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Stranahan's Colorado

Average score from 8 reviews and 27 ratings 87

Stranahan's Colorado

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@Megawatt
Stranahan's Colorado

Nose: sweet, fruity, with the warm suggestion of freshly-baked desserts. Also fresh-cut wood and slight woodsmoke. Floral notes deeper in the glass. Enticing.

Taste: full-flavoured yet with a smooth, laid-back body. Slightly sour fruitiness is joined by toasted oak and a massive surge of malty sweetness. Almost cloying, but not quite...A floral/vegetal note in the mix as well. Very complex! Not the most well-balanced whisky I've tasted, but immensely enjoyable.

Finish: long, lingering, with sour citrus fruit, like overripe orange.

Balance: for a three-year-old whisky, the balance far exceeds my expectations. Easily the most mature-tasting young malt I've tried. Aside from slight tartness, which I adjusted to after my first glass, there is nothing "off" about this bottling. Even at 94 proof it is easy-drinking yet it doesn't skimp on flavour or aroma. A most satisfying collision between single malt and bourbon styles, and a new favourite. Highly recommended!

@Megawatt I don't know if Stranahan has changed over the years but I suggest you try the Glendronach Virgin Oak if you can find it. I think you would like it.

To come bach to this bottle, did you get some banana? If not, give it some air and I would be surprise if it doesn't exhale some sweet banana aroma. My bottle took air very nicely, you may want to wait for time to do its magic although I suspect you would loose some floral notes.

@Victor

This review is of a bottle from Batch # 106 given to me by a friend. That friend was at the Stranahan's Distillery in Denver and was given a choice between buying a bottle of Batch # 106 and Batch # 107. Well, this friend has quite the sweet tooth, and thinks of sweet as good, so he picked one of the two bottles remaining of Batch # 106, which was described to him as the sweeter of the two batches. The reviewed bottle has been open about 3 months, and is 90% full. It was distilled May 1, 2011, and is 2 years old. Stranahan's is a ("single")barley-malt whisky which uses only new wood (i.e. virgin oak) for maturation

Nose: deep toffeed malt resonances; very sweet, but does not come across as cloying at all; wood flavours of sharp crisp vanilla, natural caramel, oak and maple are also present; quite nice. With the new wood this nose smells different from most malt whisies, but it is not so very close to a typical bourbon nose either. You do smell barley here, which you never smell in a bourbon...ever

Taste: this is very interesting. When first opened this bottle just tasted overwhelmingly of caramel and toffee, to the detriment of tasting of other flavours. After only 3 months, this has a lot more tart bite, apparently from very sharp barley, which is a very welcome contrast. The wood flavours from the nose are translated onto the palate, but the sweetness from the wood and the tartness from the barley are what you notice the most, by far. The flavours are robust and strong

Finish: a sweet finish continues a sweet trend; everything in the mix persists a long time, and doesn't change a lot

Balance: what a nice surprise! I was really disappointed with this bottle at first, since it was at first so toffee-sweet as to have no dimension. I am glad I gave it some time before reviewing it. I have sampled Stranahan's before, from Batch # 58, which was quite a bit different, and less sweet, but also quite enjoyable. This Batch # 106 is mainly for the sweet-toothed. Stranahan's and especially a batch of Stranahan's like this # 106 are quite a lesson in just how much sugar can come out of new oak barrels--in just 2 years, no less. No caramel added. No other sweet additives, but this Batch # 106 was sweet, at first, like a very sweet liqueur. It is still quite sweet, but that sweetness is in much more balance.

I do like this batch # 106, especially now, but I liked batch # 58 more. These various batches of Stranahan's are quite different from one another, as Stranahan's prints right on the bottle label: "No two batches are the same."

Victor, your reviews are always a pleasure. The info is always accurate, and to my nose and palate, the reviews are spot on.

I was the original tour guide for SCW (Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey). I had to leave the job--which was a blast--after several years in the post,and so I haven't had #106 yet. I may never have the chance.

I think I can account for the difference in the two batches, though. As many of you know, SCW was sold a few years back to Proximo Spirits. When that happened, the original Head Distiller Jake Norris, left the company. Jake had a taste for darker richer marriages of barrels, and so he had a tendency to include a larger amount of older whiskey to the batches.

On the face of things,that sounds good; but not everyone is into that roasty coffee part of SCW. SCW ages incredibly rapidly, as you've noticed. I go into it in detail in another SCW review here at Connosr. But I can tell you that five year old SCW is undrinkable (to my taste) as it is so bitter and astringent. It is, however, outrageously complex.

I am not one to give up overall enjoyability for increased complexity; others feel differently, of course. I think recent batches of SCW, married together by Rob Deitrich ("the last man standing" from the original distilling crew)are excellent. I will, however, admit that they are sweeter and arguably less complex. #99 in particular, was fantastically creamy and delicious to me. But earlier batches,from the middle 30's to say, the early 70's, will have more older whiskey, will be therefore less sweet, darker, oakier and, perhaps, more complex.

@Charlie Davis, thank you for your very kind words. I expect that you are one of the most knowledgeable people around on the subject of the Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey distillery, not just on Connosr, but in general. I appreciate the very useful information which you have contributed here. It gives a good perspective to understanding the trend in the styles of the various numbered batches of Stranahan's. Stranahan's Colorado Malt Whiskey is a very enjoyable product, and quite a lot of fun.

Stranahan's is also quite an excellent demonstration about how very little aging is required for charred new oak to come into balance with barley-malt distillate. Long aging, e.g. 10+ years, and, yes, even as you say, perhaps even 5 years in the drier parts of the US, in charred new oak, would render a whisk(e)y in which the much more delicate flavours of barley-malt would usually be completely overwhelmed.

Use of toasted but uncharred new oak with barley-malt, as exemplified by Glenmorangie Ealanta, gives the possibility of much longer aging. Unfortunately United States laws currently make it very difficult for a US distiller to age in toasted oak and still meet traditional US legal classifications for whisk(e)y products. In the US if you use uncharred barrels, you have to call it something other than malt whiskey...so people would then have difficulty easily identifying the product being offered for sale.

@markjedi1

Stranahan is a bit special. They use four types of malt, hence making it not a bourbon, but rather a single malt. The distillery only fills about 40 barrels a week for maturation in the very hot climate of Colorado.

The nose is a surprise. Caramel, coffee and vanilla up front, followed suddenly by something very floral (violets) and a truckload of sweet fruit. Think melon, mandarin and banana. Syrup of cassis. Coconut milk. This is quite unique and very pleasant.

It is soft on the palate, lacking a real bite. Quite a bit of oak, despite having matured for only two years. Again very sweet and fruity. Banana liqueur. Elexir d’Anvers. A bit of menthol. Sweetened coffee. Unique, like I said.

The finish is medium long and spicy and leaves the mouth rather dry.

Wow, that was unusual, but definitely worth a try. Thanks, Casmasjien.

What batch was this from? I recently visited stranahans on a trip to Denver and was able to taste batches 105 and 107. There was actually a decent amount variation but in a good way. There was a very pleasant coffee finish that came out with water on the batch 106 but on the 107 it wasn't there but I thought 107 was more balanced the whole way through. Just wanted to share and ask what batch you were able to taste. Great review and I definitely agree that stranahans is a very unique whiskey.

I have a bottle and it is funny that sometime I really like it while other time I found it very aggresive. So I do have the banana and a load of vanilla and spices ( that I love) but from time to time there is a load of chemicals ( nail polish but like the fabric of it). So for me it's a bit like Dr jerkill and Mr Hyde.

@SquidgyAsh

A few months ago I started a new job. I stopped being an animal trainer and behaviorist and started becoming a liquor store manager.

Kind of a radical job change eh?

The biggest reason I changed job titles was due to stress over some recent experiences that I'd encountered in the animal industry since I'd come to Australia and it had got to the point where it felt like I couldn't come home without needing three or four beers or whiskies to just see me through to the next day.

Now that might sound like I'm an alcoholic, or something along those lines.

You'd be wrong.

But it had got to the point where seeing animals that I cared for, stressed over their well being and loved not receiving medical attention for serious injuries, being pushed past any reasonable expectation of what any animal can give.

Of people valuing the money they made off animals more then their responsibilities to care for the animals under their care.

So I needed a job change and badly.

And I'd take just about anything as long as it paid.

Luckily I got a good job.

My brother in law received an email newsletter from the International Beer Shop saying that their sister store needed a new Store Manager.

It'd been over ten years since I'd ran a store, but I figured what the hell? why not?!

I applied.

I felt like I stuffed up both the resume and interview, but I do tend to be quite critical of myself, lying awake at night going over what I should have done, what I should have said.

Thankfully for me the owners believed that was full of garbage and that I was perfect for the job.

I got it!

SCORE!

Put in my notice to the current job, waited out the two weeks, kissed my animal friends good bye and started over.

During the first few days it became obvious that I was a whisky geek to everyone in the business. It having already been obvious to all the senior staff at the interview that I was a whisky geek.

My new job didn't sell whisky due to the license they operated under, but our sister shop, The International Beer Shop, did.

When they found out, the shop manager over there suggested that I come on over so that we could talk beer and whisky and maybe we could give one another ideas about the other persons ideal drink of choice.

Cruising their website my second week on the job I discovered that they had a whisky that I'd ALWAYS wanted to try.

Stranahans Colorado Single Malt.

Running at a steep $165 AUS.

But I did get a discount...

I contacted the store manager, asking him if he wouldn't mind putting the bottle aside for me.

He said not a problem.

He also informed me that it was the last bottle in Australia and odds were better then great that no more would be coming into the country.

I spent a very restless night, but come morning it was time to catch a bus and train to go meet the guys and get my whisky.

Why was I catching the bus and train you might ask?

Simple!

My wife had the car for her job that day.

But I wasn't too stressed, my trusty phone has a map that I've used many times in the past to get me where I was going and I'd been to the IBS once before a couple years prior with my brother in law to pick up some beer. It shouldn't be a problem to get there.

So I catch the bus to the train station, hop the train and get off at my stop.

I pull out my handy dandy phone and pull up the map.

It says I'm just a mile away.

No problem! I walk that far for fun!

Go left.

I go left.

Go right.

I go right.

Go straight.

I go straight.

Recheck map.

I'm two miles away now.

What the bloody hell.

I've followed the directions!?

I recheck the directions.

They've changed.

Ok let's follow these ones.

Go left.

I go left.

Go straight.

Ok straight I go!

Left again.

Here I go.

Now I'm five miles away!?

What the hell!?

Screw hell!

WTF?!

I again and again follow the directions, and each time it changes.

Sometimes I'm closer.

Sometimes I'm further away.

I stop and ask for directions again and again, but no one knows where the shop is.

I finally cross the train tracks again after massive frustration, trying to restart my journey.

This time it tells me to go right instead of left.

But don't worry, I'm only a mile away.

...

Seriously WTF?!

I follow the directions right, cross several major roads and continue following the directions.

This time it takes me left to go closer, and then tells me I've gone several miles further away.

Then it tells me to go right and now I'm four miles away.

The hell with this!

I pick the main drag as my phone starts to die and start walking straight.

I know the street address, I was there a couple years ago, I have a vague idea of the scenery and hopefully someone will have some directions.

Every time I try to use the phone it takes me further and further away.

Straight O Go!

After I've gone several miles on foot I come upon a post office. Hopefully they'll know where the street I'm looking for is!

I go in and I must look frazzled as can be.

I ask him if he knows how to get to the main street that the shop is located on.

He says indeed he does and that I'm only a few blocks away. ten to fifteen more minutes walk and I'm there!

Huzzah!!

So I set out again with a renewed drive to get to the shop and get my whisky.

A little over twelve minutes go by as I walk down the street and I finally see a neighborhood that looks semi familiar, then I see the shop!

I've made it!

I head into the shop and take a look around.

Beer!

Lots of beer!!

This is what greets me as I walk in.

I'm not quite sure why I'm so surprised. They do have the largest selection of beer in Australia, carrying something over 900 different beers and cider.

And more importantly whisky.

On the wall behind the managers desk sits roughly two dozen bottles of whisky.

I introduce myself to them and we start talking beer and whisky. Which is better and why.

They're convinced that beer is better.

I inform them sadly that they're wrong, that whisky is better.

After 40 or so minutes of talking shop I grab my whiskies, the Stranahans and Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon, wince at the damage, after my discount just a tad shy of $250 AUS and head home.

I walk back to the train and head for home.

This is the last bottle of Stranahans in Australia. This is a whisky to be savored and respected.

I set aside both the Four Rose and the Stranahans for a special occasion.

A few weeks ago that occasion occurred. My brother and sister in law bought me and my wife a 50 inch plasma screen hd 3d TV with net capabilities.

A dream come true! Something that I've ALWAYS wanted.

When I come home from work that night to see this MASSIVE TV sitting in my living room and see who's responsible I KNOW that a special bottle needs to be opened this night.

I give my brother in law the option of any of several unopened bottles to choose from and he decides on the Stranahans.

Very cool looking bottle. Really long neck with a metalish top that covers the neck.

It's batch 47 and on the comments section of the label it states "Listening to Jon Stewart."

I let my brother in law crack the bottle and then pour drams for all of us.

Now in the Whisky Bible 2012 it received a 90.5 and it's described as "a real complex, mildly schizophrenic bottling which just entertains all the way. Superb!"

I do believe that's a really good description of this whisky.

As we nose the glencairns almost in unison my wife and brother in law state "Smells like apple pie"

I get that, but cut grass also.

Vanilla, cinnamon, apples, citrus, bananas, barley, cut grass, caramel and more.

Bloody hell.

We spend about five minutes calling out different items that we're picking up.

We all get vanilla and apple pies, I seem to be the only getting cut grass though.

REALLY cool, intense nose!

When we take a drink theres a slight intensity of vanilla, bananas, some of those apples and vanilla, and weirdly enough a hint of peat? I didn't think this was a peated whisky, but we're getting just a little touch of peat to the flavor.

Very very yummy!

The finish is LONG with banana, spices, and oak.

Man I've wanted to try this whisky for a LONG time and this is one of those times where the anticipation wound up meeting expectations.

DELICIOUS!!

Definitely a special occasion whisky and one that I'd love to drink again and again.

Sadly this is the first and only time I've ever seen this whisky. Period.

However I will be contacting the distillery and attempting to get some sort of shipments as they release their batches because this is an AWESOME whisky that doesn't taste like it's the two years listed on the label.

If you're lucky enough to see a bottle of this, BUY IT!

If nothing else I'll take it off your hands.

@Ash, this is a long review, even for you! Fun, though. So I have a long-ish comment for you. I am delighted that you loved the Stranahan's. I love what little I've had of it too (thank you @HP12!).

Stranahan's shows just how delicious Barley-Malt tastes with new wood, as does Deanston Virgin Oak, and a couple of other malts. The good news is that it is delicious at 3 years aged in new oak. The bad-for-tradition news is that barley just often won't have the taste weight for its flavours to hold up in adequate balance against the strong flavours of new oak much beyond 3 years in the wood.

This is delicious whisky, and a shot across the bow to traditionalists, whom I hope see the handwriting on the whisky innovation wall. Small casks, tropical heat, new wood, even woods other than oak...these things will come and some of them will remain. There will always be a market for things "just the way they used to be" just as there is always an orchestra ready to play Beethoven. But, happily, many of us will be delighted to have a lot of choice in what we drink,...and some 'un-traditionally' intense and 'unfamiliarly' delicious flavours flavours to go along with them.

Let me make this perfectly clear: I love 'traditional" malts (or what the SMWA claims the tradition to be). I just want a whole lot more choice beyond those limits.

@Victor Agreed! A long review even for me :D As I journeyed to get this whisky all I kept thinking about is that it'll make a funny story on Connosr. Hahaha. I agree about non traditional whiskies being delicious and interesting. I've attempted to grab my hands on Kavalan, but was outbid, but one of the ones that I'd love to put my hands on is the Nikka Whisky Single Coffey Malt 12 yr old. It sounds SO yummy!

More about Stranahans is I REALLY want a few more bottles from different batches.

@galg

A little change today, with an American malt whiskey. Made of barley. and In Colorado. Eighty per cent of the barley used to distil this one is grown in Colorado with the remainder coming from the Rocky Mountain region, which is nice. The process is interesting : The barley goes through a roller mill and then into 30 barrel mash-tun at the distillery. The grain is mashed, sparged and transferred as a naturally maltose-sugar-rich liquid to the kettle where it is boiled before being filtered, cooled and transferred to one of 60 barrel fermentation vessels. Once the fermentation is complete, the wash is then again filtered and transferred to distillery holding tanks. From the holding tanks, the wash goes into a custom made combination pot (scotch style) and column (bourbon style) still, made by Vendome Copper Co. of Louisville, Kentucky. it’s distilled twice, of course, taking the best parts of the doubling run after which the spirit is filled into 52.8 gallon charred, American white oak whiskey barrels. The Whiskey is aged a minimum of two years, before it’s ready to be bottled.

Normally i have no access to many American whiskies, as none are here, and outside the USA they are scarce and expensive. Happily my good friend, hebro, and whisky fanatic Josh (from the JSMWS) sent me some of this nectar.

Nose: Starting very sweet and strong with guava jam , tons of vanilla , honey , polished wood and spices. Wee whiff of balsamic, pine and fresh cut grass. Clearly a lot of new wood influence with that great Guava jam (i once ate a wonderful desert of that kind in an Israeli restaurant, and that smell just came back to me). Palate: Sweet and full of spice on the entry. Burnt sugar, rum, again tons of vanilla with fried bananas, flambé with liquor.Yumm. Finish: Spicy wood and ripe banana.

Overall this is a cracking dram in my opinion. Not very refined, but considering it’s age, it’s not as savage as one might expect.Teriffic nose, and palate, very powerful and exotic with the banana guava combo.Certainly, well done. well well done

Yes, @galg, the bigger flavour components of whiskies do not always harmonise well together. Some combinations of big flavours clash with one another. Judging those taste combinations that work vs those that clash, is, of course a matter of personal taste peculiar to the individual. One of my big gripes with most Canadian Blended whiskies, for example, is that my taste finds that rye grain flavours and/or wheat grain flavours usually clash badly with wine flavours. I just don't like them together at all, in general. That said, I find an exception in the Crown Royal Reserve, which has clear strong rye flavours with clear wine flavours. Sometimes relatively disharmonious combinations can be made to work if handled just right. You may have read in the Jim Murray Whisky Bibles that he doesn't like heavy peat combined with sherry flavours most of the time. But, that general taste preference did not stop him from naming Ardbeg Uigeadail World Whisky of the Year a couple of years ago.

So far, I haven't much liked rye and wheat combined in the same whisk(e)y either, eg Corner Creek Bourbon, and some Canadians.

As to new oak and peat, the Ardbeg Alligator is using charred barrels. Are they not also new?

I think that new oak is especially useful for malt whiskies that are not heavily dolloped with the other standard Scottish flavouring strategies: wine cask aging and heavy peat and/or seaside brine-aging. Stranahan's gives a good example of how tasty a malty malt can be coming out of new wood, in this case charred new wood. I am looking forward to more of these new wood flavours in malts even though I know that the long term diminishing demographics of the oak forests probably work economically against that trend.

@galg, your review has inspired me to taste my first sample of Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey, compliments of @HP12, one week ago today. I also neglected to note the batch number when I took the sample, but I will ask him. This is quite zippy! I like it a lot. That charred new oak gives a very very interesting twist of flavours to malt whisk(e)y. It is amazing with my sample how woody it is after a mere two(?)years. But then, wood is always a very big part of any whisky. Many whisky lovers would be surprised at how much wood and maturation effect CAN, but not always WILL, be obtained, in a short period of time, depending on treatment and quality of wood, and climate. Taste some $ 25 El Jimador Anejo Tequila, for example. It is 366 days old, and VERY woody!

Scottish whiskies would not require so much aging if they used better, i.e. mostly, newer, wood. Age in itself has never made good, let alone great whiskies.

@WhiskyNotes

Nose: nice hints of ripe banana, syrup and vanilla. Great hints of red berries and melon. Actually, I think it’s closer to some rums than to most bourbons. A bit of rye elements too. Some cocoa, tangerine and cinnamon. The light smoke / charcoal is noticeable as well. Smooth and highly seductive.

Mouth: huge banana again (Pisang), and spices. Lots of vanilla and a bit of coconut. A bit of lime and eucalyptus. More oak than you wood expect after two years.

Finish: quite short but nicely drying.

Unlike any other American whiskey. You could think of Stranahan’s as a mix-up between bourbon and Scotch. It’s less sweet than bourbon, less complex than Scotch and overall very interesting. Recommended!

I have recently had a dram from MOM too. (just bought 20 over samples to try out before deciding what to purchase in a full bottle) Anyway, I'm still quite new to whisky, I not gonna post too much about tasting note as I think I'm still a novice with this. I just thought I've experience something quite unusual and wanna see if anyone that similar experience. On the finishing, I find there's a tad of furry/bitey finish, but not on the usual back of the tongue, but rather the upper rear part of the mouth. I went to and flo couple of time with another dram (which usually gives me that furry/bitey sensations on the back of the tongue, and the Stranahan's just comes back to the same spot on the rear top of the mouth. Too bad I only have 1 sample, I couldn't try it again the next day, thu, was wondering if anyone do have that experience.

As for the finish, I do agree with WhiskyNotes, that its rather short. And yes, for sure the Banana is fairly noticeable on the taste, more so, then the nose.

Ahh...I was curious becasue I'm a little baffled that you found the finish short; I find it to be quite long. And I find Stranahan's to be extremely complex.

With that said, the earliest batches were much younger overall than more current expressions. Currently, the distillery marries together a variety of ages of whiskey all the way up to five years old; but early on, there wasn't any older whiskey, and the batches may have been simpler, I never got to try them (although Jim Murray seemed to think they were great).

Anyway, nice review. Folks often notice banana notes in Stranahan's, although I never did; and I agree totally that it's such a unique style that it almost comes off as a new type of spirit altogether. It's whiskey though, through and through: 100% malted barley, aged in oak, no flavoring, no coloring.

Slainte!

Charlie

@OJK

Reviewed by @OJK

0 1590/100

Nose, taste, finish and balance are graded out of 2.5 each:

Nose: Well this is of course a rarity, an american single malt, yet there is still a lot of bourbon on the nose. That said, there is the unmistakable smell of the malt, and it's a beautifully sweet and smooth aroma, and not without its hint of smoke. There's something about it that reminds of me of being in wood-shop as a child at school, and smelling freshly sanded wood. That and granny-smith apples covered in beeswax. 2.0

Taste: Very nimble and floating on the tongue. The apple is the first to make its mark, and it's tantalisingly crisp and juicy. Then there are lashings of vanilla ice-cream, followed by buttery spice. Sumptuous. 2.5

Finish: The malt comes back out on the finish, but is then quickly dominated by an all-absorbing swathe of red liquorice. One generally tends to assume that if a whisky is purely sweet, that it can't be that complex, however the variety in sweet flavours and their patience in allowing each to have their say is staggering. And I may be doing it a disservice to not mention the subtle spice that accompanies it smoothly and consistently all the way, never outshining the sweetness, and if anything just giving it a point of reference from which it can work its magic. 2.5

Balance: Immense. This was batch number 35, and there's a comment written on the label by the distiller, and it says "LIstening to Willie Dixon". It's an eccentric touch, and as much as I want to avoid making the obvious comparison to music, I just can't help it. There truly is a smooth crooning quality to this whisky. There is the velvety sweet voice, with the touch of rough spice that suggests a life that's been lived. And then of course the melody, sweet lilting notes that all string together to form a tune that you just can't help humming. 2.0

The distillery was great. The tour was given by one of the distillers and he was so incredibly laid back he pretty much just walked us through a day of work for him.

I thought the temperature and humidity controlled room was rather odd as it seams the "uniqueness" of the whisky is taken away with this level of control but for them the distinctiveness of their whisky is in their quality locally sourced ingredients and in their very exacting distilling methods. They have two custom made pot/column stills (they are a hybrid of the two styles and incorporate the best elements of each).

Interestingly the distiller himself prefers to take his Stranahan's with a few drops of water. The water helped to smooth out the flavors which can be a little sharp when taken neat.

I would agree with AboutChoice that the price point seams high for the product and I think they are trying to create a market for high end "Colorado Straight Whiskey" as they call it.

One last cool note. They are a really small distillery and when they bottle (which they do every other month or so) they have a list of volunteers and you come in on a Saturday and take your place in line and have a job for the day (Sticking labels, placing corks etc.) They give you beer for the day and a bottle to take home for your hard work. I put my email on the list but they haven't contacted me yet. I will definitely post something up if they do.

@Charlie-Davis - I am definitely going to believe you! I can tell you as well it will make it even more enjoyable the next time I sit down with the bottle for a dram or two. I always find I get personally attached to a good whisky, a little like a good book or a song you love, and little unique touches like that make it all the more so. Also I wasn't aware that only 12 to 24 bottles go into each batch, that makes it all the more special I have to say.

@quirkzoo - That's fantastic that they do that, if I lived nearby (sadly London is a little far!) I would be signing up as well. The idea of sipping beer while bottling whisky over in the Colorado Rockies sounds like total bliss compared to catching the crammed tube in the morning over here. If they call you up definitely let us know so you can share the experience! Will have to try and visit the distillery one day next time I'm over in america, sounds like a very cool place.

@dbk - Thanks a lot! And I would definitely recommend trying it again in a proper nosing glass, you get the most amazing overview of the unique malt-bourbon aromas that way. That said, the bottle design and general Colorado Rockies feel to it suggests more of a cowboy whisky, so perhaps a rocks glass goes well with the rustic image!

@AboutChoice - very interesting background info, thanks a lot for that. I would agree that it's quite expensive for what it is, however the background to it (both the unique way it is made, as well as the eccentricity with which they distill and sell it) makes it worth paying in my opinion as it's such a one-off. I guess at the same time if this style of whisky grows in popularity then it will probably start to become less of a one-off, and then I think hopefully we'll start to find cheaper varieties on the market.

@jdcook - Definitely worth the wait! The bottle and general cowboy image of Stranahan's reminds me a little of that Bakery Hill whisky you guys have out there, which I can never seem to find here in Europe!

@nickithep

This warmed my soul. It did not last long at all, maybe a weekend between a friend and I?

It's nose was inviting, although it was my first time, it had such a sense of familiarity, it compared to the greatest of comfort food. I will say it was very easy to drink, maybe a little to easy. A very smooth texture and equal body were definitely the culprit.

Easy on the palate as well as the eyes with a very rich in color with a kind of shine to it. I loved it, I will add, that with drinking all of it over a weekend between two, i felt like a million bucks when the deal was done!

Late to the game here, but I will say I enjoyed this whisky (whiskey) on this night as much as any other time. Of course our city was on fire, ash falling everywhere and we needed some comfort. As Nick said, it did warm the soul. But this is a slutty drink Not for everyday. But something to have in the cabinet.

Aw, I bottle for them a lot; the comments are just that: comments. Sometimes (most times actually) we are listening to the artists on the labels as we bottle, but some of the distillers just want to say something different; I think they want to communicate the spirit behind the distillery. So camping in the mountains fits perfectly. Or "Riding Horses", which I've seen. Or "Mashing In at 6 am". I've even seen "My Job is More Fun Than Your Vacation".

Charlie

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