HIRSCH THE DEPARTURE
Released 2025MASH BILL – 100% malted barley
PROOF – 98
AGE – 6 years 9 months in both new char #3 and toasted American oak barrels
DISTILLERY – Hotaling & Co
PRICE – $77
WORTH BUYING? – Yes, if you like your single malts malty and are Northern California curious
The Hirsch Selected Whiskeys line, produced by San Francico’s Hotaling & Co., typically bottles sourced bourbons in variations of age, cask finishing, cask strength versus proofed down, single barrel versus blend, etcetera. So their new Departure release is a true departure, bringing Hirsch adjacent to Old Potrero, the steadfastly old-school malted rye whiskey Hotaling has been making since 1993.
The “Hirsch” name is storied, originating in 1974 when a well-connected beverage industry entrepreneur named Adolph H. Hirsch sourced 400 barrels of what by all reports turned out to be some pretty amazing Kentucky bourbon. Back then, few people cared. Today those original Hirsch bottles go for $$$$$ at rare and vintage whiskey auctions. The Hirsch name eventually got taken up by a California importer named Henry Preiss, who slapped “Hirsch” on a range of unimpressive whiskeys, from corn to Canadian. Hotaling & Co. finally took up the name in 2020, making it their mission to craft high quality sourced bourbon more in the tradition of Adolph H. Hirsch than Henry Preiss.
Old Potrero, on the other hand, is the brainchild of Fritz Maytag, who revived Anchor Brewing in 1965. In 1993 he decided to make rye whiskey in accordance with early American distillation traditions. Old Potrero is always copper pot distilled and made of 100% malted rye. It’s aged in two basic variations—new charred oak barrels as required for Rye Whiskey by American law; and toasted and/or used barrels as with the Scottish single malt tradition.
So the departure here is that this single malt whiskey is neither a rye, like Old Potrero, nor a sourced bourbon, like every prior Hirsch Selected Whiskey release. This single malt is made fully in-house, like Old Potrero, using barley rather than rye—unlike anything else Hotaling has put out under the Hirsch or Old Potrero labels.
So how is it? Here we are, nearing two weeks after uncorking and three pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – a foggy pale-orange amber
NOSE – lemon grass, fresh straw, caraway seeds, malt, thin vanilla and caramel syrups, uncut ginger
TASTE – very like the nose, with all those same notes submerged in a buttery texture that pulls the caramel note forward; eventually a subtle but notable cooled baked banana note sneaks in
FINISH – malty, buttery, warm, that subtle baked banana, with a light peppery prickle
OVERALL – something very Northern California about this, with its grassiness and overall freshness
My sense memories go straight to the Home Base Single Malt Batch 9, aged a similar 7 years and also hailing from Northern California. They share the fresh grassiness, a seediness, and that ginger accent, as well as a bright maltiness. But whereas the Home Base had a strong pine element to it, this Hirsch offers a refreshing lemon grass note.
The malt notes at work here also ping my senses on Old Potrero Rye Whiskeys, which tend to be very malty. It happens I have a bottle of Old Potrero open. Its age is quite similar at 6 years 10 months. But it was finished in Silver Oak Cabernet casks for 5 months, and bottled at a cask strength of 113.2 proof.
I poured a glass to compare them.
No surprise, the wine cask finishing and undiluted strength give the Old Potrero a much darker color. Nosing them side by side, their maltiness is clearly family. The Hirsch aromas are more forthcoming and bright, while the Old Potrero is darker and much more reserved, offering chocolate where the Hirsch offers vanilla and caramel.
Tasting them, the Old Potrero maintains its dark, reserved approach, featuring a rich spiced maltiness as its main event, accented with chocolate, coffee, and only a faint red fruit note that waits to emerge just a bit more on the finish. The Hirsch is as I described it above.
Given one is distilled from barley and the other rye, I’d have guessed the differences would be even more extreme. But the malt unites them. Perhaps the yeast strain as well?
At any rate, when I’m in a malty mood, I might reach for either of these. If my mood is brighter, the Hirsch. Darker, the Old Potrero.
I also need to be in the mood for that Northern California agricultural vibe. The sun-soaked, windblown fields of grasses and grains rolling across the central valley and into the foothills. The earthiness—the Hirsch gives a spring version of this, while the Old Potrero is much more autumnal, inching toward winter.
We’re definitely not in Scotland or Ireland with these Hotaling single malt whiskeys. We’re not even in Oregon, where Westward makes its malty magic. We’re where I grew up. Northern California. Not the California the world thinks of most—the Southern California of Los Angeles, Malibu, San Diego, with sandy beaches baked in eternal summer. Even San Francisco, marking the midway point up the coast, doesn’t capture the sensations these whiskeys offer. You gotta go farther north and east.
Grab these two bottles and take them on a road trip from San Francisco through Sacramento to El Dorado Hills and further up into Placerville and Camino. You’ll get it.
Cheers!
The Right Spirit 