Review #8: Breaking & Entering American Whiskey by St. George
St. George whisky is notoriously difficult to procure, selling out within minutes anywhere in Northern California. Master distller Lance had previously created a “Breaking & Entering” line with whiskies blended from rickhouses that they had “broken into and entered”. Their new line-up is a much larger release (and includes some of their own whiskies), and consequentially, the first St. George whisky that is not hard to find.
Breaking & Entering American Whiskey by St. George
- Score - 6.5/106.5/10
Overall
Tasting Notes
Nose: Salted caramel, copper, wood, varnish, vanilla icing, corn, and creamsicles
Palate: Light mouthfeel, salted caramel, salted pretzels, chocolate covered oranges, vanilla, mid pop of herbs and rye spice, some dark chocolates at the end and slight heat before the light cooling menthol-like sensation that seems ever-present in a St. George’s whiskey release. The end is fleeting but present.
For rye lovers, it’s very enjoyable and borders on dessert-like. However, trying it against the lot 16 (their single malt release), the difference is pronounced: the B&E has a lighter and more ethereal quality than the Lot 16, with a fleeting finish, which throws its weight around and tingles on the tongue for a solid 30 seconds after sipping.
Still, if you take the price point into consideration, the B&E is a very complex: going from straight dessert to spice to a cooling sensation over the course of one sip.
Overview
TLDR: “Salt chunks on Andes Mints.” We bought thought this was “light” and “rye-like”, but differed on how quaffable and complex we thought it was. For the record, she prefers ryes and Islays while he prefers sherry bombs.
Bought for: $33.50 and drank in a glencairn
Quick overview of our scoring system
Additional Information
- Blend of bourbons from Kentucky, rye from Tennessee, and malt whiskey from St. George
- ABV 43%
More about St. George:
- Our review of the St. George distillery tour: a Willy Wonka factory for alcohol enthusiasts
- B&E’s first release was as a bourbon, thus named because the master distillers traveled across the US “breaking” into a number of Kentucky rickhouses to source several hundred barrels for blending
- St. George’s whiskies typically sell out within minutes in the San Francisco bay area, and it was one of the first American single malts, as well as the first US distiller to release absinthe after the ban was removed in 2007 (mostly because they had been busy distilling absinthe even under the ban – it was illegal to sell, but not to distill)
- The producers of Archer had worked with St. George to produce “Glengoolie” (Archer’s favorite scotch) to the point that St. George still has the labeled bottles for it, but the deal fell through