We've got two more fun whiskeys to talk about again this week. The first is a pretty unique offering from the distillery behind the premium Sweetens Cove, a brand famously backed by sports celebrities like Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick. The second is the latest expression of time and place from the magic maltsters at Chattanooga Whiskey Co. Let’s dig in!
There’s long been a bit of a conflict between Kentucky bourbon distillers and the makers of Tennessee whiskey. Kentucky is certainly the biggest player when it comes to American whiskey, but Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is the No. 1 brand internationally. Kentuckians sometimes scoff at Tennessee whiskey, which is technically bourbon, fulfilling all the criteria of the official standard of the spirit. But Tennessee distillers prefer to distance themselves by pointing out that we have our own standard that includes an extra step of charcoal mellowing, making Tennessee whiskey “more than” just bourbon. Can’t we all just get along?!
That’s the idea behind Kennessee, the latest product from Sweeten’s Cove Spirits Co. Designed to offer a more affordable option for whiskey drinkers who want to be a part of the Sweetens experience without dropping more than two bills on a bottle of their decade-plus-old flagship product, Kennessee is a blend of Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey that retails closer to $60 a bottle.
The neck of the bottle reads “Rivals no more,” a plea for cooperation and collaboration between the states. Bottled at 119.7 proof, this is a powerful whiskey, and that also explains part of the higher price tag as a proof premium. In less talented hands, a blend of these two whiskeys under that name might be little more than a gimmick, but Sweetens Cove employed talented distiller/blender Marianne Eaves to assist in the barrel selections and ratios of each in the blend.
The whiskey was removed from its original barrels and mingled in stainless tanks, where it was finished with spirals of sugar maple, the same wood that Tennessee whiskey producers use for charcoal mellowing in the Lincoln County Process. The result is a surprisingly smooth hybrid whiskey, especially considering the proof point.Â
A lovely golden-brown in the glass, Kennessee offers lots of vanilla and a hint of orange blossom on initial nosing. I also caught a hint of maple in the aroma, but that might be my subconscious thinking about those maple spirals. Either way, it’s pretty delightful, and I’d like a candle made with it.
Light-bodied despite the initial attack of alcohol and heat on the tip of the tongue, the first sip demonstrates those same spicy notes as the aroma, but with a hint of black pepper. Smooth and complex enough for a snifter, Kennessee also makes a killer Old Fashioned, and I do mean “killer” — that’s a boozy drink. Sweetens Cove intends to make Kennessee more readily available than their cult flagship bottle, which can be hard to find at certain times of the year. I’ll definitely be looking out for it on my local liquor store’s shelves.
The second bottle I enjoyed this week (well, not the whole bottle ... yet) was the latest Bottled-in-Bond offering from Chattanooga Whiskey Co. The Spring 2018 vintage retails for a few bucks a bottle less than Kennessee, and it’s a completely different beast. Made in Chattanooga’s trademark “Tennessee High Malt” style, BiB is still technically a bourbon, but with a much higher malted barley content than almost any other Tennessee of Kentucky whiskeys.
Grant McCracken, the head distiller at Chattanooga Whiskey Co., selected four different mash bills to include in this vintage of BiB. Three of them were holdovers from the fall 2017 edition, but this one benefits from a new addition. Recipe R18016 includes a barely dried green malt, introducing a novel note of coconut to the mix. The addition of malted wheat to the mash bill contributes a little bit of Trisket to the flavor of the final mix, an element I quite enjoyed.
It’s not too different from the fall 2017 bottle, which I still somehow managed to save a dram or two of for comparison. The coconut turned what was already a pretty cocoa-influenced flavor into something more tropical, like a crème brĂ»lĂ©e. I can say that I minded that not one bit. I always enjoy Chattanooga’s products, but this one occupies a nice spot between bourbon, malt whiskey and rum in my mind and on my home bar. I like it there, but I can’t promise it will last until fall 2018 comes around!Â
