Meeting #17: July ‘25 - Redwood Empire

Once again, HF has ventured outside the great American Bourbon Belt. This time, we visited wine country - California’s Russian river valley, to be exact. While the neighbors are busy harvesting their Pinot Noir grapes, Redwood Empire is busy cooking up whiskey. 

Their bottle art first caught my eye - very cool drawings, and kinda trippy (it is Cali, after all). After reading reddit threads from some dedicated fanboys, I did a little more research on RE’s website. Their story and brand is very cool. They built their brand around the great California coastal redwood trees, and most of their bottles are named after a specific tree. For example, Screaming Titan is a 323-foot monster (actually, 2 fused trees) located within the Grove of Titans of Redwood National Park. In addition to the cool branding, they actually support redwood conservation efforts by planting a new tree with each bottle sold. At the time of this post, they’ve helped plant around 1.8 million new redwoods. I’ll drink to that!

So let’s see if these 3 whiskeys lived up to the reddit hype, and matched my inner treehugger excitement…

#1) Pipe Dream 101 

101 proof / aged 5+ years

73% Corn, 19% Rye, 5% Malted Barley, 3% Wheat

HF avg: 2.73

NOSE: orange zest, cinnamon, oak

TASTE: cinnamon, orange bitters, chai spice, faint butterscotch?

Regular Pipe Dream is the easiest RE whiskey to find around here in PA. Occasionally you will see the Pipe Dream Cask Strength (I think Jared donated an appetizer bottle that has been at a few of our past meetings). The 101 kinda splits the difference between the two. Overall, it felt a bit one-dimensional. Nose, sip, and finish were all pretty basic and similar. It just tasted like an average whiskey to me. However, there was a slight bitterness on the end of the taste into the finish, which some members described as botanical/herby, like lemongrass. Kinda fits the orange bitters/chai spice notes above.  I didn’t dislike it, but I was hoping for more on the first taste of Redwood Empire. Looking at our group scores, everyone felt the same way. 

#2) Screaming Titan

96 proof / Aged 5+ years / ~ $80

61% Corn, 30% Wheat 5% Rye, 4% Malted Barley

HF avg: 3.05

NOSE: Honey, cognac, butterscotch

TASTE: Soft and sweet, honeycomb, puff pastry, peaches and cream

Okay, so Screaming Titan immediately grabbed me by the nose. The honey sweetness was much more inviting after Pipe Dream 101. The sip was soft, sweet, and buttery. Nothing ground breaking, but very drinkable! I think folks enjoyed it too, and the average score is just a hair above 3 (would share it with friends). Fair score, and winner of the evening.

#3) Devil’s Tower

99 proof / aged 5+ years

51% corn, 44% rye, 2.5% wheat, 2.5% malted barley

HF avg: 2.75 

NOSE: hay, eucalyptus, 

TASTE: sweet mint tea, grapefruit pith, cardamom, Tobacco

A great name for a tree, and whiskey. Devil’s tower is Redwood Empires High-Rye offering. Rye’s tend to be divisive in the group, and that’s okay. For the rye lovers out there, I think it was good. I personally rated this a notch higher (3.3) than the Screaming Titan (3.2), just because of the added complexity. Plus, I enjoy ryes. This one had an interesting eucalyptus scent on the nose, with a sweet mint tea taste/finish. Overall, we have more rye haters than lovers, so our group average ended a bit lower at 2.75. Not bad…but probably not worth the investment for the rye shy. 

Overall, I think their whiskies are about average. Perfectly good to share with friends, for the right price. While I wanted everyone to like these whiskeys more, I still dig what they are doing. I’d be interested in trying more of their stuff too.

Again, a huge THANK YOU to Kain and Ang for hosting the July meeting at their home. I think we all really enjoyed hanging on the deck in the woods - a perfect setting for our Redwood Empire theme!

Members!!!  Saturday AUG 9th is our upcoming GALA! Mark your calendars, and keep an eye on your email for info!