Whiskey Del Bac Normandie (2023)

Whiskey Del Bac Normandie (2023)

Cost: $90 at the distillery

Mash Bill: 100% malted barley

Age: NAS (finished for 13 months in Calvados barrels)

Proof: 97

Reviewed neat in a glencairn.

Appearance: Honey amber; medium, slow legs. Viscous and syrupy looking.

Nose: Orange zest, green apply Jolly Rancher, dried apricot, and an earthy undertone of dried grains.

Palate: A sweetness of orange, cherries, ripe apple, and raisins dominate the palate. The distinguishable malted barley profile is still very prominent and hasn’t been overwhelmed by the finishing. There’s a very mild earthiness that comes in the form of char/smokiness (this is supposed to be a non-smoked barley that makes this expression though, so I think it’s mostly char). The mouthfeel is velvety soft and coats the palate very well. This is a very full flavored sip.

Finish: Medium in length, picking up flavors for about 20-30 seconds after the swallow. Still picking up sweet apple and cherries, a little spice, maybe like cardamom, and a slightly more prominent barrel char than on the palate. There’s a mild hug that warms the top of the chest.

Rating: 8.2/10

Overall: Normandie is a non-smoked American single malt whiskey that has been aged American white oak and then finished for 13 months in Calvados barrels (French apple brandy). This is my first time reviewing an American Single Malt. While it’s not a category I’ve explored much, I plan on exploring it more. I’ve casually enjoyed single malt Scoth over the last decade or so, never putting in a serious investment in it, but I can see myself getting into American Single Malts more. Whiskey Del Bac is making some great stuff! Out of everything I sampled of theirs, it would get 6.5+ ratings by me. Normandie though…this is the crème de la crème of their portfolio in my opinion based on what I sampled during my tasting there.

Behind the Bottle: I have a few different bucket lists: countries to visit, world destination I want to see, restaurants I want to go to, I want to visit all 63 U.S. national parks, and a more recent bucket list – I want to visit the “best” distillery (subjective, I know) in every state. I now have a list with 50 distilleries on it. There was a decent amount of research that went into this, reading a lot of reviews, and finding a lot of recommendations from others who have publicized opinions on the “best” in different states already (shout out to Zach Johnston at Uproxx for his article that really helped with some of the harder states). Fast forward to the second week of 2024, I was going to be in Arizona for a week. So, I referenced my list to see where the distillery on my list for Arizona was, and it was in Tucson. In my 7 day trip, I was going to be in Tucson for 3 days, so I was determined to check Whiskey Del Bac off my list!

I had 2 other people traveling with me that were interested in a tour, and then my beautiful bride and my 20 month old son (neither of which are into whiskey, go figure). So, I made a reservation for a distillery tour and tasting for 3 on a Friday evening at 6pm. It would be the last stop of the night before having to get back and put the kiddo down for bed.

The day of, we got dinner and then we set out to Whiskey Del Bac. Now, for those that have visited the distillery, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about, but this place is NOT easy to find. Google Maps definitely took us to the right area, but…at the same time…didn’t quite get us there. They’re located in a kinda industrial complex beside I-10, close to the heart of the city. You’re not gonna see rickhouses or anything like that to make it clear “you’ve arrived.” So, it’s a few minutes to 6pm, and Google’s saying we’re there, but we clearly aren’t “there.” We drive around this complex for a few minutes, looking for signs or anything to help instruct us where to go, and there’s nothing. Because it’s also nearly 6pm on a Friday night in an industrial complex, there’s NO ONE around to ask. I figured I’d try to get to the other side of the building that Google clearly wants me to be in, and alas, we see others waiting outside a glass door that has the Whiskey Del Bac logo on it! No signage on the building, no signs around the complex, just this one door with the Whiskey Del Bac logo on it that’s about 25 feet away from, and facing, a big concrete wall that is the side of the freeway. It’s a no-frills entrance that makes it clear they’re not popular because they’re flashy – they’ve earned their reputation because they make good whiskey. (Whiskey Del Bac, if you happen to be reading this, at least consider a sign on the backside of the building. – Yours truly. 😉 )

So, we park and join the others standing outside waiting to be let in – about 5 minutes to go! We get to 6pm and no one has come to let us in. Hmmm… Kinda strange, but no biggie. Maybe they’re just caught up with something inside and are hurrying to get to us. 5 more minutes go by, still no one. People outside are starting to look at each other like someone else waiting will magically know what’s going on, but they don’t. Another 5 minutes go by. Now, 4 different people have rang the door bell with no response. I decided I’d call Whiskey Del Bac just to let them know we’re waiting outside. When I call, someone standing next to the door asked me, “Are you trying to call them? I can hear the phone ringing in this office just inside the door, but clearly no one is answering.” Sure enough, I get an answering machine. At this point, it’s sinking in to all of us that we’re not getting a tour tonight.

My party heads back to the car to wait since it’s brisk outside now that it’s dark. The others follow suit over the next few minutes. I figured we’d wait at least another 10 minutes. At 20 past the hour, if no one shows up or we don’t hear anything, then we’d just head to the hotel and call it a night. Well, a few minutes before we hit that mark, I get a random call from a Tucson phone number. Normally, I don’t answer calls from unknown callers, but we happen to be in Tucson, so I entertain the call. It happens to be none other than Janna! Thank, God! Wait…who’s Janna? Janna is none other than…well…I’m still not real sure, but she works at Whiskey Del Bac. So, at that moment, she might as well be the owner! She was very apologetic and said she was trying to get ahold of someone that was supposed to be on the tour that night to let us all know that the tour guide was running late but would be there in the next 15 minutes. ANOTHER 15 MINUTES!? It’s already nearly 20 minutes after we were supposed to start! But Janna was very sweet and we had nothing else to do (except put an infant to bed…but whiskey…don’t judge me), so we decided we’d wait. I mentioned to her it would be really nice to get a refund due to the delay or maybe a free bottle on the way out. 😉 She said she definitely understood and would work on something while we were doing the tour. I went ahead and got out of our car and let the other vehicles know what the might-as-well-be-the-owner Janna informed us of and everyone was hopeful again.

Just as Janna said, our tour guide showed up 15 minutes later. Alas, we’re gonna get whiskey!

Everyone was pretty forgiving, and no one gave our tour guide much grief about the crazy delay…until it got to the tasting! 😊 He was very friendly though and let us all try a few extra sips (within reason) if we were particularly interested in anything. I received a text during our tasting from Janna informing me that she had ordered tacos for everyone and it should be delivered towards the end of our tasting. While my group already had dinner, the gesture was still appreciated, and the tacos were delicious. To top it off, they also allowed everyone to get the employee discount for any bottles purchased.

So, in the end, between me and the two others from my party, we wound up trying quite a few different Whiskey Del Bac expressions, including 3 variants from the Distiller’s Cut series, Normandie, and all their core expressions. It was a fantastic tasting, and I was very impressed with everything that Whiskey Del Bac is doing!

I share all that not to bash Whiskey Del Bac in any way. People make mistakes. Whatever happened that caused a delay to our tour and tasting, Whiskey Del Bac was very apologetic and did what they could to try and make it right with a generous tasting, free tacos, and employee discount for purchased bottles. In the end, this review is supposed to highlight the product, not the service, facility, etc. But the story was one that I think is worth sharing to show that these people are human and do what they can to make things right. And they make damn good American Single Malt Whiskey while they’re at it!