~$32, 750mL bottle- Purchased at River Stone Wine & Spirits, Cleveland, TN
Background
A filibuster is a political procedure that involves an elected official (or more than one, in some cases) talking at great length in a non-stop manner about any variety of things to prevent the governmental chamber of which he (or she) is a part from voting on a piece of legislation. Historically it was marked by people talking for days about the legislation or just simply reading from a book, but almost always involved the actual continuation of talking to uphold. Somewhere along the line the U.S. Senate got extraordinarily lazy and it was decided that to hold up a piece of legislation, a person could simply say they intended to filibuster it, at which point it could be put up to a cloture vote, wherein they have to have 60 votes to kill the filibuster and vote on the legislation. Bottom line…filibuster is a lost art.
Filibuster Distillery is a female and minority-owned business located in Virginia, although they started in D.C., not far from the Capitol. The company was named after the political maneuver with the thought that maybe people could get along better if they just talked things over with a couple drinks.
A boondoggle is a project of immense waste of time and money that can be continued for years due to political motivations…think the high-speed train that California has been working on for close to 2 decades now, billions of dollars spent, with no real finish date in sight.
My interest in politics made this whiskey a no-brainer to buy, especially at the approximate $30 price point. Boondoggler Whiskey is notes as “Aged in 5 Barrels” and also that it is a “Small Batch” whiskey. The company website notes that it is a corn and rye mash bill, aged in white American oak barrels, but then finished in Chardonnay, Pino, Cabernet, Fino, and Pedro Ximenez barrels. The Boondoggler “was originally created by our Master Blender for his personal consumption.”
Notes
The bottle is a unique shape in today’s market where it has become all-too-apparent that certain shapes are made in excess and sold at a great price to every new distillery that comes along. The fact that they have their brand name shaped into the glass makes you think the company is older than it is, since this is not a cheap process. The label is a fun throwback type of label with classic fonts that could have been seen a hundred years ago, along with political cartoon-level artwork.
The whiskey was a bright-orange-amber color, which initially made me want to ask how young this whiskey was. I thought better of it, because really age doesn’t matter if the liquid is treated right. But, no…it doesn’t look like it stayed in a charred whiskey barrel long enough to pick up much color.
In the glass it appeared even lighter in color and if someone handed it to me, I would automatically think it was a Scotch…until I gave it a sniff. I immediately got notes of honey and caramel, followed up with vanilla and red wine fruitiness. On the first sip it was delicate and just slightly sweet on the tongue, giving way to a little pepper and alcohol vapor heat after a few seconds. The finish was quick and left just a little oakiness and lingering wine aftertaste.
