Hudson Baby Bourbon
“Make your mark in New York and you are a made man”
They call it the 'Baby Bourbon' and they are right. The name is apt in many ways - firstly the bottle is tiny, seriously, even Mav's small lady like hands look huge holding it. Secondly there is the actual age of the bourbon, which is apparently only between 3-4 months and, thirdly, they don't use the standard size barrels to age the bourbon, instead much smaller, 2-3 gallon ones, are preferred. That's a reduction of about 50 gallons compared to those normally used. So yes 'Baby' is most certainly a clever name. There is also a rumour that the master distiller is addicted to rusks, but we're not sure on that one.
So what does all this actually mean, apart from making for a catchy name? Well it explains for one how the liquid in the bottle is so dark for such a young whiskey. The smaller the barrel the more the liquid inside has a chance to interact with it. Couple this with the fact they actually play loud dance music in the warehouse (true fact) to increase the interaction (by agitating the liquid inside the barrels) it makes the bourbon look like one that has been aged a lot longer. It also explains the choice of the bottle size, if they don't have much liquid in the barrels then there is a lot less to bottle up and ship out if they used the regular size ones.
So does 100% corn bourbon/whiskey suck or not? That's what you guys want to know right? Well it most certainly doesn't in our opinion, and in Mav's view in particular this is quite an excellent dram. Yes it's a very, very, different taste to your normal bourbon and that may put some off on the first try. In fact Mav himself had decided this wasn't for him the very first time he sampled it. However, give this one a chance, expect that first sip to be strange for something labelled as a 'bourbon', but stick with it and you'll find a lot to like here.
There is also a bit of an unexpected spicy kick to the dram. You will see from the experts tasting notes that they called it out as a 'touch of rye spiciness', a descriptor we find slightly puzzling as they are explaining this taste with the absence of something in the mash bill - odd indeed, but regardless there is a spice there, and it adds to the overall experience quite nicely.
This one can be a ‘love it or hate it’ bourbon (it certainly is so for the Gents) so we highly recommend trying it in a bar or with a sample first.
*NOTE: since this review was first published Hudson have revamped and rebranded their line of bourbons. We will get around to reviewing the new line up soon.
