Anchor Distilling Old Potrero Hotaling's Whiskey MMIX

Anchor Distilling's Hotaling's Whiskey is named after A.P.Hotaling & Company's whiskey which survived the 1906 San Francisco Fire, which destroyed 28,188 buildings, including many churches. When several clergymen asserted that the fire had been a divine retribution for the city's wicked ways, poet Charles Kellogg Field penned the following lines:

"If, as they say, God spanked the town For being over frisky, Why did He burn the churches down, And save Hotaling's whiskey?"

Old Potrero whiskeys are named for Potrero Hill in San Francisco, and all made from 100% malted rye mash. Hotaling's Whiskey MMIX (2009) release is pot distilled and aged for 14 years in once-used (UK "first fill") charred oak barrels. The reviewed bottle has been open for 17 months and is 2/3rds full. All releases of Hotaling's Whiskey are extemely difficult to find. I drove over 400 miles roundtrip when I was given a tip on where I could buy some bottles.

Nose: many subtle nuances of rye-grain. These are the flavours, spices and fruits, of the usual rye sort, black pepper, light nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon/cassia, and hints of dark fruit, plus nuances I have never tasted anywhere else and have difficulty labeling. This is beautiful and an extremely unusual profile, because there may not be any other pot-distilled long-aged 100% malted rye whiskey in existence. The closest comparison would be to Alberta Premium 25 and 30 yo 100% rye mash whiskies, but those are probably not pot-distilled, and probably combine both malted rye and unmalted rye in their mash. Wood flavours are also clearly present in the nose, though they, too are subtle

Taste: just as subtle on the palate as in the nose...layer upon layer of malted rye-grain complexity

Finish: sits long on the tongue, with a bit of bitterness from the wood manifesting late

Balance: I had a sample from a previous release, less aged, of Hotaling's Whiskey, which I preferred to this bottle. Hotaling's Whiskey is apparently released each year one year more aged than the previous year. I would have ceased aging the Hotaling's Whiskey one or two years prior to the 14 year old MMIX/2009 release, reviewed here. Nonetheless this remains an extraordinary, rare, and remarkable whiskey. I would love to be able to taste the current release at, I believe, 18 years old