Stranahan’s Cask Thief 2018

Cask Thief is a now yearly festival held at Stranahan’s Distillery where they open a bunch of different casks, you get to taste straight from the casks and then buy a bottle of your favorite cask if you want.

The 2018 festival featured 6 casks and if you got a VIP ticket you got 7 stamps in your passport so you could try your favorite cask again. Needless to say, I and the other writers attending were excited. But first, we had to ride some horses.

If you’ve never been to Colorado there is something I need to warn you about… it’s an ugly state.

The lack of sprawling cityscapes, smog and distinct lack of urine smell is borderline atrocious. Seriously, how could anyone live here? A truly hideous place whose complete and utter lack of eye-candy is well and truly appalling. But they do have some cool shirts available if you look hard enough.

That’s right, this city-slicker accepted an invitation to dress up like a cowboy (in clothes I chose… obviously) and ride a horse through the blighted landscape that is the area surrounding Denver Colorado. Seriously, we were about 20 minutes out of the city and nearly all signs of civilization had disappeared. My transportation only had 1 horse-power.

But I wasn’t alone, I was surrounded by fellow booze writers, only one of which rides horses regularly. Misery loves company and our eyes and asses had plenty of company.

After our ride through what I can only describe as a scarred and twisted post-apocalyptic landscape nearly devoid of humans, and lunch atop a dismal pile of red rocks, we returned to the blessed concrete valley of the city. Back in the sanctity of our hotel we showered the nature off of us, napped, changed, got coffee, wrote letters home to let them know we were surviving the fresh air and got ready to steal some sips and thieve some casks.

In proper fashion, we rolled up to the Cask Thief festival in two large black SUVs and as we stepped out and walked past the line of thirsty patrons it looked like a scene from Entourage. At least it did in my mind’s eye – also I’ve never seen an episode of Entourage. But I know the spirit of that statement is 100% valid because being part of the press coverage for the event we skipped the VIP line and walked right in. The VIP’s VIP… for about 5 whole minutes and then the doors opened. The view from the top is oh so brief.

Once inside the distillery we toured a mere 24 hours ago we wandered from station to station with our Glencairns stretched out like boozy Oliver Twists. Armed with camera phones to record thief dips, pours and experiences, the whole scenario would have astounded young Oliver. Though he would have felt right at home with the result to inquires of “please sir, can I have some more”… unless you were using your 7th VIP stamp.

Getting to taste out of 6 different barrels is quite the experience, one that I’d love to re-live. And we will, right about… now.

The first barrel of the night I tried was the 10,000 Dollar Bill which is Stranahan’s 10,000th barrel. In the Stranahan’s Distillery Tour we saw the 1,000th and 5,000th barrels and if you followed me on Instagram then you saw a great video of them pulling whiskey from the barrel using a thief. It was fun.

Stranahan’s 10,000 Dollar Bill Tasting Notes

• Nose: Butterscotch, nuts, coffee, fruit, char, spice, citrus and caramel.
• Palate: Butterscotch, nuts, cinnamon, fruit, coffee, char, spice, clove, citrus and caramel.
• Finish: Long -> Cinnamon, malt, nuts and fruit.
• Overall: B+ (87-89) – Quite good. It’s one of the two I ended up getting and I’m looking forward to opening it in the near future.

Second on the list was the Muscat Sally. A 4-year-old Stranahan’s single malt whiskey finished in a Balistreri Muscat barrel that came from a group of wine barrels selected for use in a future Snowflake edition.

Stranahan’s Muscat Sally Tasting Notes

• Nose: Juicy red and orchard fruits, grapey sweetness, malt, cocoa and spice.
• Palate: Malt, juicy fruits, char, nuts, cinnamon and a touch tannic.
• Finish: Med -> Cinnamon, malt, nuts and char.
• Overall: B (83-86) – The wine character is strong on the nose, but less so on the palate. Still, quite tasty and was the one I used by 7th VIP stamp to taste again to either confirm or deny my initial thoughts because its the one I wanted to like the most… they were confirmed and I didn’t pick up a bottle.

Third up was the Port In A Storm and as you can guess by the name it’s a port finished Stranahan’s. Like the Muscat Salley, the port wine barrels came from Denver’s Balistreri winery. This was the one I was the most apprehensive about because I’m so darn picky about my port finishes.

Stranahan’s Port In A Storm Tasting Notes

• Nose: Deep grapey port, dried dark fruit, malt, fresh donuts, spice, Smarties, vanilla and citrus oil.
• Palate: Port, toffee, dark fruit, nuts, cinnamon, malt and char.
• Finish: Long -> Fruit, malt, char, cinnamon and grape syrup.
• Overall: B- (80-82) – The nose was the best part, but the palate and the finish were almost overtaken by the port. I don’t know if they needed older whiskey or less time in port, but it wasn’t cohesive and balanced to me… but like I said, I’m picky about port.

Fourth on the list was the Jackpot!, named so because it’s cask number is 12-0777 and is one of the older releases to-date clocking in at 6 years. Old whiskey and triple 7s, yea I’d say the name is due.

Stranahan’s Jackpot! Tasting Notes

• Nose: Butterscotch, malt, apples, char, tobacco, hay and spice.
• Palate: Fruit, complex dark sweets, char, tobacco, spice, toffee and roasted grain.
• Finish: Long -> Char, tobacco, malt, fruit and dark sweets.
• Overall: B+ (87-89) – This was really good and at the end of the night I had a hard time picking between this and the Cab Calloway as my second bottle to take home. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t this… and part of me regrets that, but also it doesn’t.

Fifth-up was Char-lene which was named after their bottling line (Charlene the mean green bottling machine) and also because it was aged in a barrel using a #2 char. This is significant because Stranahan’s uses a #3 char, which we learned in the Stranahan’s Distillery tour post. They also put it into the barrel at 125 proof instead of their standard 100 proof. In essence, this was one of their experiments which they let sit for almost 5 years.

Stranahan’s Char-lene Tasting Notes

• Nose: Oak, malt, fruit, toffee and vanilla with a bit of spice and cocoa.
• Palate: Malt, cocoa, fruit, toffee, vanilla, spice and a light tannic oak.
• Finish: Med-> Cocoa, fruit, char and malt.
• Overall: B (83-86) – Super interesting. I would have loved to get one of these and open it on its own. It had a completely unique profile that I think would have been worth exploring at home.

Sixth and last is The Cab Calloway which, as I said above, is the second one I picked to take home. To create this lovely little dram they took a 4-year-old Stranahan’s single malt destined for a Diamond Peak bottling and then altered its future by finishing it in a Cab Franc barrel for 3 years. I was sure this 7-year-old release would be over-done, but it turned out to be just right.

Stranahan’s The Cab Calloway Tasting Notes

• Nose: Complex fruit, malt, toffee, hazelnut, tobacco, char and spice.
• Palate: Complex fruit, oak, malt, toffee, nuts, tobacco, char and spice with a bit of brown sugar.
• Finish: Long -> Fruit, nuts, malt, char and wine.
• Overall: B+ (87-89) – I really did think I was going to be taking the JackPot! home with me and then I had this beauty. A seriously tasty whiskey.

After sipping through six barrels, and 7 drams, of cask strength straight-from-the-cask whiskey, and signing a barrel, I was a bit toasty. Not Alligator char toasty, but about a #3 char toasty and there was only one solution for that: ice cream.

A local ice cream maker had a Stranahan’s whiskey ice cream and after downing my dessert it was time for dinner. The catering was a truly delicious BBQ with the best jalapeno cornbread I’ve ever had. No joke, I still have dreams about it and if I could have smuggled an entire pan home I would have.

It was a peaceful ending to a day that started on horseback, glaring at the horrific picturesque landscape of Colorado. After fully stuffing myself with fantastic food I headed to the bar and snagged an Old Fashioned made with Diamond Peak and then headed back to my table where Rob and Jess were hanging out with the other writers.

Being a professional whiskey writer I knew Rob would want to pose with me in a photo so I allowed him to.

Same with Jess Graber, I know he’s fan, we’ve been on the phone together. You can see the star struckness in his eyes. Either that or he had to pee… I’ll let you be the judge.

At this point, they both left and we went back to relaxing. I sat down with a nice glass of Stranahan’s Sherry Cask and sucked in a deep lungful of that clean mountain air. We made it. Distillery tour, horses, Cask Thief and some historic stops I never mentioned along the way.

As night gathered around us the band who kept saying “Stranahan’s Bourbon” – obviously didn’t do their homework – stopped playing, the bar closed up and we all looked to the sky, and then our phones asking the eternal question of the restless “where next”?

The night lead us through a maze of fantastic bars and modern speakeasies that have put Denver on my radar as a city with a serious drinking culture that is a force to be reckoned with.

There’s a reason Death & Co opened a spot in the Mile High city and after spending an evening imbibing everything from flaming cocktails to immaculate Vespers and martinis I can say Denver could easily hold its own against the likes of Los Angeles, Manhattan and Chicago. Add to that the great food we encountered everywhere and you have yourself a hell of a destination.

Cheers to you, cheers to Denver, cheers to Stranahan’s and… till next time.