Hudson Whiskey NY Baby Bourbon, 35 cl

Product Information

Baby Bourbon has won Gold Outstanding Medal at International Wine & Spirits Competition 2013. It is an exciting dram. Fresh and lively one. Still a draft of an whiskey on the palate but the aromas are quite good. Definitely a conversation starter because of its uniqueness. Ownership changes came when Tuthilltown Distillery (the name of the distillery that makes Hudson products) was bought out by Scottish distilling giant William Grant & Sons in the spring of 2017. WG&S saw the potential in having an American Distillery in their portfolio and saw that Hudson Distilling had a lot of room to grow. Did you know that since prohibition, Hudson Baby Bourbon is the first legal pot still whiskey produced in New York? Before prohibition farm distillers were a common sight in the state of New York. There were more than 1000 alcohol makers producing spirits from local grains and fruits. Whiskey enthusiasts looking for unique handcrafted whiskeys have seen a surge in craft distilleries in recent years. Tuthilltown Spirits was founded in 2007 as a small business by three college friends who wanted to make a whiskey that reflected their rural roots and community. C'est dans le grenier de la Tuthilltown Gristmill que naîtra le projet de Ralph Erenzo et Brian Lee en 2003, créer une micro-distillerie.

Some of you refer to this as the “finish” but let’s be honest. Don’t we all just want to know if it burns good? Out in New Jersey, Sourland Mountain Distillery is bringing the farm experience to their distillery — the place is a working farm. The grain-to-glass distillery is all about offering something local and refined, albeit young. Their bourbon is aged for one year in new American oak, meaning it’s a prime candidate to test right now to see where this distillery will go. Hudson bourbon is a type of bourbon that is made in New York. It is a very smooth bourbon that has a lot of flavor. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good bourbon to drink. Share With: This is definitely a bourbon to share with others who know enough about bourbon to appreciate it’s unique production characteristics as well as it’s unique taste. If you have bourbon loving friends who haven’t tried it yet I suggest you all go in on a bottle and try it at your next tasting event. I also think it makes a great entry level bourbon for those that would benefit from something with a milder and sweeter taste before diving into some of the more traditional bourbons. It’s a deep and rich flavor that’s delicious and enjoyable. Something you could sip all afternoon and late into the night. On IceFinish: After the sip is complete, my mouth starts to dry out leaving behind more harsh, young, green wood notes. The sweetness has now completely evaporated and I find myself wanting to stop drinking this after only a couple of tastes. Score: 2/10 One of Hudson’s earliest products was Hudson Baby Bourbon. This youthful bourbon managed to sell based on clever marketing techniques and fierce territorial pride from their locals rather than because it was actually good. My previous review of it was not kind and I took a lot of flak from those who had a fierce loyalty to the brand. Hudson Baby Bourbon is a craft bourbon made by Hudson Whiskey, a New York-based distillery. The company was founded in 2010 by Ralph Erenzo and Brian Lee, who are also behind the successful Tuthilltown Spirits distillery. Hudson Baby Bourbon is made with a mash bill of 60% corn, 30% rye, and 10% malted barley. The whiskey is aged for at least nine months in new, charred oak barrels. As I stated earlier I didn’t like Hudson Baby Bourbon the first time I tried it. But now I’m a huge fan. I’m not sure if my palette changed over the course of a few months or if I simply learned enough to appreciate what went into its production. Either way, the takeaway is to always give a bourbon a few tries before you put it on your list of things to never drink again. You never know when revisiting a bourbon will result in a lifelong friendship. This has a lot to do with the fact the distillate doesn’t get pushed into the oak as much or as long during the summer months as it would in a hotter climate. I figure that if it was given enough time, it could achieve the desired effect. But for a bourbon that is 3 years old, it is nowhere close to achieving that quality just yet.

The distillery re-branded their core lineup in late 2020 as the new whiskey came of age. Gone was the 100% corn mashbill that Hudson Baby Bourbon used and in its place was a new mashbill that uses 95% corn and 5% malted barley. Bright Lights, Big City Conclusion: Year 2016, Batch 13, Bottle 3973, non-chill filtered, 100% New York Corn and the “first legal pot-distilled whiskey made in New York since prohibition”. Tuthilltown ages their Baby in “special small American Oak Barrels” which explains how they achieve such a dark color and heavy oak influence from such a young whiskey. The other unique thing about Hudson Baby Bourbon apart from aging in 3-gallon instead of 53-gallon barrels and the fact that it’s 100% instead of the required 51% corn, is their use of sonic maturation by playing loud music to agitate the whiskey inside the barrels instead of moving the barrels themselves for the liquid to interact with the wood. The whole situation has a stench to it that one side is lying and the other side is trying to expose them. So it is with that in mind that I got my very own bottle of Hudson Baby Bourbon to finally settle this once and for all. I sampled it neat in a glencairn. Tasting Notes Hudson Baby Bourbon is an interesting expression, aged in small 2 gallon barrels and “sonically matured”. Yes, you read it right! The 100% corn spirit and the casks get some agitation with the help of bass speakers. Every bottle has been hand-filled and numbered, and sealed with a wax. No carbon or chill filtration has been used.Yep, it’s made from 100% corn. By definition, bourbon has to be made from at least 51% corn but you don’t really find bourbons on the market made from 100% corn. Another interesting detail is that the bourbon is aged in 3-gallon barrels instead of the industry standard 53-gallon barrels. They’re still new charred oak barrels but just smaller so the wood to liquid ratio is higher which adds a good wood component to the whiskey despite it’s young age. The bourbon is then aged for about 3 months before it’s bottled and sent out for our enjoyment. Normally a modern bourbon is some mixture of corn and other ingredients. In this case, Tuthilltown Spirits makes their Baby Bourbon from 100% local New York grown corn. Cleveland Underground has the most interesting story of any modern bourbon. Whiskey innovator Tom Lix developed a new way to age whiskey in hours instead of years. The short of it is this: The hot juice goes into a new American oak barrel to meet legal requirements denoting bourbon. Then the juice, oak staves, and finishing wood chunks go into a proprietary pressure-cooker-like device where a vacuum is created and oxygen-rich air is pumped in forcing the liquid literally through the grains of the wood over and over again until the whiskey is fully “aged.” This process takes about 24 hours.

This is how bourbon matures. This is how bourbon develops its complexity and reduces its harshness. This is not what happens at any step of the process when making Hudson Baby Bourbon. The music they blast at these barrels (ugh) is nothing more than marketing. It doesn’t magically age their whiskey because it just doesn’t work.

In 1834 a Scottish chemist called James Crow invented the sour mash process. Or it might be better to say, he perfected and explained the process as it was probably something that some distillers were doing before. In the sour mash process a portion of the last ferment is added to the next to get things going rather like with sourdough bread, only better because you end up with whiskey. This raises the acidity of the fermentation which makes it hard for bacteria to survive so you’re less likely to get spoilage. The sour mash process meant getting a consistent ferment every time. Nose: Sweet creamed corn scents butt up against youthful notes like green wood, sharp cinnamon and lots of botanical scents. The rest of the nose has pretty standard traits of caramel sauce and some light vanilla.