OLD POTRERO HOTALING’S WHISKEY
single barrel bottled in bond release, bottle 191 of 246 (2021)MASH BILL – 100% malted rye
PROOF – 100
AGE – 17 years
DISTILLERY – Anchor Distilling Company
PRICE – $147
WORTH BUYING? – Yes
Tasted for the last time in The Year of No Buying (The what? 🔗 here.)
I’ve written about Old Potrero and the Hotaling’s line many times now on this blog. In a comparison between this 17 Year Hotaling’s from 2021 and the 18 Year from 2013, despite their having been distilled, aged and bottled 8 years apart, I found the two elder-teen renditions of this rare whiskey to be remarkably similar. The consistency of color, aroma, texture, and taste were striking.
By contrast, the more common Old Potrero Single Barrel releases, of which I am a big dang fan, are remarkably varied from release to release. I’ve rhapsodized about the fruit-laden 2019 Single Barrel #13 too many times to count. The eccentric, antique candy store of a rye that was the 2017 chardonnay cask finished SiB has likewise received repeated mention here. And a 2020 Single Barrel #10 was a study in molasses and malt.
Old Potrero SiBs are made according to American laws governing rye—so, among other mandated specs, they’re aged in new charred oak barrels. That in combo with their hearty 100% malted rye mash bill, plus being bottled at cask strength, makes each Old Potrero SiB a massive flavor bomb. Whereas the Hotaling’s line, despite many more years in the barrel on average, are aged like a scotch in used barrels, resulting in a lighter color with flavors that are layered yet far subtler overall.
At the end of the day, I greatly prefer the Old Potrero SiBs to any Hotaling’s release I’ve had. Nevertheless, the Hotaling’s line holds a special place in my whiskey fan heart. It is genuinely peculiar, with a flavor profile unique among American single malt whiskeys. It embodies the idiosyncratic obsession of its founder, Fritz Maytag, who set out to capture in a whiskey something from another time in America, when things took longer, were harder to do, were carried out on a smaller scale, and just tasted different. Hotaling’s is a true example of whiskey as history in a bottle.
As I’ve indeed written about this brand quite a lot already, I’ll skip any more backstory and jump right into a glass—in fact the final glass of this uncommon whiskey. Here we are, one year and seven months after uncorking, and this is the last pour of this now empty bottle. These brief notes were taken using both an antique tumbler and traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – a classic whiskey honey-amber
NOSE – light and bright grain notes, sweet honey, real butter, confectionary sugars, bright malt, some vanilla and light caramel stirred into a grain porridge
TASTE – a wonderful light syrupy texture, with more vanilla and sweet caramel than the nose lets on, melted butter, the malt and grain porridge notes, a thin outline of bitter oak tannin, some subtle black pepper and a nice peppery tingle from the solid 100 proof
FINISH – black pepper, oak tannin, fresh milled grains, a bit of vanilla and subtle caramel, lingering warmth from the proof.
OVERALL – Just as I remember it. A good ol’ dependable weirdo of an old-fashioned whiskey.
I know I said I prefer the Old Potrero SiBs to these Hotaling’s Whiskey releases, and that is indeed true. But I must admit to being a fan boy of this strange single malt. It’s a single barrel, 100% malted rye (a rarity) and also bottled in bond. At 17 years, the age isn’t so unusual by scotch standards. But how many American single malts log that much time? And in terms of flavor profile there is no other single malt, American or otherwise, that I can compare this to. As a tasting experience it is unique.
And, it’s made about a 15 minute drive across San Francisco from where I live. For all these reasons, Hotaling’s Whiskey will always have its special place in my whiskey fan’s heart.
Does that mean I’ll buy future releases? Probably. If they’re aged in the late teens, and if I find a bottle at msrp. As Hotaling’s isn’t a unicorn that’s widely hunted, chances are good those factors will come into alignment again—should Old Potrero release such well-aged batches in the future, of course. An 11-year release in 2018 or 2019, for example, didn’t land quite as well for me as this 17 Year or the 18 Year did. The 17 and 18 gave me my weirdo single malt fix, for sure.
So if you’re a fan of oddball whiskeys, if you’re a whiskey history nut, and if you are perpetually rye-curious, I wholeheartedly recommend Hotaling’s. It’s not for everyone. But it’s 100% for those who dig it.
Cheers!
The Right Spirit 