Greenore 8 Year Old

@WTC, I would definitely imagine (since I haven't yet sampled the Greenore) that 8 years of wood aging would give a lot more mellowing and rounding than would 4 years for Mellow Corn. Curious palate: where would 'smoky' come from? I am for the first time sampling Mellow Corn as I write this, and it, too, is slightly smoky. Is this in the corn? Maybe so--there is certainly no peat in either of these. Barley has very mild flavours, and corn, if anything, even more so. It is nice to explore the nuances of these rather delicately flavoured grains, though. I think that it is a necessary choice for Cooley to use used barrels for the aging, since new wood flavours would overwhelm the delicate flavours of the corn, and all we would be getting after 8 years, much less 15+ years, would be strong wood flavour like the woodiest bourbons.

@WTC and @dbk, Gentlemen because of stimulus from the discussion of the two of you I have just gone out and bought myself a bottle of Greenore 8. I avoided it for a long time because in this locale I can for the same money get a bottle of Handy Rye, Stagg Bourbon, or Ardbeg Uigeadail. It was clear, though, that I needed the point of comparison and reference for aged corn whiskey-- and I don't think anyone here sells Cooley's Greenore by the drink. Reviews by me of Mellow Corn, Greenore 8, and High West Silver Whiskey Western Oat will follow, maybe today. When I do my standard 3 hour, 25 whiskey tastings every month or two I always organize it around the grain flavours. I begin with "This is what Barley tastes like...this is what Corn tastes like...this is what Wheat tastes like...this is what Rye tastes like." (I may add Oat in the future) Then we sample 20+ variations on taste themes around those 4 grains. My goal is to give an experiential overview and frame of reference for all of the major types of flavours available. For the first four grain archetypal whiskies I use Old Pulteney 12, Georgia Moon, Bernheim Original Wheat, and now Wry Moon (if I have it) or Rittenhouse BIB. Throughout the presentation I ask my guests, "Can you taste the wheat in this bourbon?" or "Can you taste the barley-malt in the Glenmorangie?" I expect that we will see more exotic grains make an entrance in the next 20 years. Quinoa whisky, anyone? I am very much hoping that someone discovers another strong-flavoured grain that the distillers can work with. In the meantime I consider it a USA national scandal that here in the land of mega-corn no US distillers make a corn whiskey more than 4 years old. I think that it is because almost no one here really likes the taste of corn. Most bourbon is in my opinion just blended rye whiskey or (5% of the time) blended wheat whiskey. Even the very high corn mashbill bourbons, like Blanton's, in my opinion, get their flavours almost exclusively from the wood. It IS good to taste the corn, and I am glad that Cooley has given us the opportunity to try a version which is aged a significant length in the wood.

@Victor, your tastings sound great! There is a world of interesting grain whiskies largely ignored in Scotland, but seemingly booming in the states. Dom gets sent a fair few of them, we were particular fans of the Old Pulteney but you cant get it over here. I believe someone in Europe is making svelt whisky and you mention oats, Dom would know more than me (tweet him if you want to ask anything, its the only technology he can cope with :). Tony

@WTC isn't Old Pulteney a single malt Scotch? Or am I misreading your comment?

@Piero, yes, the Old Pulteney 12 is a malt whisky. @WTC was responding to my comment that I use Old P 12 malt as my example of what is the flavour of(malted)barley.

@victor you may be right but he seems to be saying you can't get Old Pulteney over here. I quote: "Dom gets sent a fair few of them, we were particular fans of the Old Pulteney but you cant get it over here." Probably a typo!

lol, I completely misread it all :) I read @Victor post as saying he used old potrero as a rye example (100% rye I think?), which is what I was referring to (you cant get it in the UK), but managed to write old pultney. Confused of Norwich! I'll get my coat .... Tony

@WTC I thought it was a bit out of character for you ;-) Sorry to highlight it - I probably shouldn't have!

@WTC, I am glad it was just a slip of mental focus with the Old Pulteney/Old Potrero and that we are done with the entertaining confusion. About the Old Potrero, wow!, a delightful walk on the wild side! Old Potrero is actually even difficult to get on the East Coast of the US. The production is pretty limited, I believe.