White Whiskey: Koval’s “Rye Chicago”

White Whiskey.  Moonshine.  White Dog.  Prohibition.

This Whisky Woman enjoys an occasional un-aged whiskey.

No, I am not talking about re-visiting our college days of paint-thinner tasting Everclear – that hurts just thinking about it.  I am only talking about craft un-aged whiskies.  (I don’t think Everclear is actually a “whiskey” but you get the idea)

Why craft?  Because the small scale distillers who are really making their products from grain to spirit are like pastry chefs; both being extremely careful during the cooking process to ensure that the end product is both delicate and flavorful.  They take their time to really develop the flavors of the grains.

Typically, these un-aged pistols are corn based but I have been loving Koval’s Rye Chicago Whiskey recently.  (See my earlier post on Koval HERE).  Made from 100% organic RYE, I was surprised to find this to be so smoother and aromatic, especially when compared to it’s classic, rougher cereal-forward cousins.

TASTE
Nose: black pepper, floral, orange citrus, eucalyptus, cereal
Palate: sugar coated eucalyptus, orange zest, sweetened rosemary (or pine)
Finish: long and dry, orange peel that moves into a black pepper and sugar mixture

STYLE
100% Organic Rye from the American Midwest
Only the “hearts” cut of the distillates are used

ADDITIONAL
40 % abv / 90 proof
750ml glass bottles
If you’re not a fan of drinking these neat or with ice/water, then try a white whiskey in your favorite Bloody Mary recipe!  The complexity of the whiskey (verses the flavorless vodka) really kicks it up a notch!

AWARDS
Gold Medal, 2010 “White Whisky”, American Distilling Institute, USA
Gold Medal, 2010 “Grain Spirit”, Destillata Spirits Competition, Europe

Lastly, I love drinking this with a lemon-based dessert!  Deee-lish!

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Koval Distillery – Lion’s Pride Whiskies

If you haven’t figured it out by now – I love original whiskies.

I love seeking out and experiencing the delicious drams that the true artist distillers of the world are creating.  Yesterday, I did just that with Meg Bell of Chicago’s Koval Distillery at the Four Seasons in NYC.  We tasted 5 of their 26+ products, focusing only on the whiskies (dugh!).

I was going to write about all of the interesting, wonderful and unique techniques that the founders, Sonat & Robert use to develop their Lion’s Pride aged whisky line, however, the WhiskyCompetition made this great video of Meg, filmed in the Koval distillery, talking about just that!  Click, enjoy, and seek out for yourself!

Straight from the Lion’s mouth…

My private Lion's Pride tasting at the Four Seasons!

Thanks Meg!