Name: 10th Mountain Bourbon Whiskey
Color: Copper
Nose: Corn, vanilla, oak, pepper
Taste: Corn, vanilla, oak, pepper, spices
10th Mountain Whiskey “store” is located in Vail, Colorado and is promoted as a “boutique distillery…. with a cozy tasting room and a shop offering a range of house-label spirits and logo gear“. It is named after the 10th Mountain Division of the US Army which specializes in mountain fighting. This fighting includes: skiing, climbing, and the tactics of mountain side battle.
On a trip to Colorado in Spring of 2022 my friends took us to Vail for a day to walk around and have lunch. While we were walking around we came upon the store and I saw a sign that caused me some dread. When you see “…our whiskey is inspired by (fill in the blank)….” do not get your hopes up for a quality. My friends wanted to go in and I warned them of impending disappointment. I got the “how do you know unless your try?”. Five minutes later I got the, “This stuff isn’t that good. How did you know?” Well, I don’t like to brag, but I am a fucking genius.
10th Mountain is a young, rough, and cheap. Regardless of the origin story, I bet it was created to fill a void in a fancy ski village. I am sure if you have been skiing all day and had a few beers this whiskey would be drinkable. I was not impressed and I doubt any other expressions would be that good. They appeared to have more merchandise for sale than whiskey. Not a good sign, but a very smart business move for easy profit in an expensive area.
I did some online research and everyone who wrote up this whiskey pushed the 10th Mountain history and mentions the 92 point rating by Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible. I really struggle to believe that rating is real. I find Jim’s ratings a bit strange sometimes. I did some further research and I got bored reading the stories. It seems to me that all the newly created distilleries of low quality use the same bullshit talking points.
My final thoughts are that taste matters more than marketing. If your distillery is new and has no history, then make a good whiskey. I think 10th Mountain should take a trip to Denver for a lesson instead of the 6 day Moonshine Academy.
Priced around $60 a bottle and shit. If you are in Vail, try it and let me know what you think.
If you like it, drink it. – Christopher
If you like it, drink it!
