Latest news with #Kentucky-style
Time Out
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Fancy Hank's
May 2025 update: Yes, the rumours are true! One of Melbourne's OG American BBQ faves is celebrating International Briskey Day this Wednesday May 28 with free brisket sangas all day long, from noon until sold out. The signature 12-hour smoked 'Wanderer' brisket comes piled high on a classically American and ultra-soft Martin's potato roll. Plus, with each free brisket sandwich you get a complimentary drink voucher redeemable at sister venue Springrock next door. What a hump-day deal! - Lauren Dinse Read on for our original listing from Fred Siggins in December 2016. ***** While neon signs and posters advertising blues concerts long past used to line the wood-panelled walls in Fancy Hank's Queen Victoria Market location, its Melbourne CBD home is more polished. Taking over the former Tuscan Bar location, Fancy Hank's is more a restaurant than a smokehouse pub, with leather-lined seats and tables facing out to Grossi Florentino's glowing red neon signage. Most people will be here for the excellent barbecue. The smoky beef brisket is as great as ever, as is the pulled pork shoulder and whole rack of pork ribs. Try the crisp-skinned buttermilk brined chicken if you need a break from the red meat. The sides are plenty here, so go big on the potato salad, mac and cheese, and Kentucky-style coleslaw. There's also the option on a smoked vegetarian option for the non-meat eaters. The other drawcard here is the rooftop bar above the restaurant, Good Heavens, which will be pouring cocktails throughout summer. With blues on the stereo and finger-lickin' 'cue, Fancy Hank's is your ticket on a slow train to Georgia.
Forbes
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The Best New Bourbon To Try, According To The Top Whiskey Competitions
Toasting with glasses of bourbon whiskey With more than 2,000 bourbon expressions, there is no shortage of choices for the bourbon lover to explore. Below is an overview of 15 bourbons launched since 2020 that have consistently received excellent reviews and medals in international spirit competitions. Craft producers created some of these bourbons, while others are new expressions from legacy distillers. All are outstanding and well worth trying. This bottled-in-bond bourbon, aged at least 4 years, uses red corn for a distinctive flavor profile. The mash bill is 36% red corn, 34% white corn, 25% rye, and 5% malted barley. The nose features complex aromas of ancho pepper, cinnamon spice, black pepper, truffle, and cream soda. It has a silky texture on the palate, exhibiting herbaceous flavors of cut grass and peppermint, baking spices, dark chocolate, and roasted nuts. The finish is long, with lingering roasted nuts and spice notes. The bourbon exhibits a classic Kentucky-style profile with bright fruit and spice. The mash bill has not been disclosed, but it's believed to be low rye. The nose is very aromatic, featuring lemon, bergamot, Earl Grey tea, caramel, and subtle oak notes. Pronounced citrus flavors of lemon and key lime, along with vanilla and spice cake, dominate the palate. The finish is long and layered, with citrus zest, baked spice cakes, oak, and pepper notes. Barrell is a Louisville-based blender renowned for sourcing and blending rare whiskeys featuring innovative cask finishes and high-proof releases. This expression is an annual release blending bourbons of varying ages and mash bills from multiple distilleries, creating a unique profile each year. Black cherries, maraschino cherries/Kirsch, lemon custard, orchard fruits, rye spices, and chocolate are featured on the nose. The palate expresses Mexican chocolate with cinnamon, almond nuttiness, candy corn, leather, citrus peel, and strawberry cream. The finish is long and spicy, with lingering orchard fruit and drying oak notes. Bourbon and cheese are a perfect pairing. This Bottled-in-Bond wheated bourbon uses soft red wheat for a smoother mouthfeel. The detailed mash bill is not disclosed. The bourbon is floral on the nose, featuring icing sugar, mint leaf, butterscotch, apple cider spices, and ginger aromas. The palate features orchard fruit, floral and nutty notes, and seasoned oak. The finish is long, with lingering spice and oak notes. This bourbon expression, uncut and unfiltered, was a 2023 Special Release. It's based on Heaven Hill's standard mash bill of 78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye and is released in small batches at barrel proof. It's spirity on the nose, featuring roasted sweet corn, tart apples, currants, raisins, figs, cinnamon, ginger, and barrel char notes. The palate exhibits intense flavors of roasted field corn, dried fruits, especially currants and figs, cinnamon, dark chocolate, toffee, and toasted pecans. The finish is long, with lingering notes of leather and toasted wood. This wheated bourbon is finished with toasted American oak staves for enhanced complexity and more prominent oak notes. It's casked at a low barrel entry proof (BEP) to enhance sweetness and soften the tannins. The mash bill is the standard Maker's Mark mix of 70% corn, 16% wheat, and 14% malted barley. For an in-depth look at low barrel entry proof whiskey, see Why Low Barrel Proof Whisky Might Become Your Favorite Drink. The nose and palate feature a rich toasted oak character with layers of caramel sweetness and subtle baking spices. The finish is long and sweet, with lingering caramel and toasted oak notes. This whiskey is a blend of high-rye bourbons. It's remarkably consistent across batches, hence the minor variation in ABV, while retaining the layered complexity the bourbon is known for. It's sweet and spicy on the nose and palate, which the company described as 'Sweetness from Kentucky bourbon meets the spice of Indiana rye.' The palate features additional notes of citrus zest and herbal undertones, balancing the sweet and spicy profile. The finish is long and sweet with lingering rye spice notes. Entrance sign in front of Wild Turkey Bourbon Distillery with rick house in background. This bourbon is a blend of Wild Turkey 6YO, 8YO, and 12 YO whiskey aged in American white oak barrels that have received a #4 alligator char. It uses the standard Wild Turkey mash bill of 75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% malted barley, is non-chill filtered, and is bottled at barrel-proof. The bourbon features robust flavors of caramelized sugar, toasted oak, and baking spices of nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove on the nose and palate. The long, sweet, spicy finish expresses a more intense, nuanced version of Wild Turkey. This bourbon is aged in chiseled-and-charred barrels for greater wood contact and utilizes a proprietary filtration process of beech and birch charcoal. It's based on the standard Brown-Forman mash bill of 75% corn, 15% rye, and 10% malted barley. The bourbon features a rich vanilla sweetness contrasting with tannic oak notes reminiscent of cedar cigar boxes, dark chocolate, and dried fruit notes. The finish is long and sweet, with a lingering cigar box, dark chocolate, and char notes. The bourbon is produced at the Ross & Squibb Distillery in Indiana. It's based on mash bills of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley and one of 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley. This ultra-aged bourbon features old leather, tobacco, cherry syrup, roasted walnut, almond, fig, and seasoned oak notes. The finish is long with a layered complexity and lingering cherry and dark fruit notes. Barrels of bourbon at the Bardstown Bourbon Company in Bardstown, Kentucky on April 11, 2019. - (Photo credit ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) Bardstown Bourbon Company's Discovery series creates unique and compelling flavor profiles by artfully blending various bourbons. The Discovery Series #11 is based on a blend of three different bourbons, each with a unique mash bill. It won a Double Gold medal at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The bourbon features cherry syrup, brown sugar, butterscotch, and roasted peanuts with spiced notes of cinnamon and a touch of black pepper and clove. The finish is long and sweet, with lingering cherry and spice notes. This Utah-based distillery uses a mash bill of 75% corn, 20% rye, and 5% malted barley. The bourbon features oak, rye spices, sweet caramel, toasted rye bread, and vanilla aromas. The palate is sweet, expressing caramel, candied cherry syrup, subtle wood spices, and seasoned oak notes. The finish is long and sweet, with lingering candied cherry and oak notes. FEW Spirits is a perennial medalist in spirit competitions. Its small-batch production is based on a mash bill of 70% corn, 20% rye, and 10% malted two-row barley. In a quick three-day fermentation, FEW uses a Belgian beer yeast and ages its bourbon in charred, tight-grained, Minnesota White Oak casks. The bourbon features vanilla, caramel, wood spice, toffee, dark chocolate, and cherries on the nose and palate in a style that the distillery describes as 'big, bold, brash, not shy.' The finish is long, robust, and sweet, with lingering fruit and chocolate notes. The whiskey is a blend of bourbons finished in French, Mizunara, and toasted white oak. The bourbon is aromatic and complex on the nose, featuring sandalwood, coconut shell, and vanilla. The palate features candied notes of toasted marshmallows, espresso, dried apricots, and subtle seasoned oak notes. The finish is long and candied, with lingering exotic spice and seasoned oak notes. Aged 12-13 years in a cool limestone cellar, this bourbon based on the standard Maker's Mark mash bill. It's very complex on the nose, featuring molasses, leather, and dried cherry notes. The palate features browned butter, tobacco leaf, dark honey, and dried fruit flavors. The finish is silky, sweet, and layered with lingering cinnamon and cherry notes. These new bourbons represent innovation in production methods while maintaining traditional bourbon characteristics. Each offers unique flavor profiles shaped by innovative mash bills, production and aging techniques, or finishing processes that have earned them consistent praise since their launch. All of them are outstanding and worth trying. For additional bourbon recommendations see The World's Best High Rye Bourbons.
