Laws Straight Malt Whiskey Finished in Calvados Casks

Laws Straight Malt Whiskey Finished in Calvados Casks, Prime Barrel Pick

COST: ~$85 for 750mL bottle (I’m reviewing a sample)

AGE: 7 years 3 months

MASH BILL: 99% barley malt, 1% rye malt

PROOF: 138.4

I’m currently sitting in Denver for a weekend getaway after a week of power outages and cutting trees post Hurricane Helene back home in South Carolina. I had intentions of posting this review last week, but with much bigger issues to deal with, just never got around to it. Now that I’m sitting in Denver, I’m not sure there’s a more appropriate place to writeup and post the review of this whiskey which was distilled, aged, and bottled right here in Denver!

This sample was provide by a fellow whiskey enthusiast and comes from a Prime Barrel Pick, barrel #59, with a total production of 354 bottles (more on this in a bit…) This pour was taken neat in a Glencairn.

NOSE: This is rather astringent (perhaps to be expected for 138+ proof). Strangely finding my left nostril less sensitive to the astringentness at this particular moment, I get baked apples with loads of caramelized brown sugar and fresh grated nutmeg, dried apricots, toasted grain, fresh cut oak, and a light English toffee note.

PALATE: A big apple brandy note right away and a sweet blend of caramel and red wine stave dominate. A bitter dark chocolate note and an earthy, nuttiness washes around on the palate providing a nice backdrop. A little black pepper and a complex mix of baking spices provide good contrast to the otherwise overall bright sweetness. There’s hardly any astringentness on the palate.

FINISH: I get a big bear hug right in the center of the chest at first, but less apparent halfway through the pour. It’s a long finish full of toasted malt, dark chocolate, nutty oatmeal, and a touch of green oak and white pepper. A bit drying on the palate, but I think it’s more of an artifact of the astringentness and not tannins.

RATING: 7.8/10

VALUE: 8.2/10 (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: I’m a huge fan of Whiskey Del Bac Normandie, which is an American Single Malt finished in Calvados Casks, but at a much lower proof of 97. So, I was really looking forward to trying this Laws expression which is very similar to Normandie but at barrel proof, and it did not disappoint! While I get a boatload more flavor than Normandie, it is a bit astringent which can make it harsh at times, particularly on the nose and in the finish. I think just cutting the proof slightly with a couple drops of water would do wonders for this pour (I didn’t do that with this sample, though I probably should have). At $85 for a 138+ proof bottle with this much flavor it’s a total winner!

Behind the Bottle

This expression is part of Laws Whiskey House’s Experiential Barrel series, which is a more experimental series of finished whiskies from Laws. The amount of information provided on the back label of this bottle is fantastic! I always nerd out over bottles that provide all the details about the whiskey inside and I wish more companies provided this level of detail.

I find the growth of proof to be particularly interesting because I think it’s a testament to the climate in which it was aged. A 16 point bump in proof from entry to exit is a healthy bump in 7 years. I think this is due to Denver being rather dry and high altitude resulting in the angles share being higher than if you were aging at a lower altitude and higher humidity.

I also immediately assumed this was a single barrel pick, but after looking at some of the details on the bottle, I realized that “single barrel” is not mentioned anywhere. And while it doesn’t mention anything about batch size, and suggests it’s only one barrel by it showing “BBL #: 59,” I think this much be a 2 barrel batch. You’ll noticed that the “primary finish” is a standard 53-gallon barrel, but the total production was 354 bottles. These numbers don’t add up for this to be a single barrel product. 53 gallons = 200L, 200L/0.75L = 266 bottles MAX (assuming no loss of liquid which is untrue but conservative). So, the only way I can figure they got to 354 bottles was because this is actually a batch of 2 barrels. Maybe the particular expression is 2 barrels but the two barrels bottled as single barrels? Anyone have any information on this? Not that it really matters, but I’m just curious more than anything now.

Laws Whiskey House focuses on using heirloom grains from two family farms in Colorado: the Cody’s in San Luis Valley and the Ohnmacht’s in Colorado’s eastern plains. While they don’t use mass produced, easy to grow grains, their focus on the use of heirloom grains provides a uniqueness to their product, and personally, I love and respect their persistence to not give into larger mass-produced grains. Laws Whiskey House also recognizes the unique climate that Colorado has with very large annual temperature swings and a dry, arid environment that lends to more robust flavors of their heirloom grains that are able to survive these stressful conditions. Laws has a rather large selection of limited release/seasonal expressions that help highlight these unique grains as well as various finishes. I look forward to exploring more of Laws limited releases in the future!

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, Eagle Rare

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, 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