Foundry Distiling's Furious Whiskey: when beer becomes spirit

Furious IPA Whiskey, Foundry Distilling, West Des Moines, Iowa.

I did not take these notes with the whiskey on the rocks. This
pic is from my June tasting, and it turned out better than the
pic I took this time. So, I cheated, so sue me.

I've never written about whiskey before. Never even tried. I just drink the stuff. But, now I will make my first attempt. Now that there is Furious Whiskey.

Back in June, Foundry Distilling of West Des Moines released these bottles, made from the wort that would have been fermented into barrels of Furious, an ale with which I've had a long history. It only made sense for me to buy a bottle and try it out, maybe make a blog post. Procrastination got the best of me, and the bottle finished before I sat down to write. All these months later, with supplies dwindling, I felt it was time to drop another sixty bucks (normally my whiskey choices are more budgetary, shall we say) and take notes with a pint of Furious on the side. 

And I'll start without my customary ice. (I like my whiskey cool.)

Amber cast. Hot and peppery in the nose. Caramel and fruit blend for alcohol-charged bouquet of this yet-to-become IPA, made into another spirituous beverage. Complexities abound. 

Picking up the pint, our old standby Furious contains it's usual melange of hoppy flavors, but here less harsh, all is cool and friendly-like. 

To drink, citrus and malt comes across through the heat. Wash it down with sip of the brew. There we have it , the mix of malt and hops, the blend of bitter and sweet, the cool clash and the mellow meld in a cold, smooth format. Back to the dram, and it becomes clear, that, yeah, this is Furious distilled as whiskey, and that's a damned good thing. I wish this wasn't such a rarity, and I didn't have to treat it like dragon's gold.

Let's stop and read the label: "Wort produced to make Surly Brewing Company's iconic Furious IPA was brought south, and fermented and distilled at Foundry Distilling Co. after carefully again for thirty months in new 30-gallon charred American oak barrels. The Furious IPA distillate has matured into this world class Furious Whiskey. We hope you share a dram with friends and enjoy."

Furious Whiskey is an excellent beverage, and I would want to just leisurely drink it down, as I did that first bottle those months ago. But, as it's rare and might soon be gone, I'm going to put this bottle away and invest in another bottle of Knob Creek or something for my leisurely drinking ( I do prefer bourbon over straight American whiskey) and save the rest of this to do just what they urge, have a dram with friends.