This Obscure Whiskey Was Just Named the Best in the World
There are so many whiskey brands these days, and it can be hard to sort through what’s new and actually worth checking out. But on worth checking out is Lasso Motel.
The new whiskey brand burst out of the gate this month with a surprisingly large and varied number of expressions (13 to be exact), running the gamut from rye whiskey to Kentucky bourbon, most of which are given cask finishes. Its 18-year-old American straight whiskey recently took home top honors at a spirits competition.
The brand was founded by Dallas native Devin Odell as part of his Dynasty Spirits company, and the whiskey comes in colorful modern bottles that are pretty eye-catching.
The core range includes nine different cask finishes, which occur at the Dynasty Spirits Distillery in Dallas: Le Stave, Sherry, Rose, Port Cask, Tokaji, Naranja, Cognac, Mizunara, and Amburana.
That last one in particular is kind of a thorn in my side. There are some who swear by it, but to me, any whiskey finished in amburana, a type of wood from Brazil, tastes like drinking liquid potpourri. And that's the case here, although if you swish some of the whiskey around in your mouth and spit it out, your breath will smell like cinnamon.
The rest of these cask finishes are quite good, with each serving a particular purpose and transforming the whiskey in different ways. For example, the sherry cask brings a nuttiness and dried fruit flavors to the bourbon, the cognac cask adds some spice and tannin, and the port brings dark fruit and oak notes.
The unfinished expressions include a four-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon, an eight-year-old bourbon, a ten-year-old single barrel rye whiskey, and perhaps the most unusual, an 18-year-old American straight whiskey.
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As mentioned earlier, that whiskey took home the best in show award at the New York World Spirits Competition in September (full disclosure, I was a judge for this competition, but every tasting is blind). This whiskey was distilled at MGP in Indiana from a mash bill of 99 percent corn and one percent malted barley and aged in used bourbon barrels, which means, despite the mash bill, it cannot be called bourbon, which must be aged in new barrels. It’s bottled at a strong 121 proof, and it really is a delicate and flavorful sipper despite its strength.
The rye whiskey is also made at MGP from the distillery’s 95 percent rye, five percent malted barley mash bill and is bottled at cask strength.
The bourbons are all bottled at 100 proof and distilled at Green River Distilling in Kentucky from a mash bill of 70 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and nine percent malted barley. The only exception is the eight-year-old bourbon, which was distilled at Barton (also in Kentucky) from a mash bill of 75 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and four percent malted barley.
Lasso Motel’s transparency about where the whiskey comes from is a good thing, and something that whiskey fans will appreciate when considering a new and unfamiliar brand. There will be more cask finished expressions, along with a wheated whiskey, to come next year, so keep an eye out for those. In the meantime, you can find the entire Lasso Motel lineup available to purchase online and in stores.
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