One Eight Distilling Untitled Whiskey No. 17

VITALS:

- $80

- 115.8 Proof

- 10 Years

- Batch 1

- Washington D.C.

When One Eight Distilling's Untitled Whiskeys started hitting shelves a couple years ago, they got decent enough hype that I certainly became curious. I remember seeing private select single barrels, and their batches, such as this one, had some incredible finishing combinations, usually with bright, fruity and rich finishes such as sherry, port or cognac. What I had up to this point was all really good and, at the very least, really interesting.

It wasn't long after that initial run that I picked up this bottle, Untitled Whiskey No. 17.  This one is a blend of a 10 year old wheated bourbon that was finished in rum, Calvados and Cognac casks along with a 14 year high rye bourbon finished in Amontillado sherry butt. That's a whole lot going on inside this bottle. I wasn't sure if it would all work together or if it would be too much, but I was certainly willing to find out!

The nose on this was impressively rich. I feel like I use that word a lot in these blog posts, but this is quite possibly the richest nose I've ever nosed, bull of dark chocolate mixed with various dark fruits, including blackberry and cherry, fig and raisin, and even plum. It even had a bit of clove to it that made all those fruit notes come across like a spiced wine.  I couldn't get enough of this nose. I want to make a candle out of it!

While the flavor was very rich itself, it seemed that the spicy notes came through a bit more. I definitely got the dark fruit notes. Blackberry and dark cherry seemed prevalent, even with a bit of a sour note accompanying that cherry flavor.  

But, what took center stage was the spice. Cinnamon and black pepper spice seemed to dominate this. At times I feel like I even got a chili pepper note. This certainly gave that spice-wine character, just heavy on the spice. Dark chocolate notes also came through, providing a bit of a backbone and somewhat tempering the spice notes.

Towards the back end, the dark chocolate notes carried through as the cinnamon and black pepper subsided a bit. I also got some nutty, earthy notes, like walnut and almond. And it was on the finish that the sweetness came through, kind of a molasses note.

There was a lot of really good "stuff" happening here. I liked those wine notes, the dark fruit notes, and the dark chocolate notes.  Something about this blend, however, just didn't quite work. I'm not sure if one of the finishes had more influence than others. Perhaps it's the rum finish that I didn't like, as I have yet to find a rum finished rye or bourbon I've liked. But there was something about this that just didn't work, just didn't quite bring all of those great flavors together into something cohesive. 

Grade: B-

One Eight Distilling Untitled Whiskey No. 13

VITALS:
- $80

- 106 Proof

- 10 Years

- Batch 1

- Washington D.C.

I'll admit that I knew very little about One Eight Distilling out of Washington D.C. before purchasing this bottle. In fact, I know very little about them now. But I took notice when I saw their Untitled Whiskey Nos. 11 and 13 suddenly appearing on my local liquor store shelves. The bottle and label designs are simple, and the finishes sounded great. But that price for an unknown turned me away.

Then I started not only seeing their whiskeys everywhere on Facebook, including single barrel picks that people were going nuts for. So I reconsidered, and I ultimately broke down and bought a bottle of Untitled No. 13. It was the neck label that sold me on this particular one: 

"For Untitled Whiskey No. 13, we rested 10-year old high rye bourbon in a combination of Cognac, Spanish brandy and Oloroso, Amontillado and Pedro Ximenez sherries."  

It certainly had a lot going on, and the description reminded me a lot of the Jos. Magnus products. But, this one was not only age-stated at a healthy 10 years, but it was a bit cheaper than the Magnus blends. So I gave it a shot.

The nose on this thing was crazy full and rich. I got a healthy amount of dark cherry and chocolate, and even some blackberry. It had a brandy-like richness of baked pear and apple as well. It also had a rich read wine note, like a pinot noir. It did have a bit of a brightness to it, kind of like raspberry, but those dark, rich fruit notes really dominated here. 

Of course the flavor followed suit. The wine barrel finish seemed to dominate immediately up front, as I got a lot of the full-bodied red wine flavors. I got a lot of that blackberry and dark cherry as well. It didn't come across as super sweet or anything, just full of flavor.

Those rich (I'm using that word a lot here, I realize), dark fruit notes were accompanied by dark chocolate and walnut notes. I also got some notes of raisin and plum that worked really well with everything else going on. There was also a bit of brown sugar to add just a bit of sweetness.

On the finish it had just a bit of tanginess to it. I liked it to amaretto liqueur. It's hard to put my finger on, but there was just something  lightly bitter while at the same time sweet that lingered on my tongue. It also left behind those notes of dark chocolate and walnut, giving it a very dessert-like finish.

What I didn't get, however, was the high-rye bourbon notes that I wanted. I didn't find any of that spice from the rye content that I was expecting. I also didn't get many of the more traditional bourbon notes, like caramel and vanilla. Unfortunately, while I bought the bottle in part because it started with a 10-year high rye bourbon, the bourbon ended up being almost completely masked by everything else going on. While it was still delicious, I wanted the bourbon itself to take more of a lead role here.

Grade: B