You.

Your Rums are amazing, the most interesting thing we found was how unique the flavors were….like nothing I have tasted before (and I have tasted a lot of rums). You have a future as a rum consultant should you chose to go in that direction. All of the samples seemed adequately aged although I know some are ultrasonically treated and some have time over various woods.

With the Sugar shack Rumbullion, I perceived licorice and almond spice on the nose. Unique flavors. Something I haven’t tasted in rums…. there is almost a flavor of sandalwood or incense on the afterburn.

As for the Hazelnut Honey butter This rum is truly Hazelnut and honey. The flavors are undeniable. We enjoyed this one, it was much like a liquor and reminded me of my “Rusty Nail” liquor that I make. I will include a sample for you.

Coconut Blossom. Our favorite of the group…The flavor has hints of apple and pear. What is that the wood I am tasting ? This must be the one with coconut sugar ?

Thank you again for the “Care package” you sent. You made our Friday evening a very enjoyable one and hands down your unique rums are a cut above what is being sold on the market these days.

So there's another set of reviews related to my 'Coconut Sugar Blossom' rum (distillate of coconut sugar back sweetened 11g/L with filtered coconut sugar simple syrup), my 'Sugarshack Rumbullion' rum (which is made from all maple syrup, aged on oak and maple and Japanese maple {which gives that slight sandalwood/incense impression as well as sweetness}, then back sweetened with 9g/L maple syrup), and my 'Hazelnut Honeybutt' (hazelnut honey butter rum, from brown sugar, molasses, and malted red wheat, back sweetened with honey at 8g/L and with alcohol-based hazelnut extract, aged on oak and birch).

[distiller_dresden]

I have yet to perform and post these pending reviews: a rice vodka and 40% coffee tincture/liqueur from Gsugg, and a standard HBB, applewood HBB, chocolate HBB from OtisT. Additionally I have 5 samples from I think Irishgnome (I'll correct if this is inaccurate) including rakia and an ouzo - which is the Turkish (?) style and fogs when you add some ice water (it's amazing, but I HATE black licorice, however I can be objective and it is REALLY great flavor, amazing).

I said I think IG because as you get to know people offline and talk with them a lot, you tend to know them by their mama-name, not their board names....

Also getting requests to taste/accept samples; no problem with this, glad and overjoyed and proud to taste and post reviews for ANYONE's work. Just PM-

[OtisT]

Distiller_Dresden’s Maple Rum - 42%

I had a chance to try a few glasses of DD’s Maple Rum last night and again today. Below are my tasting notes on this rum. DD asked for an honest opinion so I decided to try the rum and make notes before going back and re-reading his recipe thread. I did not want anything I read to influence my notes, though I do know he gets quite elaborate in his recipes and he like backsweetening things, so here goes with my tasting notes:

Tasting Notes
Opening the bottle and taking a whiff the first and dominant scent I detect is Panela. A few more whiffs and the panela seems to dissipate and I am smelling sweet and a molasses base that included dunder in the ferment.

In the glass notes. Very pleasant smell, with no alcohol burn whatsoever. I can smell that this was aged on toasted oak, not overly strong. The panela is much harder to find in the glass, and the base now seems more like a solid molasses/backset base. I smell something sweet and candy like, and am labeling it Maple given that is in the name, though I can’t say for sure that is what I am detecting.

Taking a few sips I can taste Maple, thought it is faint. It’s a nice pleasant semi-sweet flavor up front. I can taste the molasses/backset base too. No panela taste that I can detect. This rum tastes light and sweet up front, and has a dry finish. After the light/sweet subsides I can taste the toasted oak and am chalking up the dry finish to the oak aging. After the dryness subsides, I’m left with a light Maple finish that lingers a bit. Yummy.

I got the impression this would taste nice warmed up. It does. I heated up a pan of water then placed my glass in it until the rum was warm. It gave the drink a creaminess and really brought out the sweet notes up front and it still finished dry. I got just a bit of that alcohol burn when it was warmend up and it was still enjoyable.

Conclusion
Overall a really pleasant drink. I know it’s sweetened, but not overly so. It has a wonderful nose and unique pleasant taste. Not even the slightest presence of heads or tails could be detected. Not sure it this was a really clean cut or just proper aging.

The only change I could recommend would be a bit less oak so it’s not quite as dry at the end. This is just my personal taste, and others may not notice the oak dryness like I do. I have a slight allergy to oak and it causes my throat to tighten up a bit, like an astringent feeling, so it’s presence is something I am always aware of.

Very nice rum. I like it.

Otis
.

[distiller_dresden]

Fantastic words, thank you Otis - you have the best words, the very best words! I thought you were maybe confused and reviewing my Hazelnut Honeybutt first, as your notes RE panela -- this was 2 recipes, 2 batches, then let in a new badmo for 6 months after 1 month in glass on maplewood - did you pick up the maplewood?

Here were the recipes:

With thanks to RandyMarshCT for the inspiration, and I'm adjusting my own recipe somewhat from his, and I'm going to be doing this for several ongoing batches, including once aged I'll be caramelizing the maple sugar as you would normal sugar for rum caramel.

Here's my mash in today:
1/2 gal apple brandy wash backset (you can see the ingredients from this wash here viewtopic.php?f=38&t=70623 last entry on the page)
1/2 gal coconut water (for nutrients/potassium mainly)
1 gal maple syrup
.25 gal high quality molasses
3.25 gal water
1.5 lbs maple sugar
4 g Fermaid K, will add 2 g in 2 days
White Labs live active sweet mead yeast, fermenting this at 70F

]I've now finished and cuts on the second batch. Used 1122 and the maple flavor was MUCH richer and deeper, so here's a final recipe. Right now it's aging with med toast hard maple, soft maple, Japanese maple, and Hungarian oak.

Final recipe, Maple Syrup rum, for 5.5 gallon ferment:
1.25 gallons Maple Syrup, Grade A Amber
32 oz high quality molasses
4 gallons water
5 g Fermaid K
K1V-1122 at room temp/68-70F for two weeks

After making cuts on the 1122 and White Labs sweet mead yeast I did compare the two and definitely 1122 saved flavor and maybe even created some esters from the maple syrup, but nothing that wasn't maple syrup was detected. I then combined the batches and have a gallon of 120 proof aging on woods I listed above. Will age several months, then backsweeten with only maple syrup

I include the quart of molasses just to keep it 'rum'. But its funny you got panela from it? The whole spent a month in glass on hungarian oak (used/old), sugar maple, Japanese maple, soft maple, then went into a badmo for nearly 6 months. I don't think the apple wash backset 1/2gal did anything. Oh well!

No heads or tails included, or very sparing. I make super tight cuts and am stingy about it, getting hearts only, but also every last drop of 'em. I get all the time my cuts are great because my spirits are smooth, it's a point of pride, thank you very much. Your knowledge and experience is awesome for me to have reviewing my work, plus I got to know you a bit when I first started and you were always patient. Sláinte!

[distiller_dresden]

In the hazelnut rum thread Johnsmyname posted this 'review' that's more reaction, but still awesome:

I tried some of this yesterday, full review to come, but OMG the smell of it. I don't know how DD got this smell. It literally smells the way a Buttered Popcorn Jelly Belly tastes and it isn't faint. Craziest smelling spirit I've ever smelled.

[cranky]

Good job on this thread , I've been a bit busy lately and got sick after taking my wife on our worst trip ever to Vegas so I fell behind on things and just found this thread.

I'm glad you got around to tasting my brandy but I'm a little confused

Okay! Here we go:

Cranky's 2018 Apple Brandy:
In the glass: It has a wonderful look in the glass, inviting; it's no bubble champagne, or a very Norse golden scotch

On the nose: Immediately I get dried apples, opening the bag; then further exploration of the top of the glass gives apple juice, moscato wine, gold raisins, and the smell of an orchard in summer, pregnant with ripe apples and dying apple blossoms

On the palate: Bitter apple - granny smith to an extreme, sugarless; then a light caramel, and the earth, moist, rich earth, dry white wine

The finish: tart apple pie made without sugar, almost cheek pinching tart impression; granny smith apple skin, green, unripe cherries, roasted oakwood in the oven to dark brown

Soooo does that mean you liked it or hated it If you didn't like it give it a week or two and try it again, it seems to change so much in short periods. I personally usually get a very pear forward nose, sometimes florally but I know that is the asian pears, they small and taste like little white flowers. Actually your tasting notes kind of remind me of a description of Scumble. If I recall right Scumble was described as tasting "a bit like apples, a bit like fall and a lot like the bottom of a log pile"

Before any more questions arise I will say Scumble (and my brandy) is good for you, it's made from apples... Well, mainly apples.

It's not true about the rats, or the snake heads, or the lead shot.

The one about the dead sheep is a complete fabrication.

We can lay to rest all the variations of the one about the trouser button, but the one about not letting it come into contact with metal is absolutely true.

[distiller_dresden]

Hey Cranky! No, I liked it! It was very smooth - oh something I guess I should take from Otis - cuts/heads-tails comments. It was smooth and the cuts were great (and aging); as my own apple turned out quite different (and I only aged it in glass for about 2-3 months, oak and sugar maple) and had a sweetness and was brighter. I attributed that to the gallon of blueberry wash backset, giving it that flower note.

Your brandy didn't have bite, and had as I noted an earthier approach/experience, almost like mine and yours are two different styles; your apple was earthy, not quite like a log turning over, that makes me think more 'funk' and mushrooms and musky, good rot. This was more like the earthiness of a dried apple in peat? Not smoky, peat as it is naturally. I think it's probably tougher to get that flavor profile, and I used a bit of concentrate in my wash which you didn't, just pure juice through and through.

What's scumble? I think you've said before in your thread. Post reviews of my pkg Crank! Pleeeease.

[cranky]

What's scumble? I think you've said before in your thread. Post reviews of my pkg Crank! Pleeeease.

This will explain Scumble
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=54938

I'll try to try your samples on my weekend and review it although my words may not be as good as yours.

[distiller_dresden]

I better understand scumble now Cranky.
Your words are just fine!

Hey, everyone make sure not to call anything rum unless it's all molasses. We'll have to wear stars.

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

You want another thread locked? Keep pissing around the forum.

[The Baker]

I found this thread really interesting, with no hint of anything objectionable.

Geoff

[Tater]

I better understand scumble now Cranky.
Your words are just fine!

Hey, everyone make sure not to call anything rum unless it's all molasses. We'll have to wear stars.

I for 1 find the reference to wear a star very offenses .And it wont fly here .

[Oldvine Zin]

Hey DD I was really enjoying this thread until your last post with that kind of attitude and remarks you have lost any sympathy from me. Maybe you should refrain from posting for a while and let your head clear a bit.

OVZ

[nerdybrewer]

WOW!
That's highly inappropriate.
Except for you all who are quoting him I don't have to see his posts any more, but the quotes are bad enough for me.

[OtisT]

Personal messages when you have something tough to say would go a long way to de-escalating matters. All this pissin in public just takes the fun away.

Peace to everyone. Love ya all. Otis

[Tater]

Thought I had already locked this post .