#FEW Rye Cask Strength

[varchasspirit]

The future of the whisky industry and the emergence of new trends and styles

The whisky industry is going through a period of rapid change. As tastes and preferences evolve, so too do the styles of whisky produce. New whisky styles are emerging, while traditional scotch whisky remains popular. Consumers are increasingly interested in trying different types of whiskies like straight bourbon whiskey, straight rye whiskey and more from around the world, leading to a surge in demand for new and innovative products.

In this article, we will explore the current state of the whisky industry and how it is evolving to meet changing consumer demands. We will look at emerging trends in the whisky market and new styles that are gaining popularity. Finally, we will discuss how producers adapt their production methods to meet these changing tastes and preferences.

Whisky is the most distilled spirit in the world. It can be made from any grain, including barley, corn, rye, wheat, and oats. In general, whiskies are aged for at least three years in oak barrels before they are ready to drink. Single malt whisky is a whisky produced at one distillery using malt as its primary ingredient and aged in oak casks which come solely from that distillery. This means that each bottle of single malt whisky contains all the same characteristics of that distillery's specific batches of mash, water and yeast.

These characteristics may vary yearly due to variations in the production process. A blended whisky is a blend of whiskies from various distilleries and vintages, often with a high percentage of malt and much less grain, that has been mixed. Blended whiskies are typically aged in new oak casks and bottled at cask strength to maintain the original flavour.

Whiskey vs Bourbon: Some people confuse whiskey and bourbon, even though they are different. Bourbon is made primarily of corn, while whiskies are distilled from grains such as barley malt or rye. Bourbon is a type of American-style whiskey that must be aged in new oak barrels and contains a minimum of 51% corn, whereas whisky can be aged in any type of cask, including used bourbon barrels. Bourbon is the only type of American whiskey to be taxed by law. Water, yeast, caramel, and sugar are added to bourbon during ageing, creating a unique taste. The Spirit of Whisky is said to be the "perfect balance of malt, grain and water". The aroma of whisky is also said to be somewhat delicate, with a mixture of vanilla and caramel notes.

Exploring the Latest Trends and styles in the Whisky industry:

The whisky industry is constantly evolving and changing, with new trends and styles emerging each year. This year, we are seeing a rise in experimental whiskies pushing the boundaries of traditional whisky production. Whiskey Distilleries are experimenting with unique flavours and styles to create unique whisky experiences.

We will explore some of the hottest trends in the whisky industry for 2023, from new whiskey styles to unique flavours. We'll also look at some of the experimental whiskies that are being produced and what's driving these changes in the market. Join us as we explore the latest trends and styles in whisky!

We'll discuss everything from new whiskey styles to unique whiskey flavours and experimental whiskies pushing the boundaries of what's possible in this beloved spirit. With so many options available, there's something for everyone - no matter your preferences! New Whiskey Styles with so many new ingredients and flavours in the whiskey scene, there's a new "style" emerging every day. The latest, and perhaps most exciting, is bourbon barrel-ageing whiskey. Some distilleries are even experimenting with turning their product into a sour ale! These are just a few innovative spirits that have become popular recently.

Check out our list of five recent whiskey trends below:

1) Bourbon Barrel-Aged Whiskey (BBA) - This style has been around for quite some time and is certainly not going anywhere anytime soon. But what exactly is bourbon barrel-aged whiskey? Well, it's the process of ageing whiskey in used bourbon barrels. This method can be used for about a year, but it typically lasts about two years. It gives the whiskey a huge amount of smoky and oaky flavours that are beyond impressive.

2) Sours - Sour ales have been around since before prohibition, but in recent years they have become increasingly popular as a unique flavour among whiskey drinkers. The process involves distilling sour beer into a neutral spirit to make Whiskey Barrel Aged Sour Ale or Whiskey Barrel Aged Sour Blonde Ale (for example), which is then aged in bourbon barrels. And blended with a fruity sour ale to create the perfect sour beer cocktail.

3) Imperial Stout - Stout is a dark beer brewed with roasted malted barley, roasted unmalted barley, or a mix of both. It has traditionally been brewed in Ireland and Britain and made with milk sugar or raw sugar to give it its distinctive sweet flavour.

Many modern stout recipes were developed during the 19th century, and the Boston Beer Company brewed the first commercial stout in America.

4) IPA - India Pale Ale is a hoppy beer from England. Mild-mannered drinkers might be surprised that IPAs are among the most consumed craft beers in the world! Some of these flavours come from hops, while some come from juniper berries and coriander seeds.

5) Hefeweizen - Weihenstephan is a German wheat beer with top-fermenting yeast at cold temperatures to produce cloudiness and a banana-ester aroma. The flavour includes wheat with slight citrus notes, clove, and fruity esters.

6) Kolsch - Originally brewed in Cologne, Germany, as "Cologne ale," to be consumed quickly before the inhabitant of Cologne ran out of drinking water from the river when it was polluted with sewage in 1838. It is characterized by its low alcohol content (typically less than 6%) and a slightly hazy gold-to-straw color.

7) Wheat beer - This style is like pale lager or German pilsner but made with wheat malt instead of barley malt and flavoured with hops and yeast. Hops provide a citrusy flavour to the beer and help keep it from getting too much wheat flavour, while they also have antibacterial properties.

8) Saison - This Belgian-style beer is made with at least 50% malted barley. It has been called "the poor man's champagne." It was originally brewed in Wallonia and the French-speaking part of Belgium, where it became popular among farmers as an affordable way to celebrate special occasions like religious festivals or harvest time.

9) American wheat beer - The use of hops in this beer is lower than traditional versions with this style, but it is still a refreshing, light-bodied beer. It should have less than 5% alcohol by volume. It is commonly served with an orange slice or lemon wedge to add flavour.

10) Blonde ale - This type of beer has a light colour and has very little to no bitterness or hop flavour.

Useful Links

Key success factors for whiskey distilleries

Ad Copy Ideas for Whiskey Distillers

[sexysauron]

Review #1: Alberta Premium

Alberta Distillers Limited (ADL) has garnered a reputation as the darling distillery of folks who enjoy rye, North and sometimes even South of the border. Indeed, ADL’s focus is on rye; it is a specialty of theirs. All rye, or as near to it as matters. A good deal of what they make ends up exported to the U.S., where it is treated to a relabelling and a fierce markup (looking at you Whistle Pig). But at home they have a reputation for making solid whisky, available at a respectable price in their Alberta Premium label.

As ever in Canadian whisky, we’re short on tangible details. The bottle itself offers no age statement, but their website claims this to be at least five years of age. (Take that with a grain of salt.) What is certain is this is one hundred per cent rye. ADL claims to use “one of three distillation processes” in the creation of their products. That’s ambiguous, but I’d guess one process uses a column still, distilling to a high proof base spirit; another would use a pot still to create a more flavourful spirit. It is traditional Canadian whisky-making practice for these whiskies – base and flavour – to then be blended in varying proportions. So, does this offering hold up to scrutiny? Let’s find out!

Alberta Premium Alberta Distillers Alberta Rye Age: NAS ABV: 40%

Price paid (MLCC): $25.75 Reviewed: 2023-02-02

Colour: Dark Yellow

Nose: Distinct grain-y, bread-y rye; orange zest follows. Then clove and buttered toast. Rich toffee. Slight floral note. Linger too long and a vodka-like note asserts itself.

Palate: Candied orange peel and baking spice; peppermint candy cane. Toffee and vanilla. Green apple skin.

Finish: Citrus peel, vanilla, and a hint of green apple. Vodka comes up fast.

Well, there’s certainly things to enjoy in this. But is it some exemplar of quality or of value? Hardly. It’s anemic, with a thin mouth feel. Particularly off-putting is the vodka-like note that arises on the nose, and on the finish. It shows this to be a young, rough whisky that is nevertheless muted where it counts: in the breadth and depth of flavour.

Score: 2 out of 5

Every few years I buy another bottle of this to give it a try, apparently forgetting just how poor a whisky it is. Hopefully now I’ll remember and not restock it. Up next is Alberta Premium Cask Strength.

Scoring Guide 1 out of 5: Terrible; no redeeming qualities, just say no. 2 out of 5: Poor; possesses qualities that detract, fodder for mixers. 3 out of 5: Mediocre; middle-of-the-road whisky, sippable but perhaps better in a cocktail. 4 out of 5: Good; a solid pour, enjoyable neat and outstanding in a cocktail. 5 out of 5: Superb; continues to surprise and delight, something to cherish.

[prairiescotch]

When life hands you lemons, at least there’s still whisky.

A week ago today I was informed that my contract would not be renewed and I will be jobless after the year’s end. That’s kind of a bummer, but it wasn’t totally expected, given the political nature of my work. But even when you think you’re prepared for such a thing you can still be thrown way off balance when the dismissal process is nothing short of brutally inhumane. 

Consequently it has also been the longest week of my life. From commiserating with my fellow dismissees to some minor wallowing in self-pity to exorcising demons via a violent video game to getting support from all around me and finding a short-term bit of work to keep some money coming it, pretty much everything has happened in a few short days. But leave it to my lovely wife to turn everything around with an early Christmas present. 

Despite not living in Calgary, I’ve previously enjoyed Kensington Wine Market’s annual whisky advent calendar. They always go all-out and make sure to include some very interesting samples. I’ll be attempting once again to blog along each day, because it’s fun!

This Zuidam/Millstone cask strength/single barrel 100% rye is a wild ride, and not just because it’s a bonkers beverage. The last time I was able to hang out with my Scotch-drinking pals one of them brought the Millstone 100 Rye to the party. I did not like it! It had some overwhelming soap, rocks, bubble gum, and rubber hose notes. It was weird, baby! So I approached this first advent offering, which is an exclusive KWM bottling, with some trepidation.

It wasn’t the same, but it also wasn’t your typical whisky. It seemed almost more like a heavily-oaked gin than a whisky. The nose is shot through with pine tree, juniper, orange pith, and potting soil, along with a whole cabinet of spices. Much of that carries over to the tongue, which hits hard with a lot of alcohol burn, warming all the way through to the end. There’s a heap of dill, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, bitter almond, and oak. There’s a real strong gin presence as well, like it was mixed right in with the rye. 

This was a real trip! It could make for some very interesting cocktails, but I probably won’t be rushing to grab ahold of a bottle for myself. However, if you’ve tried just about everything else under the sun, take it for a spin! If nothing else, it’s a unique experience.

[torontocommon]

Recap of our 2nd annual Rare Canadian Whisky Tasting with @spencer.gooderham @atoitoronto 🙌🏻 We got to taste all the limited releases of the 2019 Northern Border Collection including the 2019 Canadian Whisky Of The Year @pikecreek_whisky 21 Yr, Oloroso Sherry Cask finish. @jpwisers first cask strength whisky blend, a 23 yr corn + rye blend, coming in at 64.3% ABV. #gooderhamandworts 49 Wellington, a 4 grain blend with Red Winter Wheat and Red Oak Maturation to capture the red hue of Toronto’s iconic flatiron building, the former headquarters of this equally iconic Toronto distillery. And @lot40 100% Rye, Cask Strength third edition. In this year's release, 75% of the blend is regauged in French oak creating stronger notes of vanilla to balance the bold, spicy flavours of Canada’s distinctive ingredient, #Rye. All are small batch whiskies, produced in limited quantities at the 2019 Canadian Distillery of the Year, Hiram Walker in Windsor, Ontario. And they’re all blended by Master Blender of the Year @cdnwhiskydoc, one of few distillers in the world with a PhD in brewing & distillation from the one-and-only Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. This flight of rare whiskies showed the diverse range of Canadian Whisky. Bold, sweet, spicy, soft, or complex, we can make it right here at home 😉 Special thanks to @spencer.gooderham for guiding us through Canadian whisky, its (and his family’s) history, + its legacy in Canada. And to the team at @atoitoronto for a delicious @lot40 welcome cocktail, canapés, + cafe beignets for dessert 😋 #ohcanada #homegrown #canadianwhisky #rareexpressions #rarewhisky #whiskytasting #toeats #toronto #torontoeats #torontotaste #torontolife #torontofood #torontodrink #torontofun #torontocommon (at A Toi) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7pGEHTByQh/?igshid=nubh2vmovr9h

[thewhiskyphiles]

Whisky New Releases 2017 Week 49

#Whisky New Releases 2017 Week 49 top picks from @Kilkerranwhisky @Englishwhisky @Sprinbank1828

Whisky New Releases 2017 Week 49

Welcome to The Whiskyphiles New Releases, our weekly report on the best of both the official and independently bottled whisky recently released.

Our top picks this weeks are:

Kilkerran 8 Year Old Cask Strength

The Norfolk – Parched

Springbank 10 Year Old Local Barley

Sláinte!

Barry@TheWhiskyphiles

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Westport 1997 (cask 3291) (bottled 2014) £111.24

[thebourbontruth]

2019 Fathers Day Bourbon Buying Guide/List

Here is my 2019 Fathers Day Bourbon Buying Guide/List. It’s somewhat an “evergreen list” though that should hold up for a bit. Its also a “Reality List”. Its my belief that a Whiskey favorites buying list is worthless if you can’t buy it. For this reason, I’m leaving off things that are too limited to buy at a reasonable price, poor value, over rated or unfortunately not distributed to enough places to make it easy to find.

1792 Barton Small Batch, Single Barrel and Full Proof Bourbon’s are all good buys for their respective taste and price of $30-$50

Angels Envy Bourbon I’m not a big fan of wine barrel finishes but this is a rare exception. The Port is well balanced and doesn’t try to compete with the Whiskey. It’s especially nice for a before/after dinner sip and for the novice as it’s not an “in your face” high proofer. At $50-$60 it’s a fair value and makes a nice gift.

Barrell Bourbon These have been coming out regularly the past few years. Alternating or blending Dickel and MGP barrels these are well aged and range from good to great. Currently up to around Batch 20. Bottled at barrel proof. They have been experimenting with various barrel finishes but I’m happy to stick with their regular Straight Bourbon. Gift one or bring it to a party to look like an expert since this isn’t a common bottle. $80-$90

Basil Hayden Bourbon Its weakness is its strength. It’s one of the only low proof (80) true premium brands. My recommendation for the novices and beginners. This is not however something you want to mix or put ice cubes in. It’s from the higher rye recipe so it will be a bit spicier but not hot. It will get easily diluted and lost. $40-$50

Blanton’s This is really a Mirage and not a recommendation but a explanation. Too hard to find, hefty price increases and slipping quality put this once list contender off the island.

Bookers Bourbon This one can at times be “batchy” in good or bad ways. On average it’s a great whiskey that’s the original mass marketed almost barrel proof. Best to read up on some of the highly rated batches and look for those. When it’s a good one, its good but when its average or worse it can be nasty and bitter. Its high proof holds up to water and ice well but too strong for most cocktails. Some batches will blast you out of your seat while others can be so smooth the actual proof will shock you. Again, IS NOT for a novice or a beginner. It’s a lot to handle if you’re not prepared and it WILL fuck you up quickly if you treat it like Kool-aide. $60-$80 this one has a “Price Creep” and is going up little by little. Beam sees it at $100 a bottle in the not to distant future. If you find a good batch at the lower price, stocking up isn’t a bad idea.

As a side note speaking of barrel proof/high proof whiskey. I avoid gifting or bringing over 100 proof to people that aren’t used to it. It can easily sneak up on them. Same goes for people newer to Bourbon. I’m puzzled when I see newbies go for high proof and things like barrel proof Willett that is not only way past their capability to taste and enjoy but it is jumping off the deep end of the whiskey pool before they can swim. Same goes for starting the journey with expensive and rare things they haven’t learned to taste or appreciate. Work up to them eventually. I’m not a happy camper when friends are over that are Jack drinkers and go right for the Van Winkle because they saw it on TV. Same thought process goes for gifting at Fathers Day etc. Don’t over do it, most likely you’ll waste your money and they won’t enjoy it.

Buffalo Trace Bourbon the same mash bill as so many more expensive and limited options from the distillery. Good value for the price. One note of caution is that this one seems like its getting batched and bottled younger than it has been. It can show up like Pee Wee Herman, a bit light and wimpy. Younger Whiskey also has more flaws too. Short or bitter finishes and chemical notes. I wouldn’t call these common but more so than what they had been. $25

Cleveland Whiskey --Just kidding! Buy this only to disinfect toilets at the train station, NOT your own as it might strip off the enamel. Good for keeping Coyotes away from campsites and vermin out of your garden. ONLY bring this to a home you never want to be invited back to! ONLY regift it to someone actually sitting in a good Emergency Room. As for Straight Up gifting for Fathers Day, I guess there are Fathers that deserve this stuff but chances are they haven’t been seen in 40 years or they are in jail where they cant have toxic chemicals. $30-$40 (if you hate money).

Eagle Rare no longer single barrel but still 10 years old. A very good buy for this standard Buffalo Trace Mash Bill. Pretty consistent and makes a nice gift. $30-$35

EH Taylor Small Batch and Single Barrel Solid choices although the Single Barrels can be off at times. Makes a nice gift due to presentation but the quality can back this up which I cant say with many cool looking bottles. This is the standard familiar Buffalo Trace Mash Bill. $40 for Small Batch, $60 for Single Barrel.

Elijah Craig Small Batch Until recently this one had an age statement of 12 years. With the age statement now gone its still up there in the perfect age range of 8-12 years. This has been one of my long time ultimate favorites due to its consistent quality and being underpriced. It’s my first recommendation for a Bourbon and a great option at a bar when your watching your pennies. A very respectable 94 Proof. It’s a shame its Cask Strength brother isn’t something you can easily find at the retail price in a store. Wishing for the day they make the Barrel Proof available as a private pick. Until then this is a best buy at $25-$35 depending what state and if it’s on sale.

Evan Williams White Label Bottled in Bond ---Possibly the best Bourbon out there when your broke. Its 100 proof and at least 4 years old. Ice and Coke is its friend and good for a party without Whiskey snobs. At $15-$20 you won’t find anything better.

Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Bourbon Historically a good buy year after year. Although it has gotten younger, still a solid single barrel at the price point. $26-$35

Four Roses Small Batch one of the best small batches for the price. Some prime barrels go into this one. $30

Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond Single Barrel this has been scooping lots of awards in blind tasting competitions. At 10 years and 100 proof you won’t find a better bottle with such a good mix of what you want in a bourbon. My two concerns however are the price increases by brand and stores and some inconsistency in some bad and average barrels getting to the shelf in bottles. $30-$40

IW Harper 15 Year one of the few decent older options at a fair price. Consistent quality and makes a nice gift. Fair warning that the price of this keeps going up. I’ve seen it around $100 which is too much and $65 which is a steal. I still have a hard time recommending a Diageo Bourbon implying something is made at the long-closed Stitzel Weller Distillery. Dishonesty aside, this one is still a good buy.

Larceny Small Batch Bourbon Its always nice to have an accessible Wheated Bourbon at a great price and good quality. 92 proof helps this one too. $22-$28

Makers Mark Cask Strength Another Wheated Bourbon that is more often then not a good pour. Can get batchy which stands out more at high proof. I wish the brand stopped the nonsense about not believing in overaging its Bourbon. Makers is around six years old and with another 2-4 years it could be really good. In the meantime you’ll usually get a good batch and a nice bourbon. A tad pricey at around $60.

Noahs Mill The Flagship of Willett’s regular offerings. At or near barrel proof this has lots in common with Bookers at a much better price. The high proof and longer aging make this a good value for the Whiskey Veteran. Holds up well to ice and a splash of water but can be over powering in a cocktail. $50

Old Forester Signature 100 A solid buy with good consistency at 100 proof. Little brother of Woodford at half the cost. $20-$25

Old Forester 1920 one of my favorites. Good consistency and very tasty. Seems stronger than its 115 proof so this is not for the faint of heart or the beginner. A nice ice ball will help. Priced on the high end of being fair at $55-$60.

Old Grand Dad 114 This is a higher rye recipe Bourbon which will be a bit spicier less sweet. Long time bargain best buy of many. This heritage brand wont let you down at near barrel proof. A good bottle to bring to a party with people that can handle high proof. Even with the price inching up to around $30, it’s still a bargain.

Rowens Creek little sister to Noah’s Mill from Willett. At 101 proof still holds up well to just about anything and a bit younger than Noah’s. At around $35 its priced right as a nice gift.

Russell’s Reserve 10 Year Bourbon very solid and a great price for a 10 year old from Wild Turkey and the Father and Son Master Distiller Team at Wild Turkey. This one is a hidden gem that should get much more attention than it does. $30-$35

Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Pretty much everything I wrote above at 115 proof non-chill filtered. $55- $65 on the cusp of being over priced.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed at Barrel Proof this is another hidden gem and perhaps the most under appreciated American Whiskey in existence. It’s the Swiss Army Knife of Bourbon for the veteran whiskey people. Great whiskey, Yes. Great gift, yes. Made by the most experienced Master Distillers in America, Yes. Holds up to ice, water, strong cocktails and blind tastings, Yes Yes Yes Yes. 6-12 years. As past barrel entry proof of this brand has gone up the bottling proof has also risen over the last several years. Keep an eye out for older bottlings with old labels 108.2 proof, 112.8 proof, newest is 116.8 proof. The older bottlings might be dusty, but they are around, often with old price tags and I prefer the older softer ones. $45-$50

Woodford Reserve The extensions of this brand are getting a bit out of hand, confusing and too pricy. I like the good old original. Very well blended for consistency year after year. You’ll get what you expect. I’m not sure what some Whiskey geeks see wrong with this one as its one of the most easy drinking pleasant pours going. Easy to find at stores and bars for a decent price. Makes a nice gift, works as well by the glass as it does in a cocktail. $32-$38

[greatdrams]

The GreatDrams Review of 2018

Welcome to The GreatDrams Review of 2018, a time for me to have a swift light hearted reflection of the year that was and my personal highlights of the year.

Well what a year it has been; Donald Trump is still president, Daniel Ricciardo sacked off Red Bull to move to Renault - massive error in judgement in my view, Brexit is still as screwed up as ever, Harry and Meghan were wed, my wife and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary at the Johnnie Walker Spa F1 Grand Prix, City won the Premiership in record-breaking style, my beloved LFC are finally looking like a ruthless challenger of honours, a load of school kids were trapped then rescued from a cave in Thailand, the World Cup in Russia was one of the best I have ever watched, all manner of politicians embarrassed themselves, their offices, our government and our country and of course, The Greatest Show managed to get me addicted to its soundtrack.

Crazy to even start reflecting on most of the above, but thankfully I only need to reflect on GreatDrams, and of course what's been going on in whisky.

This year has been amongst my busiest;

285,000 + GreatDrams readers this year

65k followers across social media and email

1,300 articles now on GreatDrams (including a load scheduled for future publishing)

256 hours airborne on planes to presentations and meetings

131 hours on trains to meetings

60 trains to meetings in London

37 flights to distilleries and meetings in seven countries (Japan, China, Germany, Spain, USA, Scotland and Ireland)

23 distilleries visited across Scotland, Japan, Kentucky

11 casks bought for our independent bottling programme

9 events attended (lower than usual due to hectic consulting schedule and family life)

8 publications written for including a year long ‘residency’ writing for Whisky Magazine

5 spirits judging panels sat on

4 whisky shows and festivals attended

3 awards shortlisted for

2 award wins - Silver Medal in the Independent Bottler’s Challenge and Best Online Spirits Resource

2 GreatDrams independently bottled whiskies, Invergorden 11 Year Old & Craigellachie 11 Year Old Single Casks, available here

1 award highly commended runner up

1 squash match against Fred Laing which raised over £4,500 for charity

Countless whiskies tried, enjoyed and commented on 

Some particular highlights for me personally have been;

Getting to visit Japan, China, Germany, NYC (x2), and Kentucky on business

Meeting so many GreatDrammers at different whisky festivals - you're all awesome

Visiting Whisky L in Shanghai

Spending time with so many icons of the whisky world including, but not limited to Dr. Bill Lumsden, Richard Patterson, John McCheyne, Georgie Bell, Fraser Campbell, Stephanie Macleod, Donald Coleville, Dr. Nick Morgan, Ewan Gunn, Billy Leighton and Brian Nation

Visiting Kentucky for the first time - wow… and managing to visit nine distilleries in three days, including a day where I just went to one!

In whisky I was fortunate to try some incredible whiskies (in the order in which I remembered them or tried them, not preference);

Johnnie Walker Ghost Reserve Port Ellen

Tullamore D.E.W. XO

Glenfiddich 40 Year Old

Fettercairn 40 Year Old

Hakushu 25 Year Old

Hibiki 35 Year Old Single Cask

Hibiki 17 Year Old

Hibiki 17 Year Old Grain Component

Hibiki 17 Year Old Mizunara Component

Hibiki 17 Year Old Sherry Component

Suntory Toki

Craigellachie Hotel 21 Year Old

Whyte & Mackay 13 Year Old

AnCnoc Peatheart

Jameson IPA

Redbreast 21 Year Old

Tullamore D. E. W. Distillery Exclusive Red Wine Finish

Roe & Co.

Teeling Brabazon 2

Bunnahabhain PX Finish

Bunnahabhain Moine Brandy Cask Finish

Dewar’s Scratched Cask 12 YO

Dewar’s White Label

Ballantine’s 21 Year Old

Ballantine’s 17 Year Old

Craigellachie 33 Year Old

Royal Brackla 21

G&M Clynelish 12 Year Old

Nikka Miyagikyo 12 Year Old Sherry & Sweet

Singleton of Dufftown Malt Masters Selection

Bushmill’s 16 Year Old

Bushmill’s 21 Year Old

The Glenlivet Captain’s Reserve

Aberlour Casg Annamh

Balcones Texas Rye

Starward 10th Anniversary

Rock Oyster 18 Year Old

Rock Oyster Cask Strength Batch 002

Yamazaki 12 Year Old

Suntory Kakubin

Asaka Six Month Mizunara Rested New Make

Chicken Cock Bourbon

Weller 12 Year Old

Wild Turkey Decades

Wilderness Trail Single Barrel

Wilderness Trail 4 Year Old Rye

Russell’s Reserve Bluegrass Tavern Barrel Select ‘Gobble Gobble Gulp’

Bluegrass Distillers Wheated Bourbon

Weller 1950’s Gold Vein

Method & Madness Hungarian Oak Finish

Glengoyne 21 Year Old 

Caperdonach 21 Year Old Peated

Along with all these stunning whiskies and a very busy year, we have seen Scotch exports up, volumes up and huge investment into new and expanding distillery operations throughout Scotland and Ireland in particular, with many new distilleries opening up in England too.

2019 looks to be another busy year with many new distilleries having spirit old enough to start releasing their first bottlings after three or more years of patience, and I'm sure a degree of nervous anticipation.

Thanks for reading, following, liking, Tweeting, Facebooking, Instagramming and tagging GreatDrams across the web this year, I've had a blast and it's been so lovely to help so many GreatDrammers with their whisky choices and to meet a fair few of you at events around the UK over the last twelve months.

As always, please do send me pics of your whisky exploration, or tag me in festivities so I can share with the wider GreatDrams Network and please also keep sending your feedback, questions and comments to me, I reply to every single email I get sent; Greg@greatdrams.com.

Here's to a prosperous 2019 for one and all, have a great Christmas, New Year and see you at the next show!

The post The GreatDrams Review of 2018 appeared first on GreatDrams.

from GreatDrams http://bit.ly/2Qh3OLs Greg

[chadwick211]

Best Liquor Gifts for Thanksgiving 2022

In just a few weeks, Thanksgiving 2022 will kick off a month full of holiday celebrations and booze. There is one mandatory item you must include on your Thanksgiving 2022 gift list: LIQUORS!

You can give clothes, jewelry, and dinner treats, but the party is incomplete if you do not include a wonderful, good-looking liquor bottle. Thus, Sendgifts has compiled a brief list of Thanksgiving alcoholic drinks that are sure to please everyone.

In the United States, Sendgifts is one of the most trusted online alcohol delivery services. Our online liquor store offers the largest selection of liquor at the best prices. You can order liquor online and have it delivered right to your door. With Sendgifts, you can now buy alcohol online easily.

Let's begin. Raise a glass to these top thanksgiving liquors with your family and friends.

 Thanksgiving 2022 alcohol bottles to have:

 Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Malt Whiskey

The Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey adds an extraordinary charm to parties; it is one of the most popular whiskies in the world. Every sip of the whiskey makes you fall in love with its perfectly blended flavor and smooth texture.

Brand: Woodford Reserve

Country: United States

State: Kentucky

Spirits Type: American Whiskey

Spirits Style: Whiskey

ABV: 45.2%

Tasting Notes

Nose: Brown sugar, freshly baked apricot pastries, nutty bread, caramel and a touch of cask char.

Palate: Honeycomb, peanut brittle, buttered corn, toasted oak, brown bread.

Finish: Hints of dark chocolate and toffee linger.

 Hennessy Paradis

Hennessy Paradis Cognac is the best whiskey to have on Thanksgiving 2022. This whiskey is blended with Eaux-de-vie, which gives it a flavorful aroma of rose petals, truffles, honey, and more. Hennessy can certainly make your thanksgiving more exciting.

Category: Cognac

Region: France, Cognac

Brand: Hennessy

Alcohol/vol: 40%

Proof: 80.00

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Dark Copper.

Nose: Dark fruits, roses, and spice.

Palate: Rich, with rancio, juicy plum, honeysuckle, and wood.

Finish: Medium length with complex fruit and spice.

 Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge

The Grand Marnier Liqueur is another option besides whiskies or vodkas. You can impress your party hosts by presenting them with the most prestigious and superior liqueur. It is aged 25 years with wild oranges and eventually becomes a rich tipple that can be mixed with any cocktail.

Brand: Grand Marnier

Country: France

Spirits Type: Liqueurs/Cordials/Schnapps

Spirits Style: Citrus & Triple Sec, Orange

ABV: 40%

Tasting Notes

Nose: Full and ample; bitter orange aromas balanced by Sweetness and Cognac notes of hazelnuts and toffee.

Taste: Complex, Orange, Refined.

Finish: The finish is long and harmonious.

Serve: On the rocks, cocktails, shots.

 Wild Turkey 101 Proof Bourbon

America's biggest-selling premium bourbon, the much-loved Wild Turkey 101 is a richly-flavored concoction with a mellowness that belies its high strength.

Brand: Wild Turkey

Country: United States

State: Kentucky

Spirits Type: Bourbon

ABV: 50.5%

Tasting Notes

Nose: Big and peppery to start, with rye and caraway seed following. Toffee sweetness sits at the back.

Palate: Intense and layered, with waves of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, hazelnuts and mint.

Finish: Long and spicy.

Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without a bottle of Wild Turkey. The Wild Turkey 101 Proof Bourbon is perfect served on the rocks.

 Sipsmith London Dry Gin

Sipsmiths London Dry Gin stays true to the style with a bold, complex flavor that starts with notes of dry juniper and blossoms into a citrusy bouquet of lemon tart and orange marmalade. For the dedicated Martini drinker, this affordable bottle is a no-brainer.

Brand: Sipsmith

Country: England

Spirits Type: Gin

Alcohol Volume: 41.6%

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Crystal clear.

Nose: Honey with ripe fruits and a little yeasty. Nutty undertones with a hint of chocolate and grape jam.

Palate: A gentle mouth feel, with initial dry juniper joined by growing sweetness, showing lemon tart & orange marmalade, garnished by a wave of fresh lemon zest, followed by bolder juniper & light dryness, before all the flavors harmonise into one integrated taste.

Finish: Dryness leads, with spicy juniper and a hint of lemon tart emerging.

Old Forester 1870 Original Batch Bourbon Whiskey

Old Forester 1870 Original Batch pays tribute to the Old Forester's status as the first bottled bourbon. To recreate the original Old Forester's flavor profile, barrels from three different warehouses with different production dates, barrel entry proof and maturation dates are blended into the final bottling.

Light bodied and much more fruit forward than other Old Forester marques, Old Forester 1870 is made for mixing and will shine in an Old Fashioned or Manhattan cocktail.

Brand: Old Forester

Country: United States

State: Kentucky

Spirits Type: Bourbon

Spirits Style: Small Batch Bourbon

ABV: 45%

Tasting Notes

Eye: Amber

Nose: Cherry-heavy dried dark fruit, oak, coffee cake, vanilla, brown sugar and touches of cinnamon. Not super-expressive or dense, but the aroma is enjoyable.

Palate: Caramel, dried dark fruit, oak, biscuit, maple frosting on a donut, cocoa and some baking spice. Like the aroma, the palate is soft, easy and enjoyable.

Finish: Charred oak leads with a clean peripheral spice.

 Nolet's Silver Dry Gin

Nolet's Silver Dry Gin is one of the most classical dry gins for gin lovers, and it is exceptionally crafted. The bottle's top is covered with a balloon bowl. You can smell the delicious aroma of botanical flavors as soon as you open the cap.

Brand: Nolet

Country: Netherlands

Spirits Type: Gin

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Crystal clear.

Aroma: A splash of water opens a perfumed floral rose petal/Turkish delight, sweet cherryade nose with subtle herbal and fruit aromas.

Taste: Similarly rose petal/Turkish delight-influenced palate has raspberry, black pepper and a drying blast of piney juniper and earthy orris root.

Aftertaste: Long finish brings interplay between fruity, floral, rooty, piney and peppery flavors.

[contactvishalkadu]

SCOTTISH WHISKY MARKET ANALYSIS(2019-2027)

Scottish Whisky Market, by Product Type (Single Malt, Blended Malt, Blended, Single Grain, Blended Grain, and Organic), by Price Range (Premium, High End Premium, and Super Premium), by Distribution Channel (On Trade (Restaurants & Bars, Liquor Stores, and Others) and Off Trade (Supermarket & Hypermarket, Discount Stores, Online Stores, and Others)), and by Region (North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa) - Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2019 - 2027

Scottish Whisky Market- 2017-2027

Definition of Market/Industry:

Scottish whisky is a malt whisky, which is made up of grains. Originally, Scottish whisky was processed using barley, but around 18th century, wheat and rye-based Scottish whisky was made. On the basis of product type, Scottish whisky is segmented into single malt, blended malt, blended, single grain, blended grain, and organic whisky. Furthermore, on the basis of price range, Scottish whisky market can be segmented into premium, high end premium, and super premium.

Statistics:

Scottish whisky market was valued at US$ 4.97 Bn in 2018, and it is expected to reach US$ 7.89 Bn by the end of 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period (2019 to 2027).

Drivers:

Several health benefits associated with consumption of Scottish whisky is expected to drive the market growth during the forecast period. For instance, Scottish whisky contains high levels of elegiac acid, which is an antioxidant compound that prevents the body against cancer. Furthermore, Scottish whisky also reduces the risk of stroke, helps prevent diabetes, and lowers the risk of dementia. These factors are expected to boost demand for Scottish whisky among health conscious people, globally.

Statistics:

Figure 1. Global Scottish Whisky Market Share (%), By Region, 2018

Market Restraints:

Stringent government regulations about the production and processing of Scottish whisky are expected to hamper growth of the global Scottish whisky market over the forecast period. For instance, according to the Government of U.K., the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 came into force from 23rd November 2009, which includes regulations related to the production, labelling, advertising, and packaging of Scottish whisky.

Furthermore, side effects related to excessive consumption of Scottish whisky are expected limit demand for Scottish whisky globally. Side effects such as ulcers and nerve damage, among others are a few long term side effects of over consumption of alcohol.

Market Opportunities & Trends:

The market players within the Scottish whisky market are focusing on development of single cask bottling, owing to change in buying behavior of customers. Independent bottlers are experimenting with bottling at cask strength, maturing with different kinds of cask types such as rum casks or wine casks. Furthermore, there is an increasing trend of younger distillations bottled as single cask whisky in the market. The trend is attributed to the fact that independent bottlers are running out of finances, as long matured whisky are rare and expensive. The players within the market are also willing to offer high quality bottling at a lower price range.

Figure 2. Global Scottish Whisky Market, By Distribution Channel

Competitive Section:

Company Names

Diageo Plc.

Pernod Ricard

William Grant and Sons Ltd.

Bacardi Limited

Bowmore Distillery

Suntory Beverage & Food Limited

Brown-Forman Corporation

LVMH

Isle of Arran Distillery

La Martiniquaise

The Edrington Group

Recent Developments:

Diageo Plc.

In November 2019, Diageo launched a new artificial intelligence-based whisky selector, which is helpful in selecting single malt scotch whiskeys for the consumers based on their individual tastes. This device can be accessed from all smartphones or electronic devices, which are connected through internet. This mobile application is named as “what’s your whisky” and uses innovative FlavorPrint Technology.

Bowmore Distillery

In November 2019, Bowmore Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky became an exclusive spirits partner of Aston Martin Lagonda. These two British luxury brands came into collaboration for creating an exclusive series of outstanding products and experiences by selling Scotch whisky to its customers.

Brown-Forman Corporation:

In April 2016, Brown-Forman Corporation acquired BenRiach Distillery Company for around US$ 312 million. With this acquisition, three single malt Scotch whisky brands would be added to the whisky portfolio of the company namely - The GlenDronach, BenRiach, and Glenglassaugh. This acquisition would help the company to re-enter into the industry’s growth segment- single malt Scotch whisky.

Request sample report here:

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/3476

Download PDF brochure here:

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/3476

About Us:

Coherent Market Insights is a global market intelligence and consulting organization focused on assisting our plethora of clients achieve transformational growth by helping them make critical business decisions.

What we provide:

•       Customized Market Research Services

•       Industry Analysis Services

•       Business Consulting Services

•       Market Intelligence Services

•       Long term Engagement Model

•       Country Specific Analysis

Contact Us:

Mr. Shah

Coherent Market Insights Pvt. Ltd.

Address: 1001 4th ave, #3200 Seattle, WA 98154, U.S.

Phone: +1-206-701-6702

Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com

Source: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/scottish-whisky-market-3476

[delfinamaggiousa]

The 30 Best Bourbon Whiskeys for Every Budget (2020)

There’s a compelling argument to be made that bourbon is America’s most important spirit.

While vodka dominates the entire American whiskey category in terms of volume sales, bourbon is the nation’s only “native spirit,” as declared by Congress in 1964. In the last decade, a surge in demand has seen the number of distilleries in Kentucky (the spirit’s heartland) rise 250 percent. According to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, the bourbon industry adds $8.6 billion to the state’s economy every year, and the number of barrels aging in Kentucky currently outranks the state’s residents by a factor of nearly two to one.

For those looking to buy a bottle of bourbon, the category offers a diverse range of styles to enjoy, from single- barrel offerings to cask-finished expressions to high-ABV barrel-strength bottles. There’s also good old Kentucky Straight, which continues to offer impressive bang for buck. With such diversity, choosing which bourbon to buy can be confusing.

To help you make those decisions, VinePair sampled an extensive range of options to compile the ultimate buyer’s guide. Whether you’re new to the category or a bourbon aficionado looking to add a special bottle to your collection, there’s something for you on this list. We limited inclusion to only one expression per brand and have listed average prices based on data from Wine-Searcher.com.

Here are the 30 best bourbons for every budget to buy right now.

Under $25

Old Grand-Dad Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Owned by Beam Suntory and marketed as part of its “The Olds” collection, the quality of this bourbon dazzles for the price point. Cinnamon and light caramel lead the nose, followed by baking spices and a hint of charred oak on the palate. Coming in a few bucks higher, but still remarkably well priced, the “Bonded” and “114” expressions from this brand should also be snapped up if spotted on liquor store shelves. Average price: $16.

Early Times Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon

A liter of great bottled-in-bond bourbon for just over $20? It’s possible. Owned and produced by Brown-Forman, this wonderfully concentrated bourbon holds its own in cocktails but is just as enjoyable sipped neat. While its nose is subtle, the palate introduces rich caramel, citrus, and vanilla flavors, before a pepper-spiced lingering finish. Average price: $19 per 750 milliliters (sold in 1-liter bottles with an average price of $25).

Old Forester 86 Proof

It’s hard to pick out a favorite from Old Forester’s lineup — each is thoroughly enjoyable in its own unique way. And while all offer great value for money, it’s the 86 Proof that makes it onto the list for the sheer quality it offers for $20. Lighter on the nose than many bourbons, the palate has great body, a gentle spice, and a well-balanced finish. Average price: $20.

Larceny Small Batch Kentucky Straight

Receiving frequent praise for being an affordable wheated bourbon (a category that includes the likes of W.L. Weller and Pappy Van Winkle), Larceny’s merits extend beyond its mash bill. Produced by Heaven Hill, this approachable bourbon has soft, fruity aromas, a lithe palate that brings sweetness and spice, and a delightful finish that evokes candy apples. Average price: $24.

Under $50

Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage 2012

An inexpensive introduction to single-barrel bourbons, this is a quality bottle that offers great bang for buck. At 43.3 percent ABV, the palate is easygoing, if not quite as bold as boozier offerings. A lightly spiced nose makes it inviting, while its well-balanced palate makes this a perfect sipping bourbon. Average price: $29.

1792 Small Batch

Marketed as a “high rye” bourbon (the exact mash bill is not disclosed by the distillery), an attractive spice lingers on the nose mingling with oak and caramel. The palate is lively, with baked blueberry flavors and a crack of black pepper that lead to a charred finish. Average price: $30.

Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight

Easygoing and approachable, this bottling proves bourbon can have character without being in your face. The aromas start off floral and slightly fruity, followed by sweet candy notes. The palate is robust and offers a well-rounded mix of dried fruit, baking spices, oak, and black pepper notes. Average price: $30.

Knob Creek Small Batch

Named after a water source that allegedly ran through President Abraham Lincoln’s family farm, rich caramel leads the nose of this small-batch bourbon. Notes of cedar, cacao, and orange peel then liven things up on the palate. Average price: $35.

Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select Kentucky Straight

Whether you’re a newcomer to bourbon or an aspiring home-bartender looking for a bottle that can handle a range of whiskey cocktails, Distiller’s Select offers a wonderfully versatile option. The nose enjoys the sweetness of dried fruits and toasted nuts, while the palate has a silky smooth caramel profile. Sip it or mix it — you’ll be sure to enjoy. Average price: $35.

Four Roses Small Batch

Four Roses blends four base recipes (comprising a mix of different yeasts and mash bills) to create its small-batch bourbon. The resulting spirit has a light, floral nose and racy palate. Medium in body, it offers generous sweetness balanced by a tingling spicy finish. Not only a bargain for the price, this is great bourbon in general. Average price: $36.

Pinhook Straight Bourbon ‘Bourbon War Aged 4 Years’

A limited-edition, 38,000-bottle release, Pinhook launched this expression in 2019. Featuring a high-rye mash bill (20.5 percent), the spirit spends four years in cask before it’s bottled at 49 percent ABV. Rather than spice, sweet tropical fruit aromas dominate, followed by a luscious mix of banana and mint on the palate. This is an outlier, but an interesting one. Average price: $39.

Legent Kentucky Straight

Owned by Beam Suntory, Legent is the product of a collaboration between Jim Beam master distiller Fred Noe and Suntory chief blender Shinji Fukuyo. Its aromas are reserved, but a brief swirling coaxes out notes of toasted almonds and dried fruits. The palate is nicely rounded, with a good concentration of flavor and rich finish. Average price: $41.

Basil Hayden’s Kentucky Straight

Also notable for its high-rye mash bill (believed to around 30 percent), this bourbon has a subtle nose and light palate. But don’t take that as lacking in flavor; this easy-sipping bourbon serves layers of dried apricot, cedar, and black pepper notes. The finish is fresh and fruity. Average price: $42.

Breckenridge Bourbon Whiskey

From Colorado’s Breckenridge Distillery, this bourbon is aged for at least three years before it’s bottled at 43 percent ABV. Despite its relatively light alcohol content, it has a complex, robust flavor profile, marrying rye spice and cinnamon with vanilla and honey. Average price: $42.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed Barrel Proof

For such a high ABV content (58.4 percent), the alcohol is really well integrated on the nose of this bourbon. It smells like new oak, vanilla, black pepper, and caramel, while the palate is incredibly lively. There’s sweetness and spice, charred oak notes, and overall it’s remarkably well balanced. You need to know what you’re getting into here, but if you like overproof spirits, this is where it’s at. Average price: $49.

Under $100

Heaven’s Door Tennessee Bourbon

“Co-created” by iconic American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, this Tennessee bourbon spends eight years harmonizing in oak before release. Vibrant red fruits lead its nose, followed by spicy cloves and black pepper aromas. The palate is equally fruity and spiced, with dried berry flavors adding sweetness. Average price: $50.

Angel’s Envy Port Wine Finished

Following its initial aging period in charred American new oak, this small- batch bourbon rests for three to six months in port casks prior to release. The finishing process adds an undercurrent of rich red fruit to the nose, which is otherwise sweet and spicy. The palate is impeccably balanced, with a sweet butterscotch core that’s seasoned by black pepper spice and charred oak. Average price: $52.

KOVAL Single Barrel Bourbon

Chicago distiller KOVAL shakes things up with the mash bill for this single-barrel release. On top of the requisite 51 percent corn, the remainder is made up of millet. The left-field recipe creates a unique, fruity bourbon, which has a sweet profile and great concentration of flavor. Average price: $54.

Maker’s Mark Cask Strength

Arriving at a cask strength 54.4 percent ABV, this expression has a much spicier profile than the rest of the Maker’s Mark lineup. A short time in glass allows some of the headier alcohol notes to blow off, revealing a sweet core of vanilla, caramel, and a hint of leather. The high alcohol content serves a full-bodied mouthfeel, coating the palate with a pleasant spicy sensation. This is a wild but enjoyable ride. Average profile: $57.

Baker’s 7-Year-Old Single Barrel

At seven years old and 53.5 percent ABV, this bourbon is bold and full of character but doesn’t overwhelm. A recent revamp saw its wine-bottle-style packaging ditched and notably transitioned the bourbon to a single- barrel offering. While it’s lost a touch of its fruity character, the overall profile remains concentrated, sweet, and spicy. Average price: $59.

Heaven Hill 7-Year-Old Bottled-in-Bond

Introduced in 2019, this is a reincarnation of Heaven Hill’s previous, six-year-old bottled-in-bond expression. The prior retailed for a fraction of the price of this (more widely available) iteration, and was always considered a bargain among bourbon aficionados. For those willing to make the price jump, the new release offers an interesting nutty nose, with hints of earth and vanilla. The palate has great depth of flavor, with dried fruit notes and caramelized nuts bringing a charming sweetness. Average price: $59.

W.L. Weller Special Reserve

Gone are the days when this bourbon presented affordable insight to the lauded Van Winkle lineup. While this expression is still produced at the same distillery and comprises the same wheated mash bill as Pappy, it’s almost impossible to find Weller Special Reserve at its MSRP of around $20. (Retailer price gouging is not unique to this bourbon, it should be noted, nor can the distillery be blamed.) Regardless, this bottle remains an enjoyable wheated offering, serving apples and cranberries on the nose, mixed with vanilla, caramel, and cedar wood. The palate is lean and fruity, with accents of spice and decent complexity. Average price: $60.

Bulleit Barrel Strength

With its high-rye and even higher alcohol content (62.7 percent), this bourbon delivers a spice bomb on the nose. There’s sweetness too (caramelized pineapple), and a nice seasoning of baking spices. The palate is equally charged, making this a great option for cranking up the ABV in bourbon cocktails. Start with a Boulevardier or sip with a big ice cube. Average price: $60.

Bardstown Bourbon Company Fusion Series #2

The “fusion” of this bourbon’s name references its blend of 60 percent wheated and high-rye bourbons, which Bardstown makes itself, along with 40 percent 12-year-old sourced Kentucky bourbon. The end product has an inviting nose that jumps out of the glass. Rye notes are followed by black pepper and just a kiss of caramel. The palate is complex and spicy; the bite of rye emerges on top and lingers for an age. Average price: $61.

Jefferson’s Reserve Pritchard Hill Cabernet Cask Finished

Another cask-finished bourbon, this release spends an extra 12 months resting in French oak barrels, which once held Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The red wine finish lends sweet berry aromas and an added layer of complexity to the palate. It’s a little on the pricey side, but this is a well-balanced bourbon and an interesting addition to any spirits aficionado’s collection. Average price: $73.

Henry McKenna Single Barrel 10 Years

Another victim of hiked-up retail prices, when this bottle featured on last year’s list, it sold with an average price of $37 — almost identical to its MSRP. Since then, this expression claimed “Best in Show Whiskey” at the 2019 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and average prices have doubled. Nevertheless, this bourbon has a really enticing nose, with aromas of dried fruits, nuts, berry compote, and light caramel. The palate has great character and intensity and tastes quintessentially bourbon. Average price: $73.

Elijah Craig Small Batch Barrel Proof

Don’t be put off by its heady alcohol content (which hovers above 65 percent ABV but varies with batch); the alcohol is incredibly well integrated on this bourbon. If anything, it allows the character of the spirit to shine, rather than competing with it. Caramel, toasted oak, and orange peel lead the nose, followed by butterscotch, cinnamon, and black pepper on the palate. As it lingers for an age, it recalls the old ”iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove” analogy: This is a powerful yet simultaneously delicate bourbon. Average price: $78.

Booker’s Batch 2020-01 ‘Granny’s Batch’

Named in honor of master distiller Fred Noe’s grandmother, the most recent Booker’s release arrives at a barrel- strength 63.2 percent ABV, following almost six and a half years of aging. If ever a bourbon mimicked the profile of a gourmet candy bar it’s this one. The aromas and flavors recall a decadent mix of nuts, dark chocolate, and caramel, while the palate brings subtle spice. Add a few drops of water and enjoy its evolution in glass. Average price: $87.

Barrell Bourbon Cask Strength Batch 23

The latest release from Barrell Craft Spirits, this cask- strength blend features 10-, 12-, and 15-year-old bourbons, distilled and aged in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. The nose has great character and complexity, while the palate is unexpectedly lively. It’s spiced but not too hot, with an incredibly lengthy finish. This smells and tastes like the product of considered, masterful blending. Average price: $91.

Splurge (Over $100)

Old Fitzgerald 16-Year-Old Bottled-in-Bond (Spring 2020 Release)

Many bourbons succeed by virtue of power, like an American muscle car. This release is all about subtle, elegant grace — a European sports car by comparison. It’s fruity on the nose, with notes of dried apricots and apple peel, followed by nuts and a faint whiff of charred oak. The palate comes through with intense concentration. A butterscotch core is seasoned with dried apples, raisins, vanilla, and black pepper. Each sip lasts an age and is truly special. To grab a bottle and avoid extortionate inflation, the best bet may likely be to head to Heaven Hill’s Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown (closed at the time of publishing because of Covid-19). Average price: $200 (approximately).

The article The 30 Best Bourbon Whiskeys for Every Budget (2020) appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/buy-this-booze/best-bourbon-whiskeys-2020/

source https://vinology1.wordpress.com/2020/05/08/the-30-best-bourbon-whiskeys-for-every-budget-2020/

[prairiescotch]

The 12th day of the Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar brings us the company behind the calendar itself, Secret Spirits, and puts the limelight on one of their truly secretive offerings.

As Jonathan notes in today’s blog post, the name is sometimes left off these independent bottlings because distilleries don’t want the product competing with their own on store shelves (and it can be cheaper for buyers if they agree not to reveal the product’s origins). 

This powerfully high-test single malt comes from an undisclosed Speyside distillery, and it promises to pack a whallop. Bottled at a Booker’s-like 63.4% ABV, this secret spirit was aged in former bourbon barrels (cask #184) for 19 years after being distilled in 1997. 

Interestingly, the 3rd edition of the SWAC had a similarly-unnamed Speyside sample that was 58.1% ABV and 18 years old -- one year younger than this one. That, I felt confidently, was a Glenrothes, which is a distillery I have never much liked. There were two Glenrothes in that calendar, however, which deviated significantly from the Glenrothes I’ve hated, which I felt at the time was a great endorsement for what independent bottlers can do to differentiate a product. 

This one certainly differentiates itself, but I’m getting to that. 

First, the nose is shockingly without character for something that is also so high proof. I honestly had trouble picking out ANYTHING from this nose, it seemed so thin. Aside from some alcohol sting if my schnoz wandered to far into the glass, I did manage to glean some vanilla, lemon zest, and powdered sugar. But that's it. I could barely pull that much.

On the tongue, the aggressiveness was overwhelming. Honestly, all I got from it was an intense burn. I'm assuming it's the massive ABV that's to blame, but it was positively painful, no matter how much I put in my mouth. It still stung, even with water. Even with a lot of water, the attack was huge! 

Eventually, after nearly doubling the overall volume with water, a few things started to show themselves, namely some vanilla, strong oak spice, cinnamon and chilli pepper -- adding heat to the alcohol burn. There was a bitter note on the finish that carried through, along with an unidentifiable minty and earthy note.

Now, I like a lot of cask strength whiskies. Glenfarclas 105, Booker’s Bourbon, Aberlour’s A’bunadh, Last Mountain’s 100% Rye, most of last year’s Secret Spirits Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar...I’m not shy about high-test brown liquors. But this feels like it’s high-ABV for the sake of being high-ABV. Jonathan’s blog speaks glowingly about this whisky and the benefits he perceives from the high alcohol level, but I genuinely can’t imagine someone tasting this and getting anything but a burning sensation on the tongue. I really can’t!

To be honest, it seems like this could even be the secret Speyside from last year, like they left some in the barrel and didn’t water it down this time. The previous Speyside I mentioned above also had a lot of burn, heat, and spice with a minty, earthen finish. I don’t want to be an advent conspiracy theorist, but I just can’t help but wonder...

[greatdrams]

Dillon vs Wells and a few thoughts on blind tasting

Unless you happened to be an incredibly secure character at school, you’ll know the deal. A couple of the big kids are doing something fun, and you want to join in. Partially because it’s fun (obviously), and partially (if you’re honest with yourself) because you want to be part of what the big kids are doing.

So when the big kids of the whisky blogging scene (Greg and Malt Review’s inimitable Mark Newton) challenged each other to a blind tasting, I took to twitter and digitally hollered the adult equivalent of “can I play?” Though actually, why shouldn’t the adult equivalent of “can I play?” be “can I play?”?

Shortly thereafter I sent Greg an unlabelled sample of the Kilkerran Open Day 2016 bottling, which he covered here. The return sample was sent once Greg had completed his move to Manchester, and arrived on my desk a couple of weeks back. First thing in the morning; completely ruined my day’s productivity, but that’s because I’m an excitable child.

As soon as the bell went for the end of the day I was out of the office and straight home. Metaphorical bell, you understand, though I’ll dispense with the children analogies now; I promise I am actually allowed to legally drink whisky... Bottle was breached, cursory sniff was taken, sample was poured and notebook was flipped open beside me.

But let’s pause there for a moment, because the practice of blind tasting is one that’s worth a smidge of consideration.

Ostensibly, blind tasting is the only way to give your fully objective opinion of a whisky. (Or wine/beer/cider/cat-food brand [delete as appropriate].) It theoretically frees you of biases and prejudices, it strips away distracting information and it forces you to focus on the drink alone.

I’ve lost count of the number of people who sneer at non-Scotch malt when they know what they’re facing, but proclaim their admiration when it’s just amber liquid in a glass. Or take me, for example – I’m quoted as saying Aberlour A’Bunadh is my favourite whisky for under £50. But one day some vicious ne’er-do-well will doubtless hide one next to a similarly secret Glenfarclas 105, and when that day comes I can only hope I get my call of “heads” right.

Blind tasting also exposes you; makes you really think; underlines any shortcomings or gaps in your experience. Not tried Rye before? Then that spicy kick will mean nothing. Didn’t know countries outside of Scotland use peat? Then good luck when Paul John Bold crosses the table. And who hasn’t indulged in a bit of a smile when a trained expert, or a particularly vocal individual comes unstuck on confronting an anonymous glass?

The problem with objective blind tasting is that it effectively requires the taster to be a robot. Human nature being what it is, we start guessing the end before we’ve even finished the beginning. We want to skip to the last page of the book. No one, on being presented with a glass, can ever truly extinguish the irritating light in the back of their head that immediately flashes: ‘WHAT IS THIS?’

And so we start guessing. I don’t care how expert or practiced you are. I taste up to fifty wines a week at work, and countless more for my wines and spirits diploma. And that’s without getting into all the whiskies I pump my salary into. (I do have a life outside alcohol; I play hockey and everything.) But that light never goes off. Dark colour: “I wonder if that’s a sherry cask?” Slight hint of peat: “hmm, could that be Highland Park?” Bit of meatiness: “do I have a Mortlach here?” You know the drill.

And once an idea pops into your head, it’s very hard to ignore. Just ask the cast of Inception. You want to be right. You want to be validated. You want to have ‘won’ at blind tasting. Most of all, you don’t want to look like an idiot. And so you subconsciously ignore the niggling uncertainties. You shoehorn your blind tasting into what you want it to be. Perhaps you try to second guess the person presenting you the sample. “Ah, she’ll give me something off-piste...he knows I’ve said mean things about this distillery before...hang on, is this even whisky?” Sound familiar?

Blind tasting can be influenced by all sorts of things. Your mood; what you’ve eaten recently; the temperature of the room; the time of day – even what music is playing (or not playing) in the background. And if you’re on the spot and nervous about getting it wrong, you haven’t a hope. You stress, you panic and your common sense slips. Which is why most tasting competitions worth noting are judged anonymously. No one does their ‘best’ tasting under pressure.

So yes – everyone should do some blind tasting once in a while. It’s fun! But stop worrying about getting the whisk(e)y right. After all, with so many countless thousands of whiskies in production, what realistically are your odds? You might get the distillery or producer from time to time. Heck, you might once or twice nail the whole shebang. But you’ll have missed the point of whisk(e)y in the process: to enjoy it. After all, the end is just a tiny part of the journey. You’re really best off taking the Ferris Bueller attitude. It’s a pretty hollow ‘victory’ otherwise – if you even score the victory at all.

And we’re back in the room. (At my house, in case you’d lost track. Wouldn’t blame you.)

My cursory sniff (ok, I also took a cursory sniff at the office when it arrived, but so would you if you’re human) raised some suspicions. Greg and I had set the rules as Single Malt Scotch of £50 or lower, but something about the aromas I found myself picking up suggested foul play.

Far be it from me to accuse my charming new boss of hoodwinkery, but I’m a mistrusting soul where blind tastings are concerned. (See: told you they bring out the over-thinker.) Besides, any holder of an Anfield season ticket who moves to Manchester has to have a wily streak about them. In as unaccusatorial a tone as I could manage I casually checked that the rules still stood. (Is unaccusatorial a real word? There’s a red squiggly line, but I feel in my heart that it deserves to be one.)

“It might well be on brief...or might have changed the game a little...who knows...” replied the Machiavellian Dillon, admitting that it was definitely a Scotch. Bet he steals from the bank when he’s playing Monopoly too. Deep mistrust smouldering in my bosom I returned to the task at hand.

I nosed, I scribbled, my brow furrowed, I nosed some more, scribbled some more, sipped a little, furrowed some more and scribbled a bit more for good measure. And then I proceeded to ignore all the advice I’ve just written above.

Straight away, I knew that it wasn’t a malt, and that it probably wasn’t under £50. Anyone who drinks as much bourbon as I do ought to know what distilled corn smells like. Which in Scotch terms more or less means either old, or North British. (Or both.)

But something about this one seemed to hint at a little more complexity. In the back of my mind, something niggled away, making me wondering whether Greg had also dispensed with the ‘single’ ruling. Which was when I stupidly decided to ignore most of the note I had just written, and start to play the man, not the ball. And in blind tasting that almost always ends in disaster.

My blended grain experience certainly isn’t vast. In fact, it’s Compass Box Hedonism, which I knew was not what I was tasting. But could I perhaps have its fancier ‘big brother’ Quindecimus in front of me?

Deciding for some reason that I was along the right lines on the blended grain front, I was torn between Quindecimus and The Exceptional Blended Grain, neither of which I had sampled previously. From what I had read, Quindecimus was the richer of the two, which tallied with what I had written. So, with great doubt and several second guesses, I presented Greg with my answer.

I was wrong.

In fact, what I had was the Cadenhead’s North British 1985 31 years old Single Sherry Butt at 54.6%. And believe you me, it holds that cask strength well - I’d never have guessed it was that high. The spirit also stands up remarkably well to the sherry - there’s not a hint of raisin, and the corn is really on song. Full note below:

Fruity. Some aspects of red berries, and some of orchard fruit (apples/pears). Plenty of sweetness; caramels and a good whack of vanilla. There’s a lightness of touch, but a great deal of depth too. Medium intensity of aroma, but very good complexity. Corn asserts itself. Slight meatiness in the background, with distinct, but not overpowering wood.

Alcohol clear, but completely controlled and kept in check by flavour on the palate. Flavours are more intense than aromas and crescendo significantly as you hold it in the mouth. Largely follow on from the nose, but bourbon-like aspects of caramel and dark sugars dominate particularly, wrapped in more of that red berry fruit. Possibly a touch of date.

More of that meatiness - not quite sulphur - on the finish, which is ever so slightly shorter than expected. Very well balanced and complex.

All in all, a delicious whisky, which I can’t thank Greg enough for. Particularly special, as it happened to be distilled in his birth month. He outfoxed me this time (though thank God I clocked it was Grain whisky - could have been a lot more embarrassing!) but you can be sure there’ll be a rematch.

In the meantime, two ‘morals of the story’ to take away from this. Firstly, when it comes to blind tasting, do as I say, not as I do! And secondly, if you play games with the big kids, be prepared for them to move the goalposts!

Cheers!

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="23412,23413,23414"]

The post Dillon vs Wells and a few thoughts on blind tasting appeared first on GreatDrams.

from GreatDrams http://ift.tt/2jtOYWs Greg

[wineanddinosaur]

With Changing Status and New Ingredients, the Sazerac Is the Best Yardstick for Modern Cocktail Culture

No one event in American history had a greater negative impact on drinking culture than Prohibition. Though America went “dry” for just 13 years, it took decades before the country regained an appreciation for the finer aspects of wine, beer, and spirits. If we look for similar events that propelled us back onto the right track, in wine, we might point to the Judgment of Paris. In beer, it’s impossible to look past the legalization of homebrewing. And in spirits, which seemed to lag longest, all credit must go to the craft cocktail renaissance of the late ‘90s and early 2000s.

Exactly how far cocktail culture has evolved since then is harder to measure. Anecdotally, I think about how I can walk into most bars in my decidedly unhip neighborhood of Queens, New York — locales you might not consider dive bars, but that don’t sling craft cocktails, either — and order an Old Fashioned with some degree of confidence.

But is there a more accurate way to gauge our progress? Rather than looking only at the quality of bartending in general, if we dial in to the ingredients used to make certain classics, perhaps the Sazerac is a better yardstick by which to measure how far we’ve come.

Multiple factors contribute to the Sazeracs of 2021 having a higher ceiling for quality and being even more historically accurate than those stirred at the turn of the century. Absinthe didn’t become legal again in the U.S. until 2007, for example. Then there’s the rye category, which has exploded both in breadth and depth. While the Sazerac is not solely responsible for these factors, given that both ingredients are intrinsic to its preparation, the cocktail is hugely symbolic of how drinking culture has progressed.

A New Orleans Icon

The Sazerac may not quite place in the highest echelon of classic cocktails, alongside the likes of the Martini, Manhattan, and Old Fashioned, but an icon it undoubtedly remains. The official cocktail of New Orleans (though not Louisiana, as is often erroneously stated), and widely held as one of the oldest cocktails, period, the Sazerac arrives with the requisite historical baggage that adds color to any classic — because beyond tasting good, the canons of cocktail culture must have a good story to tell.

In the realm of the Sazerac, that story revolves around one question: Is it historically a Cognac- or rye-whiskey-based drink?

This source of contention continues to provide fodder for divisive, if niche, barstool debates. Yet even those who remain firmly planted in the Cognac camp would surely concede that for the majority of its existence, the Sazerac has been more closely associated with rye. This association is handy for the purposes of this piece, allowing us to explore the stunning metamorphosis of the historic whiskey style during the past few decades.

The Rye Resurgence

While it continues to lag well behind bourbon, rye consistently posts impressive growth. In 2009, volume sales sat at just 88,000 9-liter cases, accounting for $15 million in revenue for suppliers, according to data from the Distilled Spirits Council. Since then, the category has surged. Volumes increased a whopping 1,500 percent to 1.4 million 9-liter cases in 2020, with the value hitting $275 million.

At the New Orleans bar Cure, which is widely credited with pioneering the craft cocktail movement in the city, the team has a saying relating to the city’s patron cocktail: “Nothing’s sacred except for maybe the Sazerac.”

Neal Bodenheimer, the bar’s owner and co-chair of the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, therefore struck me as an ideal individual to explore my hypothesis with. He was quick to agree on the significance of the legality of absinthe, and also pointed out the ease with which one can now pick up a bottle of the cocktail’s signature bitters. “You used to have to seek out Peychaud’s; now you can get them anywhere in the world,” he says.

But on the topic of rye, Bodenheimer hastened to accept my theory that the quality and quantity on offer has never been better. While the field has undoubtedly widened, he says he could pick up a bottle of six-year bonded Old Rittenhouse for around $11 in the mid-aughts. As the popularity of rye has grown, he feels the quality and age of the liquor inside the bottle is not quite what it used to be — though this does again speak to the surging popularity of rye compared with a decade or so prior.

“It may be possible to customize your selection more, but because of the low demand, you could grab a quality rye with a little more ease 13 years ago,” Bodenheimer says. On the other hand, he notes that the most exciting developments taking place in the rye space now come via craft distillers — a notion that some might feel would have been laughable two decades ago.

Photo Credit: Cure

Chris Hannah offers a different stock phrase when discussing the Sazerac: “I like to say it’s consistently the most inconsistently made cocktail in the world,” he tells me. “It has a recipe. Everyone knows the recipe. But everybody makes their own version.”

Hannah moved to New Orleans 18 years ago from Baltimore, where he’d already clocked up six years working behind the stick. This experience, he thought, qualified him as a “proper” bartender. Then he arrived in the Big Easy and found drinks he’d never heard of (the Sazerac) made with ingredients that weren’t on the back bars of the restaurants he’d previously worked at (rye whiskey).

Hannah’s contribution to the endurance of the Sazerac in New Orleans is up there with anyone in the city, having worked at the legendary Arnaud’s French 75 Bar for 15 years before leaving to open NOLA’s Jewel of the South. Though he falls into the Cognac camp, he agrees with Bodenheimer on the modern-day importance of the quality rye being put out by some, if not all, smaller producers. “Knowing that these distillers can come out with an equal or superior product is keeping the bigger houses on their toes and not resting on their laurels,” he says.

And resting on their laurels they most certainly are not. Look at any major American distillery and there’s a high chance it’s introduced a rye to its lineup in recent times. In the last year alone, Heaven Hill added a rye to its core Elijah Craig line; Campari, which already offered a Wild Turkey Rye, debuted a Rare Breed rye extension; meanwhile, Old Forester introduced a single-barrel, cask-strength rye. Put simply, all the trends we’ve seen play out in bourbon over the past two decades are now also seeping into the rye world.

“Our rye category offerings have grown [in] volume over 300 percent over the past 10 years, and we have been adding to our rye whiskey mash bill inventory in aging barrels to accommodate for that,” Susan Wahl, vice president of American whiskeys at Heaven Hill, writes in an email.

Raising the Bar

Wahl is among many in the industry I’ve communicated with (for this and other features) who credit the craft cocktail renaissance with directly impacting the health of American whiskey. “A return to classic cocktails certainly gave renewed attention to rye whiskey,” she notes.

Though perhaps not notable within the realm of evolving cocktail and spirits culture, we can not move on from rye without mentioning the Sazerac brand. To my mind, no other cocktail exists for which drinkers can directly reach for a base spirit whose brand shares the same name as the drink. (Martini drinkers should note that I’m speaking base spirits, specifically.)

Once again, this is another example of the bar industry’s influence on the spirits field, as Rhiannon Enlil of the Sazerac Company explained to me.

Enlil is another New Orleans transplant who moved to the city in 2000. On top of years of experience working in the city’s bars, she also wrote her undergrad thesis on historic beverage trends of 20th-century New Orleans, while studying at the city’s university in 2016. Since 2019, she’s worked as an experience team leader at the Sazerac House.

“When the Sazerac company launched Sazerac rye in 2006, it was really to put that name on a bottle of wonderfully produced whiskey, and get it in the hands of New Orleans bartenders,” she says. During her studies, Enlil also found that, while the cocktail saw a revival in major cities beginning in the mid- to late-aughts, this wasn’t the case in NOLA. “It never went away in New Orleans. It just went under the radar,” she says.

Photo Credit: Sazerac

Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

With ever-expanding rye options, and the increasing availability of Peychaud’s, the final piece of the Sazerac puzzle arrived in 2007 with the legalization of absinthe.

Here, we risk a certain amount of hypocrisy. For while it is true that the bonafide Sazerac recipe contains absinthe, the same could be said for Cognac. And just as rye has overtaken brandy’s place in the cocktail, with the green fairy being illegal stateside for nearly all of the 20th century, most bartenders turned to New Orleans’ anise-flavored Herbsaint liqueur as a stand-in. The same remains true in many notable bars to this day.

Owned and produced by the Sazerac Company — just like Sazerac Rye and Peychaud’s Bitters — Herbsaint even enjoyed an upgrade in 2009, with its alcohol bumped up to 100 proof to commemorate the brand’s 75th anniversary. (And no doubt to compete with the higher-proof, now legal absinthes that bartenders could return to.)

Still, the legalization of absinthe feels significant for this topic because its availability has allowed bartenders to once again deliver a historic version of the cocktail that they couldn’t for nearly 100 years. That the TTB would finally look past the myths that had seen it banned owes large credit to the work of importer, producer, historian, and scientist Ted Breaux. It also signals another step in the (slow) maturation of America’s relationship with alcohol.

Just as with rye, viewing the range of absinthes now on offer in the U.S. also highlights the growth of craft distilling in the country. Alan Bishop has had a hand in a number of those bottlings, having developed four absinthes for Kentucky’s Copper and Kings, another for Florida’s Key West Trading Co., and a few expressions for Indiana’s Spirits of French Lick, where he currently works as head distiller.

Given the spirit’s recent reintroduction in the U.S. market, Bishop has tended toward a lighter, sweeter style of absinthe that he believes better resonates with American drinkers. But things are slowly changing on that front. “We’re finally at a phase where consumers outside of New Orleans actually care about absinthe,” he says, adding that interest seems to have really picked up over the past two years, and the past 12 months in particular.

Bishop also agrees that bartenders helped “open the door” for craft spirits in general. “Now I think curious consumers are kicking the shit out of the door and figuring out what to do with them on their own,” he says.

The Changing Status of the Sazerac

While the Sazerac’s relevance in this study of drinking culture evolution comes largely via its constituent ingredients, we should not look past the drink itself. It’s definitely not as ubiquitous as Martinis, Manhattans, and Old Fashioneds, and it surely remains “consistently inconsistently” made. But at the same time, no longer can budding bartenders wind up in New Orleans with no prior knowledge of the city’s official cocktail — nor any other major city worth its bartending salt, for that matter.

At New York’s Maison Premiere, a love letter to New Orleans, oysters, absinthe, and classic cocktails, managing partner and bar director William Elliott pondered just how much has changed for the Sazerac in the decade since his bar opened.

In 2011, the cocktail would have been the “perfect litmus test” for gauging the skills of any bartender who turned up at his door looking for a job, Elliott says. At the time, not all bar chefs would have gained the required experience to execute the cocktail’s fine line of balance. “I don’t think any bartender would try to work here without being confident in their skills to make a Sazerac at this point,” he says.

For guests, Maison Premiere also offers a “Tableside Sazerac Service.” The bar offers two versions of the cocktail, prepared theatrically in front of patrons. A rye version sells for $34, while the other, made with vintage Cognac from 1946, super-premium absinthe, and barrel-aged Peychaud’s, retails at $96 a pop. “It actually sells quite well considering it’s a hundred-dollar drink,” Elliot says.

Take a moment to let that sink in, as drinkers of the “St. Bernard” Sazerac no doubt remind themselves after each sip. And while you do, soak up the words of NOLA’s Hannah on the progress of his profession: “When I started bartending,” he says, “I never thought I’d be in a magazine.”

That’s a hell of a long way for bar culture to travel in a relatively short amount of time. Twenty years ago, were there cocktails in New York City that would see next to no change given for a crisp Benjamin Franklin? Almost certainly, yes. But at a bar in Brooklyn, that didn’t cater specifically to expense-account-holding finance bros?

Above all, the fact that one of America’s oldest cocktails is the measure by which we can gauge just how far we’ve come in 15, 20 years seems like a fittingly romantic notion. Cocktails owe just as much to their story as their taste, after all. For large parts of the cocktail renaissance, our collective gaze remained firmly and long into the past. But drinks like the Sazerac show us that more recent history, the present, and even the future, are just as important in these tales.

The article With Changing Status and New Ingredients, the Sazerac Is the Best Yardstick for Modern Cocktail Culture appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/sazerac-history-modern-cocktail-culture/

[carissahickling]

Kentucky Rye - Wilderness Trail Single Barrel 56.5%

Kentucky Rye - Wilderness Trail Single Barrel 56.5% @WTDistillery ‏

Our host set himself a very clear goal – to bring together a quartet of Kentucky Rye that reflects the range of possibilities…

Next up was a single barrel from Wilderness Trail at full cask strength… Spoiler alert! This was simply exceedingly drinkable, pairing perfectly with a cigar!

In this case the magic lies in a few things these folks are doing a bit differently….  They talkof their unique…

[goodspiritsnewsat]

GSN Spirited News: September 15th 2020 Edition

GSN Spirited News: September 15th 2020 Edition

Evanston, Illinois-based Few Spirits has launched Immortal rye, a new whiskey proofed down to bottling strength with tea. The 46.5% abv whiskey is made by blending cask strength Few rye with 8 Immortals tea from Denver’s the Tea Spot. The whiskey does not contain added sugar or other additives. The whiskey’s label art showcases a dragon print that was shown at the 1893 World’s Fair. The initial…

[delfinamaggiousa]

10 Things You Should Know About WhistlePig Whiskey

WhistlePig is relatively young in the whiskey world. Founded in 2008 by Raj Peter Bhakta, the Vermont-based brand released its first bottling in 2015.

In a few short years, WhistlePig has become a well-known brand, offering the most-awarded rye whiskey in the world. Here are 10 more things you should know about WhistlePig.

WhistlePig is part Canadian.

WhistlePig was founded when Bhakta purchased a 150-year-old barn on a farm in Shoreham, Vt., but initially, its whiskey wasn’t homegrown. WhistlePig purchased a stock of 10-year-old blendable whiskey from a Canadian distillery to kick off the business.

WhistlePig loves nature.

The farm distillery is located on a 500-plus-acre farm, where it grows and harvests rye grain and raises a lot of animals. Kunekune pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and bees are all part of the WhistlePig family farm. The property also includes 20 acres of maple trees, which the distillery uses to make maple syrup.

WhistlePig owes a lot to Dave Pickerell.

The late Dave Pickerell, former master distiller of WhistlePig, was instrumental in creating the WhistlePig brand. He hooked up WhistlePig with its first stock of Canadian whiskey, helped create the brand’s first blend, WhistlePig 12 Year Old World Cask Finish Rye, and designed WhistlePig’s copper pot still, which the distillery still uses daily.

In 2018, WhistlePig lost a legend.

In November 2018, Pickerell tragically passed away while attending WhiskyFest in San Francisco. The industry collectively mourned his passing.

He indeed was a whiskey legend. Prior to founding WhistlePig, Pickerell served a 14-year term with Maker’s Mark. Additionally, his consultancy firm, Oak View Spirits, helped hundreds of distilleries open around the globe.

WhistlePig rye made a worldwide splash.

WhistlePig produces six whiskies, all of which are made using aged rye stock purchased from Alberta, Canada. Its first label, 10 Year, released in 2015, is a blend of that whiskey aged in new American oak barrels. It’s also the most-awarded rye in the world, according to the company.

WhistlePig’s other aged blends include 12 Year, 15 Year, and 18 Year. PiggyBack, created by Pickerell and released in 2018, is WhistlePig’s first 100 percent rye whiskey, aged six years. FarmStock is the first WhistlePig whiskey made with a majority of its own rye. Finally, there is The Boss Hog — more on that later.

WhistlePig trademarked Triple Terroir.

In 2017, WhistlePig debuted its FarmStock Rye, a limited-edition label made with the distillery’s own grain, wood, and even water. Thus, the term “Triple Terroir Whiskey” was born and trademarked.

FarmStock Rye Crop No. 003 marked a milestone for WhistlePig as the first label made using a majority of its own whiskey. It’s comprised of 52 percent of 3-year-old rye made with grain grown on the farm, plus 31 percent of 6-year-old whiskey, and 17 percent of 10-year-old whiskey from Alberta, Canada. The whiskey is aged in WhistlePig’s custom Vermont White Oak barrels, and distilled and proofed with water from the property.

WhistlePig bottled a Samurai Scientist.

Boss Hog is an annually released, single-barrel, barrel-strength rye. The 2019 version, “The Boss Hog Edition 六: The Samurai Scientist” was the first American whiskey finished using Japanese Umeshu, according to WhistlePig. The bottle is a collaboration between WhistlePig and Japan’s Kitaya brewery, of Kyushu island.

You can chase your WhistlePig with Ben & Jerry’s.

WhistlePig has two tasting rooms, one at the farm distillery and the other inside Vermont Artisan Coffee & Tea in Waterbury Center, Vt. Ben & Jerry’s is located next door to the latter location.

Planning a visit? Make a day of it by visiting WhistlePig on the Middlebury Tasting Trail.

You can make your own WhistlePig.

Through its Reserve Barrel program, deep-pocketed fans can create their own personal WhistlePig whiskey. You choose the expression and complete the look with your name handwritten on the label.

Like whiskey, WhistlePig is always evolving.

In 2019, WhistlePig announced a partnership with BDP Capital Partners, a New York-based firm that became a “significant” minority equity partner in the brand, according to Vermont Business Magazine. At that time, Bhakta, who had retired from the company in 2017, fully exited his remaining stake in the brand.

The article 10 Things You Should Know About WhistlePig Whiskey appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/whistlepig-whiskey-best-rye/

source https://vinology1.wordpress.com/2019/11/15/10-things-you-should-know-about-whistlepig-whiskey/