Whiskey Soaked Words
In today’s edition of things you’ll never get to taste: Yamazaki 50 Year Old! On Friday August 17th 2018 a bottle of 1st edition Yamazaki 50 Year Old, one of only 50 bottles to exist, sold at auction for $312, 519.87. This is now the most expensive bottle of Japanese whisky ever sold at auction, beating the … Continue reading Open Bottle: Yamazaki 18 Year Single Malt Mizunara Cask
One of the best things about traveling is seeing what is out there in the world that can’t be seen from home. When it comes to spirits traveling abroad often means encountering ex-pat style spirits; bottlings like Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel, an Early Times bottled at 37.1 Proof, or the Wild Turkey 13 Year. … Continue reading Whiskey Wednesday: Nikka From The Barrel and to the US
Despite being a self avowed fanatic of American whiskey the thing I’ve found myself writing about and drinking the most recently has been Japanese whisky. The last time we spoke way back in December I was drinking poetic about the Hakushu malts and the fact that though they often seem to be in the shadow … Continue reading Whiskey Wednesday: Hibiki’s Resonant Disappearance
Life is a bittersweet balance. I’ve been hosting Whiskey Wednesday for going on six years now. It’s exposed me to more bottles and drams than I can count, constantly challenged me to stretch my creative muscles, and introduced me to some of the most delightful nerds/people that I’ve ever met. I’ve grown as a person, a bartender, … Continue reading Whiskey Wednesday: A Bitter-Sweet Hakushu
I’m a whiskey purist. Bourbon, Scotch, Japanese, Barrel Strength, it doesn’t matter, I drink it neat. For years I was determined that not even a drop of water would come between myself and my sweet, sweet barrel aged nectar. What’s changed me? The highball. The highball is nothing new. It’s a simple class of … Continue reading Drinking Poetic (on a Wednesday): Highballs
If the Scots are the craftsman of the whisky world, passing down tradition and technique year after year because it works, then the Japanese are the engineers, dissecting and reassembling each component part. The Taiwanese are the artists, free willing and experimental; it’s insane that we can even make that analogy because there is only … Continue reading Whiskey Wednesday: The Art of Kavalan
After taking a look at what could be classified as one of the old school classics of Japanese Whisky, the new kid on the block, and the Americans jumping on the bandwagon I wanted to take a look at how things change. While the Japanese Whisky world is less than 100 years old it is still deeply … Continue reading Whiskey Wednesday: Traditional Yoichi Changes
