Milam & Greene Wants To Change the Conversation About American Whiskey
These American whiskeys are all about flavor and blending technique, (but they’ll tell you all you want to know if you ask).
All photos courtesy Milam & Greene.
“The goal is to create something beautiful inside and out,” Heather Greene, the CEO, partner and master blender of Milam & Greene, based in Blanco, Texas, says of its whiskeys. The first releases—a Triple Cask Bourbon and a Port Finished Rye—launched this past September. Greene’s business partner is Marsha Milam of Provision Spirits, who also brought on master distiller Marlene Holmes (formerly of Jim Beam under Booker Noe) and Texas brewer (the foundation of whiskey is beer, after all) Jordan Osborne. Together, the team wants to change the conversation about American whiskey, to, as they put it, showcase products that are “the best of American whiskey making with a Texan heart.”
What do they mean by the “whiskey conversation” and what needs changing? Check out a multi-brand whiskey event, or even a liquor store tasting some time, and listen to the most commonly asked questions. Besides “What’s the oldest/most expensive thing on your table?” You’ll hear: “What’s in the mash bill?” “Where does it come from?” “Was it all made at the distillery?” But what about asking questions about the climate of the barrel warehouse? How humid is it there? How hot or how cold does it get? Instead of breaking down the grains in the mash bill or choice of barrel for maturation as the only factors affecting a whiskey’s overall flavor profile, what about asking how the blend itself is chosen and batched? Is it even understood that unless a whiskey is labeled as a single barrel release that all whiskey is a blend of some form or other?
(L-R) Marsha Milam and Heather Greene
One of the first releases is a Triple Cask Bourbon composed, as the name would suggest, of three whiskeys. The first is a young-ish house distillate with a mash bill of 70% Texas corn, 22% Pacific Northwest malted rye from Oregon and Washington and 8% Wyoming barley, all activated by a proprietary yeast recipe from Kentucky and Texas. This is the spice element of the blend. But to add other textures, there is a 3 to 4-year-old Tennessee whiskey (for vanillas and fruitier essences), and a 10 to 11-year-old Tennessee whiskey for tannic grip. The company is happy to share any information about the individual whiskeys in the product, but the goal is to appreciate the result for the sum of its parts. “It ultimately has to taste good,” says Greene. “The question shouldn’t be so much about what’s in it, but what would I like it to taste like?”
Greene, who is also a spirits author (Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life), with previous experience as a Glenfiddich brand ambassador and spirits consultant (including a stint as a spirits sommelier at New York City’s Flatiron Room), is inspired by techniques she learned during her own research in Japan and Scotland. Though she spent much of her most recent career living in New York, making the move to Texas to work with the producers of Ben Milam whiskey made sense. Let’s face it, having first hand knowledge about cask life and blending technique has about as many practical applications in a regular New York City routine as hog tying. She admits some of the aspects of the daily life of managing how whiskey is bought and sold behind the scenes—working with a team, administration objectives such as pricing analysis, and gaining intimate understanding of Texas ABC distribution channels—have been challenging (There are days, she says, where she is forced to leave her desk and declare, “Here’s a pile of everything not being done”). However, in a big way, this project is extremely rewarding as it brings everything from her past experiences on home. It also allows her to focus holistically on a team effort instead of only marketing her own personal brand.
She says one of her biggest joys is seeing what it’s like to bring whiskey “from a brain to a shelf”. Greene is also pleased that the local Texas whiskey scene, which includes Balcones and Garrison Brothers, has been so warm and embracing of this new brand. “Whiskey is an exciting market in Texas,” Greene says. The way she sees it, instead of competition, adding a brand like Milam & Greene, produced in state, contributes to the overall value of Texas whiskey as a category. It also helps that everyone plays well together. “Your product is nothing if you don’t have authenticity, integrity and transparency. But you also have to be a nice person to deal with.”
The distillery and warehousing/bottling facility are located in the heart of Texas Hill Country, which experiences its own variant, often humid climate that differs from the rest of the hot, dry state. The warehouses are subject to extreme periods of heat cycling. For instance, for a product like the Port Finished Rye, whiskey is brought over from Indiana and finished in ex-Port casks from Portugal. Because of the ever-changing climate conditions where the barrels are stored, it was of utmost importance to carefully monitor the casks, and determine which ones should be emptied (some maturation times could be surprisingly quick) and which ones needed more time. The final product is carefully batched and proofed before bottling. “The trick is tasting and understanding what whiskey to pull and where to put it,” says Greene.
(L-R) Jordan Osborne and Marlene Holmes
In 2020, Milam & Greene will release a whiskey that is entirely its own grain to glass, but unlike most young craft American whiskeys aged in new, charred oak, it will be matured in used barrels. As with the previous whiskeys, the new product will showcase the art of blending different batches.
“It feels really good to put energy outside of me for other people—staff, partners and of course, the consumer,” Greene shares. “This is whiskey that’s about taste first.”
For now, the products are only sold in the state of Texas, but there are plans for wider distribution down the road.
Triple Cask Bourbon is 94 proof at $43. Expect juicy fruit notes (tart apricot and ripe peach), as well as sweet cereal maltiness and a spicy kick.
Straight Rye Port Cask Finished Whiskey is 94 proof at $48. The final blend has just enough grapiness to suggest some wine cask contact, but the satisfying spiciness and herbaceousness of a classic rye still comes through.