Quick Sips: Smooth Ambler Spirits

Patiently crafted Appalachian spirits.

With a combination of knowing palate, a legacy of patient, Appalachian know-how and the benefit of the finest, local ingredients, Smooth Ambler produces and procures some of the world's most refined spirits.  Located in the hills of West Virginia, they have at their disposal both the finest distillery equipment available and a blend of unique natural resources: clean mountain air, pure natural water and the ideal highland climate.  Everything they do is hands-on; from the milling of their carefully-selected local grain to the signing and labeling of each bottle.  Their single, old-fashioned goal is simply to bring their customers the best that they can of what's around them.  And to create a truly rare, special drink that those that imbibe of it will remember and treasure.

We tried five of their current lineup of spirits...

Revelation Rum
"A blend of two merchant-bottled Jamaican rums; one column-distilled in 1990, one pot-distilled in 1985, Revelation has been aged in secondary bourbon cooperage and is bottled without chill-filtration. Rich, smooth and complex but with a sipping-whiskey drinkability."  99 proof, very sippable, dry but lush in the mouthfeel, excellent rummy spice and vanilla flavors.  Definite Jamaican 'funk' flavor in this outstanding rum.

Yearling Bourbon Whiskey
"Our handmade, limited-release double-pot distilled bourbon comes from a unique mash of corn, wheat and barley.  Rich and remarkably smooth taste is assured with small cask aging in our own West Virginia rick house.  Naturally sweet with caramel and butterscotch aromas and subtle notes of grain, wood and tobacco."

Old Scout Straight Whiskey
"With a high rye content of 36%, this fine whiskey has exceptional taste and smoothness and thus needs only minimalist particle filtering.  A robust 99 proof, it's strong but deliciously drinkable like all of Smooth Ambler's offerings.  Bold, spicy-sweet flavors with subtle apple, cherry and tobacco aroma."

Old Scout 10
"This limited release is the fourth offering under the Old Scout Merchant Bottled Line.   Old Scout TEN is a low rye (21%) recipe that celebrates the finest qualities of properly mature bourbon-- smoothness, sweetness and character-- while providing a complex and lingering mid-palate range of nutty vanilla, honey and tobacco that many Bourbons promise but rarely deliver."

Greenbrier Gin
"Our exceptional premium-cut spirits lie at the heart of this subtle and flavorful gin.  Mass market "continuous stills" simply cannot match our combination of vapor-infused botanicals and painstaking small batch process.  Enchanting floral aromas from citrus peel and natural herbs without the harsh overtones of typical British-style "dry" gins.  Enchanting floral aromas from citrus peel and natural herbs without the harsh overtones of typical British-style "dry" gins."