Category: Open Bottle
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Whiskey Wednesday: O.F.C. 1985 Vintage Bourbon
Spontaneity is not my strong suit. Example A: my girlfriend swears by the deals emailed out daily by Scott’s Cheap Flights. Yet every time a deal lands, I have to ask about time frame, logistics, check on available vacation days, and generally stressed about the fact that booking this trip means that we won’t be able to book…
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Open Bottle: Nineteen Eighty-Four JURA
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Released in 1949 George Orwell’s masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four often feels as alive and resonant as it must have when it was first published. Reading the headlines it feels like doublespeak, Big Brother, and New Speak have leapt from the lexicon of…
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Open Bottle: Rittenhouse Very Rare 25 Year Straight Rye Whiskey
Today I’m either turning 33 or 37, depending on whether you believe my birth certificate or my girlfriend’s mathematical skills. I’ve been in the service industry since I was 16, been bartending since I was 20, and have been a “craft bartender” and bar manager since I was 25. In a lot of ways my…
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Open Bottle: Yamazaki 18 Year Single Malt Mizunara Cask
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…
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Whiskey Wednesday: The Declaration of Jim Beam’s 200th Anniversary.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the…
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Whiskey Wednesday: Hibiki’s Resonant Disappearance
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…
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Open Bottle: Old Rip Van Winkle 25 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Pappy Mania has struck early this year and for the first time in years even I’m feeling a bit of hype.
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Open Bottle: Chartreuse V.E.P and #1605
If you haven’t noticed America is a little odd. We like doing a lot of things backwards. Like our current administration- or how in most of the world writes the date as day/month/year, which helps explain why May 16, or 16.05, is world Chartreuse Day. If you’re unfamiliar, Chartreuse is a liqueur made by the…
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Open Bottle: Del Maguey Barril
Agave is an odd category to me. There is an abundance of good agave products pouring into Los Angeles but unlike whiskey, or even brandy and cognac, I often encounter what feels like an active, willful ignorance from people drinking tequila and mezcal, both in terms of education and general understanding of the spirits.. Requests…
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Open Bottle: A.H Hirsch Reserve 16 Year Straight Bourbon Whiskey
I’m absurdly lucky in my line of work. I get to taste things that are often considered legends and even more exciting get to stock them at the bar occasionally. Most of these bottles are outside the scope of being able to feature them on a typical Whiskey Wednesday but they all have a story,…
Bottled In Bond LA 