For over 165 years, MGP produced nothing below its personal banner to most people. Within the phrases of VP and Grasp Blender David Whitmer, what grew to become referred to as MGP was designed and executed as a distillery from which others would supply. All the best way again to its founders and homeowners all through the 19th and 20th centuries, what’s now MGP was a spot to purchase whiskey to promote below your personal banner.
Rsure, bourbons, gentle whiskies, corn whiskies… when you wished it however couldn’t – or didn’t – wish to distill it your self you possibly can discover it at MGP. Dozens – lots of – of manufacturers did so over the many years, and a big quantity nonetheless do. From its website on the banks of the Ohio River, MGP equipped the whiskies for thousands and thousands of shoppers worldwide.
Then, in simply the previous few years, they did one thing revolutionary. If that appears too huge a phrase, assume once more. MGP cut up itself in two for the needs of whiskey-making, retaining the MGP title for its sourcing operations and creating the Ross & Squibb Distillery title to deal with its still-nascent George Remus Bourbon and Rossville Union Rye merchandise. These weren’t made to be sourced, however fairly offered by MGP itself; expressions by them and for them, not offered below another person’s title.
As any 175-year-old firm is wont to do, they didn’t go in blindly. The George Remus and Rossville Union manufacturers had a number of years of client testing, clearly eliciting a constructive response. The extra premium releases – Remus Repeal Reserve and Rossville Union Barrel Proof, respectively – have garnered quite a lot of awards. The newest Remus Repeal Reserve, sequence VI, instantly vaulted into my high 5 new whiskies this 12 months after a strong displaying from sequence V the 12 months earlier than. It compelled me, in some methods, to rethink how I take a look at the now-Ross & Squibb Distillery: as its personal producer, now not hidden solely behind others’ labels, however lastly a distiller, a blender, a home of artists in its personal proper.
Remus and Gatsby
George Remus was known as the “King of the Bootleggers”. A one-time lawyer, he dominated the underground liquor commerce via his realm in Cincinnati within the early years of Prohibition. Flaunting his newfound wealth, he threw lavish events at an equally lavish property known as the Marble Palace. Depictions of him draw quick ideas of Oprah telling her viewers to seek out automotive keys below their chairs.
Remus was the epitome of latest cash, a first-generation son of immigrants who had moved to the States when George was simply 4 years outdated. He rose from obscurity to infamy, from a lawyer defending the bootleggers to the best of them. Even his fall did little to subtract from his legend. If something, maybe, it cemented it: by placing his (mis)deeds into the authorized document, his prosecutors lent all of his fantasy credence, no matter how a lot or little was true.
In his personal time, Remus was thought to encourage one other larger-than-life determine: Jay Gatsby. First conceived by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1922, the creator’s signature work includes a man very very like Remus, minus the thuggery and ostensibly minus the bootlegging. As author Rebecca Rolfes put it, “Novels ought to by no means be fact-checked. Actuality excises thriller in addition to genius.” If we as readers knew Gatsby to be a bootlegger, a kingpin who would sic his cretins on rivals as rapidly as he would bribe his method to freedom, would we – may we – name him an amazing literary determine?
Thriller furthers legends, and in its wake new ones come up. One such legend is spoken on the Seelbach Resort in Louisville, Kentucky. In accordance with its home lore, Fitzgerald and Remus crossed paths on the lodge’s well-known and eponymous bar, and thus the previous’s Gatsby grew to become a mirrored image of the latter’s excesses.
Did they, although?
Reflecting once more on Rolfes’ wonderful piece for Bitter Southerner, Drunk on the Seelbach Resort: How Louisville’s Grandest Resort Left Its Mark On The Nice Gatsby, a lot has been made from this supposed assembly. Fitzgerald did spend time in Louisville whereas within the military, stationed at Camp Zachary Taylor, and visited the Seelbach repeatedly. A 12 months earlier than Kentucky ratified each in-state Prohibition and the 18th Modification, Fitzgerald was making the Seelbach his favourite bar. Remus was recognized to frequent the Seelbach as properly.
What nobody has been capable of definitively assess is whether or not the 2 ever met, not to mention at “Louisville’s Grandest Resort.” I grew up simply miles from the Gold Coast of Lengthy Island, and the Gatsby mythos is as ingrained there because the Remus/Fitzgerald mythos is on the Seelbach. A thousand miles aside, place and legend turn out to be one. Tales are sticky, as my pal John says, and nowhere are tales stickier than in whiskey.
Alongside the Ohio River
The Ohio river begins in Pittsburgh, the place the Monongahela ends, flowing alongside the borders of Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois earlier than emptying into the Mississippi River. There are dozens of the way this river is central to American whiskey historical past, however right now we’re specializing in only one: it connects Cincinnati, the hub of Remus’ bootlegging empire; Louisville, KY, nonetheless the hub of American whiskey manufacturing regardless of statewide and later nationwide Prohibition; and Lawrenceburg, IN, the positioning of what’s now MGP and Ross & Squibb Distillery.
This three-point axis is on the coronary heart of Ross & Squibb’s new ultra-premium launch, the Remus Gatsby Reserve. This launch is the latest entry into the Remus-Fitzgerald-Gatsby universe, a 15-year-old bourbon that comes packaged in a bottle and packaging that appears such as you’re consuming within the Chrysler Constructing whereas watching Metropolis. It viscerally transports the drinker to the Roaring 20s and the peak of Artwork Deco design.
It is a whiskey evaluation, although, so we should look previous the wrapping to the liquid inside. I mentioned earlier that the Remus Repeal Reserve VI instantly vaulted into my high 5 new whiskies of the 12 months.
The Remus Gatsby is in my high 2.
Remus Gatsby Reserve 15 Yr Previous – Evaluate
Coloration: Mahogany and maple, barely hazy like an unfiltered IPA. Very skinny rims and circlet drops.
On the nostril: Intense: nutty brown butter and baking spice move out of the glencairn. Roasted however empty peanut shells, dried stone fruits shiny and tart. Cigars with Nicaraguan wrappers, darkish fruit and heat wooden.
Within the mouth: Roasting unique nuts (I wish to say Brazil nuts, however let’s say not peanuts, almonds, or the usuals). Moist tobacco, saddle leather-based and barrel char. Oak astringency peppers your entire palate. Unimaginable depth of taste – I wish to notice at this level I believed in regards to the proof, and I couldn’t care much less in regards to the quantity, the proof was on level. The mouthfeel is thick and syrupy, oily with out being coating. Baking spices fall beneath the tongue as leather-based, darkish cocoa, charred pecans, and pomegranate all construct. On the end: pomegranate molasses (when you haven’t had it, assume someplace between candy, aged balsamic and darkish brown sugar), heady and buttery bourbon that may solely come from MGP. Goes on ceaselessly, staying on below the tongue even when the higher palate dissipates.
Rating: 9/10
Conclusions:
The Remus Gatsby Reserve from Ross & Squibb is just not solely insanely flavorful – it’s downright intriguing. A cask power bourbon at 97.8 proof. A cask power American whiskey at 97.8 proof. A 15-year-old bourbon from probably the most prolific supply of sourcing in all of American spirits, named for a fictional character probably primarily based on Remus himself. An especially restricted launch; simply how restricted is an excellent query.
I’m awarding it a 9/10 on Malt-Evaluate’s 10-point scale. Additional consideration is given for having a bottle and packaging design that calls for consideration, in addition to what I believe is beneficiant price at $249.99 per bottle. For comparability, Barrell Grey Label Bourbon releases (previous to 2022’s launch) have been roughly the identical age, increased in proof, and likewise priced at $249.99, but I don’t assume any have come inside taking pictures distance of this in high quality.
Additional Concerns
Right here’s my first query: why now? The Nice Gatsby was launched in April 1925, so it wasn’t an anniversary-driven launch. It’s solely Ross & Squibb’s second 12 months as its personal distillery, hardly trigger for a one-off that may burn a beneficial chip in its branding arsenal.
Right here’s one other: the place had been these barrels? A part of the query is clear: as little as doable in no matter rickhouse/basement/genie lamp they had been rolled into. In the event you’ve ever visited MGP’s Lawrenceburg campus, although, you’ll know that the buildings and warehouses are constructed like a state faculty: no two buildings are alike. (For these triggered by that: I went to SUNY Binghamton, and it was probably the greatest selections I ever made, so no disrespect meant to state colleges). I’m additionally prepared to guess the barrels had been in concrete or brick, possibly even in waerhouses nearer to the Ohio River, since that may imply the bottom delta in temperature shifts.
For a bourbon with a barrel entry proof of 110 to drop almost some extent per 12 months, it needed to be cool and humid with minimal diurnal shifts. This principle is backed up by the gorgeous incontrovertible fact that it’s not woody in any respect. Nothing ruins a whiskey for me greater than having to suck on a stave to get the liquid out of it. I’ll 100% flip my nostril up at a Sazerac 18 Rye, Elijah Craig 18- or 23-Yr, or Eagle Uncommon 17 as a result of to me they style like oak water. There may be such a factor as an excessive amount of oak, and overly excessive temperature swings will push that whiskey out and in of the wooden so drastically that tannins, wooden flavors and textures, and the like are inevitable. I like oak creaminess, mild-to-moderate tannins, and pepperiness. I don’t get pleasure from chewing on staves.
Let’s be actual that it’s additionally uncommon for a bourbon to drop in proof, interval. That’s one thing you see in Scotland, not in US maturation. And that brings up the final level I wish to hit: the label.
In the event you’re studying Malt, you realize what a COLA is. You additionally know that COLAs, as soon as submitted and authorised, are public, and can be found by a easy search on an admittedly archaic web site. When the Remus Gatsby Reserve label was launched, the proof famous was 115, properly inside cheap expectations for an MGP/Ross & Squibb bourbon. Per TTB laws, firms might submit a placeholder proof throughout label approval if it’s cask/barrel power, since a last bottling power may change between time of submission, dumping, and bottling.
Individuals had been understandably excited for a 115 proof, 15-year-old MGP bourbon. Given the ultimate bottling proof of 97.8, nonetheless, many felt duped; bait-and-switched, shopping for a boxed-up bourbon they thought was 115 proof solely to open it and uncover it was almost 20 factors decrease.
It’s exhausting to take a facet on this one, although I lean in direction of the buyer’s viewpoint. In Ross & Squibb’s protection, the proof was a placeholder. On the buyer’s facet, nonetheless, it’s exhausting to consider Ross & Squibb believed it was that top a proof; in different phrases, there was no must put 115 because the placeholder in the event that they knew it could be decrease. They might have put 110; because the entry proof, it could’ve been clearer as a placeholder. 100 makes much more sense because it’s already what their Remus Repeal Sequence is bottled at, although there are some who would’ve been confused by that too, I assume.
General, a rare bourbon that’s a contender for my better of the 12 months.
