I’m just getting back from an awesome trip to Portland so I’ve got a lot of experiences with bars and whiskeys I tried over the last few several days to share. If you’ve never visited I highly suggest you check it out. The weather couldn’t have been better this time of year, the food was spectacular, and as you will see the whiskey scene is pretty great.
Whiskey Bars
Multnomah Whiskey Library
I arrived here Saturday night around 8pm. I had to wait about an hour for a seat at the bar. The inside is very nice, particularly the beautiful chandelier and exquisite lighting that highlights the huge collection of whiskey lining the walls. The bartenders seemed relatively knowledgeable. As far as their spread I would say this is the largest number of bottles I’ve seen outside of Jack Rose in DC though their collection of rare items is pretty paltry to the aforementioned bar or others like Canon. Overall I liked MWL because it’s an experience just to see the place and it’s fun to peruse the menu. Just know if you are looking for rare whiskey you’ll have to choose your battles and half pours are a good way to ease the pain of the high prices.
Woodsman Tavern
Absolutely insane collection of legendary Bourbons and Ryes but there is no price list so you have ask about everything which is annoying. The prices are up and down but again with any whiskey bar you just pick your battles. Some pricing examples: PHC 27 $50, Michter’s 20 $150, Rittenhouse 25 $250, Very Old Fitzgerald $250+. I ended up here for quite a while talking to the head bartender (Ed) who was very knowledgeable about the collection. At some point the owner Duane comes in and sits at the bar beside me. Next thing I know he is having them pull down bottles off the shelf for us both to try on the house. Turns out he is the founder of Stumptown Coffee and is somewhat of a local hero in Portland. Not much longer after that he drags me to his restaurant Ava Gene’s where they load us up on food and drinks all on his tab. The cherry on top was that before we leave the bartender there cracks open a tax stamped Gambarotta Amaro from the 1970s. Really amazing experience all the way around and I can’t stress enough the tremendous generosity of Duane.
Circa 33
Not a lot to say other than nice selection with quite a few allocated items. Prices were very reasonable.
Pope House Bourbon Lounge
This seemed like the kind of place I would frequent if I lived in Portland. Nice selection of common and some higher end allocated items. They also had several of their own barrel selections. Prices were more than fair compared to some of the other places I visited.
Reviews
Willett Family Estate 9949
46.3% ABV; Aged 20 years; $57/oz @ MWL
Notes: The nose is really sweet and with moderate old oak funk notes. Some sweet baked vanilla cake notes take over the wood the longer I let it sit. After some proper air time it smells wonderful. The taste is mostly like the smell but with more wood influence. Mouthfeel is luscious and almost oily but not in a gross way. At the finish there is more of the old musty wood funk I expected in the nose and front palate but also some dark bitter chocolates. This teeters the edge of being too bitter/funky which is always a slippery slope for me but this one lands on the better side of that. Very, very good bourbon.
Rating: A- / A
Rating: A- / A
Barrel Bourbon Batch 004
58.4% ABV; Aged 6 years; $11/oz @ MWL
Notes: The nose and taste ran very hot initially and took quite a while to cool off. After that it was pretty standard cask strength middle aged bourbon with flavors in the usual sweet + woody warehouse. It tastes a bit older than 6 years as the wood has some decent depth to it. In particular I got some nice dark bitter and sweet notes at the end. If I see a bottle of this I might be tempted to grab one even at the ~$70 price tag.
Rating: B / B-
Rating: B / B-
Kavalan Sherry Cask
58.6% ABV; No Age Statement; $40 /oz @ MWL
Notes: The nose is so strange. I got a lot of nutty fruitiness. Dark fruits and heat dominated. The heat didn’t improve on the taste as it went down very hot with lots of raw wood. I couldn’t decide if I liked it or hated it. On one hand I liked the heavy deep dark fruits but I was really turned off by the heat, brash woodiness, and a general roughness around the edges. On a positive note I can say it’s very unique.
Rating: C+
Rating: C+
Angel’s Envy Cask Strength 2014
59.65% ABV; No Age Statement; $22 /oz @ MWL
Notes: The nose is super fruit/wine forward with some maple brown sugar as well. It smells like a high proof port wine more than a port finished whiskey. It’s warm but not overly hot. The taste has a very thick syrupy texture. Again it’s very fruit forward - prunes, sugary grape jam. It finishes with lots of sweetness and finally some oak which was mostly absent up to this point. I think it is delicious but it’s not something you would want to drink often. It loses points in the balance category as the port sweetness is very heavy handed but fair warning I like really sweet things. Having said that, I liked the 2013 a lot more as it was more bourbony than this one and had more dimensions / depth.
Rating: B
Rating: B
Parker’s Heritage Collection 27 year
48% ABV; Aged 27 years; $50 /oz @ Woodsman
Notes: The nose has some old oak funk but those notes are well tempered. There is a surprising amount of vanilla caramel sweetness versus bitter tannins. Also getting some old book cellar mustiness too. The taste is a lot like the nose with a lush mouthfeel. The bitter tannins come through on the finish but it’s not beyond my comfort zone for old whiskey. The taste and finish are a little flat which leads me to believe this bottle is oxidized slightly but it’s still delicious stuff. This is the quintessential hyped aged bourbon to me.
Rating: A- / B+
Rating: A- / B+
Willett Estate Family Reserve 68
51.3%; Aged 28 years; $60 /oz @ Woodsman
Notes: The nose is a bit flat and thin with mostly stale wood funk. Considering the age that’s what I expected. Taste was a little flat as well, especially up front. It really just tastes like a muted bourbon about half its age. No way I would have guessed this was 28 years old as the amount of oak that should be there is really missing. Things take an interesting turn in the finish as there was a lot of spicy cinnamon. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a wheater but I think this bottle was oxidized. If it was as solid all the way through as the finish I would have been happier with it.
Rating: C
Rating: C
Rathskeller Rye
68% ABV; Aged 23 years; @ Woodsman
Notes: This was one the owner had them pull down out of pure kindness. The nose has an incredibly bold rye spice but also hefty oak. The taste is just wow. Such a rye spice bomb profile unlike any I’ve ever had. I can’t emphasize enough how bold this is. The proof is bruising but it is totally drinkable without being hot. This is everything you could ever imagine in an older aged barrel proof rye. It’s a woody blast but it’s not funky at all which is surprising given the age. To say this is intense would be an understatement.
Rating: A+, best rye I’ve ever had
Rating: A+, best rye I’ve ever had
The Classic Cask Kentucky Straight Bourbon
45.4% ABV; Aged 15 years; @ Woodsman
Notes: This was another one the owner pulled down off the shelves for us. Honestly I don’t know much about the history on this one. I know it’s a KBD bottling. I’ve only ever seen it on a shelf one other time (at Char No. 4 in Brooklyn) and it’s not very common on the secondary either. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with this one but everything about it from the nose to the taste was soft, creamy, and smooth. In a way it reminded me a lot of an older bottling of Van Winkle Lot B so I think this might be a wheater but don’t quote me on that. Duane kept saying it’s very delicate and I certainly agree with him. Overall it was nothing super crazy, just a nice easy sipper.
Rating: B-
Rating: B-
Willett Estate Family Reserve C28A “Deep Purple”
70.1%; Aged 19 years; @ Woodsman
Notes: This was yet another one the owner broke out for us. C28A is a Woodsman private barrel which they have nicknamed “Deep Purple”. Based on the barrel number it should be a wheater. The nose was rich luscious caramel and toffee. Smells very woody but not funky or bitter. The taste was much like the nose - classic high proof older aged bourbon, oak and sweet forward though I didn’t get a lot of my usual wheater tells like cinnamon or cake batter. It was very drinkable for the proof and a truly wonderful bourbon.
Rating: A
Rating: A
Elijah Craig 23
45% ABV; Aged 23 years; $40 1.75 oz; @ Pope House
Notes: The nose is very woody. It definitely smells the age as it is dominated by old oak. The taste is a lot like the nose but very buttery smooth with a softness to it. The wood notes are on the stale side and dominate but there is some subtle sweetness in there as well like caramel cotton candy. It finishes on the bitter side and has some light spice. It’s not the funky oak mess I expected and honestly I like this a bit more than the 21 year versions I’ve tried. That could be single barrel variability or it could be the profile they were going for here, tough to say. It’s a reasonable pour but at $200 retail it’s an easy pass for me.
Rating: B-
Rating: B-
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