HOTEL TANGO Bourbon

Finally a whiskey for people who handle things labeled, “FRONT TOWARD ENEMY”.

ABC - $XX.xx  

TW - $39.99

Class VI - $28.00

ABV - 45%

2YO

HOTEL TANGO Distillery

I’ll admit that I was first attracted to the bottle even though that’s a totally rookie mistake.  The bottle is shaped in the approximate style of a claymore mine.  Those mines have instructions printed on them saying, “FRONT TOWARD ENEMY” (just in case our soldiers and Marines forget).  And like the explosives, the bottle comes with instructions on the back:  “DIRECTIONS:  DRINK RESPONSIBLY; BEHAVE LESS SO.”  Cute!  I mean, not ‘regular cute’, more like ‘tough, military cute’.  

HOTEL TANGO was started by Travis Barnes and his wife, Hilary (HOTEL - Hilary,  TANGO - Travis)  He enlisted in the Marines in 2002 and served three tours in Iraq.  Decorated many times and sustaining multiple injuries, he returned home, married Hilary and decided to do what any ass-kicking Marine would do:  Start a liquor brand.  They’ve been around since the mid-teens and their popularity is growing.  It might be hard to find where you are, but if you have access to a military base, the Class VI (base liquor store) has many different HT products.  

The first bottle I tried from HT was their premade manhattan.  My father and I are avid manhattan drinkers.  We both agreed that theirs is pretty good - worth the money.  We then pondered why it took so long for a distiller to come up with the idea.  A manhattan is so simple, making them by the bottle seems like a no-brainer.  

When we look at the back of the HT bottle, we need to read between the lines.  This annoys me because the more whiskey I consume, the more the lines blur together.  Anyway, we see they printed, “Bottled by HOTEL TANGO”.  So that tells us that it’s sourced from a different distillery.  If HT had their own distillery, you better believe they’d print ‘Distilled by HOTEL TANGO’. There’s no clue as to where it’s distilled or barreled although distiller.com says that it’s distilled by Middle West Distillery in Columbus, Ohio.  I wish new brands would just fess up and tell us where they’re getting their distillate.  

There’s nothing particularly wrong with sourced whiskies.  We’ve covered that before:  Just because the juice comes from the same still doesn’t mean the same juice goes into their respective bottles.  You’d be amazed how different two distillates can taste because of things like aging location, barrel entry proof, bottle proof and age.  Smart sippers know that.  But similar to some scotch drinkers who say, “Ohhh, I only drink single malts.  I would never have a blended whiskey”, you’ll get some bourbon enthusiasts who turn their noses up at sourced bourbons.  My response to both is, “Cool!  More for me!”

As a hobby expands to more and more people, eventually the nerds get involved and that’s happened with whiskey.  Not happy knowing just the mashbill (recipe) of their whiskies, they want more information (to lord over their whiskey-sipping friends who aren’t as knowledgeable).  Some distilleries are happy to oblige listing not just the mashbill but the type of yeast, the rickhouse, level and position that the barrel was aged.  My amateur taste buds aren’t quite that refined, however, it would be nice to know the mashbill, age, and where it was distilled.  I don’t think brands should try to hide it.  Now, I’m also not saying that this is a horrible controversy.  We certainly don’t need a law.  It’s just a minor annoyance.  HT abides by the bourbon rules, and that’s good enough.  

I’m thankful that they list the age (I’m skeptical of the ‘No Age Statement’ NAS whiskies).  It’s aged for two years - the bare minimum required to be labeled as ‘bourbon’.  The reviews I’ve read have a common theme:  It’s a very young whiskey.  I get that.  It’s a little higher ABV than some and there’s a strong alcohol flavor to it.  Adding a little water makes the flavors easier to get at.  HT has the same problem as any other start-up brand.  There’s strong demand and they’ve got to get their product to market so they can start making money.  That’s why most distilleries start with vodka and gin - they don’t require aging.  So they can make money while their sweet, sweet whiskey is sitting in barrels waiting for their big day.  What’s fun about HT is that we’re in on the ground floor.  When they’re releasing the 15YO, we can say, “I remember their first bourbon.  It was pretty good and this stuff is great”.  It’s like seeing the Beatles in the Cavern.  You were there from the beginning.  

HOTEL TANGO Bourbon.  I recommend it.    Yec'hed mat!

Why does the military call it the ‘Class VI’ (Class 6)?  

The United States Army divides supplies into ten numerically identifiable classes of supply.  Class I is rations – Subsistence (food and drinking water).  Class II is Clothing And Equipment.  Class III, Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) and so on.  Class VI items are personal demand incidentals (such as health and hygiene products, writing material, snack food, beverages, cigarettes, batteries, alcohol, and nonmilitary sales items).  So you learned some things today.  You know more about military logistics and you learned that when placing a claymore mine, it’s very, very important to pay attention to the instructions on the case.  I’d say you’re ready for combat.

Although HOTEL TANGO is located in Indianapolis, their website says that this cocktail is inspired by Washington DC’s own, Tracie Franklin, whiskey educator, public speaker, consultant, and distiller.  She runs the Spirited Tracie website.  Help her out and take a look.  

Ingredients

2oz Bourbon

.75 OZ  ROSE SYRUP (Torani Rose Syrup, 750 ml Bottle - ~$18)

.75 OZ  LEMON JUICE

MINT LEAVES

RASPBERRIES

Directions

ADD ROSE SYRUP, LEMON JUICE, 4-5 MINT LEAVES, AND 4 RASPBERRIES TO A SHAKER TIN. MUDDLE INGREDIENTS GENTLY TO BREAK UP THE BERRIES AND RELEASE THE MINT OILS. 

ADD IN THE BOURBON. ADD ICE AND SHAKE UNTIL WELL CHILLED. DOUBLE-STRAIN OVER CRUSHED ICE INTO A COLLINS OR ROCKS GLASS. GARNISH WITH A MINT SPRIG AND 3 RASPBERRIES.