77 WHISKEY AMERICAN SINGLE MALT
Single Barrel 20210001 selected by Prav Saraff (2021)MASH BILL – 100% malted barley
PROOF – 130
AGE – 7 years in a used port cask
DISTILLERY – Breuckelen Distilling
PRICE – $50 (bought from a Facebook whiskey group friend; originally ~$130)
WORTH BUYING? – Absolutely
It’s been a handful of years since I’ve enjoyed a bottle from Breuckelen Distilling. It seems they took a pause at some point to revamp and refocus, and continue to produce now in a streamlined direction under a slick new label design. Based on their website, their output appears to be less eclectic than it once was. Not having tried the more recent products, I can’t say whether this is a gain or loss.
What I do know is my past experiences with their idiosyncratic earlier releases have been good and memorable—a sweet and savory 6-year bottled in bond rye, a smoldering 8-year cask strength wheated bourbon, a rustic and summery baked dessert of a 7-year single malt… The current bottle on the table is from that wide-ranging era.
Selected in 2021 by Prav Saraff of West Dupont Circle Wines & Spirits in Washington D.C., this single barrel release has the hallmarks of Breuckelen Distilling’s early years—regional New York grains, a curveball of a cask, bottled at a smoldering proof, with a smoldering color to match. I picked it up at a substantial discount back in 2022 or so. When I finally cracked it open one recent chilly autumn afternoon, I was so glad I did.
Here we are now, just over three weeks after uncorking, and on another chilly autumn afternoon. These brief notes were taken on the second pour from the bottle, using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – cherry reds emerging from deep russet and fiery oranges
NOSE – roasted malt, dark but vibrant cinnamon hard candy, vanilla fudge, fragrant long-stemmed grasses dried by summer, cherry pie, baked apricot, brown sugar, a bit of dried ginger
TASTE – thick cherry syrup, dense malt like a malt fudge, the dry summer grasses, dark and smoldering, with a peppery prickle yet remarkably easy to sip given its substantial proof
FINISH – warm and cozy, with the malt and grasses lingering together on a layer of burnt cherry pie filling
OVERALL – a good dessert for chilly weather, served up with its own warming bonfire
Though reminiscent of the previous 130-proof Breuckelen single malt I enjoyed, this whiskey really reminds me of its 136-proof wheated bourbon cousin, likewise bottled in 2021. That whiskey also served me well in chilly weather. This current single malt, bottled 6 degrees cooler, is still substantial while lacking the bite of its wheated bourbon predecessor. This makes it dangerously easy to sip!
As a scorcher, it will benefit from being preceded by a lower-proof pour, to get the taste buds warmed up. But for a scorcher, it’s remarkably easygoing. There is a cozy calm to it that belies its fiery core. The port cask offers substantial sweetness to balance the malt’s grassy dryness. It’s a winning combo, conjuring rustic fruit pies and fruit syrup-sopped crumbles.
I’ll take my time with this bottle. Not only because to speed through it might be dangerous! But because it offers such an exceptionally cozy experience, sweet and savory at once. I’m sure its heat might be too much for some. I myself am no longer a big fan of cask strength whiskeys bottled north of 115 or 120 proof. But as the season moves deeper into autumn and on to winter, I know I’ll be reaching for this bottle often. I bet it would also make a killer variation on the Rob Roy or other Manhattan cocktail riffs.
Cheers!
