Stranahan’s Distiller’s Experimental Batch 005
Stranahan’s is one of the oldest distileries in the United States. While they have kept a solid core offering over the years, they have also featured annual releases, single casks and limited series. The Distiller’s Experiemental Batch is only available at the distillery itself or the connected Aspen Whiskey Lodge. This series is, as the name connotes, made up of experiments concocted by head blender Justin Aden. Regulations surrounding whiskey allow much more freedom to experiment than some other places, which allows this series to really stretch into all kinds of finishes, grains and other territories not even seen in major releases. The Stranahan’s Distiller’s Experimental Batch 005 was released in 2022. This single malt was aged for six years and two months, and finished for a gin cask that had formely held a single malt scotch. The distillery has not disclosed what specific scotch or American gin the cask previously held, or the exact length of the finish.
Balcones Rumble
Balcones was founded in 2008 in Waco, Texas. The beginning was bringing the different elements together until they could begin distilling in 2009. Two tenets of the distillery from the beginning has been to use ingredients that spoke to the heart of Texas and the other was to be boldly creative. Whether using Baby Blue corn or a remarkable single malt, they have looked to forge their own path of American whiskies. The Balcones Rumble is so creative as to be almost in another category of offerings altogether. It is, in fact, not a whiskey at all. So why are we reviewing it? Because when it was first poured out for us, we couldn’t tell it wasn’t a whiskey at first blush. So call it whiskey adjacent? Good enough for us to explore further. The Rumble is a Texas wildflower honey, turbinado sugar and fig spirit aged in small oak barrels for an undisclosed amount of time.
High Coast Timmer
High Coast began producing whisky in 2010 after being founded by a group of whisky-interested friends in 2007. Situated in Sörviken, Sweden, the distillery is exposed to a high degree of temperature variance throughout the year, including some terrifically cold nights during the winter. From the beginning, the distillery has employed a patience, thoughtful, transparent philosophy to create a creative slate of offerings. In 2017, the Origins product line was begun, the core offerings that are most widely distributed (the Hav is also one of these). The High Coast Timmer was launched in 2020 and is made of peated barley (39-46ppm) matured in a variety of cask sizes for approximately seven years.