Oh Taste & See: MB Roland Malt Whiskey

This is the second of my three-part American craft-distilled malt whiskey tasting. My first was Edgefield Distillery's Hogshead Whiskey from Oregon, and today I'm tasting MB Roland's Malt Whiskey from Kentucky. The MB Roland distillery is just outside my hometown, and you can read about my visit there by clicking here. Their malt whiskey is a very small batch product, and is totally unique in that the mash bill is not 100% malted barley, but a blend of malt, rye, and corn with malt being the majority grain. It is also aged in new, charred oak barrels like a bourbon which is unusual for malt whiskeys.

This unique recipe leads to one of the most singular whiskeys that I have tasted. It is unlike anything else; charting its own little path down the whiskey road. This is precisely the type of innovation that small distillers like MB Roland can bring to market, and I applaud them for trying something so innovative.

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A "Fair and Balanced" Overview of the White Dog Phenomenon

If you follow my blog you know that I'm interested in the newly popular un-aged whiskies that seem to be popping up everywhere. Whether you call it legal moonshine, white lightening, or white dog, there's no denying that legit micro-distillers, and even a few of the big boys like Buffalo Trace, are butting their way into a market once dominated by woodsmen in bib overalls.

I found this article from Fox News to be perhaps the most glaring sign yet that un-aged whiskey has indeed hit the mainstream. If Fox News is reviewing four different white dog whiskeys on their website it has definitely come out of the woods and into the modern world. All four of the whiskeys they review sound pretty drinkable, although I haven't tried any of them personally, so I'd love to hear from any of you who have.

A Couple New Micro-Distilleries

While going through the emails piled up in my inbox - which isn't nearly as fun as a big stack of paper mail used to be after a long vacation - I came across articles about two new micro-distilleries whose whiskies have recently hit the market and sound quite interesting.

The first article was about Reservoir Distillery of Richmond, VA which just came out with a very small-batch bourbon that's currently available only in 375 mL bottles and only by special order in Virginia which has a notoriously silly state-run system of liquor stores.

The other new-to-me whiskey that I read about in this article is an unaged corn whiskey that's also made in Virginia with a 1933 vintage copper still and a pre-prohibition recipe. The Belmont Farm Distillery grows and mills its own corn on-site for its Virginia Lightening, and also offers a triple-grain whiskey called Kopper Kettle that should have a very unique flavor after spending time in locally-sourced apple wood and white oak barrels.

Since I don't have any plans to head to Virginia in the near future I'd love to hear from anyone who has a chance to try either of these whiskeys.

Would You Drink Speed Whiskey from Cleveland?

I came across this article that highlights one of the ways in which the traditional boundaries of whiskey-making are being pushed by modern technology. Tom Lix is a 58 year old serial entrepreneur whose latest venture is a Cleveland, Ohio based company that aims to make high-quality whiskey while reducing the amount of time that the whiskey must spend aging in barrels. Lix claims his process makes six month aged whiskeys that taste like six year aged whiskeys, quite a feat that could revolutionize the economics of the whiskey business if it ever catches on.

The article doesn't go into his process too much, but apparently it involves using smaller-than-standard barrels, a fairly common practice among small-scale and start-up distillers, as well as controlling temperatures and pressures in order to help the whiskey age more quickly. I assume there's more to the process than simply storing a small barrel of spirits in a temperature controlled room, as Nix has a patent pending for his process and has received $25,000 in start-up funding from a Cleveland small-business incubator. He has also received a helping hand from a Kentucky bourbon-maker who supplied unaged white dog whiskey for Nix to use in testing his aging process, saving him the need to distill his own raw product.

Cutting down the time needed to make high quality whiskey would certainly have it's advantages, allowing distillers to bring new products to market more quickly and reducing the costs associated with storing and insuring aging whiskey for years. On the flip side, adding new technology to whiskey production takes away some of the traditional, artisanal nature of the product. What could be less traditional than speed-aged whiskey from Cleveland? Although that does have a very modern, American ring to it.

Craft Distillery Tour: MB Roland Distillery

My mom has a habit of sending me clippings from the local newpaper back home in Kentucky. Usually she sends my high-school friends' wedding announcements or articles about local political happenings. Sometimes these clippings hang on the fridge for a week or two, but mostly they go straight into the recycling bin after a quick read. One article she sent recently caught my interest though. It told about a new craft distillery that had opened right down the road from my hometown in Pembroke, KY.

The idea of craft-whiskey being produced in Pembroke blew my mind. This is the Pembroke where I used to ride four-wheelers on my friends' farms and once spent hours trying to steal a road sign reading "Welcome to Pembroke, Population 1,000." The Pembroke where the population includes large numbers of Amish, Southern Baptists, and other groups for whom alcohol is a taboo subject. This I had to see.

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