Ryan Maloney, owner of Julio’s Liquor in Westborough, Massachusetts, has hit his stride in the whiskey blending world. Maloney traveled to Old Elk Distillery in Fort Collins, Colorado in January to help create The Center Cut ($120 a 750-ml.), a four-grain blend of straight whiskeys, to celebrate the retailer’s 50th anniversary. “The balance of The Center Cut is incredible,” Maloney says. “People aren’t used to having balanced whiskies. It’s all about extremes. With Scotch people want more peat, and with beer, people want more hops. We forget a true balanced whiskey hits all those buttons at the same time. The taste gives us something to explore. The whiskey transcends any one taste profile.”
The Center Cut marks the first time Old Elk Distillery has collaborated with a retailer on a whiskey. To create the blend, Maloney worked alongside Old Elk’s head of production Melinda Maddox and master distiller Greg Metze. The whiskey is expected to reach Julio’s shelves in April. “Given the specialness of a 50th anniversary, we wanted to make sure the barrels he blended would be from our older stock and profiles that would create a harmonious but also celebratory flavor,” Maddox says.
The process began with Maloney, Maddox, and Metze sampling whiskies from 12 to 15 different barrels. “We spent the better part of the morning going through a selection of barrels we picked with Ryan,” Metze says. “He sampled. He evaluated and narrowed it down to the four barrels he wanted to use as blend components for his anniversary edition. Then we started blending.”
Blending whiskey is an art requiring an open mind and intuition. “Ryan took the lead on figuring out the percentages,” Metze says. “We supplied a blending model we developed at Old Elk for him to use. Once he narrowed down the four blending components, it was a matter of choosing four different ratios of those four to put together. Once we inputted all the data on the four different barrels relative to proof and so forth, he picked percentages, and the model calculates the weight of each component to create the blend. We went through eight different blend ratios.”
The Center Cut comprises four whiskies: Old Elk 8-year-old Bourbon finished in Armagnac cask, Kentucky 9-year-old vintage Bourbon, Old Elk Wheat whiskey finished in Sauternes and Tawny Port barrels, and Old Elk rye barrel. “It was challenging to open all of our inventory and narrow it down,” Maddox says. “It helped that Ryan had parameters for an anniversary celebration blend, and we knew he wanted to go with older inventory and barrels worthy of a celebration like that.”
Blending whiskeys requires teamwork and the spirit of discovery. “Old Elk is a very team-oriented project,” Maloney says. “We went where the blend took us. We didn’t want to force it. When we were done, it didn’t fit a category. It wasn’t going to be a wheat whiskey, or a Bourbon, or a rye. It’s a blend of straight whiskies. We weren’t worried about the labels. We were worried about the taste profiles.”
The process celebrates the art of the blend. “We forget about the art of the blend, whether it’s a small batch, a micro batch, or putting things together.” Maloney says. “They are used to it in Scotland and Japan. We’re just coming to grips with the fact there is an artform in blending whiskey. Some results can’t be pigeonholed. You just have to experience it.”
Metze has been distilling whiskey for 47 years and notes blending whiskey is still a discovery process. “My experience is the preconceived one is never the one,” Metze says. “You look at four components individually and you think they will marry up a certain way when you blend them together. That’s truly the beauty of blending. You have to work to find the one you want. It’s not a mathematical equation. It’s a work in progress.”
The Center Cut comes on the heels of Maloney’s trip last fall to Dark Arts Whiskey House in Lexington, Kentucky to help create two whiskey blends: Loch & K(e)y Portal, a 7-year-old rye blend aged in white and red Port barrels, and Arm & Oak, a 7-year-old Bourbon blend aged in Armagnac/French Oak, Loch & K(e)y ($100 a 750-ml. each).
Retailers taking a hands-on approach to blending whiskies looks like a win-win situation for the industry and consumers. “Micro-blending is an expression of myself and the customer’s palate,” Maddox says. “Like a painter’s palette, each barrel is a color, which when blended, together create a beautiful taste and flavor picture.”
Now that Old Elk has a taste of blending whiskey with a retailer, the distillery plans to promote it. “We are working on a rollout program for early May on a trial basis to see how manageable it will be,” Metze says. “The future brings a more progressive approach from the new generation of distillers and blenders as they push the limits of flavor profiles. It’s unlimited.”