WE’RE BACK

We Purchased quite a few samples from Master of Malt! Rick and I will be doing some tasting and blogging again real soon. Here what you have to look forward to:

1. Master of Malt 60 Year Old Speyside
2. Master of Malt 50 Year Old Speyside (4th Edition)
3. Smokehead 18 Year Old Extra Black
4. Lagavulin 16 Year Old
5. Tobermory Heavily Peated 16 Year Old 1998 – Single Cask (Master of Malt)
6. Caol Ila 12 Year Old
7. Ardmore 10 Year Old 2006 – Single Cask (Master of Malt)
8. Lagavulin 8 Year Old – 200th Anniversary Edition
9. Bunnahabhain Heavily Peated 7 Year Old 2006 (cask 800092) (Berry Bros & Rudd)
10. Laphroaig Quarter Cask
11. BenRiach Birnie Moss Intensely Peated
12. Bunnahabhain Cruach Mhòna
13. Islay Storm
14. The Ileach Cask Strength

 

What Is A Spirit Safe? — The Whiskey Wash

If you’ve visited distilleries in Europe, or even some here, you might have heard of the “spirit safe.”It sounds like something you might want if you’ve got teenagers living in your house, and in a way, that’s why it was invented in the first place – only instead of teenagers, it was designed to keep…

via What Is A Spirit Safe? — The Whiskey Wash

 

Bill Thomas, the owner of Jack Rose Dining Saloon, is on the hunt for rare whiskeys – The Washington Post

“Hold this,” Bill Thomas whispers as he hands me a bottle of Macallan 18-year scotch that he’s just plucked off the top shelf at a liquor store in Hagerstown, Md. “We’ll talk about it in the car.”

A peanut-sized dust bunny lands in his beard, but he’s too excited to notice.

He grabs three other bottles of whiskey and checks out. Including the $199 bottle of Macallan, the total comes to $660. His girlfriend, Brittany Garrison, a local publicist, and I follow him to the car, which is relatively tidy save for a vintage ceramic decanter clinking around in the back seat.

“This is absolute gold to me,” he bursts out once we’ve shut our doors. “I’m literally overjoyed right now.”

Garrison pulls out her iPhone and searches for “Macallan 18, vintage 1988” on a website that appraises alcohol.

“OK, in 2013 it went for … holy s—!” Garrison says. “Well, this was in Hong Kong. Which is interesting because Asia has started purchasing a lot of American whiskeys in the past couple of …”

“Are you going to tell us or what?” Thomas asks.

“$1,840,” she says.

“I can’t believe this is the first store we hit, and this is what we found,” Thomas says. “Let’s go. It’s already a really good trip.”

Jack Rose Dining Saloon, Thomas’ bar in Adams Morgan, housesmore than 1,800 bottles of scotches, bourbons and ryes, making it one of the largest retailers of whiskeys in the Western Hemisphere. That’s still a nip compared to Thomas’ private stash of 4,000 bottles that he stores at his Northwest D.C. home….follow the link for more

Source: Bill Thomas, the owner of Jack Rose Dining Saloon, is on the hunt for rare whiskeys – The Washington Post

 

Jack Rose Dining Saloon | Washington, DC

If you’re in the D.C. area let me know if you’ve been here. It calls to me!

Jack Rose Dining Saloon | Washington, DC

Source: Jack Rose Dining Saloon | Washington, DC

 

Lagavulin 8 Year Old is forthcoming as part of the 200th Anniversary celebrations

Whisky Gospel

Although we’re only in February, a special event in London was held earlier this month to nark the start of the 200th anniversary celebrations of Lagavulin Distillery. From what was revealed on the internet, they had a taste of a new, special but non Feis Ile bottling which was told to be very good, but no further details were revealed till now due to embargo.

However, a new Lagavulin label was revealed on the American Federal TTB site – a 8 Year Old Lagavulin, presumably bottled at 48%:

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News: New Whisky Releases 2016 Week 5

 

Greenbar Distillery Expands Distribution of Slow Hand Six Woods Whiskey | Bourbon & Oak

Greenbar Distillery today announced the launch of SLOW HAND Six Woods whiskey into nation-wide distribution. The 11-year-old craft distillery, which specializes in full-flavor spirits and bitters, has been tinkering for the last five years with a technique to add more interesting flavors to whiskey without going beyond the confines of grain, wood and time. It thinks it’s ready now to introduce its unorthodox creation to a broader audience.

SLOW HAND Six Woods Malt starts out as a familiar, 100% barley malt whiskey. Where Greenbar makes a giant departure from the norm is in aging its whiskey. Since whiskey gets most of its flavor from wood, the company decided to broaden its whiskey’s flavor by using six different species of tree to age SLOW HAND. French white oak serves as the wood for the 1,000 and 2,000 gallon vats the whiskey sits in, while five other woods give it additional depth and complexity.

“Forests are full of delicious trees,” said Greenbar co-founder and spiritsmaker Melkon Khosrovian. “Just because all of them can’t be turned into leak-proof barrels doesn’t mean whiskey lovers should be denied their flavors. That would be like ice cream makers forcing everyone to eat only vanilla!”

To bring these new flavors into whiskey making, Khosrovian and his co-founder and wife Litty Mathew tested more than 30 wood species before settling on five whose flavors worked best with the familiar vanilla and spice of white oak. Hickory adds notes of plum while maple, mulberry, red oak and grape bring in hints of butterscotch, currants, clove and perfumed black tea, respectively. Greenbar buys its barrels from France and seasons and toasts large staves of the additional woods in house.

SLOW HAND Six Woods Malt and its rarer, fiercer sibling, Six Woods Cask, will start shipping to all fifty states this January. Suggested retail prices are $44.99 for the 84 proof 750ml bottle and $37.99 for the 115 proof 375ml cask strength.

LA-area whiskey lovers or visitors can tour Greenbar and see how the distillery makes SLOW HAND whiskey. Reservations are available at greenbar.biz/tours.

Source: Greenbar Distillery Expands Distribution of Slow Hand Six Woods Whiskey | Bourbon & Oak

 

Rolling Out Our 100th Barrel At Rolling Thunder

More from the Guys at Rogue!

It’s a proud day for us at Rolling Thunder Barrel Works. Head Cooper Nate Lindquist just finished Barrel #100, and our distiller Jake filled it with Dead Guy Whiskey to begin aging the spirit.

Cooper Nate Lindquist and Rolling Thunder Barrel #100.

Reaching #100 is milestone for us, but it’s also important because it represents lots of hard work. Nate assembles, raises, toasts, hoops, crozes, hoops again, cauterizes, sands and brands each barrel – one at time. Most of the tools he uses are so old they could be museum pieces.

It took us 11 months to reach barrel #100. One of the big barrel factories out East can churn out that many barrels in just a few hours. But we didn’t start Rolling Thunder Barrel Works to be fast and efficient. We dedicated ourselves to reviving the slow traditions of artisan coopering, to craft our barrels by hand, using Oregon White Oak sourced from the Oregon Coast…

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That’s the spirit

Triple Distilled Communications

The Spirit Of Speyside whisky festival is awesome. I spent a week there last year and had the time of my life, and it seems many others did too, as this year’s ticket sales are booming. Here’s the deets:

Ticket sales for the 2016 Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival have set new records, with over 2,700 tickets valued at almost £75,000 being bought within the first hour of their launch this week.

Just 10 minutes after the website went live on Tuesday (February 2) transactions reached the same level that took an hour to achieve in 2015, while the same amount of sales in an hour took 24 hours on last year’s opening day.

Over 60 events in the packed programme taking place in whisky’s spiritual home from April 28 to May 2 have already sold out, and many more have limited availability.  The events attracts thousands of visitors to Speyside…

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Benriach and Glendronach

World Whiskey Awards Updates from OCDWhisky

ocdwhisky.com

THE BENRIACH AND GLENDRONACH SINGLE MALTS WIN GOLD IN STAGE ONE OF THE WORLD WHISKIES AWARDS 2016

The stage one winners and medallists of the 2016 World Whiskies Awards have been announced, with the BenRiach 10 Years Old and the GlenDronach Cask Strength batch 5 both winning gold.

Presented by Whisky Magazine, The World Whiskies Awards select, reward and promote the best Whisky Taste and Design to consumers and trade across the globe.

In stage one, each whisky is tasted in its relevant sub-category to identify and select the sub-category winners and award any medals. The panel of expert judges blind tasted entries grouped by their style, region and age statement. Each entry is tasted blind and marked to an agreed and strictly enforced marking system. In addition to nose, palate and finish, the judges will look for balance, character, complexity, quality and functionality.

The BenRiach 10 Years Old has…

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Douglas Laing distribute Glenturret

 

Booker’s Bourbon Unveils 2016 Batch Collection | Bourbon & Oak

Booker’s® Bourbon, one of the few ultra-premium bourbons available uncut and unfiltered, is proud to announce the first of an anticipated six releases in its 2016 Batch Collection, “Booker’s Bluegrass.”…..Want to hear more?

Go see the guys at Bourbon & Oak: Booker’s Bourbon Unveils 2016 Batch Collection | Bourbon & Oak

 

Introducing Whisky Hammer

A new place to fuel your passion!

 

What Happens To Whiskey In The Barrel?

New

Michael Veach explains the many ways a barrel adds to to the finished product of whiskey.

Source: What Happens To Whiskey In The Barrel?

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News: New Whisky Releases 2016 week 4

 

Cellar Trends Strengthens Whisky Portfolio

DRINKS ENTHUSIAST

The New Year is off to an excellent start for family run distributor Cellar Trends, set to strengthen its whisky offering by adding three new brands to its extensive portfolio.

From mid-January, Cellar Trends will handle all sales, distribution and marketing for Rebel Yell Bourbon, Akashi Japanese Whisky and Togouchi Japanese Whisky. The three new additions sit alongside existing whisky brands within the Cellar Trends group including the Douglas Laing Scottish Remarkable Regional Malts, Jefferson’s Bourbon and Uisce Beatha Irish Whiskey. With American, Japanese and Malt Whisky all in areas of growth [i] Cellar Trends is committed to delivering extensive rise in volume and distribution for its whisky portfolio throughout 2016.

Rebel Yell Bourbon

Family-owned alcohol, wine and spirits supplier, Luxco, has been growing its drinks collection of whiskey, gin, tequila and rum for over 55 years. Within its collection is The Rebel Yell Bourbon range, comprising a Bourbon, Reserve…

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Review: Angels Envy

DISCLAIMER: The Sample for this review was provided by the distiller. All ideas and opinions in this post are entirely my own. I do not accept any money for these reviews.

Color: Copper

Nose: Sweet Corn, Vanilla, Port, Maple, Black Pepper, Citrus, Black Cherry, molasses, and oak

Taste: Sweet Corn, Caramel, Vanilla, Port, Black Pepper, Citrus, Black Cherry, and oak

 Finish: Long, sweet, and smooth

Score: 
Rick: 9. 5/10.0
Sam: 9. 5/10.0
Overall: 9. 5/10.0

 

Review: W.L. Weller 12 year old

DISCLAIMER: The Sample for this review was purchased by me. All ideas and opinions in this post are entirely my own. I do not accept any money for these reviews.

Color: Copper

Nose: Sweet vanilla, pepper, citrus, fruit, and oak

Taste: OAK!

Finish: Short with just a hint of pepper

 

Peg Leg Porker Releases Second Lot of Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Might have to try some of this!

Whisky Informative

Veteran Pitmaster Carey Bringle, otherwise known as the Peg Leg Porker, who has been competing in barbecue contests for more than 25 years, recently announced the Lot 2 release of his Peg Leg Porker Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey.

Unlike the original Peg Leg Porker Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey released in 2013, this Lot 2 bourbon is aged for eight years in new charred oak barrels and undergoes a new filtering technique.

“Our bourbon is finished using hickory charcoal. After the whiskey is taken from its barrels, it is filtered through hickory creating our signature flavor and color,” said Carey Bringle, Peg Leg Porker owner. “We continue to grow our men’s lifestyle brand and this new whiskey is essential to that growth. BBQ fans and bourbon fans will love this whiskey.”

Nashville’s Best Bands will distribute the new 90-Proof Peg Leg Porker Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The initial run will be…

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News: New Whisky Releases 2016 week 3