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Fellow Drammers!
We’re very to announce the details of our upcoming Smooth Ambler Distillery Tour and Barrel Pick event on Wednesday, September 23rd starting at 8pm EST / 5pm Pacific! We’ll be transmitting live from the distillery itself in West Virginia, where their head distiller John Little, a longtime friend of the club, will be giving us a tour of the distillery. Everyone who signs up will get to help us pick the barrel — we’ll have 3 samples to choose from, and we’ll distribute samples in advance, so our members will decide by majority vote which barrel we decide to buy! We’ve also put together an incredible lineup of additional pours, and here we can brag a little bit — nobody has some of this stuff, I mean nobody, we couldn’t even find an example of one going up at auction. I have been personally collecting old Smooth Amber bottles since before our Drammers Club began, and I pulled out some from my private collection, most notably the 14yo Very Old Scout (the original, not the 2018 release). This stuff was some of the best whiskey I’ve ever tasted in my life, and I cannot wait to try it again. On top of that, we’ve assembled a kind of tasting walk-through-history, 10 pours in total, check out this lineup…
Very Old Scout 14yo Bourbon - 2012 Release. This is almost certainly MGP juice, and is extraordinary, and very rare (we’ve only seen one listing for it for sale in recent years for $700/bottle, which is long gone). 50% abv.
Old Scout 10yo Bourbon - French Release. Bottled in 2014 and again almost certainly MGP. 50% abv.
Old Scout 7yo Rye - French Release. Bottled in 2015 and again almost certainly MGP. 49.% abv.
Old Scout 13yo Bourbon - Single Barrel Select. This represents an important moment in Smooth Ambler’s history. Having been way ahead of the curve on sourcing incredible MGP juice, and having created a huge fanbase and demand for their products, they were faced with a familiar challenge — MGP just didn’t have whiskey that old available anymore, what to do? They ended up sourcing some great whiskey from Tennessee (presumably Dickel) to keep the party going, and of course it has a very different flavor, that frosted cornflakes note that is so specific to Dickel. Some of their fans appreciated it, some missed the old MGP flavor. But either way it was an important turning point for the company. 53.2% abv.
Old Scout 107 Proof American Whiskey — this product line was recently discontinued, which is a real shame, because as a blend of bourbon matured in new and used barrels (which is why they can’t call it a bourbon), it reflects a side of American whiskey that is seriously neglected today, the art of maturing whiskey in used barrels. Too bad, but a few bottles are still out there and we were able to source one for the event.
Smooth Ambler Contradiction Bourbon - Another fun one, and a step towards the future of Smooth Ambler. After all, although they have proven to be masters at sourcing whiskey, they have also been making whiskey themselves, so when that started to come of age, they created this, a blend of whiskies they distilled themselves, combined with sourced whiskey from Tennessee and Indiana (presumably Dickel and MGP). 46% abv.
Smooth Ambler Big Level Wheated Bourbon - And now the transition is complete, this expression is entirely distilled in West Virginia at the Smooth Ambler distillery. Aged 5+ years in a #4 char, 53 gallon barrel. Mashbill is 71% corn, 21% wheat, 8% malted barley.
Barrel Pick Sample #1
Barrel Pick Sample #2
Barrel Pick Sample #3
That’s our lineup! We hope you can join us! Pour size is between 0.5 ounce and 0.75 ounce as usual.
$55/person for Drammers Members
$75/person for Drammers Observers