REDWOOD EMPIRE HAYSTACK NEEDLE
Six releases from roughly 2020 to 2022MASH BILL – 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% malted barley
PROOF – ranges from 110 to 113.6
AGE – 14 to 15 years
DISTILLERY – Redwood Empire (sourcing from MGP)
PRICE – samples gifted to me (original bottle prices ranged from about $120 to $150)
WORTH BUYING? – The bottles of this brand I’ve bought? Yes! What I traded in samples for these samples? Also yes!
Uncapped and tasted in The Year of No Buying (The what? 🔗 here.)
When I posted notes here on the blog about a 2022 cabernet cask finished Redwood Empire Haystack Needle release, a fellow Haystack Needle fan shared with me his love of the brand. He said he used to be more of a wine guy, and now finds wine cask finished bourbons particularly appealing. For him the Haystack Needle line is heads and shoulders above any other wine finished bourbons he’s ever had. I agree. The level of refinement at work in the two releases I’ve been lucky to try was exceptional.
To my delight and surprise, he volunteered some samples from his extensive collection of the brand. I gave him a variety pack of samples in return. And what a fabulous trade! Not only did he pick out a tantalizing range of releases, he dolled up the samples with nifty labels based on the originals. I thought notes on a flight were quite in order.
So here we are. I’m trying these fresh out of their sample bottles. I don’t know how long each original bottle they hailed from has been open. My notes here were all taken using traditional Glencairns.
Rather than tasting them all side-by-side at once, I’ll first go through each one at a time, starting with the unfinished pair, then the brandy, chardonnay, cabernet and port finished. The notes below reflect this series of tastings. Afterwards I’ll then do a bit of side-by-siding to compare more directly.
Here we go…!
SAMPLE – unfinished single barrel selected by Bottle Barn, 111.2 proof, aged 15 years
COLOR – rich rusty orange with brass highlights
NOSE – caramel and dusty oak vying for attention, a bit of oak tannin, something faintly and surprisingly akin to paint thinner, dry herbal rye spices, faint dried apricot
TASTE – true to the nose, with the caramel now edging forward just a bit more than the dusty oak, the oak tannins nudging out the paint thinner, some vanilla flowing in around the dry rye spices
FINISH – oak, rye spice, vanilla and caramel, all lingering together warmly
OVERALL – an oak-forward bourbon, good though not terribly complex, with those tannic and paint thinner notes nagging at the edges
We’re starting off on a very oaky note here. This is my first experience with the Haystack Needle line without any cask finishing to influence the bourbon. As I sip it, I’m very aware of the time spent in the virgin oak cask. And the proof pushes things forward with simmering oomph. It’s not bad, though it risks going too oaky—and that’s coming from an oak fan. Without more sweet fruit or candy notes to balance the drier oak and rye spice notes, this whiskey lands for me as a decent, well-aged, but ultimately run of the mill bourbon.
SAMPLE – unfinished single barrel selected by an unknown store, 113.6 proof, aged 14 years
COLOR – dusty autumn oranges with gold highlights
NOSE – tangy and drippy caramels, chewy old-fashioned vanilla candies, refined dry oak, a dash of rye spice, a drop of honey
TASTE – Those tangy drippy caramels flowing over a layer of the drier oak, some oak tannin emerging toward the end
FINISH – warm, with honey, oak, oak tannin, some bitter dark chocolate, a mild prickly heat
OVERALL – A rustic old-fashioned candy shop of a bourbon
Well. What a difference a cask can make. Or is it the one year younger? Or the 2.4 proof points higher? Altogether, a sweeter experience, oozing with goopy candy notes. It very much pings my sense memory of old ice cream and candy shops from my small hometown, in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. Faint scents of the surrounding oaky wilderness and century+ old buildings mingle with the old-school caramels and taffies and hand-cranked ice creams. An oaky bourbon with plenty of sweets to balance it out. Maybe almost a bit cloying as the finish eventually fades. But paired with the dry oak tannins, it also leaves a sense of nostalgia in its wake.
SAMPLE – apple brandy cask finished, 110 proof, aged 14 years
COLOR – toasted honey and orange
NOSE – green apple slices submerged in bright caramel, freshly spread butter, some faint milk chocolate
TASTE – apple, buttery caramel, oak, black pepper
FINISH – warm, oaky, the caramel subtler but thicker, as it lingers an apple cider note emerges
OVERALL – bright like an early autumn sunset on a clear day
Now this definitely takes me back to my hometown. Placerville and the surrounding small towns are strewn with apple orchards. Every October tourists swarm in to enjoy the apple pies, apple fritters, apple doughnuts, not to mention the fine wines from the several wineries that share the rolling hills with their apple farm neighbors. On the nose, the apple influence comes across closer to the brandy from the cask in which it was finished. By the finish, the apple notes have fermented into a more rustic cider. A nice caramel note carries the apple through from start to finish. The oak is present like a good spice, accenting the main event. This is a fancy, rustic, caramel-dipped apple in a glass.
SAMPLE – chardonnay cask finished, 110 proof, aged 14 years
COLOR – amber orange with honey highlights
NOSE – rich bright caramel, drying oak, something mineral like granite, dry rye spice, apricot syrup, a bit of fresh bing cherry, subtle dark chocolate
TASTE – caramel, apricot and cherry compote, oak, oak tannin, burnt butter
FINISH – the fruit notes spread like a homemade jam on fresh bread, oak, caramel, dark chocolate sauce, faint bitter oak tannin
OVERALL – desserty and rustic
There we go. Now we’re getting into the Haystack Needle territory I love most, where the fruit, candy, oak, and rye spice notes all swirl together, ebbing and flowing from sip to sip. There is a complexity at work that does not feel settled, but on the move in easy waves. One sip I’m hit by the sweet fruit notes. Going in for the next I get more chocolate on the nose. Savoring the finish I float on a wave of oak that carries me to a wave of caramel that carries me to a wave of that crisp mineral aspect, which I imagine might come from the chardonnay playing among the oak tannins. A great summer or autumn late afternoon or sunset bourbon, for sure.
SAMPLE – cabernet sauvignon cask finished selected by Rocklin Bottle Shop, 110 proof, aged 14 years
COLOR – rich orange with fiery highlights
NOSE – dense with red fruit, caramel, and oak all stirred up together, everything leaning just a bit more dry than sweet, and with a very subtle varnish note around the edges
TASTE – caramel, dry red fruit, dark chocolate in chunks, oak, an accent of oak and red wine tannins
FINISH – warming in a glowing charred campfire log sort of way, with red wine, oak, tannins from both, and subtle dark chocolate
OVERALL – boozier, darker, the flavors soaking into my senses like they might into an angel food cake
The darkest and most decadent so far. Still that through-line of dry oak from the time spent aging in casks. But here the oak is sopped in the dark red fruit and candy notes. These combine with the 110 proof to create that boozy feeling, like a good tiramisu or bourbon ball might. There’s a saturation to it all that risks going too far, like an overly rich dessert at a fancy restaurant. You love it and want to wallow in it. But you know you can only take so much and still enjoy it. You stare at the last bite and weigh the question: Do I wallow further and risk regret? I typically take the risk!
SAMPLE – port cask finished selected by K&L, 110 proof, aged 14 years
COLOR – rich autumn orange with syrupy orange highlights
NOSE – drippy dark caramel, dark chocolate sauce, a rich fruity coffee, refined and thick yet subtle oak, faint black pepper, faint black cherry syrup
TASTE – dark red fruits, sparkly oak tannins like a spice dashed over thick caramel, a rich French red wine (even though yeah I know it’s port), and a subtle undercurrent of roasted mixed nuts (wha-?!)
FINISH – warm like the last smoldering coal, midnight-dark red fruits, coffee, toffee, oak
OVERALL – a refined midnight bourbon fit for an old leather chair near a roaring fire
Talk about saving the best for last. This hits all my favorite marks when it comes to a refined, old-school, decadent bourbon experience. The dark calm of it all. The warmth. The fruit, candy, and oak notes in perfect harmony. The patient sense of time. Maturity personified. (Bourbonified?) This is what I want to sip at the end of the night, with the friends who have lingered longest. We’ll get into the best, deepest depths of the conversations that were flitting politely around the outskirts of seriousness earlier in the evening. This is “savor” embodied in bourbon.
Well I’m not surprised. This flight was a real treat, as I expected it would be.
Having taken my time going through each bourbon in turn, with lengthy breaks and swishes of water in between, I then quickly nosed through all six glasses. The through-lines are unsurprisingly oak, oak tannin, and variations on caramel. As I move quickly through them, the apple brandy casked release pops most in terms of the fruit influences. Overall I notice a gradual darkening as I move from the first sample through to the last.
I’m pleased with my ordering—placing the unfinished releases first, followed by the two lighter brandy and wine casked releases, and ending with the red wine casked releases. This created a very nice build from a kind of neutral, to a brightening, to a darkening. Very like dawn to afternoon to dusk to night.
Sipping through them now in very quick succession, with no water or time in between, I get a similar feeling of the day or seasons moving through Time’s natural cycle.
What of these I prefer “best” is not terribly interesting, I think. The only thing I feel compelled to note in that regard is that the first two, sourced-MGP on their own without any cask finishing to nudge the flavors this way or that, were less impressive to me overall than the other four. This tells me that should Redwood Empire release anything further under their Haystack Needle rubric, it will be the cask finished offerings I’ll go for. And if I must choose, I’ll lean toward the red wine casks over the white wine or brandy casks. But honestly they each have their merits, time, and place.
So cheers to a great flight. And cheers to sample sharing—easily among the best perks of a whiskey community!
The Right Spirit 