Whiskey Del Bac Classic American Single Malt Whiskey
Whiskey Del Bac is my first-ever review of a whiskey from Arizona - but not the first for which mesquite played a starring, inspirational role (that goes to Santa Fe Spirits for my purposes, though I can’t say who started distilling first).
Mesquite is a hard wood well-suited for making furniture, and that’s where founder Stephen Paul was when the idea first came to open a distillery. He knew he wanted to use the wood in some way - after all, it is beautiful and fragrant but creates tremendous waste, waste Stephen had been using for firewood.
At the time, there was a single distillery in all of Arizona. Whiskey Del Bac was the second, and a decade-plus later there are still only around 10. Even from the beginning, though, Stephen knew this wouldn’t be just any American whiskey distillery. It would be a single malt distillery and, though he didn’t know it at the time, one of the first in the country.
Throughout its history, Whiskey Del Bac has flown under the radar despite some unique circumstances. In fact, when the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission was created, Whiskey Del Bac had to reach out to them since the ASMWC hadn’t heard of the Sonoran Desert-based distillery.
In talking about Santa Fe Spirits, I explored the effects of a high desert climate on whiskey aging. In that case, Santa Fe deals with almost zero humidity at 7,000’ above sea level. Whiskey Del Bac’s desert is more than a little different. It has not one but two rainy seasons and - enjoys is a strong word - diurnal shifts of nearly 40º. That’s a lot to contend with on its own. Add in that they use mostly quarter casks, mature around one year, don’t season the oak due to their unique climate, and have a one-of-a-kind malting and distilling structure, and there are many variables added.
Then, of course, there’s the fact that they aren’t afraid to change things up when necessary.
If you’re a Whiskey Ring Podcast listener (and I hope you are!) you know I do lots of research and listening. I love talking to whiskey people, but I also want it to be worth the time of all involved. My first stop on that research train for Whiskey Del Bac was the Sprit Guide Podcast, where now-former employee Dale Riggins talked about the Whiskey Del Bac Classic. At the time (2018) the Classic was bottled at 84 proof; today it’s at 92.
In previous years, they also used a different barley strain (Genie) before trying out Copland and Scarlet strains as well. Today, according to Head Distiller Mark Vierthaler, they’re using Odyssey non-GN American Distiller’s Malt from Great Western Malting. Grain variety choice fascinates me, nowhere more than with single malts. If you’re making a true single malt, you’ve got 100% malted barley. That’s it. No rye to spice things up, no wheat to soften, no corn to impart oiliness. There’s a single grain, no hiding.
Here’s where I’ll take a break. If you are just interested in my review of the Whiskey Del Bac Classic, feel free to skip farther down. If you’re willing to go down a rabbit hole, keep reading.
Still with me? Let’s take a short detour around the world.
Nearly all distillers in Scotland, Ireland, and Japan use one or two high-yield barley varieties - Concerto or Golden Promise, most often - that grow with high starch content and lower protein and enzymatic activity. This means high alcohol yield when yeast/enzymes are pitched, since more starch aka sugar = more alcohol. It’s not necessarily about flavor, it’s about yield. The old adage is that anywhere between 50-90% of a whiskey’s flavor comes from the barrel, and these locations are using mostly ex-bourbon or other second-fill casks. To maximize flavor extraction from already-extracted barrels, distillers will enter the barrel at higher proofs than US laws allow (125º) to get more alcohol-solvent compounds out of the wood.
This also means distilling to a higher proof. Not necessarily that much higher, but high enough to allow for that higher entry proof. The higher proof to which you distill, the fewer flavor compounds are left in the distillate. Again, though, the goal is not flavor, it’s yield. You don’t get to the highest volume and best selling whiskies in the world without aiming for yield.
Yes, there are exceptions - Waterford in Ireland, Bruichladdich in Scotland, among others - but the rule still remains yield over distillate flavor. That’s changing from the ground up, and the exceptions are all among smaller-scale distillers who can straddle the line between getting the grain they need without dipping into the commodity grain market.
Why take this detour? First off, let’s jump back to what barley Whiskey Del Bac is using now: the Odyssey non-GN. GN is shorthand for Glycosidic Nitrile, a compound found in barley and other grains that can, under certain conditions of heat and copper contact (sound like any process you know?) can eventually break down to form ethyl carbamate, on its own a Class 2A carcinogen. In between those steps come the precursor epiheterodentrin, a cyanogenic glycoside. Long story short, GNs can devolve into cyanide - not something you want.
I’ll preface this with a needed disclaimer: I’m not a doctor. I don’t know at what concentration each of these compounds can harm or kill, and I don’t care to find out.
With that said, GNs are found in significant concentrations in wine, enough for the FDA to have a public notice about it. High levels of ethyl carbamate (EC), specifically, are found in dusty bourbons from the mid-70s and earlier: for example, my favorite whiskey, mid-50s to mid-60s Old Crow, has noticeably high levels. I wouldn’t recommend drinking it exclusively, but neither is a pour now and then likely to harm you (again, take the risk at your own comfort).
EC is a natural byproduct of fermentation and distillation, but changes to both grain and process have greatly lowered their concentrations in modern whiskies. It shouldn’t be ignored, but it’s also not the problem it used to be. Matt Strickland wrote a fantastic piece that goes into even more detail on Distilling.com, and I urge you to read it.
So, circling back…why did I go on a page-long dialectic on Odyssey non-GN barley, ethyl carbamate, and the value of yield over flavor? Because it’s what Stephen, Mark, and their team think about. If a distillery thinks that much about what strain of barley is best for their purposes, it’s worth writing about and diving into.
There’s so much more to write about Whiskey Del Bac - hell, we haven’t even gotten into the spaceship-like in-house malting machine they have (they used to use it for all their malt, but now only for their mesquited-not-peated malt). They’ve also switched yeast strains from a brewer’s yeast to a specific distiller’s yeast (undisclosed) that pumps up the stonefruit flavors and isoamyl acetate, which produces a banana- or pear-like note.
The barrels made using the new yeast are being harvested right now - time to check in and see what they’re up to. No doubt, good or bad, it’ll be exciting.
Whiskey Del Bac Classic American Single Malt Whiskey: Specs
Classification: American Single Malt Whiskey
Origin: Whiskey Del Bac Distillery
Mashbill: 100% Malted Barley
Proof: 92 (46% ABV)
Age: NAS
Location: Arizona
Whiskey Del Bac Classic American Single Malt Whiskey Price: $56
Whiskey Del Bac Classic American Single Malt Whiskey Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: 18K gold. Medium bleeding rims, slow syrupy drops.
Nose: Yellow nectarines, white plums, sweet and tart stonefruits. SweetTart candies, chewy and a little dusty. An unusual malt profile - very little grain on the nose, all fruit and some butteriness.
Palate: More malt character shows here, piquant and spicy on the whole palate especially the sides of my tongue. Touch of smoke from barrel char. Still stonefruit heavy, toasted honey opening slowly. Mouthfeel is medium-bodied, jalapeño spice, very light woodsmoke. Body builds with the chew as do Hi-Chew candies and black pepper coating the tongue in a second wave.
Finish: Very long. SweetTart candies reassert alongside peach nectar in a Bellini. Light woodsmoke stays under the tongue.
Overall: A totally different profile than I’ve had before in a malt, American or otherwise. Incredibly fruity, stonefruit and candies, with a light undertone of woodsmoke from palate to finish. A great profile to add to the ASM landscape.
Final Rating: 7.1
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary
8 | Excellent | Exceptional
7 | Great | Well above average
6 | Very Good | Better than average
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary
4 | Has promise but needs work
1-3 | Let’s have a conversation
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