Category: Heaven Hill
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Quarantine Bottle Kill #9: Elijah Craig 12 Year (From Long Ago In The Before Time)
There’s a sense of static in the air these past few weeks of quarantine. Not of any sense of normal but certainly of familiarity. A sense of sameness and of the world outside the familiar walls drifting away. But also there’s that electrical charge like anything can and could happen at any moment. The world…
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Quarantine Bottle Kill #1: Heaven Hill 7 Year Bottled In Bond Bourbon
Sheltering in place has led to a massive spike in booze sales across the United States a the days are now divided into “Coffee Hours” and “Alcohol Hours.” Being forcefully unemployed by the pandemic I’m unable to contribute to that spike and have had to reexamine my hoarding tendencies. My reluctance to open bottles, let…
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Drinking Poetic (On A Christmas Wednesday): The Nutcracker
I’ve always felt disconnected from the Holiday season. While I grew up Catholic it has had been many a solstice since I identified as such. I’ve also spent the past 10+ years living 2,500+ miles from the family and friends I grew up with. As such when the holidays roll around I often find myself latching on…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Heaven Hill 27 Year Old Barrel Strength
Reinvention is the key to longevity. No matter how often you hear something being touted as “Old Fashioned” chances are it’s actually an update on an old technique or just straight up marketing. We are constant victims of nostalgia, even the term “Old Fashioned” implies a dissatisfaction with the modern. Yet as much as we…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Elijah Craig: NoMad Edition
I sat down and did this almost exactly a year ago and it’s time again for the annual arrival of a privately selected Elijah Craig Barrel. This one, like all of them, is special because it is a 100% unique bottling but it’s also the culmination of an insane year. Elijah Craig is the whiskey…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Willett Of The Past
Age adds value. That doesn’t just mean a dollar value, I personally own dozens of books, papers, and social media accounts that only still exist because they’ve essentially become a time capsule. They’re important simply because they’ve survived. Before NDP, Non-Distilling Producer, was short hand for overblown marketing these producers were some of the most…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Decanting Old Fitzgerald Bottled In Bond
Growing old is an interesting proposition. It’s right there in our language. We GET older, we GROW up whether we like it or not. But these phrases imply a gift. The imply that it is a privilege to age and that we are constantly changing and growing. Contrast that with the utter fear of aging…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Elijah Craig Check In
Another year and another barrel of Elijah Craig. The very first single barrel I ever picked out for a bar was a barrel of Elijah Craig for Areal a good five years ago. I’ve been fortunate enough to select an Elijah Craig barrel every year since so its arrival is usually a great touchstone for…
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Whiskey Wednesday: McKenna’s Patience
Bourbon is full of history, tradition, and ancient family recipes. Except when it’s not. (which is pretty much all the time.) This call back to the golden days of our frontier forbearers is meant to impart some sort of permanence, stability, and a patriotic appeal to what is actually a relatively new spirit. Bourbon wasn’t…
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Just A Little Larceny
Larceny is not theft. Let’s draw an analogy: Marketing is selling. False marketing is theft. It’s theft of your time, your ability to make informed decisions and ultimately your money. It’s spending those things with the expectation of one product and getting something at best tangentially related. The liquor world is awash with claims that…
Bottled In Bond LA 