The HIVE, Subtle Spirits (100th Review)

Subtle Spirits, The HIVE (my 100th Review)

COST: $130 for 750 mL bottle through Shared Pour via r/Bourbon

AGE: 7 yr 9 mo

MASH BILL: 95% rye, 5% malted barely (MGP)

PROOF: 119

I was ready to review this somewhere around my 80th review on r/Bourbon, but it was a little hot at first so I decided to sit on it a while before I reviewed it to see if it mellowed out and opened up. As more reviews piled up while I was sitting on it, I eventually realized this would be a good one to do for the #100 milestone. So, here we are!

This is the first fully custom blend made exclusively for the r/Bourbon single barrel program. It is a blend of three barrels of MGP 95/5 rye mash bill. All barrels are aged a minimum 7 years and 9 months. While one of the barrels continued aging, the other two barrels were finished in a chardonnay barrel and a pinot noir barrel for a few months. T8ke then had full control in determining the percentage of each finish to blend together for the final blend. While the ratio of the blend isn’t disclosed originally, I did reach out to T8ke requesting if he could share this info. While he didn’t have the exact numbers offhand, he was able to share that it was roughly 30% chardonnay finish, 40% pino noir finish, and 30% straight rye. The bottle art work is fully commissioned for this release only. While I normally don’t comment on the bottling, it’s edgy and gives me vibes of craft beer more than craft whiskey (which isn’t a bad thing). Let’s see if it’s just a pretty bottle, or if the liquid in it is worthwhile.

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

APPEARANCE: Tawny (1.4) in color, with thin, medium viscosity legs. This is overall pretty oily looking.

NOSE: I’m getting a lot of sweet butter toffee and salted caramel with a dark chocolate drizzle and a little red fruit. There’s an undertone of spice with notes of tobacco and black pepper. A light lemon zest helps boost the sweetness a bit more.

PALATE: This has the creamiest mouthfeel I may have ever experienced in a rye whiskey. It’s very gratifying and it actually reminds me of the butteriness of a glass of chardonnay. In the flavor department, a buttery note along with a wallop of rye spice. Caramel, vanilla, and an oaky, peanut brittle follow. While I picked up red fruit on the nose, I’m picking up light and bright fruit on the palate such as white grapes and under-ripe blueberries. Towards the end of the sip, orange peel and black pepper show up. There was a good bit of heat with the sip when I first opened this, but after a few months it’s opened up a good bit.

FINISH: A decent amount of spice that lingers along with a touch of cherry, orange peel, and vanilla. There is a white pepper note that hangs around along with some sweet oak. It’s a medium length finish with powerful flavors that linger.

RATING: 7.7/10

VALUE: 6.6/10 (this value is based on a ratio of the $/mL to the rating above compared to this same ratio for all other r/Bourbon reviews I’ve made and normalized to 10)

OVERALL: It’s well balanced to exhibit characteristics of the rye whiskey as well as the pinot noir and chardonnay barrels. I love the contrast on the palate with the creamy, buttery mouthfeel and the spiciness of the sip. It’s fun and I’m glad I was lucky enough to get a bottle of it!

BEHIND THE BOTTLE

I thought about summarizing some details from r/Bourbon emails for “Behind the Bottle,” but I think it’s best served by quoting what T8ke shared for the drop of The HIVE.

Today we're launching The HIVE, a fully custom whiskey for r/Bourbon from the ground up. It's foundation is 7yr9mo barrels of MGP rye, two of which were finished in wine casks (chardonnay, pinot noir) while the third cask continued aging, and re-blended together. Rather than full barrel blends, I was given control over exact percentages from each candidate cask for ultimate control. The result is a phenomenal composition, and one of my proudest whiskey creations to date.

The artwork was commissioned of California artist Daryll Peirce, whose design style mirrored exactly what I wanted to see in this project. The HIVE was born.

The naming comes as a witty spotlight to the dichotomy in the perception I see people outside our group have of Reddit. Some folks, some brands, some companies are terrified of Reddit. They don't understand r/Bourbon and only know what they hear from the media of Reddit. Our size, our scale, our tremendous influence in the whiskey industry is often completely misunderstood and it frightens and paralyzes them. Some projects have been frozen or outright canceled in the past once the business administration of a brand heard the project was for a subreddit. That day weighed heavy on me and I'll never forget it.

To other brands, there's an understanding of what r/Bourbon is. A monstrous, sprawling, hungry collection of individual palates who are thirsty for info, who are driven to experience the newest and most interesting whiskeys, and who are not afraid to weight in on a whiskey and share their thoughts with others. We taste, we share, from time to time we make or break brands. At the heart of each Redditor is one thing: a love of whiskey, and nobody can convince me that isn't r/Bourbon's strongest advantage.

That is the side of Reddit I see, and the philosophy that I work to share with brands anytime I see one I am determined to work with. Reddit isn't something to be feared, it's an independent organism that is made up of thoughtful drinkers, excited enthusiasts and driven drinkers who simply want brands to make the best whiskey possible...or else.

To me, Reddit is a HIVE.

Like bees, it's easy to see a hive in the distance and think that bees are contained to that one area. But, it's simply not true.

Bees are the lifeblood of every pasture and field, state and country where pollinators are needed. And, as such, so is r/Bourbon. We're diverse and we live everywhere. We are in every whiskey group and state, every market and country. We represent every kind of drinker and together make up the most sprawling and impressive community whiskey has ever seen.

There will never be another bottling like this one, and no release will share this art. I wanted r/Bourbon's DNA to be in every particle of this whiskey, combining best in class whiskey with literal art rather than kitschy stickers or after market tissue paper, boxes and gimmicks, and I am confident you will love it.

We are The HIVE.

HITTING A MILESTONE

After moving halfway across the country for work in 2015, I made some new friends and social circles that led me to be more around craft beer after having always been a “bourbon guy.” I have no regrets for this though because I didn’t like craft beer at all prior to 2015. These friends were very into brewing and craft beer and I learned A LOT about beer styles, the brewing process, and the craft beer world as a whole. While a lot of my alcohol budget was going to craft beer at that time, I did still always keep a bottle of Maker’s Mark and a bottle of Jameson in my bar at all times, but outside of that whiskey was mostly absent from my life.

In 2018, I started brewing my own mead, and in the process of researching mead making, I somehow came across r/Bourbon. Back when I was into whiskey from late 2000s to 2015, I wasn’t aware of r/Bourbon, so coming across r/Bourbon randomly when I had mostly been out of the whiskey scene for years didn’t drive an immediate reaction. However, over the next year or two I would randomly check out some reviews on r/Bourbon, and was a glorified lurker. Sometime in late 2021, I started to get stale on the craft beer scene and decided to go back to my first real vice. At that time, I finally joined r/Bourbon as a member.

When I got into craft beer, I really got into the tasting notes and the “why” behind it all. This was not something that I had previously been into with bourbon or anything really, I just liked bourbon. I credit this to some of the individuals that got me into craft beer that really enjoyed picking out tasting notes. So, after coming back into whiskey, I started focusing more on tasting notes now that I learned how to do this through craft beer. I started comparing my whiskey tasting notes to others who had reviewed the same expressions previously, and I really enjoyed this. After doing this for a little while, I finally decided to post my own review on r/Bourbon. And here we are today, about 2 years later.

Over the past 6-7 years, I’ve really enjoyed the r/Bourbon community. The following quote from T8ke for the launch of The HIVE really resonated with me:

(r/Bourbon is) A monstrous, sprawling, hungry collection of individual palates who are thirsty for info, who are driven to experience the newest and most interesting whiskeys, and who are not afraid to (weigh) in on a whiskey and share their thoughts with others…At the heart of each Redditor is one thing: a love of whiskey, and nobody can convince me that isn't r/Bourbon's strongest advantage.

There’s so much Bourbon and American whiskey information being shared daily on r/Bourbon in various reviews and comments. I would imagine you would be hard pressed to find another one stop shop on the internet where that contains more information about bourbon and American whiskey than r/Bourbon. I would venture as far as to say whatever American whiskey info you find somewhere else, I’m almost certain an r/Bourbon member has shared that info to some degree or in some context in a post or comment in r/Bourbon already.

For those that are lurking in the shadows of r/Bourbon like I did for a while, I would suggest you engage with the community, because it will be much more rewarding. The moment you ask that question that’s on your mind after you read that Eagle Rare review, or start sharing your own review of the latest ECBP batch, the sooner you will find that this community will embrace your engagement, match it, and then some. We are The Hive.

1 | Disgusting | ...I've not subjected myself to this level

2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage

3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28

4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select

5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated

6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Widow Jane Decadence

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, WhistlePig PiggyBack SiB, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, JD SiB BiB, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Barrel Bourbon Batch T8ke, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08