Can the folks at Remus leave dead baseball players alone even for a minute? After Babe Ruth got his due — with two release so far — now Lou Gehrig is the recipient of the ultimate reward for solid hitting and fielding on the diamond: His own namesake bourbon.
There’s plenty to unpack in this release, which is made with four mashbills designed to honor Gehrig’s jersey number (#4), and a 109-proof bottling level to pay homage to his 109 RBIs hit in 1926… the 100th anniversary of the whiskey’s release. 9,665 bottles of Remus Lou Gehrig Reserve will be released, commemorating Gehrig’s lifetime total plate appearances. As with the Babe Ruth releases, a QR code on the back of each bottle letting you look up what happened. At my bottle’s game (which included at-bat sample #8,594), he went 1 for 5, so… not the best.
The four mashbills deserve a deeper dive, including:
- 14% 2016 bourbon with a 44% rye mashbill
- 70% 2017 bourbon with a 49% rye mashbill
- 8% 2019 bourbon with a 99% corn mashbill
- 8% 2019 bourbon with a 36% rye mashbill
There’s some old stuff in here, it seems. So let’s see if it’s a hit or a strikeout.
Remus Lou Gehrig Reserve Bourbon Review
Really pretty nose here: Nutty, with lots of cinnamon and nutmeg. A caramel corn element is present but not overly dominant, which is perhaps not surprising considering how much rye is in the overall mashbill here. Time in glass allows a toasted marshmallow note to develop along with a more subtle marzipan character — all told the pastry shop vibe is, kind of surprisingly, in full effect.
The palate shows a little more nuance. Sweet and laden with baking spice up top, the whiskey soon develops a slightly more verdant bent, showing notes of fresh cedar and a burst of mint. Increasingly chocolatey and spicy as it develops, the finish eventually approaches a Mexican chocolate vibe, with a reprise of marshmallow, almond, and more milk chocolate elements.
I have to say, this was not really what I was expecting — but hey, that’s baseball.
109 proof.
B+ / $130 [BUY IT NOW FROM RESERVEBAR]
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