Stranahan's Snowflake

A sample gifted by bourbonjosh24. VERY excited to try this super hard to find whiskey. Even more excited to not have to camp out in freezing temperatures in Colorado to get it. Nose: Front and center super sweet grape notes almost like grape soda (I like grape soda). Yeasty funky notes like you'd get from a good fortified wine like port or sherry. A little background grassy herbal note with some light wood and smoke. Flavor: Whoa! Sweet and spicy up front. More grapey dried cherry and wine notes with wood, yeast, and a background flavor almost like brandy. Tastes a lot like it smells. Not super thick and has just a little ethanol bite. Finish: Medium Long, lingering spice and oak with just a little bit of smoke and ash. Super interesting and unique. It tastes a bit like grape soda and I kind of really like that. Definitely more of a dessert whiskey. If this were more readily available I'd definitely keep this around. Stranahan's definitely knows what they are doing with a cask finished single malt!

Batch number 21 Mt. Elbert First opened at the summit of Mt. Elbert on 8/31/2019 Nose: Festive holiday smells. Cloves and citrus (might be my own holiday nostalgia bias). Sweet potato. Milk chocolate. Vanilla similar to graham crackers. Taste: This is Christmas morning in a glass. Deep, complex, and intense sweetness. Queen Anne's Cordial Cherries (especially the cherry liqueur inside). Don't kill me for this... the chocolate notes remind me of cookies and cream.

Nothing like experiencing whiskey in its native location—this one at the Stenahan’s distillery in Denver. Snowflake is their annual release, and like a snowflake—no annual release is like an other. This is their infamous annual release that has lines overnight when they release it that one day in December. It’s really good—-complex layers of fruit, wine, sherry and bread pudding. We’ll never find it in the wild, so was great experiencing it at the source.

Obviously everyone's tastings will be different because it's a single batch once a year. First thing you get is that sweet malt nose, caramel, little hot. Taste is creamy and oaky, spicy, and some dry fruity flavors from the cognac and sherry casks. Finish is long and keeps it's sweet and spicy feel. Pretty good.

Tried it in their tasting room and it was just ok. Really like their regular and the Silver Peak but this one was a bit overpowered by some of the other flavors added via the additional casking. Super sweet. Only available at the distillery and with a long wait on the one day a year it is released.

Batch 22 (2019) - Mt. Bross: A mix of 2 to 8 year Stranahan’s finished in bourbon, Sangiovese, port, maple syrup, and cognac casks. You get all of the wines on the nose and taste, but the maple syrup cask and 8-year Stranahan’s comes in at the end for a sweet and smoky finish.