Courtesy of my good friend, Gary Gillman, I had the opportunity this month to sample not just one, but two pre-Prohibition American rye whiskies. Not surprisingly, the experience was a fascinating and memorable one.
The whiskies in question were Old Bridgeport Pure Rye Whiskey (distilled in 1916 and bottled in 1922) and Sam Thompson Pure Monongahela Rye Whisky (distilled under contract by the A. Guckenheimer & Bros. Distillery in 1914 and bottled in 1926). Both were products of Pennsylvania's Monongahela Valley, once a centre of the American distilling industry and an area well-known for its rye whiskies. As the sharp-eyed reader will have already noticed, both were also bottled during Prohibition, and so each was affixed with a back label warning that their consumption was to be purely for 'medicinal purposes.'
Almost eighty years of bottle-aging had done nothing to lessen the effect of the wooden cask on the Old Bridgeport, and the whiskey exploded with notes of vanilla, butterscotch, raisin and light smoke and spice on the aroma. In the body, it continued apace, with a caramelly front end, a surprisingly fruity (mandarin, mango) and smoky body and a lingering sweetness on the finish. While certainly enjoyably, I was slightly disappointed by the lack of complexity in the flavour of this spirit.
The Sam Thompson, on the other hand, was significantly complex, although not always in a good way. The nose had a funky, 'old cheese' note to it that was difficult to get beyond. Once past that somewhat off-putting note, however, I was pleased with the refined, grain husk-y notes in the body and the subtle blending of fruit (orange), light spice (nutmeg), and notes of hay and dried herbs. The finish, which held a soft citrusy note, was dry almost to the point of dusty.
It's unlikely that these whiskies will ever come my way again, but I was certainly happy to have had the chance to sample them. After all, no matter what the results, you just have to love the opportunity to taste history.
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