Libation Review: Tincup Whiskey

• 750mL bottle
• ~$28
• Purchased at Total Wine

Background

Back in 2004, Jess Graber helped found Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, an interesting, albeit pricey, take on American whiskey. I bought a bottle of the almost-orange spirit and found it very drinkable, although not quite rising to the level of the price tag. The brand was sold to a larger company in 2010, but Graber apparently wasn’t quite done with the whiskey business yet.

In 2014, Graber launched Tin Cup (or Tincup or TINCUP…make your own choice, I guess…the company wants ALL CAPS). A mash bill is not found on their website, although it is obliquely referred to as “a whiskey with a bourbon style profile.” It is also stated that Graber was looking to make something more powerful and spicier, so he used a high rye mash bill.

The reality of the situation is that Tin Cup is a sourced whiskey, not made in Colorado. It is distilled and aged elsewhere, then brought to the Rocky Mountain State to be mixed with cold mountain water down to 84 proof and bottled. And what a bottle! The glass is hexagonal in shape with company naming and other identifiers embossed in it. A small label is affixed to the slope of the glass near the neck, the bottle is sealed with a t-shaped cork and capped with a small tin cup that you can apparently use if you forget to take a glass with you.

Notes

Tin Cup was a light amber in the glass with an aroma of oak and vanilla, with touches of honey and corn. I took a small sip and it was light in body with a pleasing sweetness up front and a lingering peppery note.

Further sips accentuated notes of corn and vanilla, while still be quite light. With that in mind, I chose to pair it with a milder cigar than usual: Eastern Standard by Caldwell Cigars, in the Marble House vitola that is only available from site sponsor, Small Batch Cigars (and their brick and mortar store, Maxamar Ultimate Cigars in Orange, California).

The cigar started off with Dominican earth and a touch of graham in a creamy, mildly sweet smoke. The light body and sweet notes of the Tin Cup whisky played well with the mild-to-medium-bodied Eastern Standard, making for one of my better pairings.

Tin Cup isn’t a whisky that will change your world, but it does provide a light and sweet bourbon-esque flavor profile that will pair better with milder smokes than a lot of stronger whiskies will.