Who'd
ever thunk it? Brown moonshine, of all things, especially
coming from the likes of Popcorn Sutton himself. The literature
says that Popcorn would occasionally take some of his white
lightning and barrel age it and share it at special occasions
or with favored friends. I have a hard time imagining that
the staunchest moonshiner who ever lived, and who committed
suicide rather than give in to those damn revenooers, would
barrel age his shine, but if they say he did, then by golly
he must have.
Today
his company, Popcorn Sutton Distilling, must be doing a pretty
fine job of it since they won the Gold Medal at the 2015 Global
American Whiskey Masters competition. This barrel finished
moonshine goes into American oak casks that have a hearty
#3 char for just over three years. However, they seem to be
at a loss as to what to call this stuff. On the bottle, it
simply states Popcorn Sutton Barrel finished but doesn't go
on to call it whiskey or bourbon or anything else. On their
site, they call this a brown spirit, an oak barrel finished
liquid, and even a craft-distilled brown spirit. Sounds to
me like they're trying to get away from calling it moonshine,
which is what it really is; after all, it's just aged. Good
old Popcorn might be rolling around in his grave over all
this, but then again, he might have taken a "shine"
to all this controversy.
Let's
see what the fuss is all about. The bottle is tall with clean
lines and the label has Popcorn's picture on the front and
back and the typestyle and coloring give it that old timey,
old world kind of feel. It's 92 proof, so it should be fairly
potent. The color is that of a fine looking light amber colored
bourbon or scotch or cognac. The nose is fairly subtle but
does have that bright edge of alcohol and then corn and sugar
followed by oak, vanilla, and a very faint clover honey. On
the palate, all those delightful aromas co-mingle into a sharp
and distinct set of flavors starting with the tingle of the
alcohol, followed by sweet corn, oak and honey and ending
with a bit of pepper. Even though all of these flavors are
contained in one spirit, they are very distinct and more layered
one on top of one another rather than being melded into one
more complex and more integrated flavor. Don't get me wrong;
that's not a bad thing. As a matter of fact, I like the distinctions
and different tastes I get with every sip. I also like the
way they come together in my mouth yet stay sharp and focused.
The finish is a bit peppery and lasts a medium amount of time
letting me re-taste all those wonderful flavors.
After
tasting this barrel finished, whatever you want to call it,
I'd call it pretty damn tasty. I think old Popcorn can rest
quietly in his grave because his legacy is being carefully
and tastefully maintained.
If you can find it at your local liquor store, expect to pay
around $50.00 per 750ML bottle, but good luck trying to find
it on the shelf under whiskey or bourbon or rye or scotch.
Maybe they should start a new category called aged brown stuff;
I think Popcorn would get a kick out of that.
By
George Brozowski
Other
Related Links:
Popcorn
Sutton's White Whiskey
By George Brozowski
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