Sunset in a Bottle: Golden Hour Rye
Every bottle of Doc Swinson’s holds a world of curiosity.
Every glass has a story to be shared.
With each sip you both unveil & create this story.
One of my new Exploratory Cask favorites- Golden Hour Rye, released Spring 2024- has a rich and interesting backstory.
To learn more, I interviewed Doc Swinson’s master blender, Jesse Parker, because I was curious about the process, flavor profiles and why this release is causing a stir of excitement in Doc Swinson’s team.
Jesse makes magic in a bottle. With care and intention he creates whiskey with flavors which roll off your tongue. Flavors that make each sip sensational.
Speaking to Jesse about his whiskey led me down a rabbit hole of new ideas, interesting facts and… more questions! His wealth of knowledge is deep.
Read on to dive into the wacky wild world of Jesse’s mind, and the symphony of Golden Hour’s complex layers
A: Who are you in Doc Swinson’s world?
J:
I'm Jesse Parker, the master blender of Docs Swinson's whiskey since day one.
I'm the person that's in charge of creating the profiles that go into every bottle.
A: What do you mean when you say “profiles” in every bottle?
J:
Sure. That simply means flavor profiles! I use the word “profile” in this instance to explain each individual product.
Doc Swinson’s produces all sorts of unique whiskey releases (limited time products) as well as some whiskeys that we sell all the time.
My goal with blending is to-
1) Recreate a consistent profile for our Core Line products. I make sure the flavors I get out of each barrel type can be blended together in a way that is consistent across each batch of whiskey.
2) Create new and unique profiles for our Exploratory Cask line of limited releases. This is where our creativity really gets to shine. We have released over 20 of these whiskeys since the inception of Doc Swinson’s, many of which have won some very prestigious awards and peaked the curiosity of many.
A: Talking about profiles,
tell me about the profiles that you found really appealing in Doc’s newest release, Golden Hour.
J:
Golden Hour had some new intentions behind it atypical of my usual exploratory casks. I found Golden Hour to be really fun because it was three different types of port cask finishes that got to be put together.
Golden Hour’s 3 Port Finishing Barrels are:
White port, which has a bright, vivacious flavor profile. A citrus profile, similar to a Vinho Verde (green/young wine).
Ruby port, which is much more fruity. Flavors such as raspberry, rose, and cherry come out of ruby port. Its flavors are very obvious.
Tawny port is a lot more rich and robust in flavor. Fruit leather, dates, purple grape and more oak profile.
What I did was I combined those three different profiles in a balancing act.
Golden Hour is not simply one flavor through the whole whiskey. Different flavors unfold on your palate as you savor the whiskey. Flavors “roll” across your palate.
“Originally, I was going to release them [the port casks] all individually but decided to blend them into one batch instead. ”
A: What made you decide to blend these Ports together rather than do separate products?
J:
Each Port finish makes a really good whiskey on its own, but I thought it would be really fun to challenge the standard single barrel finishes that I typically do.
Single barrel finishes are wonderful, they showcase the whiskey and the complimentary finish, making it fairly easy to understand, “oh, this is what's going on in there plus whiskey.”.
“ I went a little (more) against my own grain. ”
Using multiple barrels to finish Golden Hour, transforms the whiskey into something completely different. It can create further layers, and more robust finishing profiles. Couple this with a lower alcohol content of 98 proof really challenged how I normally make whiskey.
It’s interesting because I think multi-barrel finishing showcases how layering different flavor elements together can really balance out the whiskey as a whole. Layering creates an elongated experience and adds in what many whiskeys might often be missing.
A: What do you mean when you say “balance the whiskey”?
J:
To make it balanced instead of disjointed.
What I mean by disjointed is if you pick a glass up, taste it and you’d say, “oh, I get it, it tastes like port and whiskey.”.
In that example the product is two flavors, whiskey and port. There’s nothing wrong with a “disjointed” product. Those products have easy to identify flavors for someone just getting into tasting whiskey. We like that!
But making Golden Hour, I didn’t want someone to taste it and say, “oh, I taste all port and then some whiskey..”
I wanted the experience of drinking Golden Hour to be a rollercoaster of flavor.
Whiskey as a full undertone with flavors that ribbon throughout it, complimenting and building on the whiskey.
This idea would be kind of similar to cooking fish or steak and you add butter (tawny port), then you add herbs (ruby port).
These add-ons are going to really help elevate that fish or steak. If you want to elevate the dish even more you may add some lemon (white port) to it, for example, to make it really uplifting.
I think that's what my combination of the three types of port casks in Golden Hour does really well when coming together. It takes everything to the next level.
A: Tell me more about the name “Golden Hour”?
J:
The reason I called this product Golden Hour was because it gave me this sensation that a sunset does as it approaches, well, the golden hour.
As the sun gets closer to the horizon, the colors start changing, they become more vibrant and exciting, continuously evolving, leaving a lasting impression on a person.
“The sensation of drinking Golden Hour changes as it rolls off your tongue, much like a sunset. ”
That's the exact same sensation that I get from trying Golden Hour Rye.
The whiskey may start one way, but it continues on an ever changing journey across your pallet. These sensations stick with you well after you had your last sip, It makes you want to revisit the journey again.
That sensation is what I was looking for, it’s a really unique way to blend.
A: Where are the Golden Hour barrels from?
J:
All the barrels came from Portugal, from a couple different port houses.
The cool thing about the Tawny port barrels is they are 500 liter casks, which is about 2 ½ times the size of a typical barrel (they’re really big). These casks were used in old Tawny port production in their solera system, so they had Tawny port in them for some 40 to 60 years.
The wood of these casks is packed with the sugars and rich tawny flavors.
The ruby port casks and the white port casks were a little bit younger. That's kind of the nature of ruby ports anyways, white ports to some degree too.
They are smaller barrels, not used nearly as long. Because of this they really retained the more bright and fruity characteristics. Some of the best qualities of both Ruby and White Port.
Combining those different characteristics (of all the port barrels) together did a really awesome job on the rye whiskey.
Another fun note is that this Rye whiskey was also finished in rum casks before it went into these port casks. So Golden Hour has got a lot going on in it.
The rum cask influence in Golden Hour mainly acts like glue or mediator for other flavors to play with with each other, knocking the rough edges off that come from such intense and opposing flavor profiles.
A: Whoa that’s cool!
So the Rum acts as a binder?
J:
That's kind of why we often use our rye whiskey finished in rum casks.
We have a massive solera system made of 8-10 year old rye whiskeys and some excellent rum casks.
This whiskey is an exceptional base on its own as well as a great base to layer in more flavors making it an integral part of Golden Hour.
A: Wow. Is that a trick of the trade?
A secret secret secret?
J:
I guess so. I mean, it's my secret.
Other people have started kind of mingling rum profiles in whiskeys along with other types of finishing casks and they're becoming more successful too.
Some of the discovery of this is just a consequence of the ingredients that I work with, right? Like if I have X alcohol or flavor profile, I want to see how well it will work with Y alcohol or flavor profile.
Through experimentation, I find answers.
A: Interesting, is there any reason why the rum (chemically) does this?
J:
Nothing on a chemical level that I’ve found.
My guess is that since this rum is not particularly robust or strong, but has fruity, oaky, and mostly sweet profiles to it, the rum acts as an extra seasoning that enhances other flavors. Like MSG!
Ultimately, I think that's kind of like cooking. Adding a little bit of sugar or salt into a dish can help increase flavors of other parts of that dish.
So without actually figuring out the chemistry, I imagine that's probably how we interpret it on our tongues.
It’s basically adding a little bit of sweetness or other to the overall product, and that can help smooth out some of a product’s sharper edges.
A: You talked about the barrel sizes used.
How does that relate to the flavor profiles that come out?
J:
A lot of our finished casks are what we call large format maturation.
Large format is anything above an American standard barrel, which is 200 liters. Generally our finishing casks will be in the 350-600 liter range, which is pretty big.
Oftentimes these barrels were built to last a long time. They tend to have thicker walls, and may be a little bit higher quality wood. At times, these larger barrels will be used for generations.
The flavor from large barrels is on a different level. The oak itself has soaked in a bunch of profiles that we pull out with our whiskeys.
Doing large format is something that's pretty unique to Doc Swinsons.
Other people do it too, but not many are playing around with large-format barrels, because they're kind of a pain to work with. They are often more expensive and take more understanding around maturation (aging) than a small barrel, but the results are hard to argue with.
“It allows us to find points when the whiskey and the finished casks are best mingled”
Because the barrels are so large, there's actually less surface area in contact with the liquid (the whiskey) we put in there so it takes longer to extract flavors from the barrel.
This in turn also allows a little more time for oxygen to make some chemical reactions inside the barrel, a benefit to the final whiskey.
It allows us to find points when the whiskey and the finished casks are best mingled, versus the whiskey becoming over-seasoned too quickly.
A: So the larger barrels give you a little more precision?
J:
Yeah, and it allows our products to have a bit more oxidation, which is good.
Oxidation is where a lot of the chemical compounds essentially rearrange themselves.That's a process that happens inside of a barrel making those irresistible flavors we all love.
These different factors (wood grain, barrel size, oxidation) impact the product in a way that we think is really beneficial.
A: How long is this Golden Hour aged then?
J:
That’s a complicated question because we pull barrels based upon the quality of the liquid inside it, not necessarily a specific time frame.
Overall, golden hour was aged between 3 and 4 months in each barrel.
The port barrels were used for the first time (for whiskey) with Golden Hour, so they’re super fresh.
We'll reuse these barrels to make another round of Golden Hour. We may use some new barrels and also these old ones in conjunction. The older barrels might take six or eight months to pull the right flavor profiles out next time, instead of three to four months.
After we age in these barrels, those whiskey’s get blended together.
Whiskey aged in older barrels is blended with whiskey aged in fresh barrels so we can be stewards to our environment.
These barrels still have a lot of life in them, so don't discard them after one use.
“More often than not, we find the flavor profile gets more complex when you can layer in barrels of different uses, from older to younger and drier to wetter.”
I like to experiment with how much we can use these barrels and how it will also affect the flavor profiles of the whiskey.
A: How many bottles did you make in this batch of Golden Hour?
J:
Golden Hour is the largest Exploratory Cask we have ever released.
We released just shy of 6,000 bottles.
Most of our exploratory casks are two or three barrels, which is around 600-1,000 bottles.
This one I did at almost six times that in volume.
The reason why we made so much is because oftentimes I hear people ask, “Am I gonna get this in my area?”.
“With Golden Hour we want to get bottles to as many people as possible, because we think it needs to be shared. It’s too good to keep to ourselves. ”
Usually if we only make 3 barrels worth of product and are distributing it in 27 states then it’s rare you find an exploratory cask limited release in your area.
A: I heard Golden Hour already got some Awards!
J:
Golden Hour Rye got a double gold at San Francisco World Spirit Competition, which means it’s now a contender for best finished whiskey.
It’s like the super bowl for spirits!
Ascot awards just gave it a platinum rank too!
A: What’s the inspiration for the Artwork behind the label?
J:
What’s the best time to drink whiskey? On the porch watching the sunset.
I mean, there's lots of great times to drink whiskey. But this is one of my personal favorite ways to enjoy it.
Sitting in a chair on the porch or in the yard, with a couple fingers of whiskey enjoying a really nice sunset, with a friend.
That's why there's two chairs on the label.
“Looking at this art is meant to be thoughtful and peace-bringing. ”
When you drink Golden Hour you will embody this feeling.
A: Anything else that makes you excited about Golden Hour?
J:
I spend a lot of time with each one of my blends.
Weeks on average, sometimes even months. This one in particular I went back and forth on because I was doing something more unique by putting three casks together and I wanted the product to blow your mind!
Like I said, originally I wasn't going to do all three casks. That’s the reason why there's also just a ruby port finish bourbon that I put out called Fruit Odyssey.
There's also Summer Retreat which is rye finished in white port only.
Golden Hour originally was going to be just a tawny port version and then I realized that there were some profiles in the other barrels that I wanted to play with along with the tawny port profiles.
“I spent probably two months developing flavor profiles after aging the whiskey. Every single day working on another blend and another blend.”
What ended up in that bottle is one version of 65 to 70 different blends that I worked on. It’s a lot of energy that goes into the final version you taste.
My whole desk here would be empty in the morning, and by the end of the day it would be covered in 50 or 60 glencairn glasses and a whole lot of notes.
Within this blend I mixed together parts of 24 barrels. Every barrel has an impact on the final flavor profiles. To find the perfect blend involves creating an exponential amount of ratio variations of those 24 barrels.
Golden Hour was quite a complex blend, but I think it paid off really well.
It's been a crowd favorite among many of the people who have tasted it so far.
If you like High West’s ‘Midwinter’s night dram’, Golden Hour is another version of that which takes those flavors to another level.
A: Was Midwinter's Night Dram something that influenced Golden Hour or the fact they are similar is that just a coincidence?
J:
I mean a little… not like I intentionally tried to copy or recreate it. Rye whiskey and Port are one of the most common finishes, also they really go well together.
It was time for me to challenge myself with that combination.
“I hadn’t done a multi cask finish cask like Golden hour since I created Triple Cask.”
It’s ironic because Triple Cask was my first release, which is three different barrel finishes together as well.
But Midwinter's Night Dram helped me get over this mental block that I “can’t do multiple finishing casks in a blend” because that product isn't only one type of port necessarily.
Each act can change. I liked this freedom, it allows the blender to make some exciting calls.
Allowing the name for the whiskey to stay the same but the composition to alter from each release. This can make it a little more exciting for each release of Golden Hour.
So yeah, I can give credit there.
A: Well, that sounds like quite the math equation…
…trying to figure out how to mix and match the right ratios of all those barrels. So cool, hearing a little bit more about the process that goes into creating this bottle. Thanks for sharing!
J:
Yeah it gets really crazy when we are blending here. My blending assistant, Garret goes through all of the options and tastes them with me, putting his opinions down as well.
When we did bulk blends for Golden Hour, Garret would go find certain barrels for me and put them in a big bottle. Then I'll whittle down the big bottle to the little ones. It’s a bit chaotic but a lot of fun too.
With Golden Hour it was kind of the 11th hour to finalize the blend. We got the blend done right before we were destined to put it in the bottles. It was worth it!
I’m really proud of what we made and I hope everyone reading gets a chance to try it soon.
“ I will say knowing flavor profiles and how to use them is a big part of this job, the other thing is patience and curiosity to explore.”
A: How do we get our hands on Golden Hour?
J:
Check out our bottle finder map!
If it’s not already in a store near you, then go to your favorite liquor store and ask for it! Reach out to us as well, we can connect a distributor in your area with your favorite stores.
We are a small company and we are primarily word of mouth, so if you like what we put in the bottle, share that with people you think would like it too!
Companies, if you want us in your store or bar here’s our distribution list so you can see who represents Docs in your area. Contact them and get some Docs!
