Yellow Rose Outlaw
Texas Pot Still Bourbon | 46% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Texas is hot. And so is their whiskey
Ambassadorship.
Having good ambassadors is key. And by that I don’t necessarily mean official brand ambassadors doing a great job.
Sure, they are of vital importance if you’re looking to build a relationship between your brand and potential customers - and ever since the pandemic, their role can hardly be underrated. Ideally we’re talking about people who are true whisky enthusiasts that combine that passion with a great deal of knowledge on both whisky in general and their brand in particular, while also having the gift of conversation and a willingness to travel and/or work all hours. Having these people on your payroll can prove an asset, albeit a costly one.
So when you don’t have these people at your disposal, where do you turn to? Well, having a few friends around who also happen to run the biggest whisky YouTube channel in the world probably doesn’t hurt. And in case the penny hadn’t dropped by now, I’m referring to the Whiskey Vault and Whiskey Tribe channels, where Rex and Daniel have built something over the years which is pretty mind-blowing. Both channels are, at the time of writing, homing in on 500,000 subscribers, and while there will obviously be a significant amount of overlap in subscriptions, the fact a YouTube channel dedicated to whiskey manages to get to nearly half a million subs was previously unheard of.
Of course it’s always quality over quantity and with the sometimes downright Jackass-like content brought by Rex and Daniel, it’s often a case of love them or hate them. But if you’re keeping hundreds of thousands of people entertained talking about whiskies, you’re probably doing a few things right.
They’ve been tremendous ambassadors for whiskey, Texas whiskey in particular. Five or six years ago, the concept of Texas whiskey was alien to me, but that changed rapidly due to the Vault and Tribe channels. Beneath the ‘send in the clowns’ approach of humour and lightness, there’s often geeky, in-depth content to be found, and the role and importance of both these channels when it comes to the name and fame of Texas whiskey can hardly be overstated.
Balcones, Andalusia, Ironroot Republic, Garrison Brothers and other distilleries have so often been visited and name-dropped by Rex and Daniel and their praise has been sung by many as a consequence, so much so that they are now firmly on the radar of many a promiscuous whisky lover. The 25 or so other Texas distilleries probably didn’t suffer from all the generated attention either – guilty by association in the best possible way, quoi?
Apart from Balcones, who were recently bought by Diageo - a topic for another day - Texas whiskey is in short supply in my parts. So when one did make its way to my neck of the woods, I was eager to get my hands on some for various reasons. The first being a curiosity on finding out whether the hype is real. The second one (and now we’re getting a bit deeper into anorak territory), is that Yellow Rose Distillery, located in downtown Houston uses pot stills to make their bourbon much in the same way Balcones (which I usually like quite a lot) distils its whiskey. Proudly stating on your label that your bourbon is pot distilled, managed to get my attention, and I do like the way a Texas map emblem features on the cork.
Review
Yellow Rose Outlaw, Texas Pot Stilled Bourbon, 46% ABV
£65 occasionally available (£40 paid)
We all know the dangers which lie hidden on the labels. For instance this label proudly states that Yellow Rose is, “The oldest legal distillery in Houston, Texas.” Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? And sure enough you’d be forgiven if this statement generates mental images of that legendary era of the wild west, with dusty main roads, saloons and gunslingers duelling at high noon. Problem (or rather the reality check) is that ‘the oldest’ they may indeed be, but they are also very much a young distillery. Prior to 2016, there was no Houston whiskey to be found - or at least no legal one - anywhere.
The clever bit particularly was adding the word ‘legal’, as it tends to evoke the romantic idea of shady moonshiners in back alleys going about their illicit businesses. In any case, they’re here now; fully legit and, with bottles available in the UK, I’m embracing it – dodgy marketing aside. Tradition and provenance - even when it’s hard to actually find - do seem to have an irresistible appeal from a marketing point of view.
Nose
Floral – roses, rosewood and sandalwood. Cherries and vanilla and something faint mineral/metallic. Dark honey and berry jam, raisins and hints of chocolate and coconut. Nothing super complex, all remains very accessible and harmonious while also being quite busy and appealing.
Palate
The metallic note is more upfront, both in the taste as on the mouthfeel, but luckily it doesn’t take over completely, as it leans against a whole array of classic bourbon notes: cherries, honey, vanilla and wood, with hints of tobacco before going into a dry and woody finish.
The Dregs
A downright decent bourbon, but, (bear in mind that this is coming from a scotch enthusiast first and foremost), there isn’t an awful lot that makes this stand out from many other bourbons. I’m glad to have a bottle of this and for the money I paid it’s definitely on point. Would I buy it again? I’m not sure. Prices for this one seem to be creeping up, and while I’m happy for it to sit in the £40-£45 range, I’m not at all sure it’s worth paying more than £50 for it. But for the moment, I’m enjoying my time with this, and at the end of the day, that’s what matters.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. EA
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