Redwood Empire Lost Monarch
American Whiskey | 45% ABV
Score: 5/10
Average.
TL;DR
Perfectly good drinking American whiskey, but doesn’t much budge Ogie’s needle
Needs Must
I have been a resident of North Carolina for eight months. And, as has been chronicled by me in these pages, this is a desert for single malt aficionados.
Sure, the usual suspects are here – the Johnnie Walkers, Glenmorangies, Glenfiddichs, and Macallans of the world – but for those of us on a whisky exploration, to say this is limiting, is an understatement.
Admittedly, this has also contributed to more than a bit of single malt fatigue for ol’ Ogilvie. Aside from the taste experience, a huge part of my single malt excitement – again, this relates to me – has been being able to grab my whisky pick axe to explore and mine for some unexpected veins of gold.
In Connecticut it was a challenge, but there were delights to uncover here and there. In my new milieu, however, it has been a vastly different experience. After eight months of searching and digging, and no nuggets of meaningful interest to be found, it has tended to sap the elation of the hunt. It has dampened my single malt interest.
Faced with the desert, I tried to find another avenue. I turned to online whisky auctions from the UK. Those auctions ticked the boxes for excitement, engagement, and the ability to get my hands on some bottles I would not otherwise ever find on this side of the Atlantic. However, these auctions also came with a heavy price. Literally.
The cost of shipping was stifling. For example, even with a self-imposed cap on the cost of bottles (knowing there would be a hefty delivery charge added), my last auction forays are telling.
I had landed two bottles at an auction in May and elected to have them stored as it would be better on the wallet to ship five bottles together rather than two in one shipment and three in another. So, here is the breakdown of my two-bottle win in May:
Bottle #1 secured for £30
Bottle #2 secured for £30
Storage charges for both £12
Buyers premium for £6
I went back to the same auction site in June and landed three more bottles. That would complete my assortment, and would be ready to have all five bottles delivered. Here is the breakdown from June:
Bottle #3 secured for £40
Bottle #4 secured for £60
Bottle #5 secured for £50
Loss and breakage cover for £4.50
Buyers premium for £15
Shipping cost for five bottles for £155
So, if I was local and could make my way to the auction house and physically pick up all five bottles myself, the cost of the whisky would have been £210 (£42 per bottle). Pretty good, for sure.
However, I am not local. So, there are a heap of additional charges. As it turned out, the total cost of the venture with this auction house was £402.50 (£80.50 per bottle). Without having had an unexpected football pool win of $200 (which gave me the green light to go the auction route), my wallet would surely have winced as the cost per bottle all but doubled. Adding insult to prospective injury, the auction house announced an increase in buyers premium and there has been an alert as to a different (read here: higher) shipping cost system.
As many of the UK auction sites are not dissimilar, and many of the UK retailers that will ship to North Carolina have hefty shipping costs, I have put the thought of buying from UK outlets on the very back burner.
After weeks of looking for interesting single malts locally or from places afar without any success, I put my pick axe down. I was winded. I was tired. I had hit a wall.
One night, I went to my whiskey cabinet to grab a pour of something after a particularly vexing day at work. Perhaps it was the single malt search fatigue bleeding into my selection process, but as I scanned my bottles, none of the single malts seemed to move the needle. To be sure, between the auction bottles and the bottles muled to me by my son, I presently have a good assortment of very nice single malt. And yet, what my eyes ultimately turned to was my newly growing bourbon shelf. I pulled down a recently purchased bottle and smiled.
I am not going into single malt retirement – not a chance – but I had come to find myself looking at bourbon bottles in the liquor stores. I was heeding a comment from Florin Bogdan in response to my Heaven Hill review. He urged me to keep giving bourbon a chance as, he reminded me, bourbon is great.
As I have been more directed toward bourbon of late, I was curious to see how bourbon has fared in the history of Dramface. I went into the Dramface archives and discovered that of our 1,150 penned reviews (as of the date of writing, Dramface has published 983 reviews – but a healthy number have multiple contributors, hence the 1,150 figure) only, roughly, fifty reviews have been penned and published for bourbon and rye expressions. Of course, Dramface is primarily a UK-Scotch-single-malt-whisky-focused-site, but it speaks to and covers all whiskies - just take a peek at the amazing stories of yesterday’s world whiskies by Murdo - we even include those bourbons and ryes.
Yet, it really surprised me that only roughly 5% of our energies have been devoted to bourbons and ryes. Granted, I didn’t expect a 50-50 division, or even a 65:35 ratio, but only five percent?
Anyway, over the years, I have thoroughly enjoyed the relatively few bourbon and rye reviews – particularly from Earie, Aengus, Broddy, and Hamish. I am starting to find my groove with bourbons as it is what I find myself immersed in, and surrounded by.
And so, with the realisation that only 5% of our content has been devoted to these whiskies, and as I took a pour of my newest addition from my bourbon shelf, I thought that I should take on the task of being a bourbon resource here on Dramface.
I am not going to shed my love for single malt, nor my desire to find and review bottles – again, certainly not! I will still venture to find and review malts. But, I need to pivot to that which is accessible to me here in eastern North Carolina and, moreover, I can’t very well review that which I cannot find.
…and, as Lev kept telling me, here in North Carolina, bourbon is king. So, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
For those of you in the UK and Europe (and parts of the globe outside of North America), I appreciate your indulgence in reading about bottles that may not be readily available. Hopefully this might help you when you do come across a bottle, or are wondering which lot to snag on an online auction. For those of you in North America, I am hopeful that I can be of help with some perspectives and guidance the next time you are heading to the liquor store and wondering what bourbon, rye, or bou-rye to take off the shelf.
Thank you, Florin, for the nudging… and down the bourbon rabbit hole I go, feet first.
Review
Redwood Empire Lost Monarch, American Bourbon Whiskey, Blend of straight bourbon aged anywhere between 3 and 14 years, and rye whiskies aged anywhere between 3 and 14 years, mashbill: 60% rye, 40% bourbon, 45% ABV
US$36 (£27) paid
So what is there to know about this relatively new distillery?
Redwood Empire is a new kid on the block. Articles, and even their website, say that it was founded in 2015, but the label and packaging on my bottle has a notation of “MMXVII”, or 2017. So, I am unsure if the distillery is nine or seven years old. Regardless, it was founded with sustainability in mind. The distillery keeps to its eco-friendly premise with like-minded NGOs, and for every bottle purchased, they plant a tree. In fact, their whiskies are all named for an iconic Redwood tree that is found in northern California. As of the time of drafting this review, their website states that they have planted 1,553,012 trees. Their website continues:
“Our still allows us to distil in a single pass, preserving both water and energy. Local farmers use our nutrient rich mash as feed for livestock. And our state of the art water reclamation facility assures only pure water re-enters our water table.”
And, below that on the website, appears what I glean to be their stated motto:
“Redwood Empire whiskey is not just a product of its environment, it’s a part of it.”
While they do produce a bourbon called Pipe Dream, and a rye whiskey called Emerald Giant, this whiskey in my glass, the Lost Monarch expression, is a “bou-rye” (as it is a blend of rye and bourbon).
In researching Redwood Empire, there appears to be some questions as to whether they have always produced the distillate they have bottled under their label. This is not uncommon. One of the interesting things that I am coming to understand as I go down my bourbon rabbit hole of investigation, is that many new and newer North American distilleries source their distillates from other distilleries. Most often, there is a behemoth of a whiskey operation located in Indiana that is the common denominator. MGP (Midwest Grain Products) will tailor its distilling to specific recipes and specifications provided by other outfits who wish to have “their” whiskies produced before their own equipment might be up and running.
Many outlets, articles, and reviewers have surmised, guessed, and even asserted that in years past Redwood Empire utilised MGP to create distillate per Lost Monarch’s recipe specifications. Redwood Empire has not been around for a full decade, so it is fully feasible and possible that MGP was used as Redwood Empire got its pieces and parts in order. I sent an email to the distillery a few weeks ago, through its website’s contact function, asking them if they would clarify if they had used MGP, if they still do, and if so to what extent and for which expressions. As of the date of writing this review, I have not received a reply.
In scanning Redwood Empire’s website and its YouTube videos, however, they make clear that they do all of their distillation and ageing of their whiskies on site at their site of operations in Northern California. Redwood is particularly proud of their production process. From their customised mash tun that uses direct steam injection to break down starches and sugars, to their four-to-six day fermentation time, to their innovative micro-column custom-designed still that utilises a two-column distillation process allowing for finer cuts of heads and tails, to their unique combination of barrel blends that include high-char American oak casks and heirloom port and wine barrels.
From what I can see and glean from the information available to me, the distillery – which may have relied on sourcing at their inception – is now fully on its own two feet and independently creating its own spirit.
Score: 5/10
Average.
TL;DR
Perfectly good drinking American whiskey, but doesn’t much budge Ogie’s needle
Nose
Brown sugar. Browned butter. Caramel. Vanilla icing. Spices are there, but they’re in the background – cinnamon, allspice, white pepper. This bottle is 60% rye whiskey, and I am not getting a rye spice hit even though I’m looking for it. After some more nosing, a bit of rye is detected, perhaps, but I think it is me looking for it. A bit of floral and botanicals. A hint of apple pie. Nothing here is strong or bold. Very easy, and very tame. A bit simple.
Palate
Dessert. Cherry and blackberry preserves. Brown sugar along with the caramel and vanilla icing from the nose. With the second sip, I detect a sweet rye when I breathe in. Cooling and a touch of spearmint. A touch of oak, but this is so easy going. Spice cake. Dark fruit compote with honey. A hint of apple strudel notes. The brown sugar-vanilla icing-caramel trifecta is ever-present but not overpowering in any way.
The tasting notes sound really good, right? And, they are… but this dram still comes across as a bit muted and tame. There is nothing wrong here, nor are there things to complain about. But it is as the nose spoke to me – easy, tame, and simple. Very easy going down. Nothing challenging or complex. If a whiskey could be overly easy, this is it. Tasty. Easy.
The Dregs
Admittedly, this expression is a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, it has lovely flavours. Many folk say being simple and good carries a weight of its own. This Lost Monarch is certainly simple and good. So why does it not simply end there for me? When it comes down to it, I appreciate a dram that speaks to me; that has character. It doesn’t need to shout, but it needs to have something bold or rich or unique; perhaps something challenging with complexity. Let’s face it, (assuming the flavours are good) there is something so very appealing to have a dram in hand that provides depth. I think of a Benromach or a Booker’s – each has layers of bold flavours that demand attention. Having a delicious and complex dram is a wonderful experience. This Lost Monarch is really very nice, but it isn’t moving the needle.
It is the safe bet. It’s choosing for your spouse a CPA who believes in fiscal restraint and drives a new Toyota Camry rather than an individual with a few tattoos, creating their own start-up company, and drives a 1969 Pontiac convertible. Hyperbole, perhaps, but you get the point.
The flavours in my glass are quite complementary and not shouty in any way. I would love to know the barrels used in this blend of whiskies. I would like to know the breakdown of the ages of the distillates used – a range of 3 to 14 years is a bit of a spread. The most I could glean of additional information was with regard to the mashbills of the rye (95% rye and 5% malted barley) and the bourbon (75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley).
All that being said, this is a good bottle. It’s fine. That said, I don’t believe I will replace it. Again, there is nothing wrong with this, and I can see its appeal to many. Certainly, at $36 it makes my tally for my single malts from auction almost embarrassingly egregious. But, unlike other bourbons I have had – most notably, Booker’s, Heaven Hill B&B, and Wild Turkey’s Rare Breed – this bou-rye falls a bit flat.
If a simple and easy sipper is your lane – and this bottle is definitely a simple and easy sipper – this might be the bottle for you. At a barbeque, picnic, or social gathering this can be a crowd pleaser. As for me, I appreciate something a bit bolder or more layered; something with more depth. It is not the bottle I will reach for when I want to sit with a dram to enjoy a sipping and tasting experience.
Still, not a bad bottle to add to the start of my bourbon journey, proper.
And I’m glad to have the wind back under my whiskey sails.
Score: 5/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. OS
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